"What in the name of all things cinnamon swirled is a full-grown dragon doing here in Equestria?"
Applejack raised a very good question there, albeit with a countryism that Twilight Sparkle likely wouldn't have used, seeing as swirls of cinnamon didn't really pertain to the situation at hoof. Dragons had their own land outside of Equestria to inhabit. Having one hanging out within Equestrian borders was almost entirely unheard of.
"Sleeping," Twilight responded. She wished she had a better answer for Applejack, but the answer she was given was the only answer she had.
"Huh?" the girls asked, in what Twilight thought was a rather impressive display of synchronicity. She kind of wished she'd gotten in on that.
"According to Princess Celestia, he's taking a nap," Twilight told her friends. "His snoring is what's causing all this smoke."
"He should really see a doctor," Pinkie Pie said, a worried look in her baby blue eyes. "That doesn't sound healthy at all." Twilight wanted to roll her eyes as Pinkie completely missed the point, but let it slide. She was just being Pinkie Pie.
"Well, at least he's not snoring fire," Rarity said, clearly imagining how much the ensuing soot would sully her pristine white coat. "What are we meant to do about it?"
"I'll tell you what we're meant to do," Rainbow Dash interjected. "Give him the boot. Take that. And that!" Rainbow immediately set to accosting Twilight's favorite wooden horse head, which perturbed Twilight greatly. She lifted it out of the way of an aerial dive, causing Rainbow to crash into a stack of books. Twilight would have been concerned, but Rainbow was made of tough stuff and was averaging 2.41 crashes a day at this point, at least if her studies were to be believed.
"We need to encourage him to take a nap somewhere else," Twilight responded. She was all set to go into mission briefing mode, a mode that she'd been looking forward to ever since getting this assignment. "Princess Celestia has given us this mission, and we must not fail. If we do, Equestria will be covered in smoke for the next one hundred years."
"And why are you supposed to do it?"
Twilight looked at the others, but all of them looked equally confused as to who had said that. Further inspection revealed a slightly annoyed-looking Sugarcoat sitting on the library stairs.
"Um...because Princess Celestia assigned us to take care of it?" Twilight answered.
"She's a princess," Sugarcoat said. "She can raise the sun. She can take care of a dragon."
"But..." Twilight stammered.
"I didn't know prized student was synonymous with errand mare," Sugarcoat said, adjusting her glasses. "Just write to the Princess and tell her she's better-equipped to do this."
Fluttershy couldn't have nodded in agreement any quicker than she did.
Twilight stared at Sugarcoat. She'd been right so many times before...but...
"...No," Twilight said. "I can't do that. The Princess asked us to take care of this, and that's what we're going to do." She nodded insistently, her nod copied by everypony but Fluttershy. Sugarcoat raised a single brow, eyeing Twilight for what felt like forever.
"Fine," Sugarcoat finally said. "Do what you want. I thought Fluttershy was the doormat."
"What...?" Fluttershy said quietly. Sugarcoat just waved her off.
"We can take care of this all on our own," Twilight insisted. "Princess Celestia doesn't have to get involved."
"Uh-huh," Sugarcoat said, standing up. "If you think you're impressing me, you're wrong." With that, she left the library. Twilight watched her go, snorting a bit before looking back to the others.
"Okay, girls, you heard her," Rainbow said. "The fate of Equestria is in our hooves. Do we have what it takes?" Applejack, Pinkie, and Rarity cheered in affirmation, a sentiment that Fluttershy didn't quite share. But the decision had already been made, and within moments, the group was off to their separate homes to go prepare.
~~~~~~~~~~
Dear Princess Celestia,
I am happy to report that the dragon has departed our fair country, and that it was my good friend, Fluttershy, who convinced him to go. This adventure has taught me to never lose faith in your friends. They can be an amazing source of strength, and can help you overcome even your greatest fears.
Always your faithful student,
Twilight Sparkle.
Twilight nodded a satisfied nod as Spike sent the letter off. She left her room, trotting downstairs to go outside and meet her friends. As she passed through the main hall of the library, she saw Sugarcoat sitting and reading. She wasn't normally one to rub things in others' faces, but she felt compelled to speak up as she stepped towards her.
"Thank you for your advice, Sugarcoat," Twilight said, smiling brightly. "But just like I told you, we were able to take care of the dragon ourselves. We didn't need Princess Celestia to do it for us like you said. Even though you thought we couldn't do it, we proved that we could." She grinned triumphantly, quite proud of herself and her friends.
"I didn't say you couldn't do it," Sugarcoat said, not even looking up from her book. "I said you shouldn't, or else you'd be a doormat. You did, and you're a doormat. Congratulations."
Twilight rolled her eyes and frowned, quickly turning away from Sugarcoat with a little grunt and exiting the library.
i liked this, the fact that they wont allways listen to Sugercoat will make future chapters interesting
6481844
Fuhrer? Nah I'm kidding
6481399 GIMME YOUR OREOS!
Celestia's so lazy.
6482051
Yeah.
Sugarcoat is smarter than Twilight. I like it.
Hrm.
Eh.
I'll give this one a B.
For reference, what you should have done with this one is have Sugarcoat point out to Celestia that perhaps the immortal sun goddess and her rather sizeable, armed and trained Royal Guard were better-suited to deal with a dragon than a librarian, a tailor, a weatherpony, a farmer, a baker, and a pony who runs an animal shelter in her own home.
Didn't earn the instant fave with this one, but I'm sure you'll get there eventually!
Sugarcoat is best Shadowbolt, hands down. I love her so much.
40.media.tumblr.com/d48201c8f01b23923aabd99d329f809e/tumblr_nvd7lrfzGE1uh5kgfo1_1280.jpg
She's a little turd and I LOVE HER FOR IT.
Wow, this is amazing, i was just expecting another funny anti-climating resolution like the other chapters, but instead, you did the most unexpected thing, (well at least for me), Twilight went and did her errand anyway, amazing.
10/10 - its OK
6482282
Couldn't agree more! I like the designs of the others a lot too and Sour-Sweet had a fun gimmick as well, but Sugarcoat surely steals the show. When she said "You're kinda being a doormat right now" (in the film, not the fic) I legit burst out laughing. Doesn't hurt that she looks badass as all hell.
I just realized that Sugarcoat looks a lot like Silver Spoon.
That last line, Sugarcoat using sarcasm? Ironic dishonesty? I wouldn't have thought that was her style. Quite the opposite, actually.
That or she was sincerely congratulating Twilight for being a doormat.
6482076 I have to disagree with you here. While this fic is comedy and not really meant to be taken seriously, it would go against logic for her to do that. Having some random pony walk up to Princess Celestia would go against security measures. She has guards for a reason. And even if Celestia does that Day Court thing, it'd be OOC for Sugarcoat to wait in line to JUST point out she was being dumb. I just couldn't see her going to that measure to do so. And that's not to mention how you kinda mentioned what to do in the comments. If I was an author, there's no way I'd the direct advise someone said in the comments. A story is meant to surprise the readers of what will happen in it. In the comments, anyone could read what you had to say in the previous chapters about possibly doing this one. I'd consider it lazy writing if he went with what you had to say... unless, of course, he planned that from the beginning.
Well, they certainly need to not listen to Sugarcoat at least a couple of times and actually have friendship problems, all so they can make up. Goodness knows Sugarcoat might inadvertently make Discord's return easier for him.
They could have just asked him to wear noseplugs and then let him get back to his nap.