Dragonshy

Roseluck and the group stared at an entrance of a cave where the smoke was heaviest. For the past four hours, they all been trotting up this Celestia forsaken mountain. Roseluck’s hooves ached, she was cold and hungry.

“So do we just charge in or?” Trixie scratched the back of her head as Silverspeed grinned, extending her lance as Sunset slapped it away with her magic.

“No killing or maiming, Silverspeed. I remember how you were for weeks after the other incident. You had nightmares for weeks,” Sunset shot her a stern look and her guard put her weapon away with an embarrassed look. Silverspeed would never admit this out loud, especially in front of Sunset but she had to admit that Sunset holding her felt nice.

“As do I,” a feminine voice agreed and they spun around as a doe jumped off some rocks to stand in front of them. “I take it you’re here for the dragon, same as me?”

“Fern?” Silverspeed asked with a raised eyebrow as the other elements eyed the doe with distrustful gazes. “Yeah, we are. How do you know about it?”

“Same way you all do. With my eyes,” Fern pointed at her green eyes with a hoof. Or whatever it was deer had. Roseluck wasn’t entirely taught in deer anatomy. “It’s been busy in the village. I’ve been made the Head Councildoe in replacement of the old council members.”

Roseluck bit back a harsh comment as she instead nodded along. She still didn’t necessarily trust the smaller creature. I mean, who would blame her? If it wasn’t for Silverspeed, Roseluck and the others were up for execution simply for stepping hoof in the Everfree. Roseluck was a bit shocked Sunset had been perfectly content to allow the deer they left behind in the trial room to be killed.

“Who is this?” Lily whispered into Roseluck’s ear as the pink mare hid behind Roseluck.

“It’s complicated. I’ll explain back at home,” Roseluck whispered back and Lily nodded in satisfaction.

“I’ll go first. Just to make sure it’s safe,” Silverspeed glanced at Sunset and the amber mare nodded reluctantly. Sunset wasn’t entirely fond of the idea of splitting up and it showed on her face.

Silverspeed flapped her wings a few times and the others watched her fly cautiously inside, glancing around the large cave as her jaw dropped slightly.

A large red dragon laid upon piles of gold with his tail wrapped around him. Silverspeeds mouth went dry as she landed in front of him, picking up some bits and letting them fall between her hooves.

“I’ve never seen so many bits in all my life,” Silverspeed whispered and fluttered her wings, glancing up at the dragon nervously. “Or a living creature so damn big.”

Silverspeed glanced around and tossed some bits into her saddlebags. Not like he’d miss any. He had a shit ton of bits and other golden items.

While Silverspeeds parents did have a lot of money, Silverspeed never saw any of it when she signed up to become a Royal Guard. And contrary to popular, while the Royal Guard does have great benefits, it doesn’t pay much.

With half of what she took, she could entirely pay off the classes she took at West Hoof if she wanted, which seemed like a pretty good idea to her. Silverspeed tightened the strap on her saddlebags and trotted back out.

“He’s the only dragon. You won’t believe what’s inside.”

“Gold?” Shoeshine guessed as they all started to trot inside and all of their jaws dropped in awe.

“By Celestia’s cake loving flanks,” Sunset muttered with a stunned expression.

“Holy shit,” Trixie commented and Shoeshine stared with wide eyes.

“Roseluck and I could expand our business so much,” Shoeshine whispered and Roseluck nodded slowly with Lily following suit after.

“Dinky and Amethyst won’t ever have to worry about paying for college,” Derpy added and her wings slowly opened. “I could give them a much nicer house too.”

They all looked at the gold surrounding them, random trophies or whole statues as they each individually thought about how they could make their lives better or their families lives better. All but Trixie as the blue mare picked up a coin.

I could get so many fireworks. A pool full of bits, Trixie thought to herself with a smirk.

“Easy girls,” Sunset shook her head. “We’re here to stop the dragon from killing us all with toxic smoke, not pillage like barbarians. Put back whatever you took and let’s try to get him back to the Dragon Lands.”

Reluctantly, the others complied and Silverspeed shifted her weight with an innocent smile, ignoring Sunset’s suspicious gaze.

“Silverspeed?”

“Yes Sunny?” Silverspeed maintained her innocent smile as she locked eyes with the pony of her affections.

“You probably have best intentions, but dump your saddlebags out. We’re not thieves, after all.”

Silverspeed sighed but complied. She hadn’t really planned on keeping them all for herself. There was a dozen charities that would have benefited from said bits. And her friends of course.

“So how do we wake him up?” Derpy asked and glanced at the still sleeping dragon.

“You might wanna cover your ears,” Shoeshine warned as Trixie’s horn started to glow. All their eyes widened and hastily pressed their hooves their ears as loud boom echoed throughout the cavern and Trixie panted briefly, her horn slowly stopped glowing pink.

Even with theirs ears covered, all the present ponies felt their brains rattling against the skull from the noise.

“What was that?” Lily demanded in a whisper, shooting a glare at Trixie.

“Trixie’s sonic boom. It’s a special talent I got when I got my mark. I actually got my cutie mark because of a magic trick going wrong. I just repurposed it in later years,” Trixie explained with a smug grin, dusting off her mane.

The dragon yawned and briefly smacked his lips before rolling onto his side as Trixie stared in stunned silence. Trixie would never admit it, but she was terrified. Facing fears wasn’t something she was good at.

“Okay, so that didn’t work,” Roseluck commented and Trixie shot the cream coated mare a dirty look. “What now?”

“I got this one,” Derpy answered and stretched her wings as she flew up his nose and started to tap on it. “Hello? Sir?”

They all held their breath as the dragon frowned and Sunset tilted her head to the side.

“Well, at least we got somewhere. Frowning means he might be close to waking up,” Sunset mused and cracked her neck with a content groan as Silverspeed pointedly tried to ignore the sounds.

“Why don’t we just teleport him away?” Fluttershy asked and Sunset shrugged.

“Never been to the Dragon Lands before. Most unicorns need to at least have been to a place before once before teleporting creatures and items to said place so we can have that mental image ready. And besides, if I teleported him, we risk getting trapped inside here. None of us want that,” Sunset explained and Fluttershy paled at that.

“Wake up!” Shoeshine turned around and bucked him hard in the face as everypony gasped. The dragons eyes shot open and Shoeshine stumbled backwards in fear.

“Oh fuck me sideways,” was all Shoeshine managed to get out before the dragon roared in her face, sending her mane and tail straight backwards. In any other situation, Sunset would have laughed hard. The dragon smacked Shoeshine with a claw, sending her flying into Roseluck and the pair bowled Sunset and Trixie over.

“Ughh,” Silverspeed moaned and her eyes rolled around her head. “Can someone make the room stop spinning? Please?”

Derpy groaned loudly as Lily and Fluttershy watched in horror, the two cowering in the corner as Sunset pushed herself off of a blushing Silverspeed.

“How dare you?” Sunset jumped slightly at a furious looking Fluttershy and Lily approaching with narrowed eyes.

“I really wouldn’t,” Sunset warned as the three glowed teal. “Don’t antagonize him further. I’ll handle this. Hello, my name is-”

“Sunset Shimmer,” the dragon finished with a scowl. “I know who you are.”

“How exactly?” Shoeshine whispered and Sunset shrugged.

“I uh fought a dragon as tall as Silverspeed once. Kicked his ass. Apparently the small dragons fear me now. This dude is like thirty to forty feet tall.”

Nopony really knew what to say as Lily stepped forward angrily with Fluttershy.

“How dare you hit my sister?” Lily sneered and shifted her weight as she raised an hoof.

“The blue one hit me,” he commented flatly as Fern jumped on his head from the shadows and he growled.

“And she regrets it,” Fern growled back in his ear. “We just need you to leave. You’re spreading your smoke all over Equestria. At the rate you’re going, there will be nothing left.”

“Hitting me doesn’t make me want to comply with you all whatsoever,” he snorted and Lily glared at him.

“Shoeshine was wrong yes, but you’re much bigger than we are. You should know not to hit anything smaller than you,” Fluttershy’s scowled as she flew up to his eyes and stared at him intently. Sunset had never really seen anything like that in all her life. It wasn’t directed at her and she wanted to do two things: run away or do whatever Fluttershy wanted. “Apologize. Now.”

Sunset was absolutely certain Fluttershy was about to become burnt pegasus any minute now. Sending letters about ponies dying wasn’t something Sunset entirely was good at.

“Fine,” the dragon agreed after a very long tense moment and glared at Shoeshine. “I grudgingly apologize because this mare is scary.”

Sunset never thought Fluttershy of all ponies was scary, but that opinion has quickly changed.

“I uh accept?” Shoeshine said in confusion and the blue mare glanced around her. “So you’ll leave?”

“Since I’m being evicted, apparently,” the dragon grumbled and grabbed claw fulls of gold. “Good day.”

They all watched in surprise as he flew away.

“Well, that happened easier than anticipated,” Fluttershy broke the silence and they all nodded.

“At least the walk down is gonna be easier than the walk up,” Silverspeed suggested with a shrug. “And remember, leave the gold behind.”

They reluctantly started to follow as Trixie tossed a coin in her bag, internally hoping nopony saw.

“Trixie!”