My (not so) Little Adventure

Chapter 6

On the edge of the Everfree Forest was a small log cabin which belonged to Ponyville's resident animal expert, the timid Pegasus Fluttershy. The buttercup-coloured Pegasus was going about her daily errand, feeding the animals she cared for.

She first went and fed a pair of Ferrets that were living underneath the bridge. She walked underneath, since the water wasn't that deep and only reached up to her knees, she had to lift her skirt up a bit so that it didn't get wet, and placed a pair of fish on the plank of wood that served as a kind of front porch for the two Ferrets.

She then flew up to a tree to feed some baby birds. She scattered some worms that she was carrying around the nest and watched them eat with a smile.

crunch crunch crunch

Her ears perked up at the sound of something hard being chewed on quickly. She looked down and saw her pet bunny, Angel, was the one who was eating a carrot at a rapid pace. She flew to the ground and stood in front of his hutch.

"Not too fast now, Angel bunny." The bunny in question stopped mid-chew and looked up at her. "You don't wanna get a tummy ache." Angel looked at Fluttershy and then at the carrot it was eating before he threw it on the ground and crossed his arms causing Flutters to giggle. "You really should eat more than that, don't you think?" She asked Angel.

Angel, however, didn't want to eat anymore as he ran underneath her legs and came to a halt when Flutters flew in his path. "It's not play time yet." Once again, Angel ran underneath her legs but Flutters quickly turned and scooped him up in her arms. "I know you want to run, but....just three more bites?" She asked as she placed Angel on the ground and the half-eaten carrot in front of him. Angel turned his head away from it. "Two more bites?" She asked with a hopeful expression but was given the same result. "One more bite? Pretty please?" Fluttershy sighed as she saw that her wasn't going to eat anymore.

She turned to face her cabin and began to walk towards it but stopepd when Angel bunny began coughing harshly. She quickly turned and knelt down with a worried expression. "Oh, goodness. Are you okay?" Angel coughed again, this time a little louder. "Are you coughing because there's a carrot stuck in your throat?" Again, another cough. "Because you need some water?" Angel coughed even louder and began pointing behind her. She turned around and gasped. "Is it because of that giant cloud of scary black smoke?" Her answer was a carrot to the head courtesy of Angel bunny. "I'll take that as a yes."

She flew up into the air, after getting all her animals in their homes, and went to warn everypony in Ponyville but she stopped mid-air and turned to face the Everfree forest as she remembered a certain brown-haired man that that lives there.

She hesitated for a moment but ultimatly flew to where the old pony sister's castle was.

It took her a few minutes to reach the old castle, since she wasn't a very good flyer, and softly landed in front of the door and knocked on it.

"Shiro, are you there?" She softly called out. After not getting an answer for a minute, she gently opened the door and poked her head through. "Shiro?" Once again, Fluttershy softly called out into the room. She looked aound and stepped into the court room.

She looked around for a bit until she heard the sound of snoring coming from one of the side rooms. Slowly, she walked to the door and opened it. "S-Shiro?" She called out once more. She poked her head through the gap once it was wide enough. When she did, she saw a single bed in the very back and a large lump in said bed. Cautiously, Fluttershy approached the bed but froze when the lump started to move.

She did, however, breath a sigh of relief when the lump revealed itself to be the sleeping form of Shiro. She walked closer to get a better look at him.

"He looks so peaceful...I-I shouldn't wake him up...but what about the smoke?" Fluttershy mumbled to herself, not wanting to wake him. Unbeknown to her, her mumbling began to ruse Shiro.

Why do I hear Flutters?

I mean, I know I'm still asleep...that or I've gone blind if the darkness is anything to go by.

"I-I should just let him sleep..." Okay now I defiently know I hear Flutters. Come on eyes, it's time to open.

As I forced my eyes to slowly open, faint glints of light began pouring into my retinas and the last remains of sleep disappeared, I began to make out a shape. At first, it was a plain blur, then the blur began to gain colour in that of a buttercup-yellow which was then followed by pink. The coloured blur began to then take shape of a familiar Pegasus.

"Flutters?" I tiredly groaned out. There was a cute little meep which all but confirmed that it was the buttercup-yellow Pegasus. "What are you doing here?" I asked her as I sat up and rubbed the sleep out of my eyes. I then raised an eyebrow as I saw her turn, gaining a concerned look.

"What happened to your chest?" She asked me. I looked down and saw that I still had the bandages that Rarity wrapped me in from the other night.

I simply waved her off. "It's nothing, just a few scratches from my training." I got out of bed and strectched my back, causing it to crack which was oh so satisfying. I looked over to Flutters and saw that her ears were flat against her head. Huh, guess she doesn't like that sound. "Anyway, what are you doing here?"

That seemed to break her out of her stupor as she went from cringe to panic in a mere few seconds. "That's right. I came to warn you about the huge cloud of ominous black smoke that's coming from the mountains."

Ominous black smoke? What does she me-ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh shit.

The dragon. Which means that today must be Dragonshy. Well, time to play this by ear. Hopefully I can help Flutters overcome her fear of Dragons. I'm not expecting much, I'm not the best at comforting people....or ponies for that matter.

"That is worrisome." I told her as I walked over to my drawers and pulled out a black t-shirt with a golden lion on it and put it on, followed by a grey jumper which I tied around my waist. "We should go warn the others." I told her as I created a portal to Golden Oaks Library. I stepped to the side and allowed Flutters to step through first.

After the familiar flash of light had died down, we found oursleves just outside the door to the Golden Oaks Library. I turned to Flutters and gestured to the crowd of Ponies watching Rainbow bounce a ball. "Well, all your's Flutters."

She looked at me with a shocked and scared expression. "O-Oh I can't do that. Y-You should do it Sh-Shiro." She then hid behind me and hid her face with her hair.

I sighed and shook my head before I stepped to the side and placed my hands on her shoulders which caused her to make that cute 'meep' sound she does. "Flutters, you should do it. I know that you're scared but if you don't push yourself, you won't be able to over come your fears."

She turned her head slightly to look at me which I then gave her a comforting smile. That seemed to steal her determination, she then turned to the others and began shouting....and by shouting I mean she talked normally. "Help. Help! Please? Help? There's-- there's a horrible cloud of smoke. It's headed this way and--" She then cut herself off with a shriek as Dashie appeared in front of her, still bouncing her ball.

"Don't be such a scaredy-pony. It's just me, future Equestria ball-bouncing record holder." She said cheerfully and she probably could be as well....that is, if I wasn't here and Pinkie didn't mess her up in cannon.

"Sorry Dash." I said as I snatched the ball out of the air with telekinesis which earned me a harty 'Hey!' from her. "But Flutters has something very important to tell you." I then turned my attention to the others. "And I think you all should listen too."

"Th-Thank you Sh-Shiro." Flutters quietly said to me with a cute smile. "We-Well there's-um-there's s-smoke a-and meep!" Try as she might, Flutter's just couldn't seem to get her words out and when it became to much for the shy Pegasus, she hid behind me and covered her face with her hair.

I sighed at this and then turned to the others. "What Flutters is trying say is that there is smoke coming from one of the mountains and it's beginning to spread across Equestria. Ponyville first since it is closer." They all began talking amongst each other.

"Shiro is correct." I turned to see Twi walk out of the Library. "But don't panic, the Princess has informed me that it is not coming from a fire." Yeah but what it is coming from is worse then a fire.

"Oh thank goodness." I heard Flutters exhale a sigh of relief. She's not going to like what Twilight has to say next.

"It's coming from a dragon."

All the Ponies gasped in shock but Flutters seemed to take it worse seeing as I could feel her tremble. "A-A dragon?"

Very soon, me, Flutters and ther others were standing in the Library.

"What in the name of all things cinnamon swirled is a full-grown dragon doing in Equestria?"

Two things I want to point out now that I've heard that sentence in person. One, I guess fully grown dragons must not be common or occur in Equestria and two, I still have no idea what 'cinnamon swirled' means. I know they are a sweet treat but what does that have to do with anything?

"Sleeping." Was the answer that Twilight gave as she went through multiple books and maps of the area.

"Huh." Suffice to say, the girls were very confused.

It was then when I stepped in. "Accourding to the Princess, he's taking a nap. His snoring is the cause of the smoke." I looked over to Twilight when I heard her sigh, she didn't seem to like me stealing her thunder....oh well. I then walked over to the bookshelf that was beside a vase.

"He should really see a doctor." I heard Pinkie say. "That doesn't sound healthy at all."

"Well at least he's not breathing fire." Rarity remarked.

"Or lightning or water or wind." I said as I looked through a random book I picked up. I placed the book back in it's spot, apparently it was Daring Do and the Griffins Goblet, the second book in the series, and turned around to see them all look at me with confused faces. "What?"

"Sugarcube...what in the hay did you mean by 'lightning or water or wind'?" AJ asked me. Guess I should explain.

"Not all dragons are fire-elementals." I told them, they still looked confused as all hell though. I sighed and held up five fingers. "There are, to my knowledge, five different types of dragons, each breaths a respective element acourding to their colouration. Red breath fire, white breath wind, light-blue breath lightning, dark-blue breath water and brown...well, brown dragons don't technically breath anything but they do, however, have control over earth." I then began to finish off my explaination. "These are the five basic dragon types and elements that I've read about and I've encountered one of them. There are probably more then those five if Spike is anything to go by."

"So, if this dragon is snoring smoke." I turned to look at Rarity who held a finger on her chin. "Then that means..."

"We're most likely dealing with a Red dragon?" I asked her to which she nodded. "More then likely, yes." 'But this is going to be a problem since I'm all out of Aqua Sapphires and on it's own, my water magic is below average.' I looked over at Flutters as I thought that. 'Seems like we really are going to have to rely on Flutters for this.'

"If we are dealing with a Red dragon. Then what are we supposed to do about it?" Rarity asked.

"I'll tell you what we're supposed to do." Dash said as she flew up into the air and over to a vase, I quickly added an enhancement spell on it so that it wouldn't break. "Give him the boot. Take that." She said as she kicked the vase and then dive-bombed it but missed as Twilight used her magic to float it over her head. Good news, Twilight stopped it from getting broken. Bad news, I was stood off to the side of the vase so I was in the path of Dash's dive. So this resulted in Dash coliding with my stomach, which was still bandaged, and knocking me over knocking all the wind out of me.

"OOF!" I breathed out as I was knocked down...with Dash stradling my waist.

"Hehe, sorry 'bout that Shiro." She chuckled as she got off me and helped me up.

"Don't-cough-worry about it." I said with a wince and cough.

"Aaaaaanyway." Twilight said, getting all our attention back on her. "We need to encourage him to take a nap somewhere else." She then pumped her fist in the air and had a determained expression. "Princess Celestia gave us this mission and we must not fail." She then shook her head. "If we do, Equestria will be covered in smoke for the next hundred years."

Jeez, she is really pumped up but I can't blame her, her mentor and mother figure? Would you call Celestia a mother figure?

"Meep."

A cute yet scard sounding noise brought me out of my musings.

I turned my head to look at the qivering buttercup-yellow blob behind me. I placed a comforting hand on her head causing her to look at me and I smiled warmly at her. "Don't worry Flutters, everything will be fine." Somehow, that managed to calm her a little as she stopped shaking and smiled back which was....really cute.

Also, I didn't have to look behind me to know that everyone was staring at us, mainly me. Hell, I could practically see Dashies' shit-eating grin and I was stopping it. "We should all go and get supplies ready for the journey ahead."

Those words seemed to snap everyone out their funk, except Dashie of course but nothing will....besides from the Wonderbolts showing up but that's besides the point. Twilight shook her head and faced the others.

"Shiro's right, gather supplies and then let's meet back here within an hour." After a multitude of affermatives, everyone left the Library, with the exception of Twilight of course. I decided to walk with Flutters back to her cabin.

As we walked, I kept glancing over to her and I could see that she wanted to say something but, more then likely, she was too scared to do so. I sighed and broke the silence. "You know you can talk to me right?" I said to her. She didn't say anything and nodded causing me to sigh again. "Do you want to talk to me?" I asked her with a raised eyebrow.

She looked away from me and covered her face with her hair. I'm gonna take that as a no but at the same time....yes. Looks like I need to take the initiative. "You're scared, aren't you?" The little meep she did was all the conformation I needed. I sighed and placed a comforting arm around her, causing her to meep again but this one was with a blush. "Don't worry. We're all scared....well, Dashie might not be but that's besides the point."

She looked up at me with a surprised look. "R-Really? E-Even you?"

"Even me." I said with a nod. "I mean, how can I not? We're going up against a Red Dragon for Celestias sake, sorry for the language."

"B-But you're so-so brave."

I barked out with laughter which seemed to confuse her little bit so I decided to quench the confusion. "I'm not brave Flutters. I'm scared of a lot of things."

"R-Really?"

"Oh yeah. I'm scared of the ocean, space, tight and enclosed areas, wasps and hornets and many other things....kinda. The only reason why I'm not crying in a corner is because I can't." I glanced over to her to see her confused look. "There's just to much at stake for me to be scared. So I have to push past my fears and in turn, that will make me stronger."

Fluttershy didn't say anything back to me and looked at the ground as we continued to walk. I could see that she wanted to say something but it seemed like she just couldn't find her words, I'm sure she'll be able to find her courage and say what she wants to not just me but to everyone. I just hope I can help her before the whole Minotaur deal really don't want to deal with Angryshy....heh.

Very soon, we reached Flutters cottage and before Flutters could walk inside her cottage I stopped her. "Flutters....I'm going to head back to the Library." I told her with a slightly concerned look. She stared back at me for a few seconds before looking away which caused me to sigh. "If you don't want to come along, that's perfectly fine. No one will force you, I'll make sure of that but it would be a great boon if you did come along."

She paused for a few seconds before sighing and looked at me with teary eyes. Oh don't do that Flutters, you'll break my heart. "I-I want to Shiro.....b-but I'm just too scared." She whimpered which prompted me to pull her into a comforting hug.

"It's okay to be scared Flutters." I pulled away and wiped a tear from her face. "It's what keeps us alive. All you have to do is not let that fear control you." I told her before walking away but I stopped before I reached the bridge and then looked back at her. "In the end.....only you can decided." And with that, I created a portal to Twi's library and stepped on through.

"Wait! What do you mean she's not coming?"

"Exactly that. She's not coming."

The question was from Twilight who was the first one to great me when I appeared at Golden Oaks. I wasn't surprised to find everyone waiting outside the Library. I gave them a casual greeting to which they returned but they gave me confused looks when they all saw that Flutters wasn't with me which lead up to now.

"Well she has to come." Twilight said to me as she shoved a map into her satchel. "Her knowledge with animals will be a great help to us." She thought for a few seconds before turning to Raibow, she won't do what I think.....will she? "Rainbow, can you go and grab Fluttershy please."

Dammit Twi.

"Rainbow. No." I quickly and sternly said when I saw Rainbow prepare to fly to Flutters cottage. This caused everyone to look at me with raised eyebrows. "We're not dragging Flutters here against her will." I said with crossed arms. "Yes I know her skills would be great for this but you have to understand we are up against a Dragon.....a fully grown, fire breathing Dragon." I emphasized on what we were up against. "No offense to Spike but he's not that intimidating."

"NONE TAKEN." I heard him yell from the Library.

"And not to mention, this Dragon probably won't be prone to having a casual chat with us. So we'll most likely have to use force against this thing and I don't know if you've noticed but Flutters is pretty much a pacifist." I told them, finishing of my little rant.

After that, they were all silent, as they most likely thought on my words, before AJ was the first one to speak. "You're right sugarcube." She said with a sigh and pulled her hat over her eyes. "If I was in Flutters shoes, ah wouldn't want to be forced to go."

"Thank you AJ." I nodded to her. "So with that all settled, I'm guessing you've mapped out a route Twi?" I asked the purple unicorn who jolted at my words before nodding.

"Mhm, I did it while you were with......Flutters?" She ended that like she was asking a question and she also tilted her head to the side. I raised my eyebrow at this and looked behind me before going wide eyed in shock as, standing a few feet behind me, was the timid buttercup yellow pegasus. In the time that I've been with the others, Flutters had managed to change her clothes from her usual jumper and skirt to a different jumper that revealed her shoulders and blue jeans that hugged her legs and she wore a pair of shoes like mine.

"I-I decided th-that I'm going to come with you." She said, pumping her fist in the air. She sounded pretty determained and honestly, I'm kinda glad that she's coming with us.

"Are you sure darling?" I heard Rarity ask Flutters. "Shiro did say we are going up against a Dragon."

I saw Flutters shiver and wince at that but she quickly shook her head and nodded. "S-Shiro said that we can't afford to be afraid when so much is at stake. We have to push past our fears and that in turn will make me stronger."

...

We all just....stared....at Flutters, none of us probably knew what to say about this devolpment but I then felt fairs pairs of eyes drift towards me so then my eyes drifted towards them and I stared at the girls and the girls stared at me. "I'm honestly as surprised as you guys." I said and held up my hands. I expected some kind of development with her confidence but I didn't expect it to be this quick but....that's a thought for another day. "Well It's great to see that you've decided to come with us Flutters." I said, walking over to her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders and walked back over to the others. "Okay Twi. Now that we're all here, what's your plan?" I asked, knowing full well what the plan.

Twilight seemed startled by my voice, probably still in shock at how confident Flutters seemed. She quickly shook her head and put on her satchel. "Well, first off we need to climb that mountain." She said, pointing to said mountain. "And then try and persuade the dragon to leave but as Shiro pointed out earlier, this won't be easy but we can do it, right girls." She said, pumping her fist in the air.

"Yeah!" Was the reply.

Ho...ly....shit.

"This mountain looked a loooooot smaller in the show....." I said as I stared up at the titanic mound of rock that stood before us.

"Well it is a mountain Shiro." I heard Rainbow say to me. "Of course it's going to be tall."

"I know that. What I mean is that in the show, it looked a lot smaller then this. Hell, it barely even reached cloud hight but this.....this could easily beat some of the mountains back on Earth." I said to them and continued to stare up but I was soon shaken out of my wonder when the ground beneath us shook and a rumble echoed through the pass of the mountain.

"W-What was that?" I heard Flutters whimper behind me. She had decided that my back was the safest place to be so she stuck to it like glue.

"That is what a Dragon snore sounds like." Twilight said as she went over her map once more before folding it and placed it in her satchel. Out the corner of my eye, I saw Dash prepare to fly ahead so I used my magic to grab her tail.

"Not so fast, Dash." I called out to her which caused her to look at me with an irritated glare. "While it may be a good idea to scout ahead, it's better to stay together." I told her before looking down the mountain pass that laid ahead of us. While in the show there was only an avalanche danger, this wasn't the show anymore....this was real. Well, real for me and who knows what was cut from the show. "Who knows what's up this pass." I mutter.

"You say something darling?" I heard Rarity ask me, she must've heard my muttering. I turn to face her and wave a dissmive hand in front of me. She gave me a look but didn't press on and instead went to looking at the mountain. "Anyway, I've heard that the only things that sparkle more then a Dragon's scales are the jewels they use to build their nests." She said while gaining a stary-eyed look and clapped her hands excitedly. "Ooo if I play my cards right, I might be able to convice him to give me a few."

"Welcome to my cave Rarity. Would you care for a diamond?" I heard Pinkie growl and then roar at the snow-white unicorn which caused all the girls to start laughing. I, however, had my mind on the gems that the Dragon would have.

'I wonder if there actually is a way for the Dragon to spare a few gems. Celestia knows I need them.' I thought before shaking my head and clapping my hands together, getting everyone's attention. "Right, shall we start heading up?" I asked them and in return, received a nod from each of them......all except Flutters. I turned to the Pegasus and placed a hand on her shoulder. "This is your last chance to back out Flutters. None of us will blame you if you do." I told her and I was being genuine here. It took her a second but once she looked at me, I knew she wasn't backing down.

I smiled at her and nodded before turning and saw that the girls had already started walking up the trail. I took Flutters hand on pure instinct and went into a light jog to catch up to them. At this point, AJ would be taking Flutters around an alternate route since she would've gone into dead goat mode. You know, when goats go completly stiff because something scared them but me being with her seemed to have changed that so we were able to reach our second obsticle.

The gap in the mountain and, just like the mountain, was a lot wider then it's show counterpart. In the show, you could easily step over it but here, here it was a good 12 feet (3 meters) across and my farthest long jump was only 8 (2 meters) but I also remembered that I had magic and portals. "So....do you girls want to try and make that jump or do you want me to make a portal?" I asked them excluding Rainbow since she had already flew across. After not getting a response for a solid minute, I turned and saw that the girls weren't behind me? What in the hell?

"Hurry up Shiro." I heard Twilight yell at me but....she sounded further away which caused me to turn around and my jaw dropped when I saw that they were already across the gap.

"How in the hell?" I yelled back. "How did you even make it across?"

"We jumped?" She replied with a questioning tone.

You know what. I'm just gonna use the same logic as I do for Pinkie and that is to not even question it. I shook my head and created a portal that linked our side, our being me and Flutters, to their side. "Righto. You still good to go Flutters?" I asked the mare, who was still clinging to my back for dear life and got a nod in return. I smiled softly at her and stepped through my portal before appearing on the other side.

Before we went any further, I stopped everyone so I could say a quick message. "Twilight may already know this but up ahead is gonna be dangerous because up ahead is an avalanche zone so we need to be extra careful."

"Are you serious?" I heard Rainbow ask from above. I looked up at her and nodded.

"Sadly yes. So it's best you walk from this point onwards." I told her. I saw my statement literally run through her head before she ultimatley sighed and lowered herself to the ground.

"Fine." She grumbled and placed her arms behind her head and looked away but she then gave me a sly smirk. "You know Shiro. You and Flutters have gotten pretty cl-"

"Not the time for that Rainbow." Twilight called out as she looked over her map. "After we get through the avalance zone, we will be right outside the Dragon's den." She told us. When she did, I heard and felt Flutters whimper in fear and Dash grumbled in annoyance.

After that little moment, we continued onwards until we reached the avalance zone. We each took our time moving forwards, being extra careful not to disturb the already fragile mountain pass and it was going pretty well.....until there was a strong gust of wind that blew through the pass. While the wind didn't effect us much, it did effect the trees that were above us.

Wait....wasn't this the point that-

"AVALAN-" I heard Flutters yell but was quickly silenced by AJ's hand over her mouth. After a solid minute of nothing happening, I heard all the girls sigh in relief but I wasn't convinced that Flutter's scream didn't shake the mountain. Her scream easily echoed to the peak that was above us, not the main peak but you get what I mean and that's when I felt it. The area we were began to shake and rumble.

"Shit." I quickly said and looked uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu-I wish I didn't. I really, really wish I didn't. "EVERYONE TO ME. NOW!" I quickly yelled and turned to the girls. It was a testament to how much they trusted me as the all came rushing over to where I was and huddled around me, but it could also be that they saw the rocks. Once I was sure that they were all in my area of effect, I quickly spread my arms out to my side and activated my void magic along with an Earth enhancment spell to give it some more strength and began to focus on pulling up a purplish-black bubble that surrounded us.

The problem with this was that when the rocks hit said shield. I could feel, every hit on my shield. I was glad that I wasn't able to feel the full force of the rocks as I'm a hundred percent sure that the larger ones would break my arms from the force that was being applied but I was gonna have more then a few bruises but that wasn't what I was worried about. No, what I was worried about was the fact that cracks started to appear. At first, they were small and I was quickly able to repair them, the problem became more apparent as the larger rocks hit the shield as each one came faster and faster giving me less and less time to repair the shield. 'Come on you piece of shit. Hold for a few more seconds.' I thought as I was forced down to my knees. I could feel sweat form on my brow but...I suddenly felt the burden lessen and a secondary magic appear next to mine.

From the way it felt, it was most likely Twilight who was helping me. After a few more seconds of none stop rocks, the avalanche subsided and I immedetly dispelled my shield and sighed in pure relief as I felt the burden dissapear. I laid on my back and panted heavily, trying to replenish my lost magic and energy. Was what I did unnecessary? Considering things, yes. I knew that the girls would've survived this without my help but I still couldn't stop myself from acting out on pure reflex. I was also slowly becoming more aware of someone calling my name. "Give me a second and I'll answer." I said to whoever was calling my name. After a few seconds, I forced myself to sit and stare at the concerned looks of the girls. Hell, even Rainbow was giving me a concerned look. "Don't worry about me, are any of you hurt?"

"No. We are all fine thanks to you." Rarity told me as she crouched down infront of me. "But you, on the other hand, looked like you were in a lot of pain."

I slowly stood on my still shaky knees and brushed her off. "It was nothing. Just a little backlash from using that spell." I told her and went to take a step forwards but tripped and almost fell to the floor but I was quickly caught by AJ.

"Easy there sugarcube." She said and guided me to the mountain wall and made me sit down. "I've got some water here if ya need it." She said to me and pulled out flask of water and handed it to me. I was about to take a swig when I was promptly tackle-hugged by a pink balistic missile.

"OhI'msogladyou'resafeShiroitwouldn'tbegoodifyouwerehurtbecauseIwouldgetsadandtheotherswouldgetsadbutmostimportantlyIwouldgetsad." I had no idea what Pinkie just said but what I can gather is that she is glad that I'm okay. Thankfully, she was pried off me before any major damage could be done by her crushing hug.

"I told you girls earlier, don't worry about me." I said and used the wall behind me as a kind of crutch as I slowly stood up. I was about to start walking up the mound of dirt and rocks when I heard sniffling behind me-oh no please don't be Flutters. I slowly turned and winced when I saw Flutters sat with her back facing me and her head in her hands. I walked over to her and sat beside her. "Flutters....it wasn't your fault." I told her and placed a hand on her shoulder causing her to flinch a little. "You couldn't of predicted that an avalanche would happen. None of us could." I said and turned to the others. "Right girls?" I asked and mouthed the words 'Help me.'

"Shiro's right." Twilight said and walked over to us. "That gust of wind must've loosened some of the rocks which then caused the avalance. None of us blame you for what just happened." She told her, soon after all the other girls came over and saying their own words of comfort. In all honesty, I'm not very good at being motivational or comforting. I usually relied on others who have more compassion then me and....I was just fine with that.

But I'm getting off track here. I simply stood off to the side and waited for Flutters to be calmed down by the girls. It took them a few seconds but Flutters finally stood up, turned to face me (her eyes puffy and red from crying) before walking over to me prompting me to push myself off the wall I was leaning on. "You feeling better?" I asked her.

"Y-Yes....and I'm so-sorry for getting you hurt." She quietly said to me. While it didn't sound like she was going to cry again, I could tell the she wanted to.

I pulled her into a warm hug, not caring about the looks the others were probably giving me because she needed this. "It's alright Flutters. I wasn't even hurt that much so you shouldn't worry." I held her like this for a few more seconds before releasing her and smiling warmly at her, but not before making not of her blushing face. "Okay."

"O-Okay." She said with a smile.

I nodded and then turned to face the girls and clapped my hands and rubbed them together. "Time to clear these rocks." I saw the girls look between each other and then at me.

"What do you mean by that?" Twilight asked me. I didn't say anything and just smiled at her and walked past them but before I could even try and move the rocks, I felt her magic wrap around me and halt me in my tracks. "I know that smirk Shiro. What were you about to do?" She asked once more but in a tone that made it sound like a mother asking a child that just got caught doing something wrong.

"I was just going to use some earth magic to manipulate the rocks so they would roll off the cliff."

"And how much magic would that use?"

"Uhhhhhhhh........."

"That's what I thought." She scolded me and placed her forehead in her hands. "Shiro, that shield spell you just used put too much tax on your arms, legs and magical power." She told me with a slight glare as she went into full on lecture mode. I mostly blocked her out since I may or may not have had her do this talk to me before.

"Yes ma'am." I said with a sigh, I was now sat on my knees in front of her as she chewed me out for going over my magical limitations and putting to much stress on my body which could lead to more perminant damage to both my muscles and magical channels and yada yada.

"And another thing-Shiro are you listening?"

"Yes Twilight." I sighed. "If I'm not careful then I can loose the ability to use magic but come on." I say before gesturing to my magic finger, the one with the magic runes on. "I highly doubt that I will lose my ability to use magic since my magic isn't technically natural."

Twilight looked at my finger and sighed. "While that may be true, you still can't avoid risks that come with using magic."

I merely rolled my eyes but still nodded. "I know I know Twilight. I promise I'll be more careful from here on out okay." Twilight narrowed her eyes but nodded, obviously calling out my bluff. What? Did you think that I would be more careful? Hell nah. Magic, as I have learned, is all about dancing with danger.....kinda like science.

Moving past that, I hopped up onto my feet and proceeded to brush my dusty ass down. I turned around to find the girls, including Flutters, climbing up the mound that was blocking our path. I huffed at not being able to use magic to make this portion of the trip easier but I promised Twilight I wouldn't use magic for this trip. So I made my way over to the mound and began climbing up, at this point of our trip....I was near break down. See, it wasn't due to the pain in my arms and legs. No. I had a huge fear of hights. I won't bore you with details but I will say that I was pretty young when I started having my fear.

But I couldn't whimp out considering all the things I've said. I would sound like the biggest hypocrite and I wasn't one to shy away from things.............unless It's needles then I just nope the fuck out of there.

Getting back on track. I reach the top of the mound just in time to see Flutters trip and start to tumble but, giving the fast reactor I was, used my magic to catch her and then set her up straight. I quickly slid my way down the mound to check on her and the others. Just because I said I wasn't as compansionate as others doesn't mean I don't worry for others safety. After checking that they were all okay, we began the final stretch up the mountain and wooooo boy was it a long one. Seriously, it must've taken us close to an hour to get up to the Dragon's cave and I was exhuasted as was the others but we came too far to give up.

"Okay girls." I heard Twilight say. "This is it. The Dragon is just inside this cave. Are you all ready?" She asked and everyone did their thing. Pinkie pulled out a rubber chicken and, I shit you not, began swinging it around her body like it was a fucking nunchuke. AJ showed off her bucking skills by kicking to apples into a tree and they both shattered upon impact. She then walked over to Flutters, placed her hands on her shoulders and spoke to her. "Most importantly, are you ready Flutters?" I heard her ask. Flutters gulped audibly and began to slowly make her way to the cave mouth, with me following close behind but I was kinda worried because....there was no more smoke coming out of the mountain. When we reached the peak, Twilight should've asked RD to clear the smoke out with her wings but.....she didn't.

We were about to walk into the cave mouth when the damn thing snored, or well I hope it was a snore cause it sounded more like a roar, this of course set Fluttershy off into a panic and she went stiff-goat mode and collapased to the floor. I sighed, turned and shook my head. "Looks like we'll need to go to plan B." I say as I pick Flutters up, bridel style, and carry her to a nearby rock formation and set her down. I then turn back to the girls and clap my hands. "So who's first?" I ask.

Predictably, the girls were pretty aprehensive of entering the cave but, just like in the show, Twilight was the one to enter first and it was at this point that AJ looked over to me. "You sure she'll be alright sugarcube?" She asked me, I once again felt my magic flair up like the first time I met the girls which meant she was using her element to see if I was going to lie.

"Well...in the show the Dragon simply woke up, blew smoke in her face and then went back to sleep." I told her before sending a quick glare at Rainbow which she caught and raised her eyebrow. "The problem only occured when Rainbow kicked the damn thing in the snout." I said loud enough so everyone heard me. Even Flutters, who had woken up at this point. Rainbow looked at us all glaring at her and then sheepishly scratched the back of her head.

"Heh heh...yeah I would do that."

I simply rolled my eyes and stared back at the cave and waited for Twilight to exit the cave mouth so that Rarity could try and then.....Pinkie.....anyways, Twilght sure was taking an awful long time....maybe there was some time cutbacks in the show? Afterall, each episode was only thirty minutes long. Actually....that made a lot of sense. We started the trip here round midday but now near dusk so I don't really know how long-nope there she is.

"No dice?" I asked as she waked out of the cave defeated. She shook her head at me and sighed.

"So much for persuading him." I heard Rainbow say and I could even hear her eyes roll.

"Well.....what now?" AJ asked, most likely directing it towards me since I knew how this shit would end. I looked over to Rarity and gestured towards the cave. Thankfully she got my message.

She flipped her hair back and began to strut towards the cave. "Obviously, this situation requires for a little 'pony charm'." She said and with a flick of her tail, she strutted into the cave and this caused the others to turn their stares to me.

"She'll fail." I bluntly stated. "She sees the gems and then let it slip that she wants them." I sighed as everyone else facepalmed but I just smiled slightly at this. Not because of the facepalms but I noticed that everyone had a small smile on their faces.

And just like that, Rarity was sulking on a rock. "I was this close." She held her hands close together so the gap was barely noticable. "To getting that diamond."

I coughed into my hand and slinked up next to her with a smirk. "You mean getting rid of the Dragon." She sheepishly laughed and gained a blush on her face.

"Hehehe.....yeah that." She said and looked away from me. I simply smiled and rubbed inbetween her ears and then walked over to Pinkie when I saw her get ready for her moment.

"I assume you have an idea?" I asked her with a quizical tone because.....was it really an idea? Like, what was Pinkie going to do in all honsety.

"Mhm." She nodded with her usual smile. "I'm going to make him laugh." She cheerfully said before walzting into the cave and, not even a second later, she was back out again, her outfit trashed. "Apparently he doesn't like laughing. Heh.....or sharing."

"THAT'S IT!" I heard Rainbow yell out. "We've tried persuasion, charm, whatever it is Pinkie does." Cue busted horn toot. "It's time to stop wasting time." She said as she prepared to charge in but I quickly set up a barrier which she almost crashed into. She shot me a glare and I assumed she wanted an answer.

"Look Rainbow.....as much as I want to kick a Dragons ass." I said in glee, how many people can truly say they've kicked a Dragons ass? "We need to think about the consequences."

"What consequences?"

I rolled my eyes, stepped aside and gestured to Ponyville. "What will happen if the Dragon escapes while he's enraged." That managed to get everyone to stop and think. I looked around and sighed as I spotted our only hope. "Flutters." The buttercup Pegasus jolted at my voice. "I know you don't like it but....you are our only hope." I said to her and walked towards the cave. "We need you." I said to her and turned to face her, my hand outstretched. I was about to say something when I felt a blast of hot wind upon my neck. My face fell and so did the others. "Ahhhhhh shit." I sighed out and turned to face Razor, his yellow angered eyes bored into my own green ones. "Hello mighty Dragon Razor." I said with the politest tone I could muster.

Razor snorted out smoke into my face which sent me into a coughing fit, using my hand coated in wind magic to blow it away and that's when I heard his voice and it was waaaaaaaay different when he was being intimidated by Flutters. "Why do you fleshlings keep disturbing my slumber?" His booming voice rattled my bones and my eardrums. I had to take deep breaths to keep my self calm. I quickly glanced back and held up a single hand, motioning for the others to stay back.

I turned back to Razor and breathed deep before exhaling. "Mighty Dragon. We do not mean any harm nor do we want to disturb you any more then we have to but....your slumber is causing this land to be covered in smog that could send this land into darkness for a hundred years." I told him, trying to sound as peaceful as I could.

He breathed smoke into my face once more but I was ready this time and blew it away instantly. "Why should I care about this land?" He growled out.

"You shouldn't." I bluntly stated. I was about to continue when I shivered heavily, I quickly glanced back and promptly regretted it when 10 eyes bored into my soul. I quickly turned back to Razor and continued. "However, there are many who do care about this land. The ones who rule over this land are Princess Celestia and her sister, Princess Luna. I'm sure you've heard of them no?"

Razor raised a claw and scratched his chin. "But of course. They are the ones who raise the sun and the moon." He said in a low rumble before glancing out over the land before him. "However, they do not have any rule over me." He then lowered his face and stared at me. "Your time is running out as is my patience fleshling." He said with a low rumble.

I opened my mouth to speak but my face dropped when I saw a flash of light blue fly past me and up to Razor's face. "That's it. Get! Out!" Rainbow yelled as she pulled her leg back and then punted him in his snout. I slapped a hand to my forehead and quickly crossed my arms as hot wind blew across me and holy fucking shit did it burn. Have you ever placed your hand over a kettle after it just finished boiling? Stupid but that's the only way I could describe this heat-OH SHIT THAT'S A CLAW!

I quickly ducked as I saw Razor's claws just miss my head, on the bright side I manged to finally get that haircut buuuuuuuuuut I couldn't stop myself from being flung back just from the force it. I was sure that I was gonna go over the edge but instead I landed into to something hard yet soft. I looked up and nodded at AJ. "Thanks for the save."

"No problem partner." She said and tipped her hat to me but her eyes widend in fear, an emotion I don't think I've seen her do. I follow her gaze and my own fear bubbled up to the surface. Why you ask? It's because Razor was on his hind legs, neck extended and mouth sightly agape as fire began to flicker out of his maw.

Just like with the avalanche, I moved upon pure instinct when I saw Razor lower his body and stood in front of the girls despite their protests. Unlike before when I just used a void shield, I set up an ice wall infront of the shield. Didn't do shit as it melted the instant Razer’s flames hit it but it did lessen some of the pa-nope. No it didn't. Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck I'm starting to regret this.

I took a quick glance at my arms and hissed in pain as I saw some of my flesh started to get singed but I had to hold out for a few more seconds. A normal red-Dragon's fire breath lasts about ten to twenty seconds and Razor has been breathing for about fifteen and I was right on the money. At twenty seconds, his plume of fire extinguished. I dropped both the wall of ice, which I was surprised to find it even standing, and the void shield before hastly pulling my sleeves over my scorched arms. They weren't too badly burnt, probably only first degree burns so they'll heal pretty quickly, but I still wasn't gonna take any chances against Razor.

I faced Razor and began to charge electricity all throughout my body. The electricity surged through my body and began to manifest around me like a cloak giving me the look of Izuku when he used full cowling but I called it by a different name, 'Etherial enhancment: lightning.

......

I'm not good with names, sue me.....maybe full cowling is a better name?

Anyways, I bent my legs and held my left hand in front of me, palm open, and pulled my right hand to my chest, in a closed fist. I took a deep breath to calm my nerves because boy if they weren't racing a mile a minute. I didn't try and summon my void medium as I've pushed my void magic to its peak with the avalanche and Razor's fire breath. While it might not seem like much, those two things, one after the other, were powerful as fuck.

Applying wind magic to my feet, I pushed off the ground and was pleased to find myself above Razor's head meaning my 'shave' technique worked. I pulled my right arm back, fist clenched, before slamming it into the top of his head. The impact of my fist into his head caused an explosion of sparks and also sent electricity down Razor's body causing him to twitch violently. He quickly shook the stun effect off his body and, in an impressive display of dexterity, he turned to face me and opened his maw. I could see flames quickly gathering at the bottom of his throat.

My eyes narrowed as I watched the flames gather.....oh shit right, should probably move. I shook my head and used one of my more advanced wind spells which basically involved turning the air beneath my feet solid and, this is gonna sound weird but stay with me, bouncy. It was quicker then my Air walk but it was also harder to control as it took my momentum and turned it into kinetic energry which theoretically should transfer back into me and then bounce me of said air pad.

But I've never tested it before.

I shook my head after that thought. No time to hesitate, have to act. I quickly threw my right hand back and created the Air pad I would use, making it solid first so I could push off it, and then aimed myself so I would bounce right under Razer's belly.....well that's what I wanted to happen but as I said, I've never tested this spell out so what actually happened was when I pushed of the Air pad it didn't hold itself together and split apart meaning I had nothing to push off.

Seeing the flames quickly travel up Razer's throat was.....well terrifying to say the least. I had to activate my Air walk spell just to avoid getting turned into a crisp and I was about to teleport in front of the girls.

THWACK

I guess Razor must've felt my magic flare up as the fucker slammed his tail into my back, I am so glad that enhancement magic was a thing otherwise my back would be in many a pieces right now, I mean I probably still had fractured ribs from the impact but still could be worse. I had to close my eyes in response to the pain so I had no idea where I was being flung towards but next thing I see when I open my eyes was darkness and my body pressed up against something hard and rough.

My whole body ached in pain. My back felt like it was in pieces, my arms felt like they were being torn off by my own magic and it was the same with my legs. My chest felt heavy, like there was an immense pressure pushing down on it but I had to push through it and stand up as I started to hear fractured voices.

"-Ro!" That sounded like.....Twilight.

"Is-kay?" And that one Rarity.

Come on Shiro, get your ass up off the ground and get back in the game. I slowly pushed myself up off the ground and shook my head to get my senses back, I was surrounded by multicoloured blobs since my vision was blury as hell, and boy am I glad I got my hearing back because I managed to hear the tail end of Flutters chewing out Razor and my god was it glorious.

"I repeat—you do not! Hurt! My! Friends! You got that? " I heard her yell. I managed to stop my blurred vision and ringing ears just in time to see this timid buttercup-yellow Pegasus fly up to this mighty Dragon and scowled it like a mother would her foal.

"Man am I glad that she's on our side." I said to myself, a slight smile tugged at the side of my lips. It was comforting to see Flutters out of her scared shell, even if it was only going to be for a few more moments, but I couldn't focus on that at this current moment as I could hear the other girls try and see if I was okay. I held up my hands to silence them and slowly pushed myself up to my feet, placing a hand on my knee and then pushed off it. "I'm okay girls, honest." That was a total lie.

I took a quick glance at my uncovered arms, my sleeves were burned off durning my scrap with Razor, and winced as I saw that my flesh had been seered slightly, not enough to make them look like grilled cheese but enough that the wind was causing it to sting slightly. My arms also felt like they were about to fall off, same with my legs too. I was also pretty sure that I had a cracked rib or two and my back was stiff as hell but the brightside was I'm still fully functional. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes for a few seconds and began to let my magic wash over my body.

Okay that's a lie. I wasn't using my own magic, I was allowing the natural mana of Equestria to flow into my body, simply by breathing in the air, and merge with my own and allowed that to wash over my body. This began the process of recharging my natural/un-natural magic and also slowly heal my wounds over time. Through my many magical and alchelmical experiments, I've found that once a ponies magical reserves are full, their bodies will repair itself at a faster rate then normal which explains why injuries never lasted in the show.

We all suddenly felt a large gust of wind coming from the direction of Flutters and Razer causing us all to quickly turn our heads to see what was happening. We all breathed out a sigh of relief when he saw Razer had spread his wings and gave them a hearty beat which sent him slightly airborne before he paused and looked down at us. Honestly, I half expected another breath attack but nothing came of it as he just....stared at us before snorting and flew away, clearing all the smog as he went.

I finally released a breath I was holding before I collapsed to my ass with an exhausted groan. I titled my head to look at the others and it seemed like they were fairing far better then I was...then again, they didn't really have to do much.

"SHIRO!"

My eyes went wide and I sucked in a breath of pain as I was suddenly talked to the floor and glomped by Flutters, who I could hear was quietly sobbing into my shoulder. "I-I'm so *hic* glad you're okay!" She sobbed. "I-I thought *hic* that *hic* that you....." She trailed off at that point.

'I'm far from okay Flutters' I thought before I sighed softly and gently rubbed her back in a way to comfort her. "I'm sorry I made you worry Flutters." I softly told her before tiliting my head back to look at the others with a sheepish smile. "I'm sorry If I worried all of you." I told them.

"As you should be!" Rarity chastised me.

"She's right Shiro." Twilight took over as she stared at me with concered eyes. "What were you even thinking? Taking on a Dragon like that when you know you're not naturally attuned to magic so the effects of over-using your magic and defending against Dragon fire right after an avalanche would be much more severe."

I couldn't help but feel a sweat drop on the back of my head as Twilight started to lecture me while also scold me at the same time. When I felt like she was finished, I started to explain my reasons behind my actions. "Simple....Dragons respect few things and one of which is strength." I told them with a matter of fact tone of voice. Seeing how they were still glaring at me, I got the feeling they wanted more of an answer. I sighed and shook my head. "I don't know what more to say. I thought that if I could show Razer a feat of strength and gain his respect, he would listen." I told them before looking down at the still sobbing Pegasus. "In the end....it still came down to Flutters."

"Wait what?" I heard Rainbow exclaim. "You mean, even in the show, Flutters was the one to get rid of the Dragon?"

I turned my head to Rainbow and nodded. "Mhm and all it took was to see you five get injured by Razer, although not as severe as me." Hell, did they even get injured? If memory served didn't they just get blown back by Razer's roar? Eh oh well, better that I get injured rather then them. I shook my head and smiled at the girls who all raised their eyebrows at me. "Anyways, what say we go home?" I asked them and recieved tired repsonses in return.

And finally finished with Dragonshy.....so sorry I've been in hiatus for so long it's just....i've been dealing with a lot of mental problems, including my motivation, but I should be good to go now. Now next chapter should be watch where you sleep and I'm going to take some....liberties with it so I hope you will understand. Anyways until next time....stay well, stay true.....BYE BYE~