Yakistan

A cave nestled on a cliffside, as the storm raged on and two figures guarded the cave's edge.

A pair of dragons were wearing armor and one had a spear.

And they… were so bored…

“Yaaaaawn…” Stone yawned.

“No slouching on the job Stone,” Firestar said for the thirteenth time.

“I know I know… but seriously, nothing is going to happen, nothing ever happens,” Stone said.

“Doesn’t mean something won’t,” Firestar said.

“Dude, we’re in an isolated cave off the coast of Yakistan, nopony even knows about this cave, save for a few, but they're in that pony jail, tartar sauce or something,” The orange dragon waved him off.

“Tartarus and the fact there are beings who know means we should remain vigilant,” Firestar said.

“You need a chillpill, let me shoot some rounds with your spear,” Stone said.

“What? Why?” Firestar held his spear closer.

“Because I’m bored!” Stone said.

“Like I’ll let you play around with it after what happened last time, you nearly burnt the whole cave down!” Firestar said.

“Ugh, will you ever let that go?” Stone sighed.

“Not taking any more chances, not when the dragon lord gave us specific instructions to protect the stone,” Firestar said pointing to the glowing green gem in the cave about the size of a baseball.

“You really need to get a girlfriend…” Stone rolled his eyes.

“Whatever… I need to use the bathroom,” Firestar said.

“What happened to 'remaining vigilant'?” Stone asked with quotation marks.

“Hard to when you have to use the bathroom, I need you to watch the stone, and do NOT fall asleep again, last time it could have been stolen!” Firestar said.

“You never let anything go, fine,” Stone rolled his eyes.

“Ok,” Firestar then left to go take his number two while Stone laid back against the wall of the cave and sighed.

“Bored…. So bored….” Stone looked out at the forest and saw no sign of movement “Hmm…. nopony ever comes to this cave anyways, a short period of shuteye won’t hurt…” Stone shrugged before taking a nap.

And a small figure flew up to the cave.

“Heheheh… right where he said it was, all that waiting paid off,” She whispered as she quickly snuck past the sleeping drake, swiped the glowing green gem, and flew away.

---three minutes later---

…..Tap tap tap…

“Huh?” Stone woke up and looked up to see an irate Firestar tapping his foot.

“What. Did. I. say?” Firestar said looking like he restraining himself from attacking him.

“Dude relax, it was just a power nap-” SMACK “OW! What the heck man?!” Stone rubbed his face where he was struck

“Look at the rock…” Firestar pointed to his right.

“Huh?” Stone turned and saw a green rock “Yeah, what about it?” Stone asked.

“....IT’S A FAKE YOU MORON!” Firestar yelled.

“What?” Stone said before looking at the rock and he could see it was just a similarly sized rock painted green.

“............Oops…” Stone said.

“You and I need to find it, and then, YOU are going report why YOU messed up to Ember,” Firestar said.

“C’mon! You left to take a poop, surely you get some of the blame,” Stone said.

“Don’t you turn this on me, I explicitly told you not to fall asleep!” Firestar retorted.

“I-”

“Come on! Let’s get moving!” Firestar said as he ran ahead.

“Ugh… he really needs a girlfriend…” Stone said as he followed.

A hoofball flew through the air and landed on the head of Scootaloo.

“Haha!” Scootaloo bounced it to Yona who rammed the ball sending it to Smolder.

“Yak like this game, not as fun as smashing though,” Yona said.

“Eh, better than what we have in Griffonstone,” Gallus said as he caught the ball and pitched it to Sandbar who bucked it into the air and Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom teamed up to bounce it back.

“Whoo hoo!” Sweetie said.

“Yeehaw!” AB said.

Silverstream flew up and knocked it to Ocellus, who ducked down and the ball bounced off of her.

“Aw man, almost a perfect one,” Smolder sighed.

“S-sorry,” Ocellus said.

“It’s fine,” Sandbar said as he approached.

“You gotta get used to projectiles or one day it's going to get you hurt,” Gallus said.

“What he said, c’mon Ocellus let’s try again,” Smolder said before a bell rang and they turned to see students heading back into the school.

“Aw, time is up,” Yona said.

“Sorry guys,” Ocellus said.

“No problem, we’ll try again, next recess,” Sandbar said.

“Alright, let’s get moving before one of the professors gets on our flanks about being late,” Smolder said as they walked on.

As the group walked on inside the CMC said their goodbyes and left for home.

“Ok, so what are we going to do now?” Sweetie asked.

“We should get moving to the clubhouse, we can figure out our next move there,” Scootaloo said as the three galloped through the town avoiding several ponies as they made it to the clubhouse and they went up the stairs to get to planning.

“Ok, let’s get focusin on continuin work on our cutie mark aid, ever since we got ‘em we have helped so many ponies, but it may be time to expand our network,” Apple Bloom said.

“What do you mean?” Scootaloo asked as they entered.

“Ah’m sayin we could let distant ponies know about our cutie mark service, an help em,” Apple Bloom said.

“And how are we going to pull this off?” Scootaloo asked.

“We can-” Suddenly a loud rumble came around them and they turned to see what it was.

And when they peeked out their window to see they saw a figure flying overhead.

“Huh?!” Scootaloo exclaimed.

“What in tarnation?!” Apple Bloom said.

“Was that… a dragon?” Sweetie asked and then a second one flew overhead and they peeked out to see them flying towards town.

“Should we go see how this’ll go,” Apple Bloom said.

“Why should it matter? We see dragons all the time nowadays,” Sweetie said.

“Something doesn’t feel right,” Scootaloo said as they made their back in.

Rainbow Dash flew out over the forest flying through clouds and punching holes in them, she then did a loop and flew back through them scattering them.

As she paused she then shot upwards and punched through another big cloud and then landed on another.

“Whew! Nice workout today,” Rainbow said stretching out her wings as she took off again this time she moved the clouds closer together and planned to bust through them all at once.

“Ok, now for the real challenge,” Rainbow said as she stretched out and then she ascended into the air quickly, getting high enough that she could do a rainboom instantly and she took off downwards.

“Alright! Let’s see my new technique in action!” Rainbow said as she built up speed, she could feel the wind resistance getting ready to break… aaaaannnd-

“AAAAAHHHH!” A voice cried from within the forest and Rainbow was startled out of her charge and she collided with the cloud.

“Oooff!” Rainbow grunted and she looked around to see where that scream came from.

“Huh? Where-”

“AAAAAAHHHH! Somepony help!” it was a filly’s voice… that can’t be good!

“Hold on! I’m coming!” Rainbow said and she flew off towards the sound to help whoever it was.

She heard more screaming in that set of trees over there!

“I’m coming!” Rainbow said and she entered the tree line and landed “Alright! Hero time!” Rainbow said looking for the screaming filly…. And she saw nothing…

“Huh? What happened? Hello?” Rainbow looked around.

“....Hello Rainbow Dash,” A vaguely familiar voice said and Rainbow turned around.

“Huh?! You?! How did you-”

“Da mihi thesaurum tuum!” The voice yelled and suddenly a bright green light consumed Rainbow who screamed.

Twilight walked through her school, she was getting ready for the next curriculum to teach, sharing, and now she just had to get there without anypony stopping her.

“Alright, I will demonstrate how to share based on their individual ways based on species and find a way to mix them… yes, that will work,” Twilight said.

“I think this’ll be a great one,” Spike said.

“Yeah, I hope you brought some volunteer cards since the girls are taking the day off,” Twilight said.

“Yep, hard to forget to bring them when you constantly remind me,” Spike snarked.

“You can never be too careful,” Twilight said.

“I can name a few ways…” Spike muttered before suddenly they bumped into Smolder who came around a corner.

“Huh? Oh, there you are! You need to come with me right now!” Smolder said.

“What? What’s going on? And why aren’t you in class?” Twilight asked getting up.

“Never mind that… we got a visitor,” Smolder said urgently.

“Ok, Spike continue on to class, ask one of the substitutes to help with the lesson,” Twilight said sensing the urgency in Smolder.

“Ok,” Spike said and Twilight followed Smolder to the front door.

When they got there they saw the main hall was occupied by two dragons, not big, more like medium sized and they were wearing armor.

“Hmm? Are you the princess of this land?” Firestar asked approaching.

“...Well, I am a princess but not ruler of the nation,” Twilight said.

“I told you we should have gone to that big city on the mountain,” Firestar sighed.

“It’s where that drake pointed us, Gargle or something,” Stone said.

“Garble! Ugh, sometimes I wonder how you passed the exams to be a guard…” Firestar sighed again.

“So… what can I do for you?” Twilight asked.

“We’re here on the account of a theft of an important item, if you are not the ruler of this nation then we demand you point us to him or her,” Firestar said.

“I’m pretty sure Celestia would be more than okay with helping you, but she might be busy, maybe I can help you?” Twilight offered.

“I suppose, time is of the essence,” Firestar said.

“What was stolen? Gems? Gold?” Twilight implored.

“A rare magical gem known as the stone of emotion, a well-guarded treasure by our nation,” Firestar said.

“A rare magical gem? What can it-”

“We don’t have time, it was stolen by a pony, and whoever they were they were young,” FIrestar said.

“How do you know?” Twilight asked.

“The hoofprints size was a dead giveaway,” Stone said.

“Hmm, so this implies the gem was taken by a foal?...” Twilight pondered this.

“And because this bonehead fell asleep!” Firestar said with a growl.

“Dude… let it go,” Stone rolled his eyes.

“Does this gem pose any danger?” Twilight implored.

“If used right, it could mean disaster,” Firestar said.

“Then time is of the essence indeed,” Twilight nodded and she trotted to the door with the two dragons “Let’s gather my friends, they are the most dependable ponies around,” Twilight said.

“What about me?” Smolder asked.

“Why not go back to class, we should handle this,” Firestar informed her.

“Alright…” Smolder sighed knowing he was a royal guard and so she could not interfere if he said not to.

As they made their way out of the school Twilight led them into town with a levitated magic quill and papers she conjured and she sent the notes to her friends.

As they went on to head to the castle of friendship, ponies everywhere were gawking at the two drakes.

“Dude, we’re finally the center of attention, I say we throw a party,” Stone said.

“Are you incapable of taking anything seriously?” Firestar sighed before he turned and saw a pink pony looking him in the eye.

“AGH!” Firestar jumped a little as Pinkie was somehow still in midair and she dropped to the ground with a thud.

She let out a gasp and quickly ran up to them.

“Newcomers! Yay! I had some mane and tail twitches that told me that we were getting new visitors, but I-” She stopped to take a breath and resumed “But I didn’t think they would be dragons so this means I’ll have to bust out the gemstone cupcakes!” Pinkie cheered.

“........Is she on something?” Stone asked.

“Move aside, we have urgent business to attend to,” Firestar said impatiently.

“But the party,” Pinkie said waving her arms.

“We have a stolen artifact to retrieve, we have no time for a party,” Firestar said walking around her.

“At least take ooooonnne,” Pinkie pleaded pulling out a cupcake from nowhere and presenting it to Stone.

“Alright alright, if it’ll get you out of my face,” Stone took it and examined it closely.

He usually eats gemstones only… so this was new…

“Hmm, alright,” Stone popped the cupcake into his mouth and ate it………. “Whoa….” Stone said as he chewed on it and suddenly it was like every gem he’s ever eaten… was put to shame instantly, he began to cry a little.

“Hmm?” Pinkie noticed his odd reaction.

“It’s…. It’s…. DELICIOUS!” Stone exclaimed and picked Pinkie up.

“You- what was that?!” Stone asked.

“It’s a cupcake… with ground rubies in it,” Pinkie shrugged.

“I want more!” He said.

“Ok! Let’s head back to Sugarcube Corner,” Pinkie said enthusiastically.

“Sugarcube Corner?” Stone questioned.

“Where all sorts of goodies like that are made and eaten!” Pinkie said and he just widened his eyes.

“....Wow…. Pink pony call yourself lucky because I think I found my dream home,” Stone said.

“Stone, come on!” Firestar waved him on.

“Just a sec, pink pony, do you have a mate?” Stone asked.

“If you mean a husband no,” Pinkie said with a head tilt.

“Then marry me!” Stone hugged her.

“AGH! TOO TIGHT!” Pinkie said before Stone was thumped on the head hard and he dropped her.

“Ow!” Stone said.³

”DO I NEED TO DRAG YOUR SCALY BUTT TO HER CASTLE!?” Firestar growled.

“Ok ok! Pink pony, we’ll talk later,” Stone said before he followed the other two.

“Actually I’m coming with you, Twilight needs to see me and the others,” Pinkie said.

“Great, we can talk more about our eventual engagement and all the treats I’ll receive,” Stone chuckled.

“I don’t get what you mean by engagement, but you got it!” Pinkie said.

“....He’s not very serious is he?” Twilight asked Firestar.

“About as serious as a baby rabbit…” Firestar sighed.

The group arrived at the castle and they gathered at the map room.

As they waited for everypony else to show up Twilight decided to get to know the two drakes more.

“So for the record, what are your names again?” Twilight asked.

“I’m Firestar, and he is my burden named Stone,” Firestar said.

“You know you love me,” Stone said with a chuckle.

“I am Princess Twilight Sparkle, and this is my friend Pinkie Pie,” Twilight introduced herself and her friend.

“Nice, now can we move it along, we have to find that gem before it is used on anypony,” Firestar said.

“What does it do?” Twilight asked.

“It-” Suddenly they were interrupted by a group of mares entering.

And there was something off about one of them….

“Huh?” Twilight said seeing a lump under a blanket and shivering.

“Twilight, we, no Rainbow needs help,” Fluttershy said worriedly looking at Rainbow who was laying on her back.

“What happened to her?” Twilight asked.

“Well…” Fluttershy remembered their encounter quite clearly…

Ten minutes ago

The group was making their way across town and heading for Twilight’s castle.

“Where’s Rainbow?” Fluttershy asked.

“She told me she was going off to practice on her day off, but if she received the same message we all did then she must be headed to the same destination we are,” Rarity said.

“Then why hasn’t she shown up?” AJ asked.

“Perhaps she got lost?” Fluttershy wondered.

“Should we look for her?” AJ asked.

“No, she knows her way around, let us proceed on and I am certain she’ll meet us at the-” Suddenly something crashed into Rarity and she fell over.

“Rares!” AJ said as she went over to her to help her up.

“Oh dear! I got dirt on my lovely white fur!” Rarity exclaimed.

“What just-” Fluttershy turned and saw that the thing that knocked over Rarity was a panicking Rainbow Dash, she turned to her and he eyes widened.

“SHY!” Rainbow ran over to her and hugged her, shaking and crying.

“Rainbow?! What happened?” Fluttershy asked worriedly.

“I-I-It’s after me!” Rainbow sobbed.

“What?” AJ said wondering what could reduce the proud Rainbow into a shivering crying mess.

“What is? Rainbow what happened?” Fluttershy said seriously.

“TOO LATE! IT’S COMING!” Rainbow took to the air in a panic.

“Rainbow!” Fluttershy tried to grab her friend but she was thrashing too much and she turned to see what was scaring her so much…. And saw a chicken…

“Huh?” Fluttershy looked around as Rainbow dove behind her.

“Hide me!” Rainbow cried.

“Rainbow, what are you scared of?” Fluttershy asked.

“That!” Rainbow pointed at the chicken.

“....Is it behind the chicken?” AJ asked.

“NO! It is the chicken!” Rainbow sobbed.

“..........” Everypony in hearing range just burst into laughter.

“Why are you laughing?! Run!” Rainbow cried.

“Ok, that’s real funny Rainbow, now c’mon,” AJ said wiping her eye as she was tearing up from laughing so hard.

“You have to admit you're overreacting,” Fluttershy said with some giggles.

“Not you too Shy! Protect me!” Rainbow cried as she saw the chicken wander near her.

“...Rainbow that’s enough,” Fluttershy said starting to worry a little.

“You're making a bit of a scene,” Rarity said.

“I wants to peck me! I don’t wanna be pecked!” Rainbow cried.

“....Somethin ain’t right here,” AJ said trotting up to Rainbow who looked at her fearfully.

“Rainbow if this is a joke then stop now,” AJ said.

“S-stop giving me that look, it’s scary!” Rainbow said frightened.

“.....” AJ clapped her hooves in Rainbow's face and Rainbow ‘eeped’ and dove to the ground.

“Girls, ah think she’s serious,” AJ said.

“What happened to her?” Fluttershy asked.

“Whatever did, it may be the reason we’ve been called upon, let us move,” Rarity said.

“Um, what about Rainbow?” AJ asked.

“Hmm, I got it,” Rarity said.

Right about now

“And that’s what happened,” Rarity finished.

“Rainbow?” Twilight asked as she approached her hiding friend and Rainbow peeked out of her blanket and eep’d again before diving off of Fluttershy’s back and she ran over to a corner.

“She’s utterly terrified of any and everything, I don’t know why,” Rarity said.

“Then…-” Twilight was interrupted by Firestar walking past them and up to Rainbow.

Rainbow peeked at who was approaching and she cried out in fear seeing a dragon and curled up.

“She’s utterly devoid of bravery… hmm…” FIrestar sniffed her and nodded “The gem was used on her,” he said.

“Or she’s just a coward,” Stone said.

“No, she’s braver than any of us,” Twilight said approaching as well.

“Then why is she terrified of everything?” Stone asked.

“Does this mean the stone robs the victim of their bravery?” Twilight asked.

“No, it robs any being of their most prized personality trait, and it does it so thoroughly they become what they aren’t in the process, I assume she favored her brave heart so she lost it as a result,” Firestar said with a troubled look.

“How do we fix it?” Twilight asked.

“We need the stone back, and even then it’s no guarantee,” Firestar said.

“What?” Fluttershy said in shock.

“You mean she’ll be like this forever?” Rarity asked.

“Possibly, this situation rarely pops up,” Firestar said turning to the others “We need to find the culprit,” Firestar said with a serious expression.

“Let’s go Stone,” Firestar said and Stone sighed as he got up and followed.

“Wait, where are you going?” Twilight asked.

“To find the culprit, you're free to do your own investigating, just not into this case,” Firestar said as he rested his spear on his shoulder.

“We can help you, she’s our friend,” Twilight said.

“Dragon land business lady, sorry,” Stone said.

“He’s right, you need to stay out of this,” Firestar said.

“No,” Twilight said approaching “I am the princess of friendship, and I need to do whatever I can to save my friend,” Twilight said.

“...Fine, but do your investigating close to town, we can’t risk anymore cases like shivers over there,” Stone said pointing to the still cowering Rainbow.

“Ok,” Twilight said.

“And meanwhile we’ll pay the school a visit, see if we can’t dig anything up and spread out some protection,” Firestar said.

“Protection?” Twilight asked.

The students were all gathered outside of the school and Firestar and Stone were passing out some kind of weird helmets.

“What is this?” Silverstream asked.

“Obsidian helmets, they were originally made for dragons to avoid the effects of the gem but today they well be used for you, obsidian is a great dampener for gem magic,” Firestar said.

“Huh?” Twilight took note of this as she stood with her students.

“And also as long as you are not looking directly at the gem when it flashes it shouldn’t affect you,” Firestar said.

“You seem to know a lot about magic,” Twilight said.

“I study on my off time, it’s a hobby,” Firestar said.

“Interesting,” Twilight said.

“Alright, now let’s make this clear, if you see a green rock exuding a bright light, run and don’t look at it, ok? Now go on with your days, but be wary,” Firestar said.

The students dispersed and Twilight and her friends approached.

“Can we have ours?” AJ asked.

“Preferably ones that are in fashion?” Rarity added.

“Unfortunately that was all we had, but don’t worry, you all will simply need to not look at it to avoid losing personality traits,” Firestar said.

“Alright, but we need to find the one responsible soon, before Rainbow hurts herself,” Fluttershy said looking at Rainbow who was hiding behind her.

“....I think I know who may be behind it,” Twilight said.

“That quickly?” Stone said.

“You mentioned the hoofprints were small, meaning it was a young pony… and we know only one small pony who could have a problem with us, who would deliberately target one of us,” Twilight said looking serious.

“Who would that be?” Firestar asked.

“...Cozy Glow,” Twilight said grimly.

Author's Note

Hello my viewers, I hope you enjoy this new story made alongside Dragonknife5