As the school bell rang for the end of the day, a cheer of joy echoed out from the Ponyville School Hall. Three fillies in particular raced from the doors back into town.

“So, what’s the plan for today, Api?” Echo asked, stretching the stiffness out of her wings as they walked.

“Well, Ah think Pixie said she had somethin’ fer us ta do,” Api said, looking over to their unicorn friend. “But she ain’t sayin’ what...”

“That’s ‘cause I know you’ll say no if I ask.” Pixel Bit said, sticking her tongue out.

“Know Ah’ll say no?” Api said, thinking things over as they moved past the Town Hall.

Echo looked over her two friends, and then thought about the path they were taking. “Ahh, the library...”

“The libr...” Api started to question, before the realisation struck. “Aww hay, Pixie. We jus’ got out fer the holiday’s. Can’t we have a day before we go an’ talk ta the bookworm?”

Pixel Bit just shook her head. “I already said we’d go tell him the 'Dragon Catchers' stories today, Api.”

Api turned to Echo for support, only to see the Pegasus waving her hooves in front of her. “Hey, this is something you have a problem with, Api,” Her eyes turned to the sky, and she took a few seconds before continuing. “Besides, it’d probably be better if we were there. Make sure Pix doesn’t just make it up as she goes.”

“Thanks, Echo,” Pixel Bit blinked, trying to figure out what Echo was saying. “I think?”

Api sighed. “Alrigh’, but ya’ll gotta buy tha snacks. Ah ain’t doin’ this wi’ out a few cupcakes at least.”

After the snacks had been sorted, the four foals sat around one of the reading desks.

“Alrigh’,” Api started, after taking a gulp of her shake. “Me an’ Echo ain’t exactly sure what Pixie told ya last time, so Ah don’t know where ta start.”

“Well, she gave me a brief summary of the results,” Night Light said, thinking over the story from the night before. “But not many details really.”

Api and Echo shared a look, then a nod. “Alrigh’, from the start, Ah guess...”

“You’re just saying that ‘cause you’re losing...” Pixel Bit said, as she pulled yet more candy from the centre into her ever increasing hoard.

“Of course Ah’m losin’!” Api glared across the table at her friend. “Ah’m playin’ against a card shark!”

“I make no apologies for using my talents in this manner,” Pixel tried her best to imitate her Aunt’s accent. Seeing the rolled eyes her friend was giving her, she giggled before continuing in her normal voice. “Besides, you know I always share anyway...”

“Yeah, I know the feeling...” Echo’s voice came from a pile of cushions in the corner of the small tree house.

“Well, I’ve got something I was saving for a rainy day...” Pixel started, shaking her head half way through her own sentence. “But it’s probably really dumb. Actually, just ignore me,” Pixel stuck her tongue out slightly, pulling one of her infamous faces. “Api’s the ideas pony...”

“Yeah, you’re right.” Echo said, dragging her way out of the cushions. “I mean, it’s not even raining...”

“Clowns on the left o’ me, Jokers ta the right...” Api muttered. “Pixie, ya can’t know it’s a bad idea ‘til ya tell us. An’ even if it’s a bad un, at least it’s five minutes where we ain’t bored...”

“Alright,” Pixel said, levitating a scroll onto the table. “I had the idea after that talk our moms gave us. This is just the basics...”

The Ponyville Adventuring Society

“Wait, so it was Pixie’s idea?” Night Light asked, looking at his three friends, a little shocked.

“Well, yeah, it was,” Pixel answered. “But Api came up with the charter and all that sort of... stuff. I just had the idea to make it an actual club.”

“And who came up with that chant?” Night Light asked, curiosity written across his face. Echo turned a paler shade of white, while Api blushed furiously.

“YA TOLD HIM ABOUT THA CHANT!?” Api yelled, as Pixel turned back to Night Light.

“So, anyway, I’d just told the girls about my idea...” She started back into the story as soon as her friend had finished her scream. Api debated between joining Echo in fainting, or testing whether her friends invulnerability was limited to just fire...

“When d’ya come up with this, Pixie?” Api asked, not taking her eyes off the scroll.

“Like I said,” Pixel rubbed one foreleg with the other’s hoof “I’ve been thinking about it since that talk our moms had with us.”

“Well, it needs a bit o’ work,” Api gave one last look over the scroll, before giving Pixel the biggest grin she could manage. “But Ah think it’s a great idea!”

“Thanks girls.” Pixel blushed, before sitting down on her beanbag. “Just wish I had something for us to actually do...”

“Well...” Api had a far off look as she spoke. “Much as Ah hate ta say it, even once we’ve drawn this up all real like, we still ain’t gonna be adventurers.”

“Well, ya gotta know there’s somethin’ ya’ve just gotta do before ya get ta be a real adventurer...”

“And what’s that?” Pixel asked, the playful gleam in her eyes back in full force.

Echo’s confusion turned into shock. Pixel just started to smile. A quick look at their fearless leader and her unicorn friend told Echo all she needed to know. She sighed “I’m going to get out voted on this, aren’t I?”

An enthusiastic nod from Pixel all but confirmed her fears. Api drove the final nail in the coffin.

“Well, first, we’re gonna need a net...” Api formed a plan as Pixel started to make a list. After a few minutes back and forth between the pair, the ‘Quest Details’ were attached to the empty memo board.

“’Quest Details’,” Echo asked, as she finally saw the title on the scroll. “Seriously, Pix?”

“Well, we need ta get the stuff before we try this,” Api tapped a hoof against her chin as she thought. “An’ we still need ta pick who we’re gonna try ta catch first...”

“Well, how do you plan on getting T alone,” Echo countered, taking a step towards Pixel. “He’s always with Anthea.”

“She’s got a temper, sharp claws, breathes fire, any of this sounding familiar?”

“I think we need ta start with T or Spike,” Pixel said, laying a foreleg round Api. “They’re not... well they’re less...”

“Girls, Ah don’t think ya understand,” Api said, as her mischievous grin appeared on her face. “First, if we can’t catch T or Spike, we ain’t catchin’ Claire. An’ second, ya don’t go after a friendly dragon first. We’re doin’ this right, an’ that means it’s gotta be tha fierce ‘un first.”

Echo and Pixel looked at each other, and gulped. It told them they were both thinking the same thing. We’re doomed.

“It took us a few days to get everything ready, but we met up again at the end of the week...” Pixel commented, before she was interrupted by a groan. “Oh, hey, you’re awake again Echo! Want a cupcake?”

Echo blinked a few times as she sat back up in her seat. When she realised where she was, and who was still there, she shrank down in her seat, turning slightly green. “I don’t feel so good...”

“Great, now ya’ve broke Echo, Pixie...” Api facehooved. “Please tell me ya didn’t let anythin’ else slip?”

“Bit late for that now...” Echo whispered, before sighing and resting her head on her forelegs. “How much did I miss?”

“Net, check.” Pixel said as she crossed something off the small list she held in her field.

“Yeah. Sleep powder should stun her,” Api pointed to the small vial. “An’ then we jus’ need ta get the net on her.”

“Fine,” Echo whined in response, before turning to Pixel and whispering “Five of Twist’s peppermints says the net doesn’t work.”

“Yeah, that wasn’t very nice.” Pixel said, before lowering her voice. “I say it’s ‘cause we’ll need more powder.”

“Aww, come on!” Api threw her hooves up in frustration as her friends giggled and hoof bumped to seal the bet. “Let’s just get goin’”

“Hey girls,” Pixel said, as the three fillies stared at Claire’s twitching face. “I just remembered something...”

“Yeah, what’s that?” Echo asked, debating whether to throw the net yet or not.

“That’s not all,” Pix said, still smiling. “I think they make Claire really sneezy too,” The smile dropped from her face, as she saw the stares her friends were giving her, and she realised she was still stood right in front of her fire breathing cousin. “Ahh! The net, Echo! Throw the ne...”

Just as Echo prepared to throw the net, a volley of azure flame flew out of Claire’s mouth, just over Api and Echo’s heads.

“AHHH! CLAIRE! TOO CLOSE!” Pixel screamed, as she panicked and stumbled back into Echo. Who proceeded to throw the net straight up as a result.

Claire scratched at her nose with one of her claws. “Girls, dat wasn’t berry funny...” She started, before she caught sight of the struggling fillies, and Pixel’s burning mane. She sighed, and brought one of her hooves to her face.

“Thanks, Claire...” Pixel Bit sighed in relief as she saw her cousin’s magic fade from her horns, and felt the heat from her mane disappear. “Now, can you help us out from under this?”

“I don’t see why,” Claire huffed, and turned her snout skywards. “Let this be a lesson to you. Don’t ever try to prank me.” The dragon-pony stormed back into the boutique in a huff.

“Alright, you’ve had your fun,” Echo said, after a few minutes had passed. “We got the message, loud and clear. Just let us out.”

Another uncomfortable silence passed, before Api spoke up again. “She ain’t comin’ back, is she?” The shaking of her friend’s heads told her all she needed to know. “Aww hay. Alrigh’, we’re gonna have to get it off ourselves. Echo, can ya fly with this here net on us, or are ya stuck?”

“If I could just fly it off, I already would have...” Echo glared at the Earth pony.

“Ah ain’t askin ya ta get it off,” Api returned the glare. “Jus’ get us some slack, an’ we’ll go from there...”

“I think it took us about an hour to get it off in the end...” Pixel laughed sheepishly, rubbing at the back of her head.

“Ah think that was Claire...” Api replied, staring at the floor. “She put a sign on the door, somethin’ about how it were our own fault.”

“Well, it was.” Echo mumbled from behind her hooves. “We did tell you we shouldn’t have tried to catch Claire...”

“Alrigh’, so it weren’t one o’ mah best plans...” Api admitted. “So we tried ta make sure we came up with somethin’ different fer T...”

“Are you sure this one will work?” Echo asked for the fifth time that afternoon.

“Fer cryin’ out loud...” Api face hooved, before massaging her forehead. “Yeah, Ah’m sure, Echo. Ah was sure tha last few times n’all. Stop ya frettin’.”

“Good,” Api shook her head, before turning back to the slightly larger pile of items they had acquired this time. “Alrigh’, bigger net?”

“Bigger net, check.” Pixel crossed the item off as Echo struggled to lift it for the inventory.

“Ah think Ah’ll have ta carry that this time...” Api said to herself, before moving down the list. “Bowl o’ Ter... Turc... Gems.”

“Anthea Distractor?” Api asked, before raising an eyebrow as Echo lifted up a scroll. The Pegasus just shrugged in mid air.

“Anthea Distractor, check,” Pixel nodded, before noticing the looks the other two were giving her. “What?”

“Yeah...” Pixel said, her face turning dark for a few seconds. “That’s why she cheats...”

“What Ah’m tryin’ ta say,” Api said once her heart had settled down, “Is that how is a letter gonna distract her when she can’t read it?”

“Well, we get T to read it?” Pixel looked at her friends as though that was the most obvious thing in the world. The other two just stood or hovered there.

“Ehh, no big deal,” Pixel chuckled as her friends started to gather the equipment. “Now, let’s get going!”

Anthea rested her head on T’s foreleg, one of his leathery wings draped over her. She almost purred content as a gentle breeze blew across her mane. So peaceful...

“HEY ANNIE! HEY T!” Pixel yelled as she crested the hill between the couple and the town.

So long peace... Annie thought as she stood up and began stretching. She turned towards the voice. “Hi Pixie, how’re you?”

“Yeah, I’m great,” Pixel spoke hurriedly. “Look, I was at the Library talking to Nighty, and Twilight asked me to bring this to Annie...” she levitated the scroll over to T.

“Umm... I can’t read all the words, but I think she’s asking you if you wanted a magic lesson this afternoon.”

“It has been a while...“ Annie thought, lost in thought briefly. She turned towards the cottage set just away from the field. “Mom, have you seen my magic books!?”

“Umm... I think they were in your room the last time I saw them...” A soft voice replied from just inside the door. “I can check the bookshelf for you though...”

“Thanks mom...” Anthea smiled as a yellow wing emerged from the doorway, like a beacon. “I’ll see you later, T!” She waved to the dragon-pony from the doorway, a slight blush emerging on her cheeks.

“Hey, T,” Api said, as she struggled to keep the strange bag balanced on her back. “Rarity asked us ta bring ya somethin’ ta eat...”

“Well, thanks girls!” T said, smiling. He proceeded to pick out the smallest of the gems, and took an experimental bite.

While he was distracted, Api snuck around to his side, giving her friends a nod. Pixel used her magic to begin to unfold the net, while Api and Echo each grabbed one end.

“Huh?” He said, raising his head from the bowl of gems, turning to see a net snagged over his wings.

“Aww, that net wasn’t big enough...” Echo moaned. “Do we still have the old one?”

T brought up one of his forelegs, and scratched his forehead. “Umm, Pixel, what are you doing?”

“But our net wasn’t big enough...” Echo waved a hoof towards the net that was very clearly only covering two thirds of the dragon-pony.

“I could try to make it fit better, if you want?” T offered, to which the girls just shook their heads.

“Nah, we gotta do it ourselves.” Api said, sighing. “Ah thought fer sure it was gonna work this time...”

Everyone in the field was then distracted by muffled voices from inside the cottage behind them. The voices spoke for almost a minute, before one of them yelled, scaring away many of the birds that were settled close by. “The girls did WHAT!?”

“Girls! Why did you throw a net on T? You shouldn’t throw nets on ponies without their permission...”

Her lecture would have been more effective if it hadn’t been directed at a patch of wildflowers...

“Over here, Annie.” T said, now completely oblivious of the fillies hiding behind him. “Don’t worry, they were just playing some sort of game.”

Annie huffed. “Well, it still wasn’t very nice...” She sighed, before trying to lift the net in her magic. “Come on, let’s get you out of that...”

“Don’t worry,” she said, smiling as it inched higher and higher. “I got it, I got it...” Her smile slowly faded, replaced by a grimace of effort. Just as one edge of the net cleared T’s side, she let out a grunt of pain. The field around her horn flashed white, before disappearing. “I don’t have it!”

The field spread over the net also sparked white, before shrinking to cover a very small part of the net, which suddenly set alight. The net fell down behind the three fillies, and started to pile up. The flaming corner of the net, unfortunately, fell loose from the pile...

“Hey, girls...” Api whispered, as she sniffed the air. “Do either of y’all smell smoke?”

“Any idea where it’s coming from?” Pixel asked her friends. The three fillies started to look around for the source. It didn’t take long...

“It’s all Obediah!” Api yelled. After the look both friends gave her, she face hooved. “Fire! Ya mane’s on fire!”

Pixel raised hoof to the top of her head. It soon got warm, and the singed fur told her all she needed to know.

“AHH! IT REALLY IS!” The unicorn leapt into the air, running on the spot for a few seconds, before sprinting off towards town. “CLAIRE! HEEEELLLP!”

“Wait, you were serious about the fire mane?” Night Light raised an eyebrow as he turned to his friend.

Api looked between the pair. “Wait, she actually told ya ‘bout that,” the small filly looked genuinely shocked. “Huh... She’s normally right sore ‘bout those parts...”

Echo rooted around between the discarded wrappers for any more cupcakes. "Anyway, Annie spent the next week saying sorry to T, Button Mash and Pix for that..." after failing to find any, she sighed and slurped down the rest of her shake. “But, it’s getting late, and we’re out of snacks. So I say we leave it there?”

“Really?” Night Light raised an eyebrow, before looking to see the sun was already setting. “Aww,” Night Light groaned, as the girls started to rise from the table. “But you’ve only got one story left. Please?”

The three fillies shared a few stares. Echo eventually groaned. “Fine, let’s wrap this up quick though...”

“Alrigh’,” Api said, as she crossed T off the three name list on the board. "Ah know what went wrong with the other plans..."

"Oh really..." Echo eyed her friend suspiciously. "Then tell us, oh wise leader..."

"Twice..." Pixel added, not turning away from the small mirror, where she tried to desperately brush her mane in a way that hid the singed hairs.

"An' Ah've said Ah was sorry a bunch o' times," Api waved her hooves in frustration. "But we're down ta Spike, an' this'll be easy. See, our other plans, they were conver...conva... had too many steps in 'em. All we gotta do is get a really big net..."

"No 'and'," Api grinned at her friends. "Jus' get a big enough net, an' throw it on him."

"This is going to end in tears..." Echo sighed, before heading for the door. "I'll go start looking for a net."

"Curses," Spike said, as he ran blindly round another corner. "Those Adventurers never quit! I must flee!"

Echo shifted her wings, to make carrying her share of the net easier, before turning to face Pixel. "Has your uncle always been so... over the top?"

"He's married... to my Auntie," Pixel replied, a little out of breath. "Not a big shock... that they rubbed off... on each other..."

"Alrigh' girls, he went into the library," Api pointed a hoof over to the familiar building. "He ain't got nowhere ta run now!"

The trio of fillies barged into the library, Pixel gasping in the doorway as they did so.

"We have you now, dragon!" Echo flared her wings as she yelled, which just resulted in one of them instantly getting tangled in the net...

"Ya've got nowhere left ta hide..." Api pawed at the ground, trying to be menacing. Given her size, it didn't exactly work...

"Come... quietly... or..." was all Pixel managed before she collapsed, completely exhausted.

"Pix, are you OK?" Spike asked, instantly breaking his character. "Hold on, I'll get you some water."

As he headed through to the small kitchen, Echo and Api looked puzzled, before coming to a bad conclusion.

"He must be tryin' ta run," Api said as she crossed the library floor. "Maybe there's a secret door or somethin'..."

"After him, then," Echo said, quickly moving into place alongside the small Earth Pony. "C'mon, Pix! Stop laying down on the job!"

Pixel struggled to her hooves. Groaning as she moved, she tried to follow her friends down into the kitchen.

"Huh?" Spike said, as he heard hoof steps on the floorboards. Glancing over his shoulder, he saw the source. "Girls, stay out there! It's way too cramped in here as it is..."

"A likely story," Api moved slowly over the floorboards towards him. "Or are ya jus' waitin' fer a chance to get away?"

"Girls, leave it." Spike said, as he turned to face the fillies. "Just look at Pixie - she's exhausted, a..."

Unfortunately, Spike had forgotten something when he turned round. Namely, exactly where his tail was...

"Gaah!" Api cried as she tumbled across the floor, eventually ending with her back against one of the cupboards. Her eyes span, the filly obviously dazed by the experience.

"Hey!" Echo yelled. "What was that for?" She quickly tried to bring the net to bear, but just ended up tangling herself further. Spike backed away from the irate filly, tripping over his own tail...

... and, accidentally flipping Echo into a spin, and through the nearest window. If she hadn't been tangled in a giant net, that might not have been a huge deal...

This also had the unfortunate side effect of setting off an alarm ward, that was long ago placed over all the windows.

"Rainbow Dash!" Princess Twilight Sparkle yelled as she teleported in a few feet away from the broken window.

Pixel yelped at the sudden arrival of the screaming Princess behind her. Her hooves tangled, she did the only thing she could do - bounce down the ramp, landing in a heap similar to her friend, against the hob...

"I thought you'd learnt how to... use... the..." Twilight's rant slowly lost steam as she took in the scene before her. "...Door?"

As Pixel and Api began to shake themselves awake, Pixel started to look around the room. Seeing the horrified stares Spike and Twilight were giving her, she turned to her friend. "Api?"

"Ahh..." Pixie nodded, and took a deep breath, before her senses returned in full. "AHHH! CLAIRE! IT HAPPENED AGAIN!"

Before Twilight and Spike had recovered, the filly was out of the library, and running across town.

"What's going on here?" Twilight asked whilst she tapped a hoof on the floor in annoyance, hoping for an answer. Any kind of answer - she didn't really expect a reasonable one.

"Well, it started out with the girls trying to catch a dragon..." Spike scratched at his neck, trying to figure out the rest himself. "I don't know about the rest, but I think we better help them before their mom's decide to finish the job off..."

A shudder spread across Twilight, and she was suddenly very eager to help. "Alright, you go and find Echo, then take her to the boutique. I'll keep an eye on Api..."

"Wait, so you failed every time?" Night Light asked. A trio of blushed faces nodded. "Then how come you still call yourself 'Adventurers'?"

"Well, we realised that what we really needed to do," Pixel said, massaging a sore spot that had surprisingly developed just below her horn. "Was work our way up to catching dragons."

"Yeah," Api nodded in agreement. "Pixie an' Echo kinda thought we were tryin' ta skip from bein'... bein'... uh, what was that word ya used, Pixie?"

"Huh..." Night Light thought that over for a few seconds. "That makes sense, I guess."

"Sheesh, is your tea party still going on?" Starburst asked as she headed for the stairs.

"It's not a tea party," Night Light growled at his older sister. "And it just finished..." he turned back to the table. "I guess I'll see you later girls."

"Yeah, this weren't so bad as Ah'd thought..."Api rolled her shoulders as she jumped down from her bench. "Talk ta ya later."

Echo hovered behind her Earth Pony friend, giving the Royal Siblings a respectful nod each.

Night Light smiled at each of the fillies as they left, before turning to finish the argument with his sister, only to find she had left while he was distracted. He sighed, before beginning to clear the table of leftovers and wrappers. Once finished, he brought a candle stub over to his desk, double checked he was alone, and fished a scroll out from under his bench. A quill levitated across the room, and a soft scratching began to fill the night's silence.

Barely an hour later, the stub's flame flickered out, leaving the snoring colt in the dark. The scroll, now serving as a pillow, was still mostly blank. However, the moonlight left what was there still legible.

Chronicles of the Adventurers

The Pursuit of Dragons

When we last met our brave page, shy rogue, and novice cleric, they had failed to save the Forge Mistress' Ambrosia Maker.

Now, with their pennance served, they soon learnt of a new threat to their idyllic life. Three adult dragons had beset their small town, and had set about securing not only the Font of Knowledge, but both the Merchant's Guild and the Ranger's Station. How would they deal with this menace?

Twilight took a step back and smiled at her sleeping son. Sleep tight, my young scholarly skald...

The Ponyville Adventuring Society

by Midnight Crescent

Chapter 3 - Dragon Catchers