A Small Change for Smaller Voices

Mayor Mare sipped at the mug held in her hooves, hissing as the initial drops scalded her tongue. Beyond her desk Twilight Sparkle marched back and forth in a neat square-shaped pattern, perhaps mirroring the cheap rug whose borders she was skirting.

"An Ursa Minor and now this..." Twilight muttered darkly, watching the fibers of the rug bend around the edges of her hooves as she took quick, anxiety-fueled steps.

"Do you think we should ask for assistance from the Royal Guard?" Mayor Mare asked, peering out at Twilight from over the rim of her glasses. The slight blurriness of her vision was slightly comforting, as she couldn't quite see the Unicorn chewing at her bottom lip.

"There's no way to be sure the general won't just order a harpoon shot into its heart."

"Well Twilight I do admit it seems cold, but this smog--"

"And if that doesn't work?" Twilight made her way back across the rentangle of the office, light from the cracks in the blinds dancing across her moving legs.

"It would take more soldiers than Canterlot has to just put one down, and that's if they are lucky enough to not be facing a full-grown dragon." Twilight scoffed at the futilitely of such an effort, knowing full well the legends of gallant knights facing dragons in battle and winning were just fairy tales. The reality of the situation was that dragon scales were as hard as diamonds, and hellfire brewed in their bellies on a constant basis. Peace with dragons came from diplomacy, and at times the flirtatious advances from particularly beautiful mares and stallions.

"What would you have me suggest Ms. Sparkle? A situation of this magnitude isn't something a town mayor is supposed to ever handle anyway, but if something isn't done Ponyville will be the most harshly effected by the smog." The mayor, having kept her composure until Twilight revealed just how monsterous the threat actually was, was dropping hints in her tone as to how she actually felt. In short, she was terrified.

"I'm going to handle this situation personally. I'll bring Spike along so I have immediate contact with the Princess should the situation turn ugly." Twilight gulped, the only hint of fear in her otherwise stoic expression.

"What should I do if you don't come back?" The mayor's tone took on the qualities of a secretary on the first day of the job rather than the community leader she was paid to be, one hoof pulling at the bowtie that had become suddenly uncomfortable.

"Notify Canterlot if I don't return in two days." Twilight set her jaw as she stared grimly into the afternoon sun, its warmth doing little to thaw the lump of ice in her stomach. From what she had read, dragons come in two categories. The first was the younger, more prone to anger and impulse kind. The second was the ancient and very wise.

Her hopes obviously lay with the older dragons, their infinite but silent wisdom being her only string of confidence. She had several history books written from the oral records of friendly and particularly old dragons, some stretching back from when Equestria was actually two seperate continents. But these were not beings to get on the bad side of; a towering collossus of scales harder than steel and battle strategy tempered from thousands of years of conflict was not a foe ponykind could expect to beat.

As she marched out the door of Mayor Mare's office she had to bite back her fears, deciding it best not to think she would not survive the confrontation.

But after all, there was only a 50/50 chance she would make it today.

"Whoa whoa whoa, what? Shouldn't we leave this to the Royal Guard?" Rainbow's mouth hung loose as Twilight shook her head, the other four stealing equally worried glances at one another.

"Twilight let's jes think rational-like here. What the hay are we gonna do about a dragon?" Applejack shoved Rainbow's outstretched wing away from her face as she attempted to keep her voice calm.

"It's either us or someone else from town," Twilight began, still playing with the mug of tea held between her hooves. "and the Royal Guard is only going to agitate it."

"And exactly what, pray tell, are we supposed to say to it? 'Oh Mr. Dragon won't you please pack up all your things, you're not welcome here! I'll spend your last night with you if you wish!'" Rarity held her hooves under her chin and fluttered her eyelashes, staring up at a corner of the ceiling and trying to imagine the ungodly face of the serpent staring back at her.

"That actually might work if its a male." Twilight stated matter-of-factly and forced a smile. Rarity just let her hooves lower and immediately thought of a certain dragon she knew personally. That would work huh?

"And what if its a girl? Won't she think Rarity's just a teensy bit of a flooze?" Pinkie Pie perked up, her voice rising in pitch as she measured out the exact level of "flooziness" with her two hooves; Rarity's estimated level of"flooziness" was small but still significant enough to indicate a "gold-digger" status, or so Pinkie's internal charts showed.

"Pinkie what on earth are you implying?" Rarity slammed her hoof down on Twilight's tabletop, the silent Ms. Fluttershy cowering further away from the group.

"That you'd be being a flooze! Wait," Pinkie put a hoof to mouth and furrowed her brow. "Is that not what you were going for? I mean you pull it off really well though, its a good look for you!"

Rarity held a hoof to her chest and sputtered out an incoherency back at Pinkie Pie. The nerve of that sugar-addicted traitor!

"I darling am a LADY," Rarity stated, with particular emphasis on the "lady" bit, "and I never succumb to the status of a "floozy", I simply know how to use a LADY's touch in certain situations, thank you."

"That's not important right now, flooze or not," Rarity gawked as Twilight used that word to describe her as well, "we might need Rarity to calm the big guy down."

"I know I'm gonna sound like a broken record, but what if that don't work? You got an escape plan handy?" Applejack had taken her hat off, the previous outburst seemingly not affecting her perception of the situation. Twilight took a deep breath and shoved the mug away.

"Just whatever happens, Rainbow or Fluttershy has to get Spike out of there. Promise me?"

"I don't like this idea very much Twi." Rainbow crossed her arms and fluttered away from her chair, nerves making her wings itch for flight.

"I can't focus on stalling a dragon while I'm stopping a smaller one from getting squished!" She splayed her hooves out at Rainbow. Twilight obviously didn't like the idea either, the simple notion that she was endangering the very same dragon she had birthed with her own magic made her stomach ache.

"Just promise me?" Twilight dropped her hooves onto the table and stared up at Rainbow Dash. It only took a few seconds for the pleading behind her collected expression to surface, and Rainbow was in no postion to deny the request anymore.

"Alright alright, just cool it with this whole doom and gloom thing. You're making me nervous."

"Thank you Rainbow," Twilight nodded up at her. "What about you Fluttershy?"

The poor pegasus by this point had squirmed away from the table, wringing her hooves over the faucet tap in an attempt to seem preoccupied rather than terrified.

"I think Spike would be better off sticking with Rainbow, I'm really no good with these things," she plastered a fake smile over her features as she soaped her hooves for the third time in a row. "As a matter of fact I'd probably just slow you all down if I came at all."

"Dude what are you talking about? The entire town is depending on us, what gives?" Rainbow Dash flew over Fluttershy's head and shoved her roughly on the chest. The fake smile splintered.

"I-it's just that-" Fluttershy raised a still moist hoof as she scrambled for her list of excuses that had been blown away by the storm that was supposed to be one of her best friends.

"Don't tell me the animal shelter needs help today. We all know they limited your volunteer days to Monday through Thursday." Dash rested her hooves on her hips, one eyebrow arched as her friend's wings tightened close to her body.

"B-but I don't see how I could help!" Fluttershy could feel the staring of the friends she had abandoned on the back of her head as she backed away from Rainbow Dash. The guilt she felt at her cowardice was great, and even should she have gotten away from the others with no resistance she still probably would have felt terrible about it.

"Fluttershy, if the dragon was to talk to anyone I'd think it would be you first." Twilight said, the sudden realization of Fluttershy's importance beyond her simple addition to a supportive group clicking into place. Of course Fluttershy was the perfect candidate for speaking to the dragon, her manners were perfect and her attitude soft. She was the perfect conversational partner for a potentially wise and ancient dragon.

"Ya know Twilight has a point there. Its awful hard for ya to get on anypony's badside, and I'm bettin' dragons wouldn't be the exception." Applejack had put her hat back on with a flick of her hoof, the plan seemingly all figured out. Fluttershy felt her stomach drop in a way she had never felt before, and her fake smile plummeted along with it.

"You all can't be serious! What could I possibly say to a full-grown dragon!" All the eyes in the room fell on Fluttershy, her voice having become unusually loud and hysterical.

"Fluttershy I don't understand, you've handled Manticores before--" Twilight shut her mouth quickly as the pegasus swept her long mane away from her eyes and screamed out at them.

"This isn't a Manticore! Don't you all get it, this is a DRAGON we're talking about!"

"Fluttershy they can't be all bad, I mean look at Spike--" Twilight felt a tad bit offended at the pegasus' statement but she didn't get the chance to voice it.

"Spike's just a baby! This is a full-grown dragon! I saw one poke its head up from the clouds next to me once in Cloudsdale when I was a little girl, its jaws were bigger than my house! It was horrible!" Fluttershy made no effort to hide her shaking legs as giant red scales cut through her memories.

"And what made you think it wanted to hurt you?" Twilight asked, having missed the pity train.

"It set City Hall on fire! The whole thing went up in smoke and then the dragon just left!"

"I'm not gonna say that isn't a scary thing to see Fluttershy, I just think it's assuming an awful lot of the dragon near Ponyville. And that could really hurt his feelings." Twilight was not Celestia's personal student for no reason, she knew exactly how deep her statement would cut Fluttershy. And sure enough, the Pegasus's jaw dropped.

A thousand apologies and excuses flooded Fluttershy's mind at once, but again they mixed with her hesitance and fear. The sour concoction refused to be voiced and she ended up rooted to the spot, with no comeback to speak of.

"You don't really have to come Ms. Fluttershy." The voice's owner had been listening from behind a corner, to everypony's ignorance. Twilight sighed and put a hoof over her eyes, knowing a heart to heart would soon be needed with the little dragon.

Although she knew he wouldn't mind, somehow seeing Spike standing behind her, clutching a random quill in his claw threw Fluttershy off. Baby dragon or not, he was still a dragon and he would one day be just as big if not bigger than the one threatening Equestria.

"No Twilight's right." Ms. Fluttershy folded her wings, ducking her head as she did so. "It would be mean if I didn't at least talk to the dragon first."

"Are you sure?" Spike asked, twirling the quill in his clawtips.

"I'm sorry Twilight, I'll just go grab my things." Fluttershy fluttered off the ground, her front hooves still wringing nervously. She peeked back at Spike, her eyes whispering an apology she couldn't voice. Her stomach twisted and flopped with each beat of her wings, knowing full well her doom lay before her.

"Hey was that part about Cloudsdale City Hall true?" Applejack asked, peering up at Rainbow Dash as soon as she was sure Fluttershy was long gone. Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes and shrugged, her attention barely averting from the library shelf she was perusing.

"Yeah but it really wasn't a big deal. The dragon got sidetracked during the big Migration thing, and it was catching its breath when it hit Cloudsdale. And dragon breath usually is on fire so....you do the math." She smirked down at Twilight, who simply blinked in surprise at the simplicity of it all.

"Really though Twilight, don't make her come." Spike spoke up again, his quill having been abandoned to its place on the library sign-in sheet.

"We need her Spike. That dragon isn't going to be happy when we wake it up."