//------------------------------// // Prologue // Story: A Dragon's Soft Spot // by Mister E-Nonymous //------------------------------// A Dragon's Soft Spot Prologue In the land of Equestria, there was a small town known as Ponyville. And in that town, there was one specific building that was there to teach creatures across the land lessons about the importance of friendship. This was Princess Twilight's School of Friendship. In that school, a bunch of students were being taught by the Princess's friends. Since Princess Twilight Sparkle was now the high Princess of Equestria, her friends have been tasked with running the school. Starlight Glimmer, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Trixie and Sunburst were all running the School of Friendship, doing what they were assigned to do. Inside one classroom, Applejack was teaching the class the importance of honesty. "Ya see class, it's important ta tell the truth," Applejack said. "Otherwise, y'all will just end up regrettin' what ya say when somepony tries something that would end their lives. Like how Ah almost got mah Granny Smith killed that one day." Most of the students were writing the lesson down. One student, who was a griffon known as Gallus, was holding his head with his left talon. "Professor Applejack, I'm not sure that this kind of lesson will be repeated," Gallus said. "This lesson was so boring, it would put us to sleep." "Boring?" Applejack asked. "Now, hold on fer a minute. Not all o' mah lessons are that boring. Ah'm just teaching the importance of honesty. None of mah lessons would be able to put ya ta sleep." "Tell that to Smolder," Gallus said, pointing at the sleeping dragon in the class. Applejack leaned her head back, groaned and said, "Not again!" She then went to her desk, pulled out an air horn, put it on Smolder's desk, and she used it to wake Smolder up and falling out of her desk. "Ha-wha!!" Smolder said as she was waking up and falling out of her desk. The other students laughed at Smolder when she was awoken from her sleep and falling out of her desk. Smolder got up from the floor and shouted, "What was that for?!" "Ya fell asleep in class... again!" Applejack shouted back. "Are ya feelin' alright, Smolder? Have ya been gettin' enough sleep?" Smolder yawned and said, "I'm fine. I just... haven't been getting much sleep these past few nights." "'Past few nights?" Applejack asked. "Ya've been drowsy and fallin' asleep in class fer 'bout a month. Ya mind tellin' me what ya've been doin'?" "Uh... well..." Smolder said, coming up with an excuse. Just then, the bell rang. "Class dismissed," Applejack said. "'Cept for you, Smolder. Ah wanna have a talk with ya." Smolder rolled her eyes as Applejack turned around. After all the other students left, Applejack then started talking. "Ah wanna know what ya've been doin'. Ya can't just come up with an excuse ta get out of this." Applejack then turned around. "Ah just want ta know..." She noticed that Smolder was gone. "Ah, c'mon!" In the teacher's lounge, the staff of the School of Friendship were all talking about Smolder. How she's been falling asleep in class or going somewhere without telling anyone. "That is odd," Sunburst said. "Smolder has been doing something like this for the past month and she hasn't explained why." "Well, the only way we have to get her to explain herself is to find out what she's been doing," Trixie said. "Perhaps her friends know what she's been doing." "Not a bad idea, Trixie," Starlight said. She then walked to a microphone and spoke into it. "Would Sandbar, Gallus, Ocellus, Yona and Silverstream report to the Teacher's Lounge? We all want to speak to you about an important matter." Starlight then moved back over to where the others were sitting. "Okay, so you believe Smolder's friends will know about Smolder's strange behavior?" Rainbow Dash asked. "It would be bad to peek into somecreature's private time," Fluttershy said. "I'm not sure that it's really wise to do something like this." "Ah still wanna know what Smolder's been up ta," Applejack said. "Surely, her friends have something to say about it." "Yeah, we all wanna help her," Pinkie Pie said. "She keeps falling asleep in class. Or sometimes, goes to the bathroom and comes back longer than expected." "That is strange," Rarity said. "I just hope that her friends are able to give us some answers." Just then, there was a knocking on the door. Sunburst walked towards the door and opened it up. "Okay, you five, step right in," Sunburst said. Then the five students who were called in came into the Teacher's Lounge. "Is there a reason why the five of us were called in here?" Sandbar asked. "Yes, there is," Starlight said. "We're starting to get suspicious of Smolder. Do any of you have any idea what she's been doing for the past month?" "Actually, no," Ocellus said. "She's been sneaking off somewhere during some time we've been studying, or hanging out at the clubhouse." "Smolder acting weird," Yona said. "Like when she went to get second helping of lunch and taking it somewhere else in school." "Really?" Rainbow Dash asked. "She eats a second helping of food at lunch?" "But what's strange is, I thought she'd be a little more chubby after that," Silverstream said. "But, she doesn't seem to be out of shape at all." "Then why is she getting a second helping, and where is she going with it?" Starlight asked. "Has anypony been in the school ever see where she's been heading to?" Sunburst asked. "Not that we know of," Ocellus said. "Yeah," Pinkie Pie said. "It's not like she's doing anything suspicious. Like yesterday when I saw her coming out of the library right before the lunch period ended." Every creature looked over at Pinkie Pie with surprised looks on their faces. Pinkie looked at them and asked, "What?" "You mean to tell me... that you saw Smolder... coming out of the library... before the final class of the school day starts?" Starlight asked. "Well, yeah, I just told you!" Pinkie said. "So she likes to eat in the library, so what?" "There's no eatin' allowed in the library," Applejack said. "There isn't?" Pinkie asked. "Come to think of it, when I was coming out of the bathroom one night past curfew, I saw her sneaking out of our room heading off somewhere," Silverstream said. "I don't know where because I was too tired." "Okay, that's understandable," Starlight said. "Looks like we got a dragon stakeout tonight. And it's a good thing it's the weekend. Let's get to work." Later that night, Silverstream was sleeping in her bed with Smolder in the bottom bunk of the bunk bed they shared. Smolder then opened her eyes and sat up. She looked up to see if Silverstream was asleep. She quietly got out of bed, and started walking towards the door. What Smolder didn't see was that Silverstream was faking being asleep. She saw the door closing with Smolder not in the room. She then pulled something from under her pillow. It was a small plank of wood. She then knocked on it. Meanwhile, in the library, Starlight, Sunburst, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Trixie, Sandbar, Gallus, Ocellus and Yona were waiting for Silverstream's signal. Which was thanks to that band that Starlight had on. The band on her hoof was glowing and making a noise. "Okay," Starlight said. "Smolder's on her way. Everypony, stay quiet." Starlight then lit up her horn and she used an invisibility spell. Then the door opened, revealing Smolder. She looked around to see if any creature was in the room. She then went out for a second and came back in with a plastic bag full of food and gemstones. She flew over the room and over to the vent that led to the caverns underneath the school. Smolder opened up the vent grate, grabbed the bag of food, and went down into the hole. Smolder then reached up and moved the grate back into the position it was before. Starlight lifted the spell and said, "That's a little peculiar. Applejack, weren't you supposed to lock up that grate so no creature ever goes in it again?" "Ah was about to, but Apple Bloom said Ah needed to get home to help with Applebuck season, so I asked, Rainbow Dash to do it," Applejack said. "She did," Rainbow Dash said. "And as I was getting ready to, Soarin came in and told me to get back to Wonderbolt Headquarters for a performance that day. Then I went to find Pinkie Pie to do it." "I would've done it, but I had to help Mr. and Mrs. Cake bake a huge cake for an order," Pinkie Pie said. The others looked at her. Trixie then asked, "Did you ask somepony to deal with the grate?" "Nope!" Pinkie Pie said. "I completely forgot to do it!" That made Starlight facehoof herself. "Okay," Starlight said. "As soon as Silverstream gets in, we'll head down there." Just then, the library door opened and in came Silverstream. "Okay, where'd she go?" Silverstream asked. "To the caverns below," Starlight said. "Now, let's go." They all headed for the grate, and Starlight used her magic to open it up. Starlight, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Trixie, Sunburst, Sandbar, Gallus, Yona, Silverstream and Ocellus went into the grate to the caverns underneath the school. Starlight, Rarity, Trixie and Sunburst lit up their horns to light the way. "Where is she?" Starlight asked. "We should've found her by now." "Yona really wonders what Smolder do down here," Yona said. She then stepped on something. "Huh?" Yona looked at something and saw something on the ground. "What is that?" Starlight asked, lifting the item with her magic. She then read the word on the bag. "'Cheetos Crunchy... Party Size.'" "PARTY?!" Pinkie Pie asked loudly. "Is Smolder hosting a secret party down here?!" "I've never seen anything like this before," Starlight said. "Ever. It's so weird." Starlight moved the open part of the bag to her muzzle and gave it a sniff. "Smells... cheesy." "A cheese flavored snack?" Sunburst asked. "That's odd. I have never heard of such a thing." He then took the bag in his magic. "Especially something called Cheetos. Whatever those are." "Wait," Rarity said. "Look." Rarity looked at the ground and saw two sets of dragon foot prints. "Dragon prints." "So what?" Rainbow Dash asked. "She probably goes for a walk down here to clear her head. She probably eats on the way as she's walking." "No no," Rarity said. "Look." Rarity pointed at one set of prints. "These are Smolder's prints. And look at the other set. It's slightly bigger than Smolder's prints. Which means..." "She's not alone down here," Starlight said. "There's another dragon down here." "What is it, Garble?" Rainbow Dash asked. "Why would she bring Garble down here?" "I'm not so sure it's Garble," Rarity said. "His prints are bigger than these ones." "Then who is it?" Fluttershy asked. "It's probably a solid illusion done by the spirit of the Tree of Harmony," Gallus said. "Let's follow the prints to see where they go." Then the group followed the prints to where they were heading. As soon as they followed them to a certain distance, they heard a voice. "ARE YOU NUTS?!" Smolder's voice came in. "You can't just go out there without warning! And besides, I don't think they'll believe that you're from... you know...!" The others looked at each other, wondering who Smolder was talking to. They then went closer and closer as Smolder was still talking. "I don't think that the others meeting you would be a good idea." Starlight got tired of listening to Smolder's voice and called out, "Smolder! What are you doing down here?!" That question made Smolder gasp. The group then started running towards where Smolder was. When they got there, they saw Smolder all alone. "H-hey, guys!" Smolder said. "W-what brings you all down here?" "Smolder, what are you doing down here?" Sunburst asked. "And who are you talking to?" "N-no one," Smolder said. "Just... by myself down here." Applejack scrunched her face and said, "She's lyin'. Ah can tell when somepony's lyin'. Or in this case, somedragon." "I... don't know what you're talking about," Smolder said. "We know you're hiding something, Smolder," Starlight said. "You obviously can't hide it. We just wanna know what you're up to." "Ugh, here we go," Rainbow Dash said, rolling her eyes. But when she rolled her eyes, she noticed something to her right. "I know you want your private time, Smolder," Starlight said. "But it's okay to tell somepony what you're up to. We can understand." Rainbow Dash wasn't paying attention as she hovered over to what she thought she saw. Smolder noticed what Rainbow Dash was doing and got nervous. She started sweating. Starlight followed Smolder's eyes and saw Rainbow Dash inspecting a stone column. "What's going on over there, Rainbow Dash?" Rainbow Dash then went around the column and said, "Hey! Looks like Smolder has a guest!" Rainbow Dash came out carrying... a dragon. The dragon was jade green with brown spines, and blue eyes. "Hey, hey, hey! Put me down!" the jade dragon said as Rainbow Dash was carrying him. "You've been hiding another dragon down here?!" Starlight asked. "Oh, boy," Smolder said. "Okay, okay, yes, I've been hiding him down here." "That explains the second helping of food she's been taking," Ocellus said. "She's been keeping him fed down here." "But why haven't you brought him up sooner?" Sunburst asked. "We could've helped." "Well..." Smolder said before she was cut off. "Smolder," the jade dragon said. "I'll tell them." "No way, Blazer!" Smolder said. "They'll think you're crazy!" "Blazer?" Starlight asked. "Is that some kind of nickname of some kind?" "Not exactly," the jade dragon said. "My name is Aaron Blazer. And I'm... actually a human from another dimension." "WHAT?!" Starlight, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie asked in unison.