The Element of Love

Season One

Chapter Seven

Dragonshy

You and Butterscotch are at Sugarcube Corner, having your first date.

...Seriously, why does nearly everything happen there? Not that you minded or anything; it was your favourite café, but still…

It took weeks for him to ask you out on one, and you had been nothing other than patient, letting him take his time.

"So…" says the pegasus , drawing your attention to him. "I hope you didn't feel bored… I mean, Sugarcube Corner is where everything happens, and as lame as it may seem, I thought that it would be easier for our first date to be here, because it's sort of a familiar place and stuff, and-" Suddenly he stops, coughing a little. "Sorry, I'm rambling, aren't I?"

You smile at him. "I don't think it was lame for you to let our first date be here. Being in a familiar place helps lower nervousness...I think. I was worried something might go wrong, because most of the time, when good things happen, bad things happen right after, or at least, that's my theory, and yeah… But coming here for the first date instead of some restaurant that was fancy to the highest degree possible put me at ease."

He stops fidgeting, placing his hooves on the table, and shyly returns your smile. "You really think so?"

Your hooves meet. "Yes, I think so."

He blushes at this, and is about to say something when Angel runs towards him from out of nowhere and begins choking.

Naturally, Butterscotch gets worried and begins asking Angel a lot of questions. "Angel, what happened? Did you get something stuck in your throat? I told you not to run while eating… "

The bunny shakes his head and points a paw in the direction of the sky while coughing hard enough to lift him up for a brief second.

Butterscotch doesn't get the hint, but you look at the sky and see that it's covered with some sort of smoke?

"Butterscotch, I think Angel is trying to tell you about the smoke in the sky," you say before he offers to do an operation on the bunny to help him.

"Hm?" He follows your gaze, and gasps. "T -that much smoke? ...I hope there's not a fire anywhere!"

"Let's go warn everyone, " you suggest, and leaving your half finished smoothie, you jump up and dash out of the café, with the pegasus following you.

You see Blitz and Bubble in the town centre, with the former bouncing a ball on his head while the latter bounces around him, counting.

Your companion rushes to tell them, but both are too absorbed into what they're doing to even hear him.

Suddenly Bubble stops bouncing and waves to you. "Hi Butterscotch! Hi (Y/N)!"

You're about to reply, but upon hearing your name, Blitz loses his concentration and groans. "Bubble… you made me lose count!"

"Sorry! I guess we'll just have to start over!"

"We'll all have to start over. And in a new village," mutters Butterscotch, who had given up on getting them to hear him, and was standing next to you.

"Hey, Bubble, Blitz," you start, only to find that they're both nowhere to be seen.

Butterscotch sighs, and you turn to him. "Sometimes, I wish my voice wasn't so quiet… No one ever hears me…"

"I don't think it's the pitch of your voice that matters- someone might have such a voice that they can be heard from quite a distance, yet no one pays attention to them. It's more of the way you conduct yourself. If you always seem sure of yourself, then no one will ever ignore you- you'll always be noticed. "

"Were you once as imperceptible as I?"

"Yes," you reply, with your smile fading at the memory of those days. "I used to be unsure of myself, always rethinking every action until I wore myself out… But those times have long passed, and I must tell you that as a pony who once experienced the feelings you feel most of the time, having even a little confidence in yourself and not saying yes to everyone will help you a lot."

Angel bunny, who had, to your obliviousness, been following the two of you this entire time, coughs very loudly, and you say, "Like, look at Angel! He might be a small bunny...But due to the way he acts, he always gets exactly what he wants. I don't mean that you should behave like a… Well, you know, but if you seem sure of yourself, then that'll help. And see, he proves that you don't need to have a loud voice to be l-"

Angel coughs again, way louder this time, and points at the sky. "Oh right, we need to warn everypony about the fire," says Butterscotch .

"How do you know it's a fire?"

"What else could possibly produce that much smoke? ...Let's find Dusk."

He runs towards the Golden Oaks Library and you're about to pass the bridge, but the aforementioned unicorn appears and you almost bump into him.

His dragon assistant is also there.

"Everyone! Some of you may have noticed the smoke in the sky, but there is no need to worry, for it is not from a fire! I have received a letter from Prince Solaris, which informs me that it is in fact, smoke caused by the snoring of a dragon, who has chosen to sleep near Ponyville. Feel free to go about your daily lives, for this problem is one that shall be solved, hopefully before the sun sets. "

Once his announcement finishes, everyone goes back to whatever they were doing before, and Dusk clears his throat, addressing you two.

"(Y/N), Butterscotch, I have no doubt that both of you have heard my announcement, and understand what I'm implying."

" You...want the seven of us to go to the dragon?" asks Butterscotch hesitantly.

"Why, there could not have been a closer guess. Yes, indeed, that is what I meant. If you could inform the others of this, I shall be very grateful, for I need to do some research before going. We could all meet up again at this bridge in an hour," says Dusk.

"Sure," you agree.

As you walk through Ponyville in search of your other friends, you can't help but notice the paleness that has taken over Butterscotch's features.

"Butterscotch...Are you okay?"

He blinks, as if emerging from a trance, and looks at you. "Yes...I'm fine…"

"Butterscotch -"

" I'm fine, (Y/N), " he says. "Let's just concentrate on finding the others."

You reluctantly agree, and the walk continues in silence.

An hour has passed, and you're at the bridge where it was agreed to meet.

Everyone is ready and here, apart from Butterscotch.

"Ugh… Why does Butterscotch have to be so slow?" groans Rainbow. "Do we even need to bring him along?"

"Everyone is valuable," replies Dusk without looking up from the map he's holding in order to determine the best route to the mountain on which the dragon is situated.

"Yeah, but what's Butterscotch gonna do, huh? He'll just slow us down, and this is a dragon we're going against. If he can't even handle seeing his own shadow, how can he be expected to go near a dragon?" demands Blitz.

"Rainbow's right…" you hear a familiar voice mutter. "I'm just going to be useless on this trip."

" Butterscotch! You finally came, " says Rainbow.

"Why, whatever was the delay caused by? I feared you weren't going to come," says Elusive who's wrapped a scarf around his neck.

"Butterscotch, don't listen to Blitz. Your ability to talk to all types of creatures will come in handy here, as well as your knowledge of them," you say, smiling at him.

He makes an effort to return your smile, but it doesn't reach his eyes.

"So, I'm just going to explain the route now," says Dusk, pointing to the map as he explains what way will be best to go.

…

Ten minutes later, when the lavender unicorn is still explaining, Blitz yawns. "Dusk, hurry up…"

"Yeah! I wanna go to the mountain!" exclaims Bubble, bouncing around.

"And as much as I would love to hear your explanation, Dusk, I find it possible to freeze if we don't start walking now."

The unicorn scowls upon being interrupted, and rolls the map up. " Since everyone's so impatient, let's just go. "

Butterscotch walks slowly, and you stay with him, not wanting to leave him behind.

"There's no need to slow down for me; I'll make it there," he replies .

"And leave you? No way. "

"(Y/N)! If you're gonna be waiting around for Butterscotch, then at least make him walk faster! And if he can't walk faster, I'll pull him if you can't!"

"Butterscotch…"

"Are you sure we can't just catch up with them? I'm feeling tired."

"Well...Would you prefer to be pulled by Blitz?"

He shakes his head, but rather than walking faster, he sits down in the snow.

You sigh.

Not willing to leave your coltfriend to the mercy of an extremely impatient Rainbow Blitz, you decide to pull Butterscotch there…

…

…

Soon enough, all of you reach the mountain, and you stop to take a break from pulling Butterscotch, who winces as he stands.

"S-s-so, this is the d-d-dragon's cave?" he asks fearfully .

"It should be," says Dusk.

"A-and we have to go all the way u-up there?"

" Yes. "

The yellow pegasus is trembling… "Butterscotch? I'm sure it won't take that long to go up it, especially with the route that Dusk chose, " says Bubble, having noticed this.

"Wh-what if I fall while going up?"

"You could, I don't know, fly up there using the wings that you were born with?" suggests Blitz sarcastically.

"And I'll do my best to catch you," you reassure him.

Everyone starts climbing up, but Butterscotch's shaking hooves make it impossible for him to get a steady grip on the mountain, and after advancing a few steps, he tumbles down, but before any misfortune could occur to him, you catch him with your magic and set him beside you.

Holding his hoof, you say, "We're going around the mountain where it'll be less likely for Butterscotch to fall."

"Ah'll join y'all," offers Applejack, who had so far been busy speaking with Elusive and Bubble.

"Sure."

" Man...You guys took forever, just like I said, " Blitz says as soon as he sees you.

Butterscotch collapses on the ground, and Applejack sets his bags down.

While the three of you have a small rest from the exhausting walk around the mountain, the other four ponies who are part of your group jump over the gap that leads to the other side.

Blitz groans. "All of you can rest later...just jump over here and there's no more walking to do. "

Sighing, you stand up and prepare yourself for the jump, with Applejack copying you.

…

"Butterscotch aren't you going to come? " you ask once you've leapt over.

"I...What if I fall…?" he mumbles.

" You won't fall! Here, I'll show you how to do it! It's a hop, skip and a jump! " exclaims Bubble, springing back and forth between the two sides while repeating that.

Eventually Butterscotch decides to try, and almost falls, but manages to pull himself up at the last second and flops onto the snow.

"Now that everyone's here," says Dusk, " we can finally get started. So first I'll go and see if I can sort things out peacefully, and if I can't, then Elusive and Bubble go next, after them Applejack and Blitz can try, and then Butterscotch and (Y/N) can work as a team as well. "

…

…

…

Everyone has failed in their mission, and now it's your and Butterscotch's turn. The only problem is that as soon as he realised that, he fainted.

You open your bag and sprinkle a few drops of water on him, which causes him to instantly wake up.

"Butterscotch, it's our turn now," you remind him gently.

"O-our turn? Are you sure you can't go in there without me? "

"Butterscotch, with your amazing skills with creatures, nothing bad will happen," says Dusk.

"I...can't go," he says.

"Why not? " inquires Elusive. "If you're worried about the state of the dragon's cave, you needn't be worried because it's actually quite nice."

" It's not that… "

Everyone tries guessing, and Butterscotch holds a hoof up. "It's because...I'm scared of dragons. I know, I've faced a manticore," he says upon seeing Blitz's incredulous look , "and we faced Night terror Nebula together, but I've always been afraid of dragons for some reason. Dragons, who are capable of eating ponies… who breathe fire… And Spike is just a baby dragon, and he's different."

"There's hardly any difference. Look, did any of us get eaten? And you'll have (Y/N) with you," Blitz points out.

"I'm sorry…but I just can't go and face that dragon."

With that, he turns and runs down. You're about to go after him, but Blitz stops you.

"We can do this without Butterscotch. You can still have a try, and if the dragon still stays, we'll just have to use force. "

…

The dragon refused to listen to you. You were as close as Elusive had been, but one small mistake had you out.

...Perhaps it wasn't a good idea to offer to help the dragon tidy up.

Using force hadn't worked either, as no sooner than Blitz and Applejack set foot in the cave and had begun trying to force it out, they had been blasted out of it.

The dragon walked out of the cave, snarling, for it was fully angered now.

For every step back any of you took, it just came closer, until the six of you were cornered.

Magic didn't work on it…

"I guess this is the end," you say, gulping . "It was nice knowing you all."

Just as the dragon swipes its claw, Butterscotch flies up from out of nowhere and lands on its nose. "You should be ashamed of yourself! These ponies are all smaller than you, and you're just bullying them! "

The dragon pauses mid swipe and says something, pointing at Blitz. "Well, that was because you were being mean to our friends."

" I'm sure such a good dragon like you can find somewhere else to take a nap, somewhere that no creature can get harmed by your smoke, right? "

A few more words are exchanged between the two of them, and the dragon takes off, leaving you all in awe.

"I knew you could do it!" you say to Butterscotch , hugging him.

"Well… I just couldn't bear to watch and do nothing… I couldn't let you all get killed. Even if I was afraid of the dragon..."

"And I'm happy that you were able to face your fear and save us all."

"...Perhaps I was too inconsiderate about your feelings," says Blitz . "I made you feel like you were useless, and you still saved us all."

"It's okay," says Butterscotch . He then turns to you. "Since our date was interrupted… How does next week sound?"

Author's Note

...If the readers actually suggested ways that the episode could change, I'd probably be able to finish the chapter faster.

Comments would be appreciated.