Episode 47 – Dragon Quest
I woke up and yawned. I sat up and stretched my hooves. I moved to the side and jumped out of bed. It was pretty simple as that. I made my bed and walked to the bathroom. I splashed some water on my face to cleanse it a bit, as well as wake me up. Going back to the bedroom, I even did a few pushups to pump my blood a bit. Afterwards, when I felt a little better, I walked downstairs and out the front door. The first place I wanted to go to was Fluttershy's cottage. Thus, I began walking my way over there.
On the road to her cottage, I spotted Pinkie and Applejack digging a hole in the ground. I stopped and furrowed my eyebrows a bit in confusion. I walked a little closer to them, but they were too busy digging to notice me.
"Uh… What are you two doing?" I inquired.
"Makin' a trench for the Dragon Migration." Applejack responded, continuing to shovel.
"Dragon Migration…?" I questioned, never hearing of such a thing before.
"Can't talk! Too busy shoveling!" Pinkie responded and continued to pierce the dirt with her tool rapidly.
"Alright…" I slowly turned away and continued walking over to Fluttershy's cottage, which was now in sight.
When I arrived at her door, I noticed it was open. I was about to look in to call her name, but she suddenly appeared at the doorway. She had her hooves in the home, looking as if she was struggling to stay in. I could see Rainbow Dash trying to push her out from behind. "Now that you put it that way, yes!"
Twilight unexpectedly teleported by my side as well. "Aw Fluttershy, we just don't want you to miss out."
"What is going on here?" I asked, highly confused but concerned at the same time with Fluttershy's behavior.
"Oh, hi, Alex. I didn't see you there." Twilight responded. "We're trying to get Fluttershy to come with us to the Dragon Migration."
"Dragon Migration? How come I haven't heard about this?"
"Sorry, Alex… We were going to your house to invite you, but we've been stuck here with Fluttershy for a while." She faced Fluttershy, who continued to struggle. "Come on, Fluttershy! It only happens once in a generation. You'd be missing out on a lot!"
"Miss out on what? Dragons? Big, scaly, fire-breathing dragons?"
"Well... yeah!"
"Thanks, but... no thanks!"
After finally being fed up with trying to push Fluttershy through the door, Rainbow Dash stopped and tried to reason with her. "Look, Fluttershy, I watched that boring butterfly migration with you," Rainbow Dash held up a picture depicting Fluttershy watching butterflies with binoculars while Rainbow Dash remained highly bored and irritated. However, I noticed the expression on Fluttershy's face change. She now narrowed her eyes in anger and was looking very irritated as her chest forcefully pumped up and down. "…so now it's your turn to watch the dragon migration with me!"
"Uh, Rainbow Dash… I really think you should sto—
"You owe me!" Rainbow continued, interrupting my sentence.
"I. Said. NO!" She screamed out and tackled Rainbow towards the ground roughly. She even planted her back hooves on her torso harshly and began running towards the window in her home, causing Twilight to gasp and I to widen my eyes in surprise. She released a high-pitched growl when charging towards the window. When she reached it, she lifted up her hooves, looking as if she was actually going to burst open the window, but instead, she lowered herself and gently opened the windows, whimpering as she jumped out.
When Twilight and I ran towards the window in shock, we saw her running away. We looked back to see Rainbow Dash lying on the ground in a daze. "Okay, I guess I'll let you off the hook this time…"
I sighed and planted a hoof on my face. "Why did you guys have to force her like that? You know she's scared of those kinds of dragons…You should have asked her gently, if not, then come get me…" I walked over to window to see if I could still see her. I remained silent for a moment, continuing to look for any sign of her. "…I'll be back, I'm going to go look for her…"
Rainbow Dash finally rolled over on her belly and stood up. "Well, hurry and find her before the Dragon Migration starts!"
Twilight returned a scolding look towards her. "Rainbow!"
"What? I'm just saying!"
"Whatever, I don't care." I responded. "I just want to find her." I looked back at them. "I'll try to get her to come with us. If she really doesn't want to, after I talk to her, then I understand. I won't force her to do something she doesn't want to do."
Twilight nodded lightly. I looked back out the window and jumped out. As soon as my hooves were planted on the ground, I quickly rushed towards the direction I last saw Fluttershy heading at.
After reaching as far as I remembered Fluttershy ran…I looked around and tried to call for her. "Fluttershy?" I walked a bit while continuing to call her. "Fluttershy?" After a moment of silence, I began hearing soft whimpers. My right ear perked up, and I traveled towards the direction where I assumed the sound was coming from. When the noise finally sounded as if it was right in front of me, I looked around once more, but realized it was coming below me. I looked down to see Fluttershy trembling in a little hole.
"Fluttershy…" I frowned and gently lay next to her, placing my hoof around her in a very comforting manner.
"Please don't make me go, Alex…" She answered in an almost teary response.
I shook my head and continued to look at her. "I'm not going to make you go Fluttershy… I won't ever force you to do something you don't want to do… I just want you to hear me out…" She ceased her whimpering a bit and looked at me with watery eyes. "Listen… I've never heard of this Dragon Migration thing, but Twilight says it only happens once in a generation. Now… I want to go because… this is just one of these "once-in-a-lifetime" events, and I want to experience it with all my friends…but… I also want my girlfriend to be there as well…" I tightened the embrace. "In events like these… it's never the same when you're not around…just like Nightmare Night. If you wouldn't have came over your fear to be with me, I probably wouldn't have enjoyed it much or at all." I paused for a moment to think more. "I know you're terribly afraid of dragons… but I'm here to help you… If you come with me to see the Dragon Migration, I'll have you around my hooves the entire time. I won't ever let you go unless you feel comfortable enough. I'll make sure you're safe, just as I've always done… But as I said… If you really don't want to go… I won't force you… Actually… I'd rather be with you for whatever choice you make because I just want to be with you the whole time… So just tell me right now what you want to do… and I'll support you."
She remained silent for a moment and looked at the ground. After looking around with her eyes a bit, she looked back at me. "…you'll have me around your hooves the whole time…?" I nodded confidently. "Oh…Okay…I…I…I guess I can…try…"
"Are you sure?" I questioned.
She nodded. "I want to be with you. And I want you to be happy. Even if it means that I need to overcome my fears." She managed to smile a bit. "It was you who made me stand up to that dragon a long time ago… I just have to watch…right…?"
I kissed her passionately on the lips. "Right." I stood up and gently pulled her up. "Come on. Let's go meet up with the others.
She smiled lightly as I wrapped my hoof around hers and walked her back to the cottage.
When we arrived back at the cottage, we found out that it was empty. I then remembered about the trench Applejack and Pinkie Pie were digging up, so I led Fluttershy towards that area. When we reached it in a short amount of time, we were surprised to see it finished already. It was basically just a long rectangular line dug in a few feet. Fluttershy and I walked in, meeting with Twilight, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Rainbow Dash in camouflage.
Twilight turned around and noticed me with Fluttershy. "Alex! Fluttershy! You decided to come?"
"Um…yes…" She answered, still a little nervous.
"Just don't really bring up dragons too much…she's still a little nervous…" I suggested.
"Oh, alright. Well you guys aren't going to wear camouflage?"
I chuckled lightly. "Um…no, I think we'll be fine."
"Alright…" She looked up from the trench with binoculars. "I don't see any dragons." She commented in a hushed tone after observing the sky for a moment.
"Me neither." Applejack added, looking with her binoculars as well in the same tone.
"Me neither neither." Pinkie included, looking up with her binoculars as well…but in the opposite side…"
"Shoot! You don't think we missed them, do you?" Rainbow Dash asked, causing Pinkie to look at her with the wrong side of the binoculars.
"No, I don't think so." Twilight replied as I grabbed Pinkie's binoculars and turned them around for her. "We're just a little early, and I'm glad we are. This way we can watch every moment of the migration without bringing any unwanted attention to ourselves!"
"Wait a minute…" I looked around and noticed somepony missing. "Where's Rarity?"
"Oh…" Rainbow Dash rubbed her head. "I don't know… Maybe she's not coming?" She turned her head towards the sky and looked with her binoculars. "It'd probably be best anyway. You know how she always loves to be the center of attention."
"She's right." Applejack added. "She'd probably come in some fancy getup."
"Like what?" I questioned.
"Yoo-hoo!" We heard a voice announce from a distance in an overly exaggerated and dramatic tone. "Well?" She asked as she rolled over the end of the red carpet she was walking on, which then led to a bursting of confetti around us. "What do you think? Am I the toast of the trench or what?"
"You'll be toast alright," Applejack continued to speak in a hushed tone. "…when the dragons see you parading around in that getup."
"You look very nice, Rarity," Twilight commented. "But could you maybe look nice down here in the trench with us?" She used her magic to form a bubble around the confetti and red carpet and caused them to disappear as Rarity joined us in the trench.
"Nice is an understatement. I look fabulous! Who says camouflage has to be drab?"
I slightly narrowed my eyes. "Well… the whole point of camouflage is to be blend in with the environment, hiding from something specifically. It isn't really to be used with fashion…"
"Ahoy, maties! Dragons ho!" Pinkie Pie announced, causing us to look back and up towards the sky. As soon as the first huge shadow of a dragon hovered above us, Fluttershy quickly whimpered and clutched her hooves around me, beginning to tremble.
"Oooh... Ahhhh!" The girls expressed while I held Fluttershy in my hooves and patted her comfortingly.
"It's okay, Fluttershy. Look… it's not so bad… they're just flying over us. No more." I whispered to her, causing her to slowly lift her head and look up.
We saw many dragons of different kinds and colors flying in a pattern. One yellow dragon even lowered himself and created a somersault in the air.
"Wow, amazing!" Twilight commented.
"Pfft." Rainbow Dash blew her tongue. "Pretty lame move. Is that all they've got?"
One green dragon bumped onto a fiery red one, whether on accident or purpose, and caused him to blow out a huge wave of fire towards us. The girls quickly ducked while I brought Fluttershy and lay her down with me. I could feel the heat. Once it stopped, I carefully and safely brought Fluttershy with me as she began trembling again. I quickly held her tightly, hoping she would calm down a bit.
"What do ya think of that 'move', Rainbow Dash? Still think they're lame?" Applejack asked with a smirk on her face.
Rainbow Dash, on the other hoof, contained an almost shocked expression on her face, which was a bit charred, along with her mane. "Uh, not so much. The word 'fierce' comes to mind."
"And 'formidable'." Rarity added with some admiration in her tone.
"And 'super-duper scary'!" Pinkie included, lying on the ground in fear, but was immediately cheered up when Spike came along and brought a cupcake to her hooves.
"Yeah. Us dragons are definitely a force to be reckoned with." He took out a cookie from the bowl of sweets he made and handed it over to Applejack.
However, Rainbow Dash was on the ground laughing. "Yeah, right, Spike. That's one of the scariest aprons I've ever seen!" Applejack and Pinkie Pie joined her in her laughter.
"What's wrong with wearing an apron?" Spike asked, looking at his pink apron with furry trims that presented a hot pink heart in the middle. "You won't be laughing when you spill blueberries all over your scales. Feathers. That's one tough stain!"
"One tough stain against one lame dragon." She continued to laugh.
"Alright, that's enough, Rainbow Dash…" I stated as I continued to pat Fluttershy, who seemed be loosening up a bit. "Spike made us these nice treats. Let him wear whatever he wants."
"Absolutely!" Rarity agreed. "You leave him alone, Rainbow Dash! Spike's style is unique. He doesn't have to look like other dragons."
"Or act like them." Twilight offered.
"My little Spikey-wikey is perfect the way he is." She complimented, flicking his top scale with her hoof.
"I don't act like other dragons?" Spike asked in a worried tone.
"Oh, not even close!" Pinkie answered.
"But why would you want to, Spike?" Applejack questioned.
"Yes. You've got something those dreadfully fierce dragons can only dream of." Rarity stated, causing my to raise an eyebrow on what she meant.
"What's that?" Spike asked in a hopeful manner.
"The cutest widdle chubby cheeks!" Rarity spoke in a babyish voice while pressing her hooves on his face and squishing them. "Ooooo!"
"Cute? Dragons aren't supposed to be cute!" Spike began blushing very heavily. "Right?"
"Oh, sweetie, you are turning the most delightful shade of red, it is most becoming."
When he noticed every one of the girls staring at him in acceptance, he growled in annoyance. "Rrrgh!" Afterwards, he jumped out from the trench and began storming off.
"Oh, isn't he adorable when he waddles off in anger?" Rarity expressed.
"Waddle? Rrrrrggggh!" He released before leaving the area angrily.
"Wow…" I said. "And I thought he loved getting attention…"
"I don't see what's to get so upset about." Rarity responded. "He's so adorable! What's the harm in that?"
"Hm…" I turned away and placed my head on my hooves on top of the trench, continuing to watch the pattern of dragons fly above us.
Fluttershy seemed to have calmed down, as she began to watch the dragons without trembling so much. "I guess this isn't actually too bad…" She offered. "Besides the part where the dragon roared out fire… this is actually pretty nice…" She observed the sky. "They're too far away…it isn't bad…"
I managed to lightly smile at her. "Well, I'm glad you're feeling better, Fluttershy."
She smiled and nodded.
We spent most of the day watching the migration. The girls continued to eat off the tray of sweets Spike had made, but I didn't really pick at them. I felt a little bad for how Spike left in anger, especially after making us those… I mean… he did love receiving attention…especially if Rarity was the pony giving it. But for some reason, it just made him mad. Hm…perhaps he feels left out. Those dragons up in the migration are fierce and powerful, while he's here being told that he's "cute". I mean… I have no problem with how Spike is now… Just as Rarity stated, "He's perfect the way he is."
I was interrupted by Fluttershy, who tapped me on the shoulder. I shook my head as I was snapped out of the trance I was in. I looked around to see that the other girls had left, and it was night time. Whoa…
"Alex… Are you coming in?" She asked me.
"Oh…um…" I responded, trying to catch up with the situation I was in right now. "Yeah…" I stood up from the trench and began walking with Fluttershy out of there. I then walked with her towards the cottage, where we sat on the couch and began drinking some tea. "So overall, the Dragon Migration was okay, Fluttershy?"
She looked down at her tea as some small steam lifted upwards towards the air from it. She smiled lightly. "I guess you could say it wasn't as bad as I thought."
I smiled as well. "Well, that's great. I'm glad you weren't uncomfortable during the entire event."
"Well…it's because of you." She placed the tea down on the table and looked at me, causing me to place the tea on the table as well. She grabbed my hoof and held it with both of hers. "You know…sometimes…whenever I'm with you… I feel like…like… I can do anything." She leaned her head closer to mine. "You always comfort me when I'm down…" She leaned towards me a little more to the point where our noses were touching now. "I may feel really sad at some point…but you always bring me back up within time."
"I can say the same thing about you, Fluttershy…" I responded. She smiled and gently kissed me, causing us to both close our eyes. Her movements sort of made me lay on the couch while she continued to kiss me. This lasted for a while in silence. It wasn't awkward. It was beautiful actually… We exchanged a few more kisses until we opened our eyes and smiled, revealing some redness in both our cheeks. I looked out the window and back at Fluttershy. "Can I sleepover? I actually already feel pretty cozy and even a bit lazy to go back home."
She giggled. "Of course."
She removed herself from on top of me and sat back down on her side. We both finished our tea, which she then took to the kitchen. When she was washing those teacups, I grabbed the blankets myself and set them up on the couch. When Fluttershy came back in the living room, she wished me Goodnight and kissed my cheek. I greatly accepted it as I watched her go back up the stairs. After she entered her room, I turned off the lights. Then, I made myself comfortable on the bed, wrapping the covers around me. I closed my eyes and smiled while I waited to go to sleep.
"You're love smells alluring."
I quickly opened my eyes and looked around. I didn't see anypony. I almost felt like I wanted to breathe heavily in fright. What the… What was that voice? It sounded so close… I sighed and shook my head. Maybe it was just my imagination… I lay back down and rested my head hesitantly. I closed my eyes once again, feeling a little uneasy from it. I was actually a little frightened to where I felt like I just wanted to sleep with Fluttershy in her bed… I know she's upstairs…but now…now I feel like I need somepony right next to me…
I opened my eyes to see a bright sunny day outside. I sighed and rubbed my head with my hoof. I wonder what time I went to sleep last night…
"Morning, sweetie." Fluttershy announced softly as she walked downstairs, almost making me jump a bit.
"Oh… Morning, Fluttershy." I responded.
"How did you sleep last night?"
"Um…" What should I tell her? I guess I was able to sleep fine…but it wasn't exactly the best I've had… Besides, I don't want to worry her. "It was alright." I answered her. I stood up from the couch and made the covers neatly. Afterwards, I walked to her. "Want to get some breakfast?"
She smiled and nodded. "Okay."
I led her to the door, opening it and allowing her to walk through and then closing it behind her when I was outside. Then, we walked side by side towards town.
In the middle of town, we caught Rainbow Dash and Rarity, who spotted us as well and walked over to us. "Hey, you two!" Rainbow Dash greeted.
"Morning." Rarity added warmly.
"Hey, Good Morning, girls." I responded, smiling lightly.
"We were just about to get some breakfast, want to join us?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"Oh, sure! We were going to get some breakfast too."
"Great! You know, why don't we ask Twilight? She's nearby."
"Okay."
Rarity and I walked while Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash flew. We all headed to Twilight's home, arriving at the door moments after. Rarity and Rainbow Dash immediately barged inside, in a calm way, exclaiming out greetings.
"Yoo-hoo!"
"Hey guys!"
Their sudden greetings startled Spike, causing him to fall into the large pile of books that were near him and Twilight.
"Good Morning!" Rarity spoke in a lively tone.
"Ya wanna join us for breakfast?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"That sounds great. I'm famished." Twilight answered.
"Count me out. I've gotta get an early start!" Spike replied, jumping out from the pile of books.
"An early start?" Rarity inquired, her eyes revealing that she was growing concerned.
"Yes! I'm going on a quest of self-discovery! I need to learn what it means to be a dragon! And the only way I'm gonna do that is to join the dragon migration!"
"What?" The girls, even I, exclaimed with widened eyes.
"Spike, that's nonsense talk!" Rainbow Dash tried to talk some sense into Spike. "I know that you're a dragon, but those dragons mean business!" He turned around with a serious face, but ironically he had a picnic blanket, a sandwich, and that same apron he wore yesterday on his claw. "They're big, and tough, and scary..."
"And I'm small, and meek... and I like to wear aprons." He finished, presenting the apron in front of her. "See?" He threw the apron away from him. "This is exactly why I need to spend time with them."
"She's just looking out for you Spike." I intervened. "I mean… you don't exactly see any dragons your size that are in that migration. You can really get hurt if you're not careful…"
"Darling, this time I really do have to agree with them." Rarity brought herself into the conversation as well. "I don't want those big, ugly, nasty dragons to hurt one little scale on your cutsey-wutsey head!" She rubbed her hoof gently on his head. Nonetheless, this made him even more irritated and he slapped it away with the old-fashioned "run-away briefcase" he finished making.
"I'm sorry, but I've made up my mind." He began walking out the door.
"Oh, uh, quick, do something!" Rarity directed desperately to Rainbow Dash and me. "Stop him before it's too late!"
Rainbow Dash quickly flew over to the sack he was carrying and grabbed it with her teeth pulling it away and preventing Spike to move any further. "Ngh! Hey! Give it back!"
After thinking for a moment… I realized that I should probably step in and see what my mind gives me to say. I walked over to the middle of the scene and pulled away the sack from both of them. I sighed and began speaking. "…I think Spike has the right to go…I mean… there's no other answer he can find about himself here…so…the only way he has a chance in finding out who he is, is to go to the migration…" I gave him back the sack. "I just honestly think it would be better if you waited a bit until you were more grown up…but…the dragon migration does only happen once in a generation…"
After thinking for a moment, Twilight also stopped by my side. "Yes…you should go Spike…"
"Really?" Spike asked, surprised.
"Yes, Spike. Alex is right." She spoke compassionately. "I couldn't answer your questions. My books couldn't either. I understand why you want to look elsewhere. I truly believe you need to go on this quest. And we have no right to stop you." She looked towards Rarity and Rainbow.
"I suppose not." Rarity finally agreed, rubbing her head with her hoof.
"I still say you're nutty, but hey, I've done lots of nutty things." Rainbow added.
"We know." We all responded to that comment. …It's true…
Rainbow groaned under her breath.
"Well then, I guess this is goodbye, Spike." Twilight hugged him before sending him off. "We can't wait to hear about it when you return."
"Yeah, we hope your trip—
"Quest." Twilight corrected Rainbow Dash.
"-your quest answers some of your pesky "who am I" questions."
"Thanks, everypony. I know it will."
"Goodbye, Spike. I hope you're safe while you stay there…" Fluttershy added, waving her hoof a little.
"Thanks, Fluttershy." Spike replied before turning away and walking off, ready to find what he's looking for.
"Goodbye, Spikey-wikey!" Rarity waved as he continued walking.
"Go get 'em, big guy!" Rainbow Dash included.
"We have faith in you!" Twilight finished.
I waved as well, but I was a bit surprised when I saw them grinning widely. Um…that's the look that means they have something in mind, right?
"We're following him, right?" Rarity asked through her grin.
"Of course." Twilight answered in the same manner.
I couldn't help but smile a little at their plan. "I suppose we can follow him for his safety…"
Fluttershy gasped and placed her hooves on me. "Alex! Are you really going to follow them?"
"Yeah…why…?" I questioned, becoming concerned.
"Because there are a lot of scary dragons there! What if you get hurt?"
I returned an assuring smile and placed my hooves on her. "I'll be fine, Fluttershy. We all will as long as we're together." I faced the others. "Am I right?"
The nodded with bright smiles.
"Oh…alright…" She retracted her hooves, becoming a little gloomy.
"Come on, let's get breakfast." I offered.
We sat at a table in the café and waited for our orders, which consisted of mainly grass pancakes. As we waited, I noticed Rarity drawing on a piece of paper with a pencil she carried with her magic.
"What are you doing, Rarity?" I asked, a little intrigued.
"Why, I'm creating a design for us."
"Huh…?"
"Well, we can't just go in there to watch Spike like this! We need a disguise! And that's what I'm designing right now."
"Nice work, Rarity." I praised.
Once the food came, we ate and didn't stay long. Rarity organized her papers of the design and turned away to head off to her boutique. "I'm going to go work on this right away!"
"Alright." I nodded. "I'll meet you at the boutique in a bit."
Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and Twilight began trotting that direction while I remained with Fluttershy. I was ready to walk her home, but she seemed to know that I was planning that.
"It's okay, Alex. There are a few things I need to do here anyway."
"Oh…alright. Um…"
She placed her hooves on my cheek, causing us to both stare into each other's eyes for a moment. "Please come back safely, Alex…"
Once again, I sent her an assuring and light smile. "Don't worry, Fluttershy… I'll come back nice and safe, just for you, I promise."
"Do you Pinkie Promise?"
I sat down and raised my hoof. "Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye." I finished by gesturing the cupcake with my hoof.
She smiled lightly, embraced me and then passionately kissed me for a few seconds. After, she pulled away and continued looking at me. "Okay then. I'll see you tonight."
"Mm-hm." I nodded. "See you tonight."
Then, we embraced each other for a longer moment until she allowed me to walk back to Rarity's boutique.
Opening the door to her dress shop, I looked around and called for their names. "Rarity? Twilight? Rainbow Dash?" I continued to walk around, looking for them until I suddenly came across a weird looking creature. I slightly jumped until I noticed that it was supposed to be a dragon. The scales were studded with gems and each side of the dragon had holes for wings, which Rainbow Dash filled. There was a large bow wrapped around the neck, and it was clearly made to present a female dragon. "Uh-huh…That was fast…"
"Well you know how fast I work. Like it?" I heard Rarity say from inside the dragon.
"Um…sure…" I responded, a little uneasy. "Are you sure this will actually make the other dragons believe we're one of them…?"
"That's what I was asking." Rainbow Dash added from inside as well.
"It'll have to do." Twilight answered while her face appeared inside the dragon's mouth. She must have been on top of Rainbow…
"Yes… it's the best I could do…" Rarity stated. "This is the first time of ever creating a dragon by fabrics…"
"Alright… so… I have to hide under there as well?"
"Yup." Twilight replied.
"Okay…" I walked towards the costume, opening the flap on the bottom and stretching it over my head so I could walk in. I saw Rarity at the end of the tail, Rainbow Dash at the front with her wings, and Twilight on top of her.
"Just go ahead and squeeze in over here." Rarity directed, making some space and allowing me to stand between her and Rainbow Dash.
"Okay… so how are we going to go all the way towards the dragon migration in this…?" I asked.
"After researching up the migration in my books, and of course watching the direction they flew, I found out that they stay in a volcano… and it's not extinct."
"Okay…so how are we going to get over there then?" Rainbow Dash questioned.
"I've been working on my teleportation spell. It may wear me out a bit… but hopefully it takes us over there."
"Alright! So what are we waiting for? Let's go!" Rainbow Dash announced, feeling confident.
"Okay… Here goes nothing…" Twilight began closing her eyes and grunting. I could hear the magic begin to work. She let out a puff of air, breathing in a new take, and strained herself again. After a few seconds, she finally caused something and we were instantly teleported in front of a volcano. "Wow…" Twilight sighed in relief. "That was exhausting…"
"Hey! I can see Spike! He's climbing up the volcano! Let's go!" Rainbow announced and began racing uphill with her hooves. I helped her by using mine as well, while Rarity followed.
"Alright, teenage dragons!" I heard from outside the costume. "Now that's more my speed. And size."
From what I could see with the two eye holes Rarity placed at the front of the neck, we finally made it to the top, and there were many dragons inside the dent of the volcano. After having some time to observe the other dragons, Rainbow spoke up in a hushed tone. "I'm telling you, we'll never pass for a real dragon!"
"Oh, pish-posh! This costume is fabulous, one of my finer creations." Rarity added, causing Twilight to shush them both.
"We'll never pass if they hear three voices coming out of one dragon! Now come on, let's go!"
Rainbow Dash took a first step, but being hard as it is already, we actually slid downhill. When we finally regained our balance, we began trying to walk over to the group Spike joined. Trying to see as much as I could through the holes, I saw two dragons wrestling when Spike spoke. "Um, excuse me? Uh, hi. I'm Spike." The red teenage dragon released his grip on the other, dropping him towards the floor in silence.
Another purple teenage dragon walked up to Spike. "You sure your name is Spike and not Shrimp?" This caused them to all laugh. I narrowed my eyes.
"No, it's Spike! I'm not, I mean, I'm sure about that..."
"You look more like Peewee to me." A large brown teenage dragon pointed out, causing them to laugh once again.
"Hey guys, c'mon, seriously." The red teenage dragon spoke. "Leave him alone, or he might fly away. That is, uh, if he had any wings!" He grabbed Spike by his tail and held him upside down. He released him once they began laughing.
"You fly in on your mommy's back during the migration?" The brown one asked, mockingly.
"Not exactly..." Spike responded, who was obviously not aware of their teasing methods…
"No, no, can't you see baby Spike just hatched? I bet he still sucks his claw at night!" The purple one announced.
"No, I haven't sucked my claw in months!"
This, again, caused them to all laugh.
Spike then began sucking on his claw, but quickly pulled it back when the red one began speaking to him. "Well if you weren't just hatched, how come we haven't seen you around before?"
"Oh, well, y'see, I live in Ponyville and—
"Hahaha! Ponyville? That explains it! I knew there was something vaguely pony-ish about you! If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were part pony!" He began inching closer to him in an intimidating manner.
"Who, me? I'm not part pony!" Spike replied, slowly backing away to a rock. "I'm all dragon, see? Raar!" He created a small roar…
"Or maybe you're a pony in a dragon costume." He suggested, mockingly, which then caused the others to laugh. The purple one stood right by us, laughing, and placed his claws around our costume…ironically…
"A pony in a dragon costume...!" He laughed, causing Twilight to go with the flow and deepen her voice.
"Aheh... yeah... hilarious."
These dragons are really idiots… I sighed. It probably is for the best if she does the voice…otherwise I might just say something out of the emotion I'm feeling right now…
"Nnh, I am a real dragon!" Spike emphasized.
"Oh yeah? Prove it." The red one responded.
"Well... how?"
"By acting like one!" He looked towards the other dragons. "Who's up for a little belching contest?" He announced, leading the others to cheer about it.
Are you serious?
As we stood in the crowd, each one of them stood up and released a belch, along with some flames. I flinched my eyes in disgust. When the large one finally stood up, he released the loudest and biggest belch, causing the flames to pass by us. Twilight had to lower herself more into the costume to avoid the heat. I found this to be so repulsive…
The crowd of dragons responded by cheering out loud.
"You think you can beat that, Peewee?" The red one teased harshly towards Spike.
Spike gulped and walked towards the front of the crowd. I looked at Twilight's face to see that she was worried about him. Finally, when Spike was next to those other dragons, his face puffed up, and he released a small and light belch. A letter from the Princess came out… The red one retrieved it with his claw and began reading it. "From the desk of Princess Celestia. Dear Spike, please te- Ha! Get this, guys! Spike's pen-pals with a namby-pamby pony princess!"
As they laughed, I narrowed my eyes in anger and growled. "How dare they insult her…" I whispered inside.
Rarity patted me. "Easy there, Alex… You don't want to blow our cover…"
I could only release a sigh. I looked out to see the red dragon crumple up the paper and throw it in the lava, burning it completely. I seriously wanted to just jump out and teach this dragon a lesson on discipline, but I couldn't risk the safety of the other girls, so I took in a deep breath and tried to relax.
However, Twilight gasped at the sight of this. "How can he just throw that away? That letter could be something important!"
"We can't worry about that now, Twilight. We're here to help Spike!" Rainbow Dash responded.
"I know, I know!" She faced towards the obnoxious dragons. "That's no reason to disrespect Princess Celestia that way!"
"Maybe tail wrestling is more your speed." The red one suggested.
"Uh..."
"Yeah!" The teenage dragons agreed.
The red one then led two different dragons to use their tails to wrestle. It was just like hoof wrestling…except with their tails… "Ready... go!" They both gave sounds of exertion, but there was eventually a winner. "The winner!" The red one presented, causing every dragon to cheer.
"We can't let little Spikey-wikey wrestle one of them!" Rarity announced as she sort of squished me when trying to view through the eye hole. "He'll get clobbered!"
"Let's go!" Twilight rushed and caused us to walk over to Spike. "I challenge Spike to a tail wrestle!" She announced in a deep voice.
They looked at us funny, but eventually allowed us to challenge Spike. Since we were not an actually live dragon, Rarity had a hard time picking up the tail. She had to lift it up twice until it was planted on Spike's.
"Ready? Go!" The red one announced, causing to Spike to return sounds of exertion. We weren't putting up any resistance, which Rarity and Rainbow Dash knew about when they exchanged a look about it. Rarity looked at me and nodded. We then purposely fell to the ground, looking as if we lost. "Spike's the winner!" They cheered. "Nice going, little Spike! Maybe you are a dragon after all!"
"Yeah! Maybe I am!"
We finally managed to stand up and walk away from the scene.
"Rainbow Dash, I can't believe your silly plan actually worked." Rainbow Dash bumped me aggressively with her flank, which caused me to bump into Rarity. "Ow."
"Hey, watch it…" I commented from the impact.
"Alright, who's next?" I heard Spike's voice from the outside. Oh, wow…
"Getting a little cocky, huh? I like that. So how about you wrestle... him!" He stated to some other dragon. "Go!"
"Whooooooooa!" Spike immediately lost.
In the next event, the red dragon was taking him up a hill of jewels.
"So Spike, you haven't exactly proven yourself as a dragon yet, have you?"
"But... I get an A for effort?"
"Huh, maybe. Let's see how you do in this next contest." He pushed Spike off the hill.
"Whaaaaa!" Spike cried out, creating grunts and he took impacts of the hill. "Oof! Wha! Oah! Oof!"
"King of the hoard!" The red one cried out, which led the other dragons to begin to race towards the top.
Spike began climbing to the top as the red dragon threw off the others. He was almost there when he was wrestling with the brown one. The purple dragon was racing towards him, but Rainbow Dash took notice of this. "Not so fast!" She jumped towards him, taking us with her and knocking him out of the hill. After, we noticed Spike poke the other two off the hill, surprisingly.
Okay…that's good… just stay there and don't move…
"King of the ho- whoa!" He began to cry out until he lost his balance and fell off… "Oof! Uh! Nuh! Oof!"
Despite his efforts, the red one crossed his arms when Spike landed in front of him. "Looks like this is another fail for you, little Spike. Can't wait to watch you fail at lava cannonball, too." Spike returned a gulp to this…
We then joined them at a cliff which was above a pool of lava. I wanted to make a suggestion about this to the girls, but I didn't want the others to hear.
"Whoever makes the biggest lava splash is the ultimate dragon!" The red one announced. "Geronimo!" He dove into the lava, causing a splash that sent a drop of lava near us. Rainbow Dash had to quickly lift her hoof in order to avoid it.
"Spike's on his own this time…" Twilight commented, catching my suggestion and causing us to leave the area.
Each of the other dragons dipped in as well, each causing their own splash.
"Cannonball!" The large brown one dove in, expectantly creating a humongous lava splash that poured down everywhere. …Good thing we got out of there in time… Spike looked down to see the incredible height he was at.
"Guh!" He almost fell in and quickly raced to the back of the wall.
"What's wrong, Spike? You afraid the lava will hurt your soft pony hide?" The red one mocked, allowing the others to laugh.
After a moment, Spike stopped shaking and stood confidently at the end of the cliff. Finally, he took a gulp and dove in, screaming as he fell. Unfortunately, he dove the wrong way, causing him to create a loud smack when touching the lava and most likely a lot of pain for him.
"Oooh..." They reacted, showing painful expressions.
Spike poked his head out of the lava and sprayed some out from his mouth. "Ugh... Was I... that bad?"
"No, dude... that was awesome!" The red one responded. Typical… But at least he's okay and he seemed to gain more of their so called "respect". "No pony could live through a belly flop like that!" He chuckled and lifted him by his scale. "You're one tough little dragon." He released him.
As expected, he gained their general approval.
After that event, they created some ritual they made themselves. Dragons stood by the side of a straight line, erecting their tails towards one another and producing a sort of path for Spike. He walked in, a little confused, but reached the red dragon.
"Spike, by belly flopping so hard, you have proven yourself worthy. I hereby dub you 'rookie dragon'" He did so by patting Spike's shoulders with his tail. "…and will now perform the initiation ritual. Rrrrgh." He rubbed Spike's head with his fist, chuckling. "Now let's party dragon style!"
They began to dance and eat maniacally while we could only try to remain hidden and watch.
"Girls…I'm not so sure this is the type of crowd Spike should be around…" I whispered.
"I agree." Rarity added. "I mean, look at them. They're so…so…"
"Rowdy and uncouth?" I finished her sentence.
"Yes. Exactly so."
"Well, we can't ruin this for Spike... We just have to watch and help him in any way we can…" Twilight responded, continuing to look out of the head.
I sighed and muttered. "Well, I'm just trying to resist blowing my fuse…"
When they finally finished, they were lying on the ground with crossed arms and bellies full.
"Man, was that a great party." Spike commented.
"Great?" The red one began. "Huh, maybe by Ponyville standards. Stick with us, Spike." He playfully punched him. "We still got plenty to teach you about being a dragon."
"I'm not going anywhere. The way I feel right now, I could hang out with you guys forever."
His words surprised us.
"Forever?" The girls exclaimed in a whispered tone.
They dove into the boulder behind them and decided to carry on this conversation.
"Spikey-wikey is going to stay with these awful dragons? Forever?" Rarity questioned.
"Oh no, this is terrible!" Twilight commented.
"I should've stopped him back at the library when I had the chance!" Rainbow Dash added.
"No, Rainbow Dash, this is all my fault! I encouraged him to go!" Twilight responded.
"Girls, calm down, alright?" I took part. "Spike's been with us for a long time. There's no way he'll stay with those dragons just because they're dragons… We're his real family…"
They didn't know what to respond with…so we looked back at the dragons to see them up and ready. "Y'know, Spike, I think you just might be ready for a real dragon raid." The rest of them cheered. "There's a nest full of phoenix eggs nearby, and we're gonna swipe 'em!" However, this caused Spike to turn his excitement upside down.
"Aren't you totally psyched to go on this raid?" The brown one noticed and pushed him down to the ground roughly.
"Oh yeah, I'm excited." He stood back up. "I mean, I'm psyched."
"Alright then. Let's fly!" The red one commanded and began leading the rest of them out of the volcano.
Spike realized how he didn't have any wings, so he smiled and took this opportunity. "Uh, sorry guys! I guess I'll meet you back here at the crater! After the whole raid thing's over? We'll totally hang then!" Nonetheless, the brown one came by and swooped him up, bringing him with them. "Whoahoa!"
"Oh no, they took Spike!" Rainbow pointed out, watching from the mouth. She quickly lowered herself to the bottom. "We've gotta go after them!" She tried flying, causing Rarity to scream as she was only dragging us.
Twilight yelped. "Rainbow Dash, stop! We can't fly!"
"And you're ruining my fabulous costume!" Rarity added.
When I noticed Rainbow wasn't stopping, I quickly jumped and grabbed her flanks with my hooves, bringing her back down. She quickly took notice of this and looked out. She realized how we were almost sucked into the lava… "I'm sorry, but we gotta help Spike!"
"Well, we're just gonna have to hoof it!" Twilight responded and let us to the edge of the volcano. "They're heading towards the forest, come on!"
"Hold on a minute, we're going downhill so we have to—
I was interrupted when Rainbow Dash went on ahead and jumped off, causing us to slide down the volcano roughly. Once we finally reach the end, we rolled over together and stopped after several seconds, groaning.
"…Everypony okay…?" Twilight asked.
"Uh-huh…" Rarity answered.
"Yeah…" I answered as well.
We saw a bright beam of light come from the forest.
"Look! Spike might be in trouble! Let's go!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed and began forcing us to run before we were fully recovered.
We continued running through the forest. Since I was behind Rainbow Dash, I could hardly see anything but green and darkness. It wasn't until a little while when we started hearing voices. "Well, what are you waiting for, Spike? Smash it!"
"Oh no!" Rainbow announced. "Spike's in trouble!" She made us sprint even faster.
"Smash the egg?"
"Yeah!"
"Yeah, throw it on the ground as hard as you can!"
We finally came to the source of the noise to see Spike holding a beautifully colored egg as the other dragons demanded that he smash it. "Yeah! Smash it! Smash it! Smash it! Smash it! Smash it!" They ceased their cheering when Spike raised his arms to throw it on the ground. I could only observe it in silence and suspense. No, Spike…you know better…you know you were an egg yourself… Spike left his arms shooting upwards towards the sky. I could see some strain and struggle in his face, indicating that he was struggling with what to do; win the respect of the teenage dragons which probably won't last forever? Or destroy a completely harmless egg? Finally, after a few tense seconds which seemed to be longer, Spike grew tears in his eyes.
"No!" He lowered his arms and turned away. "It's just a defenseless egg, like I was! And I'm not gonna let you hurt it!"
"What did you say?" The red one asked in an intimidating way.
"I said no." Spike responded boldly.
"No one says no to me." The red dragon inched over to Spike, causing him to slowly back away until he bumped into us.
We finally revealed ourselves when Spike was in danger. And I was ready to strike at these adolescent fools.
"Nopony's gonna lay a claw on him!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed as she flew and held her hooves up.
"That's right!" Twilight agreed in the same pose on the ground as she shook her hooves.
"Fighting's not really my thing, I'm more into fashion," Rarity flipped her hair as I remained in my defensive stance. "…but I'll rip you to pieces if you touch one scale on his cute little head!" Rarity finished aggressively.
Our responses caused the dragons to laugh out loud. "Ooh, scary, hehe! Spike, are these namby-pamby ponies your friends?"
"Yes, they are." He responded firmly. "And they're better friends than you could ever be. Now, if you don't back off, you'll see what us ponies do when confronted by a huge group of jerky dragons."
"Oh yeah?" The red fool snorted. "What's that?"
"THIS!" I suddenly intervened and charged at him. I pounced onto him, causing him to fall down on his back with me holding him down.
"What the-? Get this pony off of me!"
The other dragons were beginning to come closer to me with their claws ready, but I closed my eyes and felt myself take control of my heart. At that instant, I grunted and growled. Then, I released a large bright light from within. The other dragons that were beginning to surround me immediately fell backwards while the red one was blinded. Those other dragons looked at each other and instantly began running away as they saw me as a terrible threat.
"Where are you guys going?" The red one exclaimed, looking back at the others. Then, he turned his head to see me and immediately became frightened.
"Somewhere where you should have stayed!" I answered his question and raised my hoof, striking him in the cheek after. I raised my right hoof again while I clenched his neck with my left. "This is for threatening Spike!" I hammered him in the cheek again, and then raised my hoof. "This is for insulting the Princess!" I slugged him yet again in the same area and then raised my hoof once more. "And this is for pissing me off!" Using all of my strength, and the adrenaline in my body, I ended with a mighty haymaker. After, I was panting heavily, feeling the adrenaline wear out. I looked up to see him completely unconscious. I looked behind me to see every one of them, Rainbow Dash, Twilight, Rarity, and Spike, with their jaws hung out and revealing extremely widened eyes. I looked back at the dragon and then at the others, realizing what I did. "Um…"
"Dude…" Rainbow Dash began.
"That…" Twilight added.
"Was…" Rarity included.
"AMAZING!" Spike hopped and cheered. "Alex, I honestly had no idea that you would do that! I really wouldn't have known what to do if you hadn't beat him up like that."
"Yeah!" Twilight giggled as I hopped off of him. She poked her hoof at his body. "Look! He's completely knocked out!"
"Normally, I wouldn't support such aggressive behavior, but in this case, that was the most spectacular performance I have ever seen!"
When I recovered to my normal breathing, I began feeling a little embarrassed of my actions. "Wow…" I rubbed my head with my hoof.
"Yeah! You were all like…" Rainbow Dash flew around and made swinging noises. "And then you just completely finished with that single punch! Hah!" She flew up to the dragon's face, which his eyes remained closed, and laughed. "Not so tough now, are you dragon?"
Their reactions caused me to chuckle. "Come on. Let's get out of here before he wakes up."
"Why worry?" Rainbow responded. "You can just knock him out again."
I chuckled again, but Twilight stood near us. "Here, I'll try to use my teleportation spell to take us back to Ponyville again." She closed her eyes and grunted as she tried to cast her spell. However, she was successful in casting it, teleporting us to Ponyville eventually.
We seemed to be on the outskirts of town.
"Still…" Spike began. "That was a close one… Thanks you guys. Especially to you Alex. You really saved all our butts.
"Of course." I smiled, holding out my hoof that was slightly hurting from the impact of the punches. "What are friends for?"
Spike accepted my bump and smiled. "You're more than friends. You're my family." He expressed, his eyes tearing up a bit.
This caused Rarity to squeak as we all joined in for a group hug.
After, we began to head back towards town under the night sky. Spike placed the egg on Twilight back. Then, he brought out a scroll and quill and began writing his letter to Princess Celestia. "Dear Princess Celestia, seeing the great dragon migration made me wonder what it meant to be a dragon. But now I realize that who I am is not the same as what I am. I may have been born a dragon, but Equestria and my pony friends have taught me how to be kind, loyal, and true! I'm proud to call Ponyville my home, and to have my pony friends as my family. Yours truly, Spike. P.S. ALEX IS SO AWESOME!" Afterwards, he rolled it up and sent it to the Princess while I tried to hold in a laugh. He grabbed the egg again and observed it. "Stick with me. I've got plenty to teach you about being a pony."
I smiled and chuckled lightly as the other girls smiled warmly.
Once in town, the girls once again began to recall on how I bested the dragon.
"Alex, I still can't believe you beat that huge dragon like it was nothing!" Rainbow Dash announced excitedly.
I lightly blushed and looked away. "Come on…do you really still need to talk about it?"
"YES! Geez! I wish Fluttershy was there! She would have seen how such a great hero you were, she would have rewarded you with so many kisses like a damsel in distress!"
"Heheh, I don't know Rainbow. I don't know if I was exactly heroic, but I was just defending my family…that's all…"
"Well you certainly are a hero to us Alex!" Rarity expressed and hugged me.
"Alright…alright… I just don't want you all in making a big deal out of this. I'm still Alex, okay?"
Rarity pulled away. "Indeed!" She looked upwards at the sky. "Well, then. We may continue to discuss this with the others tomorrow. Until then, we shall receive some beauty sleep! Ciao!" Rarity began walking away.
Rainbow Dash chuckled a little and waved to me. "See ya, Alex." She flew away, leaving Twilight, Spike, and me.
I turned around to see Spike lying on the floor, sleeping with the egg above him.
Twilight giggled and grabbed him gently with her magic. She carefully placed him on her back and looked at me. "Well, I guess I should take him home then."
I smiled warmly. "Alright, Twilight."
She was silent for a moment as she continued to look at me. "Thanks for defending not only Spike, but us as well, Alex"
"Like I said. You all are my family. I'll protect you all no matter what."
She giggled lightly again and sent me a smile with closed eyes. "I'm sure Fluttershy will love to hear this story."
I chuckled lightly. "Maybe…"
Twilight gave me a hug, but a careful one as she didn't want Spike and the egg to fall, and then pulled away after a few seconds. "Goodnight, Alex."
I nodded. "Goodnight, Twilight."
After I saw her leave, I smiled and began to rush over to Fluttershy's cottage.
When I arrived, I quickly knocked on her door. After a moment, she opened it and brightened up to see me. "Alex!" She threw her hooves around me while I wrapped my hooves around her as well. "I'm so glad you're alright! What about the others?"
"Yeah. They're all fine. Spike's back home. Let me tell you everything inside."
"Okay!" She pulled away and led me inside. As we sat on the couch, I told her everything that happened, hoping to not sound like I was bragging at the end. Her eyes widened and beamed when she heard about the "incident" with the dragon and me. "You beat up a dragon?"
"Yeah…I guess I kind of lost control with that…" I rubbed my head with my hoof embarrassingly.
She surprised me with a kiss. She pulled away and continued to look at me. "You're so brave."
"No…no… I was just protecting my family…that's all…"
"Either way…you're amazing…" She leaned towards me and continued to kiss me softly, but passionately.
We continued to kiss for a moment in each other's hooves. When we were finished, we looked at each other and blushed warmly again.
"Mind if I sleep over again, Fluttershy?" I asked.
She giggled. "Hehe, of course not. Like I said, you're always welcome to stay here."
I smiled warmly. "Thanks."
When she grabbed the covers for the couch, I tucked myself in as Fluttershy flew beside me. She looked at me lovingly and lowered her head to kiss me on the lips. "Goodnight, Alex."
I smiled. "Goodnight, Fluttershy."
Afterwards, she kissed my cheek and began flying up to her room, turning the light off after her.
For some reason, I felt excited to fall asleep already. Was it because of what I did today? I don't know…but I have to admit that it was pretty amazing, hah. I closed my eyes as I continued to smile. Well I guess all that paid off when I finally was able to teach those dragons a lesson. They now should think twice before messing with a pony from Ponyville ever again.