Chapter 6: Pegasus on the Mountain

Chapter 6: Pegasus on the Mountain

As Twilight finished her briefing on the fact Princess Celestia was sending themto deal with the dragon, Fluttershy felt worry creep in,

“Um, Twilight, are you sure Princess Celestia wanted us to deal with it and not someone else?” Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes,

“The Princess obviously thinks we will be able to handle it, come on Fluttershy don’t be scared of going up there,” the yellow Pegasus frowned at her friend in disapproval.

“I just think it would be wise to have someone who is an expert on dragons to come with at least, none of us are equipped to deal with a fully grown dragon,” but it was obvious they weren’t going to listen to her and she returned to her cottage with a grim air, something her brother noticed as he was preparing breakfast on his day off from the castle restoration (they were getting all the necessary stones and wood in for fixing it up before any interior stuff could be done.)

“Something wrong Sis?” Frost looked up from his cereal in concern as Fluttershy told them about the dragon and how her friends were sent to deal with it, Zephyr winced.

“How about after you leave I’ll go ahead and tell Trade Wind, and she can catch up with you,” Fluttershy breathed out in relief.

“Sounds like a plan,” she put on her saddlebags and made sure her Rescue Pony badge was visible before she set out to join the other five.

Twilight and the others stood to wait in front of the library as she came up and Rainbow Dash flew into the air,

“Okay she’s arrived let’s go!” she was about to fly off when a cleared throat caught her attention as Fluttershy stood in the group,

“I need to check everypony’s bags before we go, Twilight,” she nudged the purple unicorn who looked confused but showed her the contents as Rainbow groaned impatiently,

“We don’t have time for this!” her exclamation was ignored as Fluttershy took out several books which she handed Spike to Twilight’s protest,

“Spike, do you think you can take these back with you, if you need help with the animals just ask Harry politely to keep them under control,” she nodded to the bear who gave a soft grunt, then she turned to Twilight and took out a water bottle and nutrition bar from her own saddlebags, placing them in the unicorn’s things.

“When you are going up a mountain it is important to make sure you stay hydrated and don’t lose any energy.” She checked the rest of their bags, taking out the cupcakes Pinkie had put in hers and replacing them with the bars and water bottles.

When she was done she returned to the front and cleared her throat again,

“Now, it can be very dangerous up there on the mountain, so I need all of you to pay attention to where you are walking and be very quiet as we get closer to the top, Rainbow Dash you will have to walk with the rest of us,” the Pegasus grumbled but landed on her hooves, Twilight staring flabbergasted at the normally shy pony which Applejack noticed as they started walking,

“Surprising ain’t it,” she commented, Twilight nodded with wide eyes, “She is the Rescue Pony of Ponyville, she may be shy in other occasions, but when she’s in her element she gets more confident. The whole Everfree thing was a different matter for her,” Pinkie Pie while still pouting about her cupcakes being thrown out, piped up,

“Yeah! She knows a whole lot about animals and using them in rescue operations, and she’s part of the mountaineering and caving club,” Applejack raised an eyebrow,

“We don’t have a mountaineering and caving club,” she stated, Pinkie gave her a sly glance,

“That you know of,” Rainbow joined their conversation,

“I thought she would be at least a little scared,” she commented, Rarity gave her a look,

“Darling, you realize that during her Rescue Pony yearlong seminar they had to go on a bunch of mountains and scary places right? I’m pretty sure if she had a fear of mountains she got over it a long time ago,” the rainbow-maned Pegasus muttered to herself as they continued along.

When they reached the base of the mountain Twilight took out the map but Fluttershy took it, shaking her head at Twilight’s protests,

“I know the way up, Twilight,” she stayed ahead of them as they went up the mountain, some of them marveling at how confident she was now while others were still a bit surprised.

Castle of the Pony Sisters

Trade Wind got down from the rafters with the bucket full of dirty water, even after all the cleaning they did, there were still spots being found.

Maud came in with the second order of the stones, placing them with the others in the corner of the room that still had a roof.

“Looking good Maud,” she told her, receiving a slow nod as the mare went back out, and the Pegasus got ready to haul the stones to the first part of the castle they were restoring when Zephyr flew in, “Um Zephyr, you know you have today off right?” she saw his expression and tensed, “What’s wrong?” he explained the situation and she turned grim, “Right, I’ll be going then, make sure to tell the others,” she flew off and Zephyr turned to the other workers who were coming in for their lunch break.

"Where's the Boss?" Paris asked, walking back in with Maud with the next order of stones,

"Seems Princess Celestia sent her student and friends to deal with a dragon problem," Paris paused in placing the stones to give him a look,

"Are you talking about Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Twilight? I know only one of that group went to the University, a second one has sort of met dragons because of Trade Wind, but the rest?" she shook her head, "Did she send for Trade Wind as well? That would make more sense," his silence spoke words, making her bow her head, "Your princess is weird," she informed the ponies before walking over to the food cart that Gabby and Derpy had brought from Sugarcube Corner, "Any muffins left? Preferably without chocolate?" Derpy smiled and produced a whole tray of blueberry ones, "That's what I'm talking about!" the Diamond Dog cheered.

"My sister has never met a dragon, apart from Spike," Maud stated in a bland tone, but only those that knew her detected the worry she held for her overactive sister.

"Maybe they will be able to deal with it, they did help defeat Nightmare Moon after all," Gabby suggested, Zephyr gave her a wry grin.

"'Let's hope." 'Hopefully, Rainbow Dash doesn't do anything reckless' he could imagine the older blue pegasus losing her patience if talking it over did not work.

Upon reaching the cave the Mane Six got ready to go in despite Fluttershy’s insistence that they wait a bit,

“I might have led you up the mountain, but this is a delicate matter that we need to deal with,” but Twilight was determined to go in and Fluttershy lowered her head as she went in with her, resigned to it.

Predictably the dragon wasn’t impressed with Twilight and the two ran out amidst the cloud of smoke he breathed at them.

“Well that didn’t work,” Rarity decided to go in then and Fluttershy sighed when the unicorn came out with a glum look muttering about how she almost had that jewel.

Then Pinkie went in with the weirdest getup but she too was chased out, finally, Rainbow Dash lost patience.

“That’s it, my turn,” she got ready to fly in when Trade Wind appeared in front of her, looking unamused, “North Wind! What are you doing here? Get out of the way, I need to teach that dragon he can’t sleep where he wants,” but she yelped when Trade instead grabbed her by the ears and dragged her back down.

“Watch her,” she told Fluttershy before turning and walking into the cave.

The Mane Six waited, most of them apart from Fluttershy and Rarity expecting her to be chased out as well, except she came out just as the cloud of smoke stopped,

“I gave him a medicine for the smoke so he should be okay now,” Rainbow’s jaw dropped.

“What?! We are supposed to be kicking him out, not letting him stay, he has no right!” a scroll appeared on her face which she took, “What’s this?”

“A letter of permission for him to take residence within Equestria and sleep where he wants so long as he doesn’t endanger any of the citizens doing so. He already filled out all of the paperwork letting him stay in the cave, and was quite contrite when I reminded him that his smoke was considered a danger to the citizens. So long as he isn’t causing any trouble and is sleeping peacefully everything should be okay, also we might need to do some sort of barrier to prevent those interested in challenging the dragon or stealing his hoard,” she shot a look at Rarity who had the grace to be sheepish, “But other than that, there’s no reason to kick him out,” Twilight spluttered,

“But the Princess!”

“Said she wanted you to deal with the situation, not kick the dragon out, I wish she had at least considered sending a letter to another dragon delegate. No offense but just because you are the Bearers of the Elements of Harmony doesn’t automatically qualify you for every threat to Equestria, especially if you have no knowledge on how to deal with it if the threat is purely accidental. Anyways, thanks for sending Zephyr Fluttershy, who knows what would have happened if I hadn’t stopped Rainbow from attacking him, and its Trade Wind, not North Wind Miss Dash,” the older Pegasus grumbled to herself the entire way down, the rest of them lost in their own thoughts.

“Hey Trade Wind, thank-you,” Twilight entered the library with the others, leaving Trade to shrug and fly off back to the castle, she had work to do.

Twilight was lost in thought as she went over the conversation she had with Fluttershy about her experience dealing with mountains,

“Spike, take a letter,” she couldn’t wait to tell Princess Celestia what she had learned about today!