Chapter 19: Dragonshy
The next couple of weeks was the most uneventful weeks of Spyro's time as nothing had happened, no Heartless, no signs of Nobodies, all he could do was take care of the chores he was assigned to at the farm and knock some apples off of trees, which he didn't mind, but wished something exciting would happen. In his spare time, he would read the books Marluxia and Demyx gave him, trying to understand why they would just give him two books from his library, so during that time, he went through his whole library to count how many books he had while checking with Master Yen Sid how many books were in the library, loosing his mind when he was given how many there were. And he was wondering what Marluxia said about there being a page that would be of interest to him at the inner cover, but found nothing but an index of all the different information and spells, spell variants, and sections of where to find them if he needed them.
He was in the Golden Oak Library to get some peace and quiet, away from the shouting and hollering of the siblings to get everything done, so he tallied up all the books and went through everything in the book Marluxia gave him, finding that the Keyblade was in the shape of a flower, but other than that found nothing. Twilight came in, finding Spyro looking through the book and came over with a tray of food, hoping to at least give him something to eat as he studied.
"You have been spending a lot of time here for the past couple of weeks." Twilight said. "Trying to look for something?"
"Oh, just thinking." He replied. "And taking inventory of all my books in my library."
"Why?" Twilight asked. "Is it because of what that Marluxia guys said? Do you really trust him?"
"Not really." Spyro replied, but not looking at her. "But I checked anyway and he was right. My library is incomplete. Some of the tomes and books are missing." Looking away from the book, he walked over to the window and looked out, looking to the sky as he spoke. "Master Yen Sid said he'd keep an eye out for if the tomes surface, but why would the library be incomplete in the first place? And then there was what he said about there being a piece of paper I might find interesting. That I think he lied about." He then checked the front cover again, showing her what he meant. "All it shows is the Chapter Index, where everything is, what page it's on, nothing about a piece of paper."
"Maybe you need to see things from another point of view." Twilight suggested. "Maybe you need to just relax and take a rest from the books."
"Never thought I'd hear that from you." Spyro said, finally looking at her. "It's usually me or one of the other girls who try to pry you from the books."
The two of them chuckled a bit before they started to eat their lunch, having fun with each other while he kept reading until he found the page on Dark Desire, reading over it again and remembering Marluxia and how he hated him from hurting his friends and what he planned to do with the dark roses. He kept reading everything, memorizing everything he could about the flowers as Twilight went up and down from the main lobby to her research lab downstairs. He was about to give up and just forget what he said about a piece of paper when Twilight came back up with a pile of papers, obviously results from whatever experiment she conducted.
He smiled and returned to reading when he smelled something off, sniffing around until he looked out the window, noticing a cloud of black smoke in the sky, walking towards the window. He was about to ask her if there was a fire when Spike came in with a message from the princess, passing it to Twilight to read, shocking her.
"Oh no." She said, running to the door.
"What's wrong?" Spyro asked, watching as she ran out the door.
He looked to Spike to understand what was going on, but he just shrugged his shoulders, letting him know he didn't read the message. He then followed his friend to where ever she went until she reached the outskirts of Ponyville where there was a lot of ponies going about their business enjoying their day until they saw the two of them.
"Everypony, listen up!" Twilight shouted, getting everyone's attention. "There is smoke that is spreading over all of Equestria coming from the peak of the mountains outside of town." Everyone gasped and chattered, looking to the sky as they saw a large cloud of smoke passing over Ponyville at that very moment, worrying everyone. "But fear not, I have received word from Princess Celestia that it is not coming from a fire."
"Well that's a relief." Spyro said, everyone relaxing, even Fluttershy, who he failed to have noticed the first time. "But if it's not from a fire, then from what?"
"It's coming from a dragon!" Twilight said, shocking everyone.
"A dragon!?" Spyro exclaimed. "I think I'd prefer an old fashion forest fire than that."
Twilight and Spyro returned to the Golden Oak Library where their friends were waiting for them at the front door, waiting for them to enter so they can discuss everything about the dragon.
"What in the name of all things cinnamon swirl is a dragon doing here in Equestria?" Applejack asked, breaking the silence as Twilight looked through her books.
"Sleeping." Twilight answered, confusing everyone. "According to the princess, the dragon is taking a nap. And because of his snoring, he's releasing a bunch of smoke into the air."
"I always knew second hand smoke could kill you, but this is ridiculous." Spyro said.
"No kidding!" Pinkie said. "He should see a doctor about that. Doesn't sound very healthy."
"So, what are we going to do about it?" Rarity asked.
"Simple, give him the boot!" Rainbow Dash said, kicking a statue as Twilight caught it with her magic and lifting it up as Rainbow Dash tried to tackle it, making her crash into a nearby wall.
"Maybe not that." Spyro said, helping her up. "We should just ask him to find another place to nap without antagonizing him."
"Exactly what I was thinking." Twilight said, putting some books into her saddle bags. "The princess gave us this important mission and we must not fail. And, unfortunately, Spyro needs to remain behind."
"Wait, what?" Spyro asked, looking at the sad mare.
"I'm sorry, but the princess thinks you need some time to look into your books in case we can't convince him to leave." Twilight replied. "She believes that something in your books might have a means to get rid of the smoke if the dragon refuses to leave and needs you to remain behind."
"But, but I-" Spyro tried to say.
"I'm sorry, but those are her orders." Twilight said, walking to the front door. "Alright girls, let's meet back here in an hour to leave for the mountain."
Everyone left the room, leaving a very disappointed Spyro behind in the library, sitting at the closest desk to read the books from his library to find something that will rid Equestria's skies of the smoke. As he read, he looked outside and saw his friends leave for the mountains, sighing in disappointment as he kept reading. A minute later, Spike came in with a tray of food, looking over to Spyro as he was reading.
"Why are you still here?" Spike asked. "Shouldn't you be with Twilight and the rest of the gang to get rid of that dragon?"
"I got benched." Spyro said, pushing the book away. "She want's me to find something to get rid of the smoke in case the girls fail to convince the overgrown smog factory to leave." He rested his head on the desk, still reading the book Demyx gave him while looking at the one from Marluxia. "I mean, the Mother Tree is powerful enough to heal ponies of any illness and possibly the environment. And the nectar from a Clear Sky Daisy is able to clear the skies of any kind of pollution."
"Well, then you already got what you need." Spike said, eating his food. "Why not inform the princess?"
"That's not going to be easy Spike." Spyro said, using his magic to levitate the books to Spike. "They need to grow in specific conditions. A Clear Sky Daisy only grows in high altitudes where there is no pollutants and the Mother Tree only grows in forestry areas with a lot of magic. And the only place with enough magic to do so is the Everfree, and that is nothing more than dark magic." He brought the books back to him, turning the one from Marluxia back to the index to find something else. "And until I find something, I can't go and help them. And what Marluxia said about a piece of paper in the inner cover is making me go crazy!"
He then slammed his head on the desk, making a loud thud that made Spike jump, almost dropping his food.
"Gee, you and Twilight are the same." Spike said, eating another spoon full of his meal and walk over to him. "Maybe a pair of fresh eyes can find something."
Not wanting to argue with Spike, he pushed both books to him to see what he could find as he ate his lunch, being careful not to drop anything on them. As Spike looked through, Spyro decided to meditate, let his mind unwind to start looking with a fresh mind, but when he started, flashes of the future appeared as Twilight and her friends reach the mountain, a few of them entering, but being harmed, pushed out of the cave, hearing someone say something, but being tuned out from screams and an image of a golden flower appeared in his mind before he opened his eyes. He got back onto his hooves and walked to the desk, finding Spike was looking in the book with a giant tree on it.
"Anything?" Spyro asked.
"Nothing in the flower one." Spike said. "And that index is off. It's missing an entry."
"Well the pages could have been ripped out." Spyro pointed out. "Happens most of the time. What was missing?"
"Something about Golden Relief." Spike answered. "It should be the last entry, but there was nothing there."
Spyro was curious about that, taking the book and opening to the index, finding the page number and going to the very back of the book to see what he was even talking about. But when he flipped to the back, Spike was right as there was nothing about 'Golden Relief,' making Spyro wonder why there was such an entry in the first place. Going back to the index, he looked at the page that had the information to find the entry to look at it to make sure he read the number right, finding it was the right number, but the wrong entry as that page number had something on another plant.
"Why would there be information for this entry when it doesn't exist?" Spyro asked.
"Beats me." Spike said. "And I am not finding anything for our smoke problem. Other than what you said, I can't find a thing. Maybe the other books might have an answer."
"No, it would take too long to find something." Spyro said, picking up the flower tome. "Plus, you got some crumbs in it." He shook the book to get the remains of Spikes sandwich out, but as he did, a page from the tome fell out, surprising him as he picked it up, revealing it was the index page for the nonexistent entry. "And it fell out. Great."
"Spyro look!" Spike shouted, pointing to something. "Maybe this could help."
Putting the paper on the table, he looked over SPike's shoulder to see what he found, not noticing that the paper was changing as he read what Spike found, shaking his head as he read it.
"That's no good Spike." Spyro said. "That's for clearing water. Maybe-"
Before Spyro could say anything else, he noticed the changing paper as instead of a chapter index, it revealed it was a list of the tomes and on the back was a location of one.
"Spike, the paper that fell out." Spyro said. "It's a list of tomes and books missing from my library!" He then flipped it over to see if there was more, only to see the peak where his friends were heading to. "And look, that's where the girls are going to. But why would it show me this?"
"Don't know, but look." Spike said, pointing to a flower behind the girls. "I think that looks familiar."
Spyro looked in the picture and saw what Spike was talking about, a snow white daisy with what looked like large cloud shaped leaves, peaking Spyro's interest as he knew exactly what it was.
"That's a Clear Sky Daisy." Spyro said. "This parchment must show the location of the closest tome or book. And the closest one is where the girls are heading to and it's the same place where a Clear Sky Daisy is at."
"I'll inform the princess right away!" Spike said, running to get some paper and something to write with.
"I'll catch up with the girls." Spyro said. "They should be at the foot of the mountain by now."
Spyro ran out tor front door of the library and ran straight towards the mountain, looking to the peak as he ran until he took off to fly after them. Further ahead, Twilight and her friends reached the foot of the mountain, looking up at it as the dragon snored, shocking everyone how loud he was, scaring Fluttershy.
"Wow, what was that?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"That's what it sounds like when a dragon snores." Twilight replied.
"I-it's so high." Fluttershy said, peeking over Applejack.
"Well it is a mountain after all." Spyro said, scaring everyone.
"Spyro!" Twilight shouted. "You scared us half to death! What's wrong with you!?"
"Sorry about that." Spyro said, giving a nervous grin. "But I got some good news. I found something to clear the skies of the smoke."
"That's great!" Twilight said. "What is it and where is it?"
"It's called a Clear Sky Daisy." Spyro replied. "The nectar from it can be used to clear the sky of any pollutants, whether it's magical or not. That's the good news." He then looked up at the mountain, asking the girls look to the top as well. "The bad news however is that it only grows in high altitudes away from any civilization. And the only one I know of is up in this mountain, where the dragon is sleeping."
As soon as he said it, the dragon snored again, scaring Fluttershy again to hide behind Spyro, shivering in fear.
"Well that shouldn't be a problem for us." Rainbow Dash said. "I'll fly up and-"
Before she could even fly up the mountain, Applejack grabbed her tail and pulled her down, preventing her from flying up.
"Hold on now." Applejack said. "Ah think we should stick together. Safety in numbers and all."
"I agree." Spyro responded. "Plus, the flower can't be picked as its very rare and would loose its power if you pluck it from the ground. I'd like to dig it up from the roots and hold onto it for later as its nectar is what we need. Having it nearby would save us the hassle of having to go back up every time to get more nectar."
Looking annoyed, Rainbow Dash nodded her head, agreeing to stick together. As everyone was climbing up, Spyro looked out behind him to make sure everyone was ok, finding that they were laughing and having fun, despite everything that was going on, but he did notice something wrong. While looking to the group, he noticed Fluttershy wasn't with them, getting worried, he looked over the edge and found her hiding in a bush, trying to blend.
"Fluttershy, what are you doing down there?" Spyro asked.
"Probably waiting for a written invitation." Rainbow Dash replied.
"Oh, I got one of those right here!" Pinkie said, party streamers and confetti flying everywhere as she pulled one out.
Not paying any attention to her, Spyro hopped down and landed in front of the bush, finding her cowering in the bush, covering her eyes.
"Hey, what's wrong?" Spyro asked, entering the bush. "Is something bothering you about?"
"Oh, I-it's just so steep." Fluttershy said, looking towards the cliff.
"That's because it's a cliff!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed. "Maybe you could use your wings and fly up here."
"Real nice there Rainbow Dash!" Spyro shouted back. "It's ok. You don't need to be afraid. We can fly up there together."
Looking back at Spyro, she got up and walked out of the bush with him, extending her wings and flapping them a few times and taking off, followed by Spyro as they were half way up to the girls, but a moment later, the dragon snored again and spooked Fluttershy, making her close her wings in fear as she fell back into the bush. He was about to check if she was ok, but saw her getting up and trying to open her wings again, not being successful in it as it seemed fear was telling her wings not to open up. Spyro was about to fly down when Applejack jumped off the cliff and slid down to Fluttershy, making him curious about what she was doing until he saw she had the map to the mountain.
"Applejack, you need any help carrying her?" Spyro asked.
"Nah, I got this." Applejack said, walking up to Fluttershy.
However, the dragon snored again and made Fluttershy freeze, causing her to fall on her back like a goat does whenever they get spooked. Applejack grabbed her friend by the tail and started to drag her, leaving him stunned by the mares extreme fear as she didn't act like that before, well she was always jittery and easily spooked, but never has he ever seen her freeze and fall like a spooked goat. He returned to the rest of the group and everyone went to find something to do while they waited for their friends with Rarity and Pinkie playing a few games of tic-tac-toe, while Rainbow Dash just found a nearby cliff and sat down. Spyro walked over to a place and sat down, pulling out another tome to read it as Twilight paced impatiently waiting until she came over to Spyro and sat down next to him.
"So how did you figure out there was a flower that can clear the smoke here?" Twilight asked as she looked over his shoulder.
"With this." Spyro said, pulling out the paper and showing her, amazed by it. "It's a list of books and tomes that are missing from my library and the back reveals the location of the closest one."
"Really?" Twilight asked, pulling the paper closer to her."But if you're going to complete your library, wouldn't;t you need to travel to other worlds to have a chance to find them?"
"That's a good point." Spyro said, taking the paper back. "Maybe I can have my friends help me find them because the magic and information in these books are too dangerous to be used by the wrong people."
Everyone waited for their friends to catch up, Rarity loosing every game she had with Pinkie while Rainbow Dash just looked bored as Spyro and Twilight just studied the paper to figure out what to do if he was going to look for them when they heard Applejack panting after dragging Fluttershy, who was still frozen like a scared goat. Putting everything away, Spyro walked up to the two mares and levitated Fluttershy onto his back so he can carry the paralyzed mare.
"Maybe I should carry her for a while." Spyro suggested, carrying the yellow pegasus on his back.
After a while, the group had reached a third of the way to their destination with Fluttershy regaining her ability to walk as she got off her friends back until they reached a gap between two cliff edges, everyone leaping over without a problem, but Fluttershy hesitated, refusing to jump over out of fear.
"It's ok Fluttershy." Spyro said. "You can do it."
"B-but it's so... wide." She said, hugging a cliff.
"Come on Fluttershy, we should be much farther ahead by now." Twilight said, ignoring her friend's fear. "It's just a leap across."
Fluttershy took a look at the canyon, seeing what was down below before the dragon snored, scaring her again to curl up into a ball, making her friends shake their heads, but making Spyro curious about why she is being so nervous about climbing up the mountain. Pinkie then started to show her that it wasn't a big deal, telling her it was just a jump, skip, and a leap and repeating until she got the courage to do it herself.
"That's good Fluttershy!" Twilight said as her friend leaped. "Just don't look down."
"Spyro was too late to cover her mouth as she said not to look down, making the mare looked down and jump short, flailing a bit before catching the other side of the canyon, the gap only a few feet wide as she just hung there.
Rainbow Dash just hoof smacked herself and flew over to help her across, pushing her while Rarity and Pinkie pulled her across, getting their friend across. A little while later, everyone had just made it up the majority of the mountain when they reached a path in which Twilight pulled out the map again to check it out.
"Everyone, try to remain quiet." She said. "We are entering an avalanche zone and the slightest peep could cause an avalanche."
"And the dragons snoring won't cause it?" Spyro asked.
Everyone moved slowly and as quietly as possible through while Spyro stayed back and kept his wing around Fluttershy to keep her company and to make her feel safer as she has been nervous and frightened all day. But when they passed under a tree, Spyro noticed that Rainbow Dash had knocked some leaves off, which wouldn't;t have been much of a problem to them if they didn't float down and land precisely on Fluttershy's rear.
"AVALANCHE!" Fluttershy screamed, Spyro quickly putting his hoof over her mouth as her voice echoing through the valley.
After a moment, nothing seemed to have happened as none of the rocks seemed to be moving, everyone sighing in relief, but a second later, they heard a loud bang and looked up, finding that rocks were tumbling towards them, making everyone run for cover. Fluttershy just hid behind Spyro as he stood on his hind legs and with the Force, caught a majority of the rocks and redirected them elsewhere, not caring where so long as his friends were safe. Everyone gathered around Spyro as he moved the rocks away from them and to somewhere and once the avalanche was done, the dust making it tough to breathe and see anything, they were relieved to be ok, but saw that their path was blocked by a large pile of rocks.
"Everyone ok?" Spyro asked, turning to the group.
"We are, thanks to you." Twilight said.
He looked over eveyrone to make sure they were ok, finding that no one was seriously hurt as Fluttershy popped up from some dirt she got buried under during the Avalanche while Rarity just shook off the dust she was covered in, covering Pinkie as she hopped all the time.
"Let's do it again!" Pinkie said excitedly.
"Ugh, this is why a girl always packs extra accessories." Rarity said, pulling a scarf out from her saddle bag. "Oh please tell me I packed the hat that goes with this."
"Really Rarity?" Spyro asked, helping Fluttershy out of the dirt. "We don't exactly have time to make sure everything matches with what we wear."
"He's right Rarity." Rainbow Dash said, hovering over her. "In case you haven't noticed, our path way is blocked."
"Sorry everypony." Fluttershy said, lowering her head as Spyro walked to the mound of dirt.
"Ah, don't worry Sugarcube." Applejack said.
"Yeah Fluttershy, don't blame yourself." Spyro said, picking up a rock and turning it. "You didn't cause this avalanche."
Everyone looked to him, wondering why he would say that it wasn't her fault when he tossed over a piece of rock, Twilight caught it to see what he wanted to show them when she found that half of the rock was covered in black soot, showing everyone what he found.
"It seems someone doesn't want us to reach the top of the mountain." Spyro said, turning to face his friends. "I'll head to the top of the mountain and check to see if there are anymore surprises. You guys meet me there when you can."
He took off and got to the mouth of the cave first, looking over everything to see what was waiting for them, but found nothing as the rest of the path was clear. With nothing else around, he began looking for the Clear Sky Daisy, but found nothing on the outside of the cave, making him even wonder if it was even there in the first place and if he even got the right mountain. With nothing in sight, he decided to go into the cave and find the book, hoping to convince the dragon for a trade if the need arises, but as soon as he entered, he saw that it was a massive red dragon with resting on top of a large horde of treasure. But at the base of the treasure was what he was after, a chest with the symbol of the Prince of Light and Darkness, but next to it was the flower he was after.
"Great, they both had to be next to a dragon." Spyro whispered to himself.
He walked slowly and quietly to not wake him up as he approached, wanting to get the flower, but changed his mind and went for the chest immediately, approaching it slowly to find the lock was rusted over and possibly near impossible to open as if he tried by force, he'd wake the dragon and have a fight on his hands. He examined the chest and called his Keyblade, careful not to tap it too hard on the lock as it unlocked and dropped to the ground, making a small tapping noise as it hit a rock. He got ready to fight, but the dragon just mumbled and moved his head away from him, breathing a deep sigh of relief, he carefully opened the chest, careful not to make any noise as he saw it was full of scrolls and old text books, nothing about a spell book. He was going to close it when he noticed a carved out section in the chest's side in the shape of a rose, looking back in to find if the key was in there, but nothing again.
"Where's the key?" Spyro whispered to himself.
He looked around and found a rose that closely matched the carve out, slowly closing the lid of the chest to go over to the rose, but as he approached, he saw it was in the middle of the dragon's tail, stuck between a couple of his scales. This made things far more difficult as he could guess that one wrong move and he'd wake him up before he got a chance to even get to the chest, but knew he needed that rose, so while flying, he gently touched down in the pile of treasure next to his tail and reached for the rose, gently grabbing it with his teeth and using his aura to pull the scales apart, but had to back away as the dragon's tail just moved, somehow still holding onto the rose, the tail moved and he managed to pull it out, being perfectly still because if he took off or moved in the slightest, he'd drop some treasure and wake him up.
He watched as the tail was moving, getting an idea as it landed on some of the gold and jewels, making enough noise as it fell to allow him to slide down, masking his descent as just more treasure falling down. Once everything was calm, he slowly moved to the chest and put the rose in the carve out, the side with the cut out popped out, making a mechanical sound as he pulled it open, revealing a tome with the symbol, but a gold Keyblade behind the two dragon heads. Celebrating in his head, he quickly took the book and reached in to grab a random book, writing something in it before putting it in the secret compartment, closing it and taking the key, lacing it in his bag. A moment later, he got up and was about to get the flower when the dragon woke up, still a little drowsy as he stared sleepily at him, yellow eyes meeting purple as he just yawned.
"Oh, I do apologize if I woke you up." Spyro said, nervous, but calm. "But I came here to get something. Not from your horde, but just the flower that's at the base of your nest. Would you mind if I got it real quick?"
"Eh, what do I care about some dumb flower." The dragon said, yawning and resting his head on his gold. "Take any flower you find in here, but leave my horde be."
"Sure thing." Spyro replied.
He pulled out a garden pot and trowel, digging up the plant and carefully putting it in the pot before putting fresh soil in it and a bit of water. He backed up and away from the dragon. As he turned around and got out, his friends came up the slope and saw him coming out, glad to see that he was unharmed.
"You're ok." Twilight said, everyone running up to him. "Did you get the flower?"
"Yes I did." Spyro said, showing them the daisy. "Now that we have this little guy, I'll need a special green house to mimic the atmosphere this little guy is use to. And lucky for me, my Gummi Garage has a green house with special compartments to mimic the terrain and atmosphere they need to survive."
"Great." Twilight said. "Now all we got to do is convince the dragon to leave."
"That might not be easy Twilight." Spyro replied. "He doesn't seem to be in the mood for wanting to leave."
"That's why we have Fluttershy with us." Twilight said, looking over to her friends. "Alright girls, here's the plan. Rainbow Dash, you're in charge of removing the smoke from the sky, use your wings to remove as much as possible." Rainbow Dash saluted and flew into the air to clear as much as possible. "Rarity and Pinkie Pie, you two are to distract the dragon if things get messy." Pinkie took out a rubber chicken and started swinging it around, making it squeak as everyone stared at her, confused at her antics. "Applejack, be ready with the apples to pelt it if things go wrong." A second later, Applejack took out two apples and kicked both into the tree.
"Um, Twilight, are you sure this is a good idea?" Spyro asked, putting the flower down. "I mean, this thing is massive and brute force is only going to make things worse."
"We're hoping it won't come to that." Twilight replied. "With Fluttershy's help, we should be able to talk to and convince him as to why he needs to leave."
Twilight then entered the cave, hoping to convince him to leave, but Fluttershy refused to enter as she just dug a hole and buried her face there, hoping to hide. Spyro could sense her fear was strong and was getting worried until Twilight came back out, seemingly annoyed her friend was trying to hide.
"Come on Fluttershy." Twilight said, pulling her wing to get her head out of the ground. "We have to do this!" She then pushed her, trying to get her to move, but Fluttershy was stronger than she seemed and managed to dig into the ground. "Now! As every... second that... dragon sleeps, that's... another acres of... Equestria covered in smoke!" As she spoke, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Applejack helped until Pinkie Pie rammed into them, laughing as she did.
"Fluttershy, what's a matter?" Spyro asked, approaching the fearful mare. "Your fear has gotten the best of you all day long. Is there a reason you're afraid to go into the cave?"
"I-it's because I'm *mumble*" Fluttershy said.
"What's that sugarcube?" Applejack asked.
"I'm *Mumble*" Fliuttershy started to say, but went quiet.
"What?" Twilight asked.
"I'm scared of dragons!" Fluttershy finally said.
A second later, the dragon snored again and a huge cloud of smoke came their way, but Spyro raised his forelegs and diverted the smoke around them so they don't end up being hit with second hand smoke.
"Thanks Spyro." Twilight said, moving to Fluttershy. "But Fluttershy, you have an amazing gift with animals of all kinds."
"Yeah, but they weren't dragons." Fluttershy replied.
"Oh come on!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed. "We watched you walk up to a very angry and ferocious Manticore like it was nothing!"
"Yes, because it wasn't a dragon." Fluttershy repeated.
"Spike is a dragon!" Pinkie said. "And Spyro is a pony/dragon hybrid and you aren't afraid of them."
"Yes because they aren't huge, gigantic, enormous, terrifying, sharp scale having, teeth mashing, smoke snoring, could eat a pony in a single bite, grown up dragons!" Fluttershy replied, noting some of the qualities of a dragon.
The dragon snored again, sending out more smoke, which Spyro diverted with the Force again to keep them from inhaling the nauseous smog.
"At least until you see me as one." Spyro whispered to himself.
"What was that darling?" Rarity asked. "You're kinda mumbled there a bit."
"Oh, it's nothing Rarity." Spyro replied. "Just talking to myself. But Fluttershy, why didn't you tell us you had a fear of dragons? We would have understood."
"I was afraid you'd hate me." Fluttershy said, hiding behind Twilight.
Spyro smiled and walked over, sitting next to her as he wrapped a wing around her, hoping to calm her down.
"Oh Fluttershy, it's alright." Spyro said, helping her to sit up from lying in the dirt. "We're all scared of that dragon."
"I'm not!" Rainbow Dash said, getting a warning glare from him.
"Well, almost all of us." Spyro corrected. "But you are braver than you give yourself credit for. You are courageous and can do this. You just need to believe in yourself and not let your fears beat you."
She looked to Spyro, seeing his smile made her feel happier, but she was too scared to face the dragon and just got up and started to walk away, leaving the group alone.
"Fluttershy..." Twilight said, but Spyro stopped her, letting their friend go.
"She's just scared." Spyro said. "Let her be. She just needs some time to think."
"And we don't have time to wait for her." Rainbow Dash said. "We need to get this guy out of here, now!"
"Unfortunately, Rainbow Dash is right." Twilight said. "I'm going in. Wish me luck."
Twilight went into the cave while everyone else watched from outside of the dark room, watching what was going to happen, but Spyro's attention was somewhere else. He walked to where Fluttershy was walking away, knowing that her fear was controlling her, so he decided to intervene, rubbing his chest as he produced a white butterfly, releasing it into the air as it flew after her.
"Dawn, help her." Spyro said, watching as the butterfly flew after his friend.
Fluttershy was returning to the town, making her decision to just leave the mountain as her heart wasn't in it, looking back to the mountain as she was wondering if she was making the right choice. She then looked back to the path, but before continuing, she saw a white butterfly land on a flower, drinking some nectar and smiled as she approached.
"At least I know you won't hurt me, Ms. Butterfly." Fluttershy said, approaching the flower. "At least I'm not afraid of you."
"You might not be afraid of me now, but you do fear me." The butterfly said, making her back up as the butterfly flew up and turned into a dragon, scaring Fluttershy. "I mean you no harm child. My name is Dawn."
"D-d-d-d-d-d-d-" Fluttershy was saying, fear and panic taking over.
"You don't need to be afraid of me young Pegasi." Dawn said. "You are safe with me."
Fluttershy was about to run, but the symbol Spyro's light left on her started to glow, showing her that she was safe around her.
"W-what are you doing here?" Fluttershy asked.
"To see why you fear my kind." Dawn replied. "Not all dragons are the same you know. There are many who are very friendly, like me."
"But there are also a bunch of scary ones too." Fluttershy replied. "Dragons eat ponies. And, I want to help my friends, but I'm just too scared to help."
"I know." Dawn replied. "And so did Spyro. He respects your decision to leave as, though he doesn't say it, he worries for you."
"But am I making the right decision?" Fluttershy asked. "Am I braver than I think I am?"
"That's not for me to answer." Dawn replied. "That's something you must discover for yourself. Bravery is different from courage for if you're brave, you fear nothing and don't flinch in the face of danger. Being courageous is to do something you fear doing, but know it needs to be done. Sometimes, it's easy to be brave and act like it, you just need to have the courage to face it and back it up. Only you know the answer to your question."
The dragon then disappeared, leaving Fluttershy alone to think about herself and if she did have the courage to do what needed to be done. She looked back up to the mountain, seeing a large cloud of smoke, watching as it went into the air, wondering if she really did make the right decision.
Back at the cave, Spyro watched as Fluttershy was talking to Dawn, not knowing it Dawn could help his friend to find her inner courage until he heard Twilight coming back out coughing as a large cloud of smoke came out, covering everyone as he didn't have enough time to create a barrier to block the smoke. When everyone could breathe again, Twilight looked to the cave as everyone was surrounding her.
"Well, so much for persuading him." Rainbow Dash said.
"Now what?" Applejack asked.
"Well, this situation calls for a lady's charm." Rarity said, walking into the cave. "Leave this to me."
As she entered, Spyro returned his attention to where Fluttershy was last, not finding her anywhere as she wasn't in sight. Thinking that she just kept going back to the village, he turned to the cave and waited for Rarity, but didn't wait long as she ran out and behind a rock, looking very much annoyed.
"I was this close to getting that diamond." Rarity said, using her hooves to show how big it was.
"Getting a diamond?" Spyro asked. "Didn't you mean getting rid of the dragon?"
"Oh, yeah, that too." Rarity said, making him shake his head until they both saw Pinkie in a ridiculous outfit in the shape of a present with balloons and flippers on. "Pinkie darling, what are you wearing? You look absolutely ridiculous."
"Exactly the points of this plan!" Pinkie replied, walking into the cave. "Sharing a good laugh is the perfect way to get everypony on your side." Just as soon as she entered, there was a commotion as they heard balloons pop and something shred as Pinkie came out, her costume ruined and only a single balloon still inflated. "Guess he doesn't like laughing. Or sharing."
"That's it!" Rainbow Dash shouted. "We tried persuasion, charm, and whatever Pinkie does! It's time we took more drastic action. I'm going in."
"No wait!" Spyro shouted, trying to catch her. "You're only going to make things worse!"
A moment later, they heard her shout at the dragon to get out and then heard what sounded like she kicked him, making the dragon roar in anger as it sent her flying into them, knocking them down like pins. Everyone got back up and out of a daze as the dragon came out, furious at the ponies as he sent a massive cloud of smoke at them.
"NO!" Spyro shouted, pushing them out of the way as he took the full blunt of the attack, going through a massive rock as he was sent into a cliff side, buried under the falling rock.
"SPYRO!" Everyone shouted, even Fluttershy who saw the entire thing.
Under the rocks, Spyro could sense his friends were ok, but were huddled together as the dragon was looming down upon them, ready to take revenge for Rainbow Dash kicking him. Having enough of this dragons attitude, blowing smoke at his friends, almost hurting Rarity, despite her intentions, ruining Pinkie's costume and almost killing his friends, he had enough as he opened his eyes, glowing purple as he was really going to show him what it means to be a real dragon.
Fluttershy was shocked that there dragon had just sent Spyro tumbling over the cliff and into a cliff side, being buried under rubble, which seemed to make something snap inside of her as she couldn't stand to see her friends get hurt or the stallion she liked be harmed.
"How dare you!" She said, getting everyone's attention. "HOW DARE YOU!" She flew up to the dragon and landed on his snout, glaring daggers at the giant dragon. "Listen here mister! You maybe big, but that doesn't give you the right to be a bully! You might have sharp claws, sharp teeth, sharp scaled, breathe smoke and breathe fire, but you do not, I repeat, you do not hurt my friends!"
As she finished saying her sentence, a large purple beam of light shot into the air, making everyone look to it as it got bigger and bigger until it faded and something covered by a pair of what looked like wings remained. As the wings unfurled around whatever it was, it was revealed to be another dragon, but it was purple with an orange underbelly, orange horns and membrane between its wings, purple scales and purple eyes, everyone frozen in fear as another dragons had just appeared.
"Now there's two of them!?" Rainbow Dash shouted. "We're in trouble!"
"So, you like picking on ponies smaller than you huh?" The dragon said, his voice sounding very familiar. "Well, let's see how you like picking on someone your own size!"
A moment later, the dragon flew at the red dragon, sucker punching him into the air before being tail smacked into the side of a wall, being knocked for a loop. Before the purple one could continue, Fluttershy landed on his snout, looking equally as mad, which seemed to surprise the dragon.
"And you! What gives you the right to come here and beat someone up for no good reason!" Fluttershy said. "You aren't any better than that big bully!"
"Fluttershy?" The dragon asked, surprising everyone as he seemed to know her name. "You came back!"
"Wait, how do you know my name?" She asked, looking into the dragons eyes as she recognized them, her own eyes wide in shock. "Spyro!? Is that you!?"
"Surprise." Spyro said with a smile. "I can change into a dragon."
"Wait, Spyro!?" Rainbow Dash said, flying up to look him in the eye. "No way! No way that's you!"
"Keep saying that lollipop fugitive." Spyro said. "It's me."
"Yep. Definitely him." Rainbow Dash said, landing on his snout. "Wow, this is amazing."
"Why didn't you tell us you can change into a dragon?" Twilight asked, walking up to him, stunned and in awe. "What else are you hiding from us?"
"Trust me, you don't want to know." Spyro replied, looking back to the surprised dragon. "You heard the mare. You got anything to say?"
"But that rainbow one kicked me." The dragon said, submitting to him and the yellow Pegasi.
"And I do apologize for that." Fluttershy said, making Rainbow Dash confused. "But you are bigger than she is and you should know better. It's also not very good to take a nap in a place that can be a health hazard to other creatures that live here."
"B-but I-" He tried to say, but Fluttershy landed back on his snout.
"Don't give me that mister!" She said, sounding serious. "Now what do you have to say for yourself?"
Spyro was stunned by this side of Fluttershy as he has never seen this side of her whenever they were together, but never saw this side of her during his time in Ponyville. A moment later, the dragon burst into tears, clearly upset about the decisions he made and Spyro couldn't help but feel bad for the big guy, his anger leaving him as he realized he's just a big softy at heart.
"Hey, don't cry pal." Spyro said, putting his paw on his shoulder. "And I'm sorry for the beat down I gave you. You aren't a bad dragon. You just made some bad decisions, that's all."
"Exactly." Fluttershy said, gliding off the dragons nose. "Now go pack your things. You just need to find another place to sleep."
Everyone cheered for Fluttershy as she had just faced her fear and managed to convince the dragon to leave, watching as flew off to another location further south.
"You did it Fluttershy." Twilight said. "I knew you could do it."
"You mean we knew she could do it." Spyro said, looking down at his friends. "You faced your fears and bested them. I am very proud of you little butterfly."
She then covered her face, trying to hide the blush, but her face was completely red, redder than a tomato after being called 'Little Butterfly.' Back at Ponyville, Spyro, while remaining as a dragon, helped the Pegasi to clear out the smoke, but it wasn't easy to convince everyone the dragon was their prince as they were still spooked about a dragon being in Equestria. When the smoke was cleared, Spyro walked to the library, but saw Rainbow Dash was bouncing a ball on her head.
"Hey Twilight, Rainbow Dash is just five bounces away from a new record."
As Rainbow Dash was counting up, he smiled and snuck up behind the rainbow pegasus, Fluttershy looking over and seeing him, moving aside and roared his best roar.
"DRAGON!" Rainbow Dash screamed, falling onto her back and freezing like a goat.
Everyone started laughing at their friend for being scared by Spyro, even he couldn't help but laugh as his friend acted like Fluttershy did when they were just starting to climb the mountain.
"Why is everypony laughing!?" Rainbow Dash asked. "That awful dragon is back."
"Did you forget who can transform into a dragon?" Spyro asked, getting her attention as he glowed and changed back to his hybrid form.
"Spyro, you scared me." Rainbow Dash said, freezing as she just admitted she got scared. "I-I mean, you broke my concentration."
"It's ok Rainbow Dash." Fluttershy said, hovering over her friend. "Not everypony can be as brave as me."
Just as she said it, a leaf fell onto her rear again, making her yelp and freeze like a goat again, making everyone laugh again until Spyro walked over and helped her up.
"Fluttershy, I am so proud of you." Spyro said. "You faced your fear and you came back when your friends needed you most."
"Oh, it's nothing." She replied, blushing at the compliment.
"You know, I think you deserve a special treat." Spyro said, getting everyone's attention. "Master Yen Sid reported that there have been some reported Heartless activity in the Pride Lands and Sora took care of it, but he wants me to go with Sora to patrol the area to make sure there aren't anymore that were missed."
"Oh, um, that's ok." She responded. "I-I'm not much of a fighter."
"It's not to fight them Fluttershy." Spyro replied. "I thought you might like to see the animals there."
"Did you say animals?" Fluttershy asked, her interest peaked.
"Yeah, lots of them." Spyro replied. "Such as Alligators, toucans, Wilda beasts, Hippos, Lions-"
"LIONS!" Fluttershy said, tackling Spyro and putting him in a bone crushing bear hug, which he didn't expect from the most timid pony he knew. "YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES YES!!!! I want to go! I want to go!"
"Ok there, ok." Spyro said, prying himself out of her bear hug. "Then meet me at Sweet Apple Acres tomorrow morning at eight o'clock. We'll leave then."
"Sure thing!" Fluttershy said, excitedly. "Thank you so much."
Without any kind of warning, she pulled him in and kissed him, surprising him as his body's legs shot into the air at full length and he fell to the ground, Fluttershy running to her cottage as he got up, blowing smoke out of his mouth and his ears, grinning like an idiot as he collapsed to the ground.
"Spyro, ya'll just made her the happiest mare in all of Equestria." Applejack said, helping him up.
"You got that right." Rainbow Dash said. "She's been dreaming of meeting a lion and you saying you're going to take her to see some, you just made her dreams come true."
"Well what can I say." Spyro said, still wobbling. "I like to spoil my girls."
As evening was drawing near, Spyro was heading into his room and took out his tablet, punching in a few keys as he contacted Sora, who picked up and was happy to see him,
"Hey Spyro." Sora said. "What's up?"
"Nothing much Sora." Spyro replied. "I heard you handled a bunch of Heartless in the Pride Lands. Master Yen Sid asked me to help you patrol tomorrow for more of them."
"Sweet!" Sora said, pumping his hand up and bringing it down. "With you, we're sure to get it done quickly."
"Sure are." Spyro replied, looking to the door and back to Sora. "Incidentally, is it ok that I bring my friend Fluttershy as well? I kind of promised her I'd take her with me to see Simla and the lions."
"Does she know of the other worlds?" Sora asked, worried about his friend taking a risk.
"She does." Spyro replied. "All my friends know of the other worlds and the order seems to be stable since they know."
"In that case, why not?" Sora responded. "Guess you can say it's a date for you."
"More like a dream come true for her." Spyro replied. "See you tomorrow man."
He ended the call and put the tablet back into the draw, laying his head down as he drifted to sleep. Meanwhile, Maleficent and Pete went to the dragons cave and found the chest it left behind, clearly forgetting he had it and the approached the chest, Pete picking it up and bringing it to his mistress.
"You sure this is it?" Pete asked.
"Of course it is you buffoon!" Maleficent snapped. "This is the one. This chest holds the book for one of the princes library."
Pete opened the chest and found the golden rose, picking it up and finding the carve out of that very flower. He put it in and the same click sounded, opening the panel to show a red book in the hidden compartment.
"Well looking here." Pete said, grabbing it. "Looks like we have it."
"Excellent." Maleficent said. "Open it up and see which one it is." As Pete opened it, he saw only three words, not making any sense of what was written. "Well, what does it say?"
"Um, I'm not sure." Pete responded. "It says 'Buenos Noches Sucka!'"
As he read it, a boxing glove shot out of the pages and nailed him in the jaw, dropping him in a single hit as Maleficent watching in stunned silence as her strongest, and only, henchmen got taken down by a book, knocked out cold with one hit. She pressed her hoof against the temple of her head, not believing that she was keeping the dim witted dog around instead of destroying him as she should be doing now.