Author's Note

My Little Pony: FIM-Hasbro

It's such a Dragon

Omni finally woke up early one Saturday morning and got up off the basement floor and from under the blanket. After putting on his jacket and kilt he walked up the stairs and pushed through the door out of the basement. Groggily walking straight to the kitchen, Omni turned on the faucet and drank the water from out of the sink. After getting his fill he turned off the water and walked out for the door. But something caught his eye when he backed up to a window, where he saw huge clouds of smoke in the sky from the direction he's looking, "Uh, Twilight?" Omni hurried back into the library, "Twilight, I think there's a cloud of smoke outside!" he looked around for the purple unicorn, around the library, even upstairs, but she's not here. Is she out today?

Suddenly there's a knock on the door. That must be her. But by the time he went downstairs, they already invited themselves in; and it wasn't Twilight. Instead it's Faiz, with a coupe of empty sacks over his shoulders. "Is that the same clothes you wore yesterday?" he huffed, "We seriously need to talk about your choice of wardrobe!"

Omni groaned, "I know you didn't come here unannounced just to criticize about what I'm wearing."

"You're right. I came here because I need you for something. You see, we're about to go treasure hunting."

"Treasure hunting?" Omni raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, there's a cave out at the top of the mountains and it's filled with treasure! And I want you to help me get some!"

"Wait a minute, you're telling me there's a huge load of treasure stashed in a cave somewhere?" Faiz nodded, "What if that treasure belongs to someone else, maybe some giant beast could be guarding it? Won't that be stealing?"

"Omni, no one keeps that much gold and jewels just sitting around! You have to sell it off to make use of it! And I'm gonna make plenty use of it! Are you with me, or not?"

"Faiz, this is seriously a bad idea," Omni insisted, "I'm not gonna risk my life for something shiny. Just forget about it!"

"Wait, wait!" Omni stopped midway towards the basement door, "I know you're not used to this much livelihood. I know this; but I'm telling you, we're gonna make this trip worth it! Besides, it's Friday…"

"No, it's Saturday." Omni corrected.

"You ain't go no job…"

"Are you forgetting? I help out at the apple orchids."

"And you ain't got #^$ to do! Not today, anyway!"

"How would you know?!"

"Okay! If you're not gonna help, then more treasure for me!" Faiz went walking back out.

"Faiz, stop!" Omni called and Faiz stopped at the foot of the door, "If we go and it turns out I'm right, I want us to get straight back here, without any treasure! Would that satisfy you?!"

The red Pegasus snickered, "Fine, whatever you say!"

In no time at all, Omni and Faiz headed straight towards the mountains near the town. As Omni was being carried by Faiz, he couldn't keep his eyes of the huge clouds of smoke coming from the peaks. "You know anything about the smoke coming from there?" he asked in suspicion.

"There? Oh, that must be the dragon sleeping there."

"WHAT?! And it didn't cross your mind to tell me that back at the library?!"

"Sorry! I thought it didn't matter at the time!"

"You knew it mattered! Faiz, you knew I didn't want anything to do with anything that'll get me killed!"

"Well, nothing to do about it now! We're just at the foot of the mountains! Might as well get it over with!"

"Faiz, get me down! I mean, NOW!"

"Alright, fine!" Faiz grumbled and released Omni, causing him to fall straight down into a large bush below.

"Gah!" Omni scrambled out from under the bush, "Are you crazy?! You could've killed me! Wait, something softened up my fall…" the blue pony rustled through the bush until he found… "Uh…"

"You weren't even that high up! You're alive, aren't ya?!" Faiz landed and went up to Omni as he looked over him at what he's looking at, "Wait! Isn't that…" there's a yellow pony with wings and pink hair lying in a dazed state on the ground. Omni just fell ontop of Fluttershy!

"Oh man, Fluttershy!" the panicking blue stallion pulled Fluttershy out of the bush and shook her, her eyes like googly-eyes as he did, "Fluttershy? Are you okay? Fluttershy!" the only response he got was a little mumbling from her. "I think she said something. That's a good thing, right?!"

"Omnifarious? Mach Faiz?! Is that you?!" Omni looked up and saw a group of five ponies against the steep slope of the mountain, and New Moon's the one leading them. "What are you doing out here?!"

"I was about to ask you the same thing!" Faiz called back, "What are you guys doing up there?!"

"Never mind that! Where's Fluttershy?" Rainbow wondered, "What's she waiting for, an invitation?"

"Umm…" Omni darted between the group and Fluttershy, "I think she's taking a nap right now…!"

"Are you kidding?!" Rainbow dove down to ground level, where he saw Fluttershy unconscious, "What'd you guys do?! Get away from her!" Rainbow shoved Omni away cradled the yellow pony. She tried calling out to her but all she got was a few quiet murmurs, "Oh good, she's just unconscious… Isn't anypony gonna tell me what happened?!"

"Omni fell on her!" Faiz pointed.

"Only because you dropped me on her!" Omni argued.

"Alright, that's enough!" Applejack grabbed a scroll from out of Twilight's bookbag and tossed it down, "Take this! You'll need this to find another way around the mountain!"

"Around the mountain?!" Rainbow groaned, "That'll take forever!"

"Wait, shouldn't we bring Fluttershy back to town?" Omni asked, "I don't think she should be outside in this state."

"Omni, we need Fluttershy for this!" Twilight called.

"Besides, you're the reason that happened!" New Moon said, "So you're going to be the ones responsible for making sure she meets us up the mountain safely, both you and Faiz!"

"What? Why do I have to do it?" Faiz asked.

"Why don't you stop sassing, and get your #% up this mountain!"

Omni and Faiz managed to find an alternate route up the mountain. As they walked Omni had to be the one to carry Fluttershy on his back. "So, what exactly are you guys doing here, anyway?"

"You mean you didn't know?" Rainbow asked over him, "There's a dragon sleeping at the top of the mountains!"

Omni stopped, "Wait, did you say there's a dragon…?"

"Yeah. See those clouds of smoke up there?" Rainbow pointed up to the dark sky, "That dragon's snoring's what causing it! So we have to get it out of there! But why are you here?"

"Faiz said it's to look for treasure!" Omni glared at Faiz, "He never said it was dragon treasure!"

"Hey, I didn't think it mattered!" Faiz protested.

"We were about to steal treasure under a dragon's nose; A DRAGON!" Omni said, "and not the kind of dragon that grants you wishes after gathering his family jewels, I mean the kind of dragon that's flash-fry us for barbeque if he catches us anywhere near his stuff! The fact we're stealing from a dragon isn't just immoral, it's the definition of both suicide, and jack$&%ery! Taking treasure from a dragon is something I would most definitely like to know if I'm following you on a treasure hunt!"

"Okay, okay!" Faiz backed away, "You don't wanna get your hands dirty, I get it!"

"The only thing you'll 'get' is toasted, killed, eaten, uneaten, and re-toasted, in that order!" Rainbow said, "trust me, you're way in over your head this time!"

"And you're any better?" Faiz snide.

"Uh, yeah!" Rainbow rolled her eyes, "You're talking to one of the Elements of Harmony!"

"Is that a new name for 'lazy cloud potato'?"

"Are you asking for a fight?!"

"ALRIGHT!" Omni shouted over the two pegasi, stopping them from arguing. Then looked back to the yellow one slumped on his back, "But what makes it so important that we can't just take her back to town?"

"Maybe it's due to her being good with animals and stuff." Rainbow said.

"But a dragon? Don't you think that's a bit overkill?"

"Did you ever run into a manticore when you were in the everfree forest?"

"I was never in the everfree forest. Faiz carried me over the forest that night."

"Well, we were being chased by a manticore that got a thorn in its paw. In fact, it was Fluttershy who got it out and calmed the manticore down."

"She really did that? She must've been really scared at the time!"

"Nope, she went up to it and coddled it like it's a kitten! You should've seen it!"

"Too bad she's out it right now," Faiz hovered past, "Of all the times to be passed out."

Rainbow scowled, "Yeah, no %& #..."

It took longer, but they managed to reach a large plateau on the side of the mountain, where the other ponies were around waiting. Omni dropped off his hooves the moment he stepped on the plateau.

"Took you long enough." New Moon said.

"Nice to meet you too." Faiz scoffed.

"Now get up! We still have a ways to go to the top of the mountain!"

"C'mon…" Omni panted, "Can't it wait a minute…?"

"Ponyville can't wait, and neither should we. Now let's go!"

Omni groaned.

The ponies traveled further up the mountain until they reached the edge of a dropoff. One by one they jumped to the other side until the only one left is…

"Okay, Omni. Your turn." Twilight called.

Omni's shaking a bit as he stayed on the opposite side. "I don't know, it looks kinda wide, and steep… Besides, I don't wanna drop Fluttershy!"

"Oh, no problem! I'll take care of that!" Faiz hovered down to grab her.

"No, I'll carry her!" Rainbow flew past him and lifted Fluttershy up from Omni's back.

"Okay then, Faiz, you carry me!" Omni suggested.

"Oh! Yeah, I'd love to but…" Faiz trailed off.

"Whaddaya mean 'but'?! You just offered to carry Fluttershy a minute ago!" Omni's complaining stopped when a loud thunderclap filled the sky. "What was that?!"

"That's the sound of the dragon snoring!" New Moon said, "And the longer we wait, the more damage the smoke will cause to the environment!"

"Come on, Omni! We should be much farther by now!" Twilight said impatiently.

"You could just leap on over." Applejack encouraged.

"Alright! Just, just give me a minute…" Omni said.

"There's nothing to be afraid of. It's just a hop, skip and a jump. See?" with one nimble bound, Pinkie jumped back to Omni's side, then broke into song as she jumped back over, "It's not very far, Just move your little rump, you can make it if you try with a hop, skip and jump."

Twilight groaned, "We don't have time for this."

"A hop, skip and jump, Just move your little rump," Pinkie continued singing as she jumped back and forth. Omni's starting to get dizzy just from watching her performance, "A hop, skip and jump, A hop, skip and jump, A hop, skip and jump, A hop skip and jump, A hop skip and jump!"

"Okay! I'll do it!" Omni snapped, and Pinkie jumped back to the opposite side. Scuffling his feet, Omni backed up a few feet, and started to run towards the ledge.

"WAIT!"

He skid to a stop when Pinkie called him out, "What now?!"

"Aren't you forgetting something!" Pinkie said and suddenly broke into song again, ""It's not very far, Just move your little rump—"

"Alright, fine! Just give me some room! Okay. A hop…" Omni hopped, "a skip…" he closed his eyes and skipped over the edge.

"Just don't look down!"

But in spite of what Twilight said, he did just that. The moment he looked down, he panicked from the height he's over. He wanted to get over as fast as possible and kicked his legs. But he didn't have to go far as he touched the other side and his still kicking legs sent him running face-first into the rock wall. "Ack!"

"Omni, I said 'jump', not 'run'!" Pinkie said and Omni slumped against the wall, groaning.

Further along the path, Twilight spoke up quietly, "Let's keep it down. According to my map, we're entering an avalanche zone. The smallest peep could cause a huge rock slide."

Hearing that loud and clear, the group moved on ahead, taking care to put down their hooves as quietly as possible. As Rainbow flew low, he brushed along a leafy branch to drop loose. One of them happened to brush onto Omni, tickling his snout. That messed with his sinuses as he took sharp intakes, but managed to stop himself from sneezing…

"Achoo!" Omni's heart raced as he sealed his mouth shut. Everyone else froze in place, on edge of what would happen. They all stood quiet, waiting for the smallest article of sound. After a few moments, they considered themselves lucky. It couldn't take that but of sound to cause an avalanche.

"RIIIING! RIIIING! RIIIING!" Everyone started to panic when that sound blared over them. Each one looked around to try and get rid of that noise.

"Wait! Hold on, I got this!" Faiz pulled out his smartphone that's been ringing on top volume. He keeps tapping on the touchscreen, trying to silence the phone; but all he managed to do was trade one ringtone for the next, from bullhorns to bass drum solos, to 'Ain't no Mountain High Enough' by Diana Ross. It's really not helping any.

"GIMME THAT!" New Moon snatched the phone away and, with a grunt, tossed it over the mountain. Everything was quiet now that the noise was gone, save for Faiz whimpering as he slouched over the edge of the mountain.

"Now why'd you have to go and do that?" Faiz groaned, "It didn't do anything to anyone…"

"YOU! ARE! SO! STUPID!" New Moon screamed, "THAT NOISE YOU MADE COULD START AN…" suddenly, the ground shook under their feet. The rumbling ensured, and rocks big and small started tumbling down towards them.

"AVALANCHE!" the ponies ran left and right trying to avoid being crush by huge boulders. Everywhere was rocks trying to roll them over. As each one missed, each one fell over the mountain. After the danger they managed to get through without a scratch.

"Is everypony okay?!" Twilight called, and everyone confirmed, everyone except…

"Wait! I don't see Omni anywhere!" Applejack said.

"And he had Fluttershy with him!" Rainbow added. The ponies called out trying to look for their friends.

A pair of blue feet dug themselves in the edge of the cliff. Omnifarious climbed back up to the edge carrying Fluttershy in his teeth by her tail. He finally got himself over with the yellow pony safely. Everyone sighed in relief.

"Hey. Next time we're walking through an avalanche zone, why don't you use your inside voices." Faiz retorted to New Moon.

"What?! We almost died because you had to bring that—"

"Boys, enough!" Twilight exclaimed, "We'll have plenty of time to argue after we get this done!" the purple unicorn looked onto the usual trail, which is now unfortunately blocked by the stones caused by the landslide. Then she looked on over towards the mountain itself. Her face fell when the narrow path along the edge is the only one available, "Now come on, we're getting close."

"Yeah, New Moon; and try not to shout next time—"

"Don't you start, Faiz!" Twilight snapped.

After a dangerous trek up the slope of rocks, the group finally made it to the top of the mountain. Omni felt something squirming ontop of him and looked over to see Fluttershy stirring on his back, 'I think she's starting to wake up…' the blue pony lowered himself on his belly and slipped out from under her. He didn't stand too close as not to scare her, but soon Fluttershy woke up.

"Hmm…" Fluttershy mumbled, "What happened…?"

"Fluttershy? Are you alright?" Omni asked quietly.

Fluttershy moved her head to Omnifarious' voice rubbing her eyes, "Omni… Is that you?"

"Yeah, it's me."

Fluttershy rolled over to her belly, "Oh my, I just had this awful dream. There were clouds of smoke and a dragon, and we had to climb up that big scary mountain. And there were steep cliffs and landslides and everything. Oh, I'm just glad it was all just a nightmare…"

"Um, about that…"

"Huh? What is it?"

"Fluttershy!" Twilight called out and ran to her, "Thank goodness you woke up, and not a moment too soon! We just made it to the top of the mountain!"

Fluttershy jumped up to her feel fully awake, "Wha… But… But…" she stammered and panicked, eventually planting her head into the ground.

"Ugh! Come on, Fluttershy! We have to do this!" Twilight pulled the yellow pony's head out and started pushing against her, trying to get her closer to the cave, "Every…second longer that dragon…sleeps is another…acre of Equestria that is covered in…smoke." Most of the ponies were helping Twilight push Fluttershy forth until Pinkie flew in towards them.

Eventually, Fluttershy decided to pull her head out. "I… I can't go into the cave." Everyone groaned and crashed to the ground.

"Oh, great. She's scared of caves now, too." Rainbow complained.

"I'm not scared of caves, I'm scared of…" Fluttershy mumbled.

"What's that, sugarcube?" Applejack asked.

"I'm scared of…" she mumbled again.

Twilight Sparkle stepped closer, "What?"

"I'm scared of dragons!" she finally blurted out.

"But Fluttershy. You have a wonderful talent dealing with all kinds of animals." Twilight pointed out.

"Yes, because they're not dragons."

"Oh come on!" Rainbow argued, "We've seen you walk right up to a horrible manticore like it was nothing."

"Yes, because he wasn't a dragon."

"You're the one keeping that evil monkey in your closet!" Faiz said, "How's that any different?"

"Because he's not a dragon."

"Spike is a dragon," Pinkie reminded, "You're not scared of him."

"Yes, because he 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!" The dragon snored again, causing Fluttershy to whimper.

"Wait a minute!" New Moon joined in, "You're the one who asked me to gather the seven dragonballs to summon Shenron!"

Seven glowing orbs pulsed with light as Fluttershy backed away from the pile. "Arise, Shenron!"

The dragonballs flashed and exploded in a bright light that lit the dark skies. That light grew and took shape that's long and large. The light shed off revealing a giant green dragon with fearsome red eyes.

"I am the mighty Shenron and I will grant you one with that is within my power," the beast bellowed, "Quickly, name your desire."

"So you may as well compare that dragon in that cave over there to a small lizard!"

"…That time was different."

"But, if you're so afraid of dragons, why didn't you say something before we came all the way up here?" Twilight asked.

"Assuming she had a say at all…"

"And what's that supposed to mean?!" New Moon snapped, just now listened to Omni's muttering. "Are you implying that we forced her here against her will?!"

"Well, did she say she didn't wanna come?"

"Of course she didn't! I would've remembered her saying that!"

"Actually…" Twilight reluctantly spoke, "She did asked if she could stay behind. But I pushed her to coming with us…"

"But she would have to come with us if she had just told us she's afraid! There's a difference!" New Moon said, then glared back at Omni, "Besides, where do you get off?! You're the one who fell on top of Fluttershy and knocked her unconscious! Besides, she's our best chance of getting that dragon to leave!" he turned to Fluttershy, "Understand? You just gotta put that fear aside!"

"He's right, Fluttershy!" Applejack said, "If you can't do it for yourself then please do it for us!"

"I-I…but I…but…" Fluttershy stammered but Omni stepped in between them and defended her.

"Look, if she's afraid then I don't see any shame in it! We shouldn't have to force her into this!"

"That's not what we're trying to do!" Applejack said, "We're all scared of that dragon!"

"I'm not!" Rainbow gloated from the background, earning a glare from the orange pony.

"…Almost all of us are scared of that dragon, but we've got a job to do. So please, Fluttershy, get in there with Twilight and show her what you're made of!"

Fluttershy stammered, trying to find her answer, "I… I… I just can't." she sulked and started her way back down the trail.

"Way to lower our chances." New Moon huffed before he and the others returned to the task at hand.

"I think I should…yeah…" guessing he's not needed here, Omni decided to leave with Fluttershy. He followed her trail until he spotted her slouched behind a rock. Omni went over and sat down beside her. After a few moment of hearing her silent sobbing, he finally spoke, "If you want, I can lead you back to town. We don't have to stay here if you didn't want to."

"No, you don't understand…" Fluttershy whimpered, wiping her eyes, "It's not that I wanted to be here, it's not like I want to help, it's just… I feel so helpless! I want to help them but no matter what I want to do I just can't! I'm just too afraid…"

"Everyone's afraid of something, but that's not a weakness; it's a part of who you are. If there's something beyond your ability, you shouldn't risk trying to overestimate yourself and then end up hurting yourself. Not being able to do something doesn't make you any less of a person. Fluttershy, the best you can do is let us handle it. But if you still wanna help in some way, if anything goes wrong, you'll be the one to call for help because I'm sure this is much more than even all of us can handle. You feel the same way, don't you?" Fluttershy wiped away her tears and nodded, "I'm glad you do. Now just sit back. I'm going to see what's going on." Omni stood up and walked back out towards the cave, where he walked to Twilight, "Is there any progress…?"

"Well, we've been trying several methods…" she was interrupted by loud pummeling from the cave for a moment, "But nothing's working."

Pinkie walked out of the cave, a complete mess and a balloon from her tail, "Apparently he doesn't like laughing. Or sharing…"

"All right, that's it!" Rainbow finally lost his patience, "We tried persuasion, charm, whatever it is Pinkie Pie does. It's time to stop wasting time! I'm going in!"

"Rainbow, no!" but she ignored Twilight as he's about to make a beeline into the cave, before he got pulled back out by New Moon's magic.

"Before you charge in there and get us all killed, perhaps we should find another solution!" he stated.

"Yeah? And what do you suppose we do?" Rainbow bickered, "We tried everything we can think of!"

"We can try to reason to him." Omni suggested.

"Don't you think we tried?" New Moon said, "Trust me, I was there with Twilight when she was in the cave. She explained to it what it's doing to the town and the environment, but it seems like it just doesn't care!"

"Then we can just try again; give him a reason to leave."

"I don't see how that's any different."

"I think I'm know where Omni's getting at," Twilight said, "Before I only told him about his snoring problem, but I don't think he really understood the circumstances. Maybe if we give him more detail, he could see the gravity of the situation and then decide to leave. Am I right, Omnifarious?"

"Um, right," Omni nodded uncertainly, "That's exactly my plan."

New Moon sighed, "Alright then, we'll just try harder. So who's going in?"

"How about I go in?" Omni offered, "I think I could be a good help."

"Wait, you?" New Moon interrupted, "I highly doubt you could do any better than we did."

"No, wait. I think Omni's right," Twilight said, "He could be just what we need to finally persuade that dragon to leave this mountain."

New Moon was about to intervene when Applejack spoke, "Yeah, now that you mentioned it, he really was a great help to us back when we battled Nightmare Moon. He tried to reason with her that time, remember?"

"I also remember him trying to reason with you during Applebuck Season," New Moon countered, "But in the end it was actually Twilight who managed to do that."

"I…try to forget that day," Applejack sulked in shame. "I'm thankful that Twilight was there for me that time, but I'm also thankful that Omni was there, too. Sure, I didn't listen to him, but he kept trying. And now that I had time to think about it, I'm sure he was just as worried about me as the rest of y'all. What's more, he was willing to risk his health to make sure I stopped wasting mine."

"Though, ironically, he couldn't tell if he was eating a good muffin or a bad one at the end of the day."

"What Applejack means…" Twilight quickly interfered, "Is that it's worth a try. We don't exactly have time to debate as it is. I say we give it a shot."

"Well, if Applejack and Twilight agree, then so do I." Rarity agreed.

"Me too! I agree, too!" Pinkie added.

"I guess it's worth a shot." Rainbow said.

Knowing where they stand in their decision, New Moon let out another sigh. "Fine, but I'm coming with you."

Without wasting any time, both Omni and New Moon walked into the cave, which looked bigger on the inside. As they went deeper, Omni noticed several piles of gold and jewels as he walked by. "That's…a whole lot of gold."

"Well, he is a dragon," New Moon said, "You ought to expect a large horde of treasure."

"So where are we supposed to find—oof!" Omni didn't pay attention where he's walking when he ran into a rough, red wall.

"Maybe you can try looking in front of you." New Moon groaned.

Omni backed away and took a better look at what's in front of him. He almost wet himself when he found himself face-to-face with a dragon's face staring back at him. "I…think I left something back at the—"

But New Moon pushed him forth when he's backing away. "This is your idea, so get to it."

Omni gulped and slowly approached the dragon, "Um…hey. Look, I came up here because there's a lot of smoke coming from your snoring and it's getting bad for the environment. We'd like it if you slept somewhere else," smoke blasted out from the dragon's nostrils, causing both Omni and New Moon to choke on it as the giant lizard curled against the scalagtite it's been leaning against until it's back's turned to them.

"You're gonna have to do better than that!" New Moon coughed.

Omnifarious groaned and kept trying, "Look, I know you'rr tired, but you really have to find another place to sleep! It's not exactly safe for the environment!" the dragon didn't move an inch save for its back rising and falling a little, "Maybe we can work out a deal! What do you want? Gold? Jewels? A bigger treasure hoard? Whatever it is we can give it to you if you can just leave!" a loud snore echoed through the cave nearly suffocated from the clouds of smoke that quickly rolled into them.

"Geez, Omni. That's a pretty tall order you were giving," New Moon huffed, "Where do you think we'd find a big load of treasure, treasure I'm sure it already have tons of?"

"Look, I'm making this up as I go!" Omni then started pacing, "I need to think…"

"Take as much time as you need," New Moon replied in sarcasm, "It's not like everyone else in Ponyville's waiting for the smoke to finally clear up!"

Omni walked around trying to come up with an idea. So far the dragon can't be bargained with. So the only thing he could think of that could solve this is by force. Maybe to the others that'd be a bit extreme, but it could get the job done. And since Godzilla is no doubt halfway across the world maybe they could hire some mercs to do it. They don't even have to worry about getting paid with all this loot in here. Of course they'll have to work that out with the dragon, but there's a feeling he's gonna get a little cranky for pestering him. It'd be a wonder how he'd get any sleep… "Wait a minute… I think I got it."

"Got what?"

Omni moved out from under the lit lightbulb and walked over to one of the large piles of gold. "If he doesn't wanna leave there's only one thing left to do… We're talking some of this treasure with us."

"WHAT?!" New Moon gawked at the blue pony like he's crazy. The dragon heard as well, having bigger ears than them. "Omnifarious, what is it that you think you're doing?!"

"We're gonna put out a tax. If this dragon wants to stay here, then he's gonna have to pay for it."

New Moon looked over to see the dragon with its head raised and could hear a low growl meant for the two ponies. He scurried over to stand between Omni and the stash. "This has to be the craziest idea you've ever come up with! We're supposed to make the dragon leave, not let it take up residence here!"

"Well, it's clear that he rather move in. And since it's our territory that means he's gotta give us something in return. I'm sure all this will cover rent for the next few hundred years."

Omni walked the opposite direction towards another pile but New Moon quickly stepped in the way, "Need I remind you that this dragon is the reason Equestria is going to be covered in a think blanket of smoke!"

"Then I guess he's here to stay," Omni pushed New Moon aside, "But only if he decides to give a small donation every now and then."

A giant claw fell down on the small pile of gold and retracted further into the cave. The dragon raked up the scattered bundles of treasure and moved them over to the other side of the cave into the large pile, where the dragon laid on his side to block the ponies from getting to it.

"That dragon's not gonna let go of that treasure!" New Moon warned, "They're famous for hording it and they'll pound you into the ground if they don't eat you first! What are we supposed to do now!?" without replying, Omnifarious walked off back towards the entrance, "Hey, where are you going?! We still got a mission to complete! How are we supposed to get that dragon to leave this cave?!"

"I think it's obvious we can't do this on our own," Omni said, "If he doesn't wanna go, then we'll have to make him go!"

"You're not making any sense! What are you talking about?!"

Omni stopped and looked back at New Moon, "We're gonna have to take him out by force! Lucky for me, I know a famous guild of dragonslayers!"

"Dragonslayers?" New Moon repeated, dumbfounded.

"Once we leave this cave I'll be able to call 'em up! And when they get here, they'll make short work of that dragon, and when they're done, I'm sure they'll take all his treasure as payment!"

The sound of growling drew their attention to see the dragon rise to its feet, its back arched as it started growling at them.

"I think it overheard you," New Moon groaned, "Every word of it." the dragon slammed its tail into the ground causing the entire cave to shake. Both ponies stood trapped in place as the sky began falling around them, "We have to get out of here, like, now!" Omnifarious didn't waste time to respond as he's already chasing New Moon towards the exit, rock falling all over the place while some barely missed them. The black unicorn was soon the first to escape out of the cave. But when Omnifarious was just a few yards away, a fallen boulder landed right in his path blocking his escape. Soon the path towards outside was block by a mountain of rock. He backed up against the large obstacle and cringed at the sight of the looming dragon right in front of him. The giant lizard then picked him up by his tail and hung him upside down over his opening mouth. Omnifarious panicked as he was about to get eaten. He quickly tried to think of something clever to talk his way out of it and this is what he came up with.

"Wait! I was just kidding, okay?! I LIED! I LIED!" the dragon lowered its maw and glared at Omni with deep yellow eyes. He managed to give the dragon the attention he needs. Now he just needs to push a bit further, "You got me! I don't know any dragon slayers! I made all that up so you cam pay attention! But listen, if this goes on the way it's been going, someone else will come here! Not far from here is a giant white castle! Which means if they notice what's going on, they will take action! They'll send soldiers after you until you either leave or get killed! And as long as that happens, there's no way you'll get any sleep! You'll always be interrupted someone coming after you and take your little treasure, especially if they decide to take it at night! So if you really want to be alone, guarding your treasure, then this has to stop!" as Omni was catching his breath the dragon's eyes trailed away. He spent the next few moments waiting for its decision as he hung upside-down by the tail. Omnifarious finally got a snort out of the dragon before lowering him to the ground and walking off back into the cave. He started chasing after it, "Well, are you gonna leave or not?!" the dragon just responded with a gruff snarl as it stopped to his large treasure collection. Omni hurried over to find the dragon taking a giant handful of treasure in one hand while pulling one its underbelly with the other, and dumping what it's holding into the dragon's built-in pouch before going over the same process, "Wow, I didn't know dragons have those," Omni muttered to himself as he waited for the dragon to collect all of its treasure. When the dragon slinked away from the now-barren cavern walls that tells Omni that it's finally decided to move on, he chased it back to the entrance, still blocked. There the dragon starting digging away at the fallen debris stone by stone. Soon there's enough rock removed to open a path to the out side, but there's only enough space freed to fit something the size of a pony. The dragon pick up Omni once again and put him down against the rocks' surface near the opening, "Oh, thanks." As the dragon snorted in response Omni walked through the gap and finally returned to fresh air.

From the top of the rocks he could see Twilight and the others standing below.

"Omni! You're alive!" Twilight exclaimed among her friends as they gathered, "Are you alright? Can you get down?"

"I'm on it!" Rainbow flew up to Omni and carried him down to the other ponies' level. Then Twilight ran up to him and wrapped her arms around his neck, hugging him tight.

"Thank goodness you're safe!" Twilight pulled back, "What happened in there?!"

"I don't think we have to worry about the dragon anymore," Omni said, "I managed to talk things out and now he's ready to leave."

"Really? How'd you do that?" Applejack asked, surprised.

Omnifarious shrugged, "I got him to look at things in a different point of view."

"Alright, good for you now let's hurry up and get our of here!" Faiz suggested, much in a hurry himself.

"And just where were you after all this time?" Applejack asked, they eyed the full sack over Faiz' shoulders.

"Nothing! Just my laundry!"

"Give it here!" New Mon yanked away the sack with his magic and opened it. And what's inside shone in his face as he glared back at the red Pegasus, "Faiz, you didn't." he pulled down the sack and let a huge pile of gold and jewelry spill out of it. After taking a good look at the sack's contents everyone else shared New Moon's glare, save for Rarity who's eyes were glued to the treasure in awe.

"Okay! So I snuck out a small piece of that lizard's stash when he wasn't looking!" Faiz admitted, "C'mon! It's not like he's gonna miss that little pile!"

"Faiz, that's not yours to take!" Twilight firmly stated, "We need to leave that where it is and leave before he does find out it's missing!"

"Now hold on, let's not be hasty!" Rairty hastily intervened, "That dragon did put us through a lot of trouble. It's only fair we should be compensated! Faiz does have a point, this small portion won't be missed." Suddenly the familiar sound of thunderous roaring coming from the cave. It made enough noise to loosen a few rocks from the blockage outside. That dragon must not be too happy.

"You were saying…?" Applejack groaned, worried like the others as the ground jumped under their feet.

"It's coming this way!" Twilight whimpered as the vibrations got stronger.

"Then we gotta leave, now!" New Moon insisted. The girls didn't have to be asked twice as they made their way back down the rocky slope. Faiz, however tried to make off with the stolen loot when New Moon and Omni blocked his path. "Not you!"

"Oh, c'mon! Is this really the right time for a—" the cave's opening suddenly exploded and the blocking debris burst out in different directions, causing the trio to scatter. An enraged dragon stomped out, its maw smoking with black fumes. He snarled as he glared from Omni, who's standing at the edge of a cliff, to New Moon backing into a rock outcropping, and finally to Faiz, growling as he spotted his stolen treasure in the pegasus' hooves, "Alright, fine! You can have it!" panicking, Faiz tossed over the sack to drop in the dragon's claw. But it turns out he threw it a bit too far and the bag ended up in Omni's arms. "Oops! I guess I threw it too hard…"

"You gotta be kidding me!" New Moon exclaimed and turned to Omni, "Drop the bag so we get out of here! Now!"

That was Omni's idea, but he couldn't get himself to move where he wants to. In fact, he's stumbling back to the edge of the cliff due to the weight of the gold. The dragon then roared and blasted a stream of smoke that was strong enough to push Omni clear over the edge. Everyone screamed as he fell down the mountain.

Rainbow shot from behind the safety of the giant rock and flew clear over the cliff, then dropping straight down to catch up to Omni. The distance between the two ponies began to close as Rainbow dove against gravity to reach Omni, but the blue earth pony could tell the hard, unforgiving ground is beating Rainbow to it. It's painfully obvious what will happen if Omni doesn't start falling, but the Pegasus is still yet to reach him! 30, 20, 10 yards to go until he gets flattened and there's nothing that can save him!

Expecting a loud crunch to be his last sound, Omni was surprised when he heard nothing. His eyes kept squeezed shut even when the wind stopped blowing from under against him. Is it over? Is he dead? He hoped he's not dead.

"Omni? Are you okay?"

Omnifarious opened his eyes and was met with the sight of a lovely yellow pony with long pink hair and turqoise eyes. "Fluttershy…?"

Rainbow came into view, "Oh man! You're okay!"

Omni stood up, "Wait, I remembered falling. What happened?"

"It's Fluttershy! She came in out of nowhere and saved you!" Rainbow said, "We're lucky she's here!"

"What about the others?!" Omni gasped, realizing the situation, "What about the dragon?!"

"That's right, we still have a big, scary dragon to worry about! They could still be in trouble! I better get back up there!"

"Rainbow Dash, wait!" Fluttershy called right before Rainbow readied for take off. "You should stay here with Omni. I have to handle this."

Rainbow and Omni could see Flutershy looking up over to the ledge, but she doesn't look scared, more like determined. "Are you okay with this? That is a dragon up there."

"Don't worry about me, I'll be fine." Fluttershy spread her wings and flew up towards the top, leaving the two other ponies behind.

"I really hope she'll be alright…" Rainbow hoped under her breath, then lowered his head back to his fellow blue pony.

There was some commotion in the first few moments but after that, there's only silence aside from the subtle sounds of nature. It's only a matter of time until the two began to get anxious and Omni's the first to speak up. "You think Fluttershy and the others will be okay up there?"

"She's our best and last chance, Omni," Rainbow said, "They better be…"

"Rainbow! Omni!" the two could hear the voice of Twilight calling to them. She and the rest of the party can be seen coming down the direction the came from. But there's one missing…

"Whare's Fluttershy?" Omni got his answer when the sound of a dragon's cry caused him and the others to look up and see the shadow of a giant winged beast flying off over the thinning clouds of smoke.

"Fluttershy offered to stay back and help the dragon relocate," Twilight explained, "In the end she managed to save us and calm the dragon down."

"Fluttershy came throught for us?" Rainbow asked, "I'll have to thank her when she gets back!"

"We'll all thank her," Twilight said. "But first we should head on home."

"Spike! We're back!" Twilight called when she returned to the library with Omni. But when she looked around, the only sign of life were a few critters here and there. "Spike?"

"Over here…!" they heard a squeak from the bookshelves. And there they found a dragon's tail sticking from between the books.

"Spike? What are you doing back there? You're supposed to be taking care of the animals!" Twilight attempted to pull out the books but Spike pulled them back in.

"No! I can't come out! He's in here somewhere, just waiting for me!"

"What are you talking about? Who's waiting for you?!" suddenly the basement door burst open and there stood a ferocious brown monkey sitting at the doorway, its large, sharp teeth showing as its finger shaking furiously at the two ponies.

"When's Fluttershy supposed to be back again?" Omni asked, glancing back at Twilight.

In the basement underneath, the Book of Virtue opened with a new entry:

Dear Princess Celestia,

I am happy to report that the dragon has departed our fair country, and that it was my good 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 even your greatest fears.

Always your faithful student,

Twilight Sparkle.

It finished with the headline: Courage.