Twilight and the rest of the group had been waiting further up the mountain for some length of time, from what Twilight could gather it had been about a half-hour. She then heard voices from down the path to her right. She turned and spotted Applejack and Fluttershy making their way toward the rest of the group, walking curiously close together.

"There you two are, and you got here much quicker than expected!" Twilight exclaimed with enthusiasm obvious in her tone.

"Told ya we wouldn't be a minute too late, sugarcube." Applejack called back, and turned to grin warmly at his companion, who smiled back more softly.

With that, the party was off once again working their way on up the once-again continuing path until they reached a gap in the rocks. Everypony made the jump with ease, turning back to look at Fluttershy who was sitting before the gap, looking mortified.

"Your turn, Fluttershy." Stated Twilight Sparkle.

"I-I don't know. It's so far." the yellow pegasus responded meekly.

"There's nothing to be afraid of!" Pinkie interjected loudly, launching into a short little song, something about how easy it was to make it with a hop-skip-and-jump.

"Okay, here I go." Fluttershy stood, making her way towards the edge, following the steps outlined by her friend. Once she got to the edge, though, she panicked and sunk back.

"C'mon sugarcube. You can make it, I believe in ya!" Applejack called to his mare.

"Oh, I don't know Jackie. The gap is so wide."

Applejack let out a small sigh, and stepped up to the edge on his side. "Just hold on a second darlin', Ah'm comin' back over."

"We don't have time for this!" Blitz growled impatiently.

Applejack shot a glare back at his friend before turning and hopping over the gap to the yellow pegasus. "Okay sugarcube, just climb on my back." She did just that, wrapping her forehooves snugly around her stallion's neck. He took a light running start and made the jump with the added weight. She then slid off of his back and landed upright on her own hooves.

The mare nuzzled into the stallion's broad chest. "Thank you Jackie, sweetie."

"Sweetie?!" The rest of the group exclaimed in surprise.

Applejack just scratched the back of his neck with a hoof, while Fluttershy tried to bury herelf in her mane out of embarassment. "Heheh, so... We should keep goin' now, don't y'all think?" The orange workhorse managed, attempting to divert the subject.

The others decided to drop it, Rainbow Blitz in particular deciding he needed to have a word with Applejack once everything was said and done. That didn't stop the two from walking awfully close together as the party continued on their way.

They somehow managed the rest of the trek without incident, of course Rarity couldn't help herself with bombarding the seeming new couple among them with questions. She was eventually silenced however when they heard Twilight at the front of the group.

"Here we are." Sure enough, they were at a large cave entrance, which the mass of smoke could be seen trailing out of, and the snores of the adult dragon within could be heard quite clearly.

---INCOMPLETE---

Author's Note

Chapter title is a Little Richard song, but I'm specifically linking the Mothers of Invention version here since it's my favorite. Plus I was listening to this album while I wrote this chapter.

That was the initial intent, but after letting this sit for more than a year, I've tried coming back to it multiple times and just hate everything. That said I'm going to try my hand at creating a new canon of stories in the near future, since this universe I initially worked out doesn't appeal to me anymore. I hope it's not too much too ask for you all not to get too mad at me for leaving you all hanging and then abandoning the very product you were waiting for.

That said, if any prospective authors are interested in the canon I had in the planning stages to sprout from this story, PM me and I can work out to send you the character outline notes I'd drawn up.

Thanks for putting up with my bullshit (or lack thereof).

--WetWilly