Mach I

Neon vanished again with a flash of light. An instant later, he was standing to my left, smiling. The grey pony began to light up again, slowly at first, then in the blink of an eye, vanished. The room seemed empty, except for Twilight, who was standing by the door, also smiling. "Where did he just go?" I asked casually.

"I'm not sure. He should have reappeared by now."

The door swung open by the force of an angry Neon. "I teleported into bushes." He growled, pulling leaves from his mane. I tried not to laugh, I really did. I just couldn't hold it, I burst out into laughter with Twilight.

"Ha-ha, very funny." He said, glaring at me.

"You got a twig in your tail." I managed to say in between laughs.

There was a slight groan from behind me as Rainbow Dashed turned to face us. She was looking at us, eyes wide open. "What happened?!" she shouted. I quickly got my composure and stared at her blankly.

"Erm, well." I began. "I-" Neon cut me off before I could say something stupid.

"Inferno 'accidentally' got you to bump your head on something, then bravely rescued you from certain doom."

"Why do you have to make it dramatic like that?" I asked, looking at the floor.

"Because it was like that! On top of that, you managed to break the sound barrier to a Sonic Flameboom!" Neon exclaimed.

Rainbow Dash stared at me, then said "Heh, thanks." She stood up and walked over to me. "But still, it was your fault I almost died anyways!" she shot her hoof out and landed it straight on my face. I plopped down on to the floor, rubbing my snout.

"Ouch..." I moaned. "I guess that's true, sorry Dash."

She walked out the door, "Still, you saved my life. I won't forget it soon." then flew off. I looked to Neon, the to Twilight, who was pawing at the floor nervously.

"What's the matter Twilight?" I asked.

"Oh, it's just that I am still worried about that dragon. I already explained to Neon about how I am probably the cause of you two being here, but that means that the dragon that was terrorizing Canterlot is still somewhere in Equestria!"

"Hang on a sec' Twilight." Neon said. "You told me that there was a dragon, but you never really gave me the whole story. Mind explaining?"

Twilight looked up and said "Alright, I'll start from the beginning."

**********

It was morning in Ponyville. Twilight was already up and about, frantically searching through books in the center of the library. Spike came down the stairs. "Ugh, Twilight! Can't you make tons of noise after the sun is up?"

Twilight Sparkle looked up from her pile of books. "No Spike, a fully grown dragon is heading for Canterlot right now! she yelled.

"Okay, okay. Sorry to have bothered you Twi." Spike groaned, then headed back upstairs to get more sleep.

There has to be a spell to defeat a dragon, I cannot let this monster get to Canterlot and destroy everything! Twilight began to shred through pages of books, looking for the answer. Hours passed, and Twilight still had no answer. One last book caught her attention. She used her magic to float it down in front of her. Odd, this book was in the archives of Canterlot. she thought. Her horn glowed as she opened the cover of the book. The title was "Dragons Slaying". Well, that sure is strangely convinient. The book told of mighty ponies from medieval times, who defeated mighty dragons with their mighty enchanted swords, or their incredible magic. Of course they were all myth, but something caught Twilight's eye. On the story called "Grizwald and the Hidden Temple" there was a side note on the bottom corned of the informational page. It read: The spell Grizwald used to defeat the massive red dragon is supposedly lost to time, although it is rumored that it may remain in the hidden archives of Canterlot. "That's it!" she shouted. "That's how I'm going to defeat the dragon!" Twilight set off on the nearest train for Canterlot.

Upon arriving, Twilight headed straight for the Royal Library. Right now, she had no time for Princess Celestia. The doors to the Forbidden Section of the Royal Library were massive and covered in large locks and chains. One of the guards looked down at Twilight. "I need to get in there, it is urgent!" Twilight shouted. The guard, recognizing her, began to unlock the door. Twilight entered. Obviously it had been a few months since anyone entered this room. A fine layer of dust coated everything, from scrolls and tablets, to the shelves themselves. Twilight searched frantically for the rumored scroll. There were dragon summoning spells, dragon feeding spells, even dragon nurturing spells, but she just couldn't seem to find anything on dragon slaying. At last she sat down in defeat at a wooden table, sending a fine cloud of dust shooting around her. She coughed a few times, uncovering a scroll that was covered by more dust. "Grizwald's spell list." it read. "Yes! I found it!" she exclaimed happily.

The scroll was made of rough parchment and cracked a few times before it opened. There were a number of spells on the list, but one caught her eye. "Dragon Slayer - Use with caution" Twilight read the ancient words below it over and over, trying to memorize them. She seemed to finally be able to recite them in her head without struggling. Her victory was cut short by an earth-shaking roar. Screams outside verified her suspicions. The dragon is here. Twilight burst out of the Royal Library and looked up. A gigantic green, scaly beast was standing over the city. The dragon reached its hand down and tore a building off its foundation, then threw it across the city. It landed somewhere close to the Palace awakening the princess. Twilight looked up at the dragon fearfully. She knew what had to be done. Twilight closed her eyes and began to recite the ancient words in her head. Her horn began to glow brighter and brighter. Sparks flew from it as a massive flash blinded everyone nearby. The massive dragon shook backwards and let out a small yelp. The beast took a step back, then flew away fearfully. Is that it? It is just going to run off? Princess Celestia landed beside Twilight. "Is that it princess?" she asked quietly.

"Yes. It appears the dragon won't be coming back any time soon. Good work, Twilight Sparkle. I would continue here, but I need to tend to my subjects." The princess expanded her wings and flew off. "How do we know it won't go to Ponyville, or- or Manehattan? We can't be sure it won't come back!" It was no use though, the princess was out of sight, helping to repair the damages. Twilight sighed, knowing the princess probably already knew what she was asking. She set off to the train station once again, and got the first ticket to Ponyville.

*********

"...and then I got back here. A few hours after I returned, you two came to my door."

"Interesting, so do you want us to help by any chance? I would gladly try and defeat this 'mighty dragon'." I said, boldly as ever.

"No, I could never ask that of you, it is too dangerous." Twilight sighed.

"Too dangerous?" I asked. "Twilight, danger is my middle name."