//------------------------------//
// Dragonshy 
// Story: Magical Radiance 
// by Prixy05 
//------------------------------//

It was a normal day in the Fluttershy's cottage and a regular part of a regular day was feeding time. All the normally chattering animal inhabitants had finished their jumpng about and ate their food in a subdued manner. All except one that is. 

"Not too fast now, Angel Bunny. You don't wanna get a tummy ache," Fluttershy cooed to her pet, who had handily begun devouring it in a voracious manner. In response to her suggestion, the bunny shot an angry eye and promptly tossed the carrot he had been devouring across the room. 

"You really should eat more than that, don't you think? It's not play time yet," the yellow pegasus said to Angel, who had hopped to the front door, "I know you want to run, but... just three more bites. Two more bites? One more bite? Pretty please?" Angel glared at her and kicked the door open, promptly hopping outside. However, the surly bunny didn't go far when he began to cough.

"Oh, goodness!" Fluttershy cried as she flew up to Angel, "Are you okay? Are you coughing because there's a carrot stuck in your throat? Because you need some water?"

Angel stopped and looked up at her with his beady eyes, then pointed up with an ear. Looking up, Fluttershy saw that he was pointing at a thick cloud of black smoke billowing across the sky. 

Fluttershy gasped, "Because of that giant cloud of scary black smoke?" Angel nodded before continuing his coughing. "I'll take that as a yes."





Fluttershy fearfully hurried to central Ponyville, wanting to warn everyone else about the scary cloud of smoke in the sky. As it was a normal day for Ponyville, various ponies bustled about and conversed like normal. 

"Help. Help! Please? Help?" Fluttershy called out as loud as she could, which wasn't very loud at all, "There's- there's a horrible cloud of smoke. It's headed this way and-"

The pegasus yelped as a rainbow blur flew past. She turned her head, seeing that a small crowd had gathered to watch Rainbow Dash attempt to break the Equestrian ball-bouncing record. 

"Oh excuse me..." Fluttershy said, attempting to raise her voice, "There's- there's smoke. And- and where there's smoke, there's fire. And-"

"This calls for a celebration!" Pinkie Pie unknowingly interrupted, bouncing up and down as she watched Rainbow Dash.

"Oh, no, Pinkie Pie, this is no time for celebration," Fluttershy said worriedly, "This is a time for panic, for-"

Pinkie Pie didn't hear Fluttershy's hushed worries, instead beginning to count out the number of balloons she would need for the party. 

"Pinkie Pie!" yelled Rainbow Dash, having lost her concentration due to Pinkie Pie, "Now I have to start over!"

"Oh, please," Fluttershy cried, "this is an emergency. I-I need everypony to-"

Pinkie Pie looked up and let out an exaggerated gasp, "Wait! What's that?!" Soon enough, everyone else looked up as well, letting out gasps and exclamations of horror.

"That's right!" Announced a new voice. It was Rarity, who stood floating a letter beside her. "Smoke is spreading over all of Equestria." She paused to let the crowd of ponies finish their gasps, "But not to worry, I've just received a letter from Princess Celestia informing me that it is not coming from a fire." Fluttershy sighed with relief. "It is in fact coming from a dragon!"

This information did little to settle Fluttershy's fears, in fact, it made them even worse.





"What in the name of all things cinnamon swirled is a full-grown dragon doing here in Equestria?" Applejack questioned. She stood with the other members of their group, who had gathered within the Carousel Boutique.

"He's sleeping darling," Rarity answered, reading over Princess Celestia's letter once more. She glanced up following the expressions of confusion from her friends, "According to Princess Celestia, he's taking a nap. His snoring is what's causing all this smoke."

"He should really see a doctor." Pinkie Pie commented, "That doesn't sound healthy at all."

"Well," Twilight Sparkle replied, "At least it's dragon smoke and not dragon fire. But what are we supposed to do about it?"

"I'll tell you what we're meant to do," Rainbow Dash stated assertively, "Give him the boot!" She kicked the air with her hoof, "Take that!" She punched the air again, "And that!" The pegasus flew forward, colliding into the wall during her pretend fight with a crash.

"Not exactly like that Rainbow," Rarity chuckled, "The Princess wants us to encourage him to take his nap somewhere else or else Equestria will be covered in smoke!"

"And dragon naps last on average one hundred years," Twilight returned affirmatively, inciting a rasp gasp from Fluttershy.

"No matter how much he needs his beauty sleep, we can't fail," Rarity finished, "So I need you ladies to gather supplies quickly. We've got a long journey ahead of us. Let's meet back here in less than an hour."

"You heard her!" Rainbow Dash shouted enthusiastically, "The fate of Equestria is in our hooves! Do you think we have what it takes?" All the ponies responded with affirmative shout before leaving, all of them except for Fluttershy.





Sure enough, an hour later, the ponies regrouped outside the boutique. They had packed their gear for their quest, though Pinkie had stuffed at least three balloons into her own saddlebag. Rarity had on her purple mission robe and was well equipped with her magical quest gear pack, which Spike had assembled beforehand.

"Twilight here made a map of our route to the dragon. Show it, won't you darling?" Rarity asked to Twilight.

Twilight nodded and magically pulled out a parchment from underneath her helmet. "Right girls," Twilight stated, "I've mapped us the fastest path up the mountain, but we're going to have to keep a good pace if we want to reach the cave by nightfall."

"M-m-mountain?" Fluttershy squeaked with panic, her head retracting into the pillow shell she had made around herself.

"Yes," Twilight answered without looking back, "The dragon is in that cave at the very top."

"But- but that's so high up, and cold..." Fluttershy whimpered to herself.

"Right ladies!" Rarity announced, elegantly sweeping a hoof towards the mountain, "Lets get moving!"

With Twilight leading the way, the group set off towards the mountain. Fluttershy lagged behind, slowly creeping up to Rarity, "Um, excuse me, Rarity? I know you're busy, but..."

"Fluttershy, darling, what is it?"

Fluttershy pulled a hoof through her mane, "So, um, I was thinking that, um, maybe I should just stay here in Ponyville."

Rarity wrinkled her snout in response, "Certainly not Fluttershy! We need you up there! Why, your expertise with animals will be invaluable to our mission!"

"Oh I don't think that- I mean. Couldn't Spike just come instead? He can change into animals."

"Well, Spike's morphing trick only works with small animals, not full grown dragons darling. Besides, he already volunteered to take care of your cottage while we're gone. He said you would be a valuable part of the team."

Fluttershy squeaked, "He did? But I... I don't think that-"

She yelped as Rainbow Dash swooped in from overhead, "Are you sure you want Fluttershy to come along? I mean, that pony's afraid of her own shadow. She's just going to slow us down."

Rarity waved a hoof, "She's just a little nervous darling. Once we get going, I'm sure she'll be fine."

Rainbow gave a wary glance to the cowering pegasus on the ground, "Fine. Then can we get moving?"

Rarity nodded, "Yes yes, let's move out!"





A short while later, the group of ponies had arrived at the mountain. Looking up the steep rock face, the six saw that they had quite a climb ahead of them. Suddenly, a loud roar echoed down the cliff, making Fluttershy yelp in fear.

"Whoa," exclaimed Rainbow Dash, "What was that?"

"That is what it sounds like when a dragon snores." Twilight answered nonchalantly.

Rainbow flexed her wings, "Well, I'm going to fly up there and check it out!" In a flash, the pegasus flew up the cliff and up the mountain, only to come flying back down coughing. "Nevermind," she said, shaking the soot out of her mane, "The smoke's too thick for flying, we'll have to go up the long way."

"Luckily that's exactly what I planned for!" Twilight said proudly, whipping out her map. She studied her map, then pointed a hoof in the right direction. 

Soon enough, the ponies had approached the cliffs face, and they needed to climb up. One by one the ponies took to the rock wall, and began to scale up, meanwhile, Fluttershy stood still and whimpered.

"It's so... so steep," She quietly commented, anxiously looking up.

"Well, it is a cliff," Rainbow Dash irascibly replied mid-air, "You could just, oh, I don't know, fly up here?" She motioned a hoof at Fluttershy's wings, which had been robustly locked to her side the entire while.

"Come on, Fluttershy, you can do it!" Pinkie Pie said encouragingly while waving her hooves, "Flap those wings!"

"Oh okay," Fluttershy said timidly. She grunted as she unfolded her yellow wings and slowly waved them up and down. Rainbow Dash could only groan as she watched the pegasus fruitlessly flap her wings. Just then, another dragon snore roared down the mountain, making Fluttershy squeal with terror, locking her wings in place once again. Applejack gave a heavy sigh before sliding down the rockface and walking up to Fluttershy. With a heavy grunt, Applejack hoisted the frozen pegasi onto her back.

"Might I ask what exactly are you doing?" Rarity asked from above.

"I'll need this if I'm going to take her around the mountain another way," said Applejack, securely tying Fluttershy's tail around her waist.

Rainbow Dash gave a cry of dismay, "Around the mountain? That's going to take forever."

"Don't you worry girls," Applejack replied assuredly, "We'll be there lickety-split."

At the top of the cliff, Rarity paced back and forth impatiently. Meanwhile, Twilight used her hoof to draw another x in the dirt. Three x's in a row. "Ha! I win again!" She triumphantly proclaimed to Pinkie Pie, who cheered as well.

"Wow Twilight!" Pinkie Pie happily exclaimed, "that's thirty-five games in a row! Best of seventy-one?"

All heads turned as a sound emanated from around the behind. Up and around crawled Applejack with Fluttershy on her back. "We... made... it!" Applejack grunted before collapsing on the ground, making Fluttershy roll off her back and sprawl her limbs across the dirt.

Rainbow Dash shook her head, "Told you it was going to take them forever."





Further along they went, until they reached a crevasse that split the path. One by one, every pony jumped across the gap, leaving of course, Fluttershy for last. The pony whimpered as she stood her ground at the cliff's edge.

"Your turn, Fluttershy," Rarity called out, waving her over, "We should be much further along by now."

"But..." Fluttershy said quietly, "Its- its so... wide."

Applejack motioned her over, "You could just leap on over."

Fluttershy shuddered as another dragon snore rattled the mountain, "I- I don't know."

Pinkie Pie called over next, "There's nothing to be afraid of. It's just a hop, skip and a jump!" She provided an example, giving a hop, a skip, and quickly jumping across the hole. "See?" Fluttershy didn't budge, eyeing the crevice. 

Immediately Pinkie erupted into an impromptu song about hopping, skipping, and jumping, making Rainbow facehoof, "Can we just move this along already?"

Fluttershy nodded, encouraged by Pinkie's song, "O-okay. I can do this, here I go."

With shouts of encouragement from her friends, Fluttershy readied herself, clenched her eyes shut, gave a little hop, a skip and... nothing else. She opened her eyes, seeing that her skip had easily cleared the crevice, which was only about a foot wide. "Oh," Fluttershy softly exclaimed, "I guess I forgot to jump."

Rainbow Dash merely groaned, flying behind and gently pushing Fluttershy along to keep up her pace with the rest of the group. But it wasn't far until Twilight halted in place, making every pony behind her stop as well.

"Wait," Twilight whispered, holding up a hoof, "Let's keep it down. According to my map, we're entering an avalanche zone. The smallest peep could cause a huge rockslide."

The idea made Fluttershy shiver in place, completely unaware of a vagrant leaf floating down overhead, "An... an ava.. ava..."

Then, the leaf made contact.

"AVALANCHE?!!" 

Fluttershy clapped a hoof over her mouth, but it was too late. The other ponies could only sigh as the mountainside began to rumble and pebbles began to clatter down on their heads. A boulder smashed down into the dirt, scattering dust and ponies. The six ponies ran back as the rockslide tumbled, the boulders and rocks smashing into the path and covering it. Applejack specifically made split-second decision and leapt to the left, pushing Twilight out of the way of a boulder that would have crushed her.

Applejack stopped, watching as that last boulder rolled across the path and tumbled down the mountain. She breathed a sigh of relief, shaking the dust off her hat, "Is everypony okay?"

Twilight, out of breath, smiled at Applejack, "Thanks to you I am. Now we just have to get over... that."

Rarity moaned at her state of dirtiness, quickly casting a spell to restore her disheveled mane before turning to the rock pile that now blocked the path. She sighed, "I guess we have to climb over it."

Embarrassed, Fluttershy hid behind her mane, "Sorry."

Applejack waved her off, "Aw, no big whoop, sugarcube. But this looks a might tougher than before."

"Luckily, this unicorn is always prepared," Twilight stated before pulling various pieces of climbing gear that she proceeded to give out to the others. 

"Oo! This is gonna be fun!" Pinkie Pie grinned as she began to bounce up the rock pile.

"Oh, this... this looks like its scary," Fluttershy murmured.

"Well, we don't exactly have a choice," Rainbow Dash said as she flew the rock pile. The going was tougher; Fluttershy in particular had to practically be carried up and over the remains of the rockslide. Rainbow Dash flew to the top and held out her hooves, helping her friends clamber over the top. She looked Rarity in the eyes as she helped her up, "Still think it was a good idea to bring Fluttershy along?"

Rarity sighed with uncertainty, "Well um... we're about to find out. We're here."





There the six ponies stood, standing in front of the entrance to the dragon's cave. The darkness of the cave loomed before them, the rumbling snores echoing out from within while the black smoke surged out from the top. 

With her magic, Rarity pulled out a parchment from her saddlebag, the procedure she had planned earlier. After reading it over once more, she turned to the group, announcing the order of action, "Rainbow Dash, you'll use your wings to clear the smoke. Twilight and Pinkie Pie, you shall create a diversion to distract the dragon if things get a little... messy in there. Applejack, you be ready with the apples in case he decides to attack. But of course, it shouldn't come to that, because Fluttershy will do what she needs to do to wake him up, and between the two of us, we should be able to get him to understand why he needs to go. Is everypony ready?"

All the other ponies nodded, except for Fluttershy, who remained silent. Rarity waved at the pegasus before turning to the cave entrance, "Right darling, time to go in. Say, what is the best way to wake up a sleeping dragon without upsetting him? Fluttershy?" She turned around to sees that Fluttershy hadn't moved. Furrowing her brow, Rarity trotted up to her and lightly tugged on her wings, "Really Fluttershy, we have to do this! Every second we wait is another second that dreadful smoke covers Equestria!"

"I'm sorry," Fluttershy stammered, "I- I- I can't go in the cave."

Rainbow Dash groaned, "Oh, great. She's scared of caves now, too."

Fluttershy shook her head vigorously, "It's not the cave I'm scared of, I'm scared of dragons."

The ponies held a blank expression. None of them heard her. "What's that sugarcube?" Applejack asked.

"I'm scared of dragons."

"What?"

"I'm scared of DRAGONS!"

"But Fluttershy," the confused Rarity asked, "You have a wonderful talent dealing with all kinds of animals."

"Yes, because they're not dragons."

"Oh come on," the exasperated Rainbow Dash yelled, "We've seen you walk right up to a horrible manticore like it was nothing."

"Yes, because he wasn't a dragon."

"What about Spike?" the bemused Pinkie Pie questioned, "Hasn't he turned into a dragon around you before?"

"Yes, because he turns into a tiny drake, not a huge, gigantic, terrifying, enormous, teeth-gnashing, sharp-scale having, horn-wearing, smoke-snoring, could eat a pony in one bite, totally all grown-up dragon!"

Rarity looked at Fluttershy reassuredly, "Really darling, if you're so afraid of dragons, why didn't you say something before we came all the way up here?"

Fluttershy rubbed her hooves, "I was afraid to."

"All of us are scared of that dragon-" Applejack said, trying to raise Fluttershy's spirits.

"I'm not!" Rainbow interjected.

"Almost all of us are scared of that dragon, but we've got a job to do. So, get in there with Rarity and show her what you're made of."

"I'm afraid I- I... just can't," Fluttershy said shamefully.

"It's okay ladies," Rarity announced to the group, "We shan't make Fluttershy here uncomfortable. I shall go in by myself. He probably doesn't realize what he's doing, and all he needs is a little picker upper from my 'pony charm'".

As she finished, Rarity turned with a sweep of her robe and marched straight into the cave. As she walked in deeper, Rarity the darkness of the cave and smoke gave way to the luminous shine of mammoth pile of various gold, jewels, and other valuables. She nearly came to a halt when she noticed a particularly enticing bright blue diamond, but shook her head, she had a job to do.

Another dragon snore rumbled out, shaking Rarity down to her hooves. Of course, the source wasn't hard to notice. Right on the top of the pile of gold lay the dragon. The gargantuan creature's crimson scales shined in the golden light of the treasure horde, and an orange glow shined through his nostrils, out of which bellowed the dreaded cloud of smoke.

Rarity came stop in front of the sleeping beast. "Um, pardon me Mr. Dragon?"

The dragon rumbled as his yellow eyes slightly opened. "Oh, good, you're awake. Please allow me to introduce myself. My name is Rarity and-"

The dragon yawned and rolled away from the pony.

Unflustered, Rarity cleared her throat and continued, "and my friends and I are residents from Ponyville. It's a nearby town, you might've heard of it. We've come here to ask that you find another spot to take your nap. For you see, your snoring creates a terrible black smoke, and we simply can't go on with this dark cloud looming over us."

The dragon rumbled and he slowly raised his head, looking down at Rarity.

"So, you'll find another place to sleep?"

The dragon barely opened an eye before blew a raspberry and waved the pony off.

"Well! I would never!" scoffed Rarity before turning tail and leaving.

Outside the cave the ponies watched as Rarity left the cave. "Seems like persuading him won't work," she said grouchily.

"So now what?" Applejack asked.

Twilight cleared her throat, "What you're missing girls is he doesn't need charm, he needs the cold-hard facts. So, allow me to handle this," Without another word, Twilight moved herself into the cave.

Walking up to the sleeping dragon, Twilight pulled out a parchment of paper, "Attention Mr. Dragon," she yelled up, "Might I bother you to pay attention to this?"

The dragon grumbled and raised his head.

"Thank you." With her magic, Twilight pulled out a quill and began to draw a diagram onto the parchment, which only made the dragon squint with confusion. "You see, you decided to sleep here... and we live down here... the smoke you make goes up and covers all of up there. If you continue to stay up here, the smoke there, blocks the sunlight here. Without the sunlight, we can't grow crops, meaning all the ponies here will starve. Now, if you consider the wider ramifications of all of Equestria, you could possibly starve thousands of ponies. You get where I'm going with this?"

Slowly the dragon lowered his head to Twilight's level. And then he snorted.

Outside the cave, the others watched as Twilight silently walkled out, her face and mane covered with black soot, "I really thought I was getting to him," she commented before sitting down.

"Well somepony has to get to him," said Applejack, "I think we're going a bit stark crazy out here." She motioned a hoof to Pinkie Pie, who had put on some sort of getup made out of various random pieces of party goods.

Twilight looked over to the party pony, "Pinkie, you look ridiculous."

Pinkie Pie happily tooted a horn in response, "Exactly! Sharing a laugh is a sure-fire way to get someone on your side!" She turned and bounced into the cave.

Only a moment went by before a crash sound echoed out from the cave and Pinkie Pie bounced back out, her "outfit" in tatters. "Apparently he doesn't like laughing," she commented, "Or sharing."

Rainbow Dash stood up, "All right, that's it! We tried charm, the facts, whatever it is Pinkie Pie does. It's time to stop wasting time! I'm going in!" Before any pony could stop her, Rainbow flew right into the cave.

Inside, the dragon was sleeping once again, or at least he was trying to. "Hey! You!" He opened his eyes once more to see a cyan pegasus looking at him in the eyes. "Yeah you! Get out!" She flew right at him, hitting him directly in the snout. Taken by surprise, the dragon wriggled his snout before looking right back at Rainbow Dash. He narrowed his eyes. Suddenly faced with the sight of an angry dragon, Rainbow Dash rubbed the back of her head, "Um... sorry?"

Outside the cave, a deafening roar rang out. Fluttershy, who had been hiding behind an errant rock the entire time, looked up to see Rainbow fly out the cave and crash into the ground. The other ponies yelled with alarm as they were hit by the pegasi projectile and were quickly knocked off their hooves. Fluttershy watched with horror as the dragon exited the cave, looming over her helpless friends.

The dragon growled with anger, orange flame flickering out of his mouth before he was suddenly stopped by a yellow pegasus who flew up into his face.

"How dare you... how dare you!" Fluttershy yelled, raising her voice, "Listen here, mister. Just because you're big doesn't mean you get to be a bully! You may have huge teeth, and sharp scales, and snore smoke, and breathe fire. But you do not—I repeat—you do not! Hurt! My! Friends! You got that?"

She opened her eyes, giving a stare at the dragon who whimpered and recoiled back. "Well?" Fluttershy demanded.

"But the rainbow one kicked me," the dragon whined.

"And I am very sorry about that," Fluttershy said, "But you're bigger than she is, and you should know better. You should also know better than to take a nap where your snoring can become a health hazard to other creatures."

"But I-"

"Don't you 'but I' me, mister. Now what do you have to say for yourself? I said, what do you have to say for yourself?"

The dragon whimpered, tears welling up in his eyes, "I'm dreadfully sorry! I- I didn't know what I was doing was so bad!"

Fluttershy hugged the dragon's head, "There, there. No need to cry. You're not a bad dragon, you just made a bad decision. Now go pack your things. You just need to find a new place to sleep. That's all."

"Yes yes," the dragon sniffed, "I'll do that right away. I'm terribly sorry for any distress I may have caused you."  Without another word, the dragon retreated back into his cave.

Fluttershy let out a breath of relief as her friends got up and cheered. "You did it! I knew you could do it!" Rarity exclaimed.





Back at the Carousel Boutique, an exhausted Spike happily handed an angry and anxious Angel back to Fluttershy. He winced, examining the various scratched and bruises on his shell, "Yeah Fluttershy," he said, "I'm really sure that Angel doesn't like me."

"Oh, Angel does get like that sometimes," Fluttershy admitted, hugging her bunny, "But don't worry, I still like you Spike." Spike began to say something but was interrupted.

"Spike!" Rarity's voice came from behind him, "Come take a letter!"

"Of course!" Spike said, leaving Fluttershy and running over to take the letter.

"Dear Princess Celestia," Rarity
"I am please to report that the dragon situation has been taken care of, and that it was my good friend, Fluttershy, who convinced him to go. This event 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.
As always, your student Rarity."

Outside, Fluttershy sighed happily, much to the chagrin of Angel, "I'm just glad this whole thing is over with."

"Yeah!" Rainbow yelled from nearby, "And now you can watch me finally break this record!" She continued to bounce the ball on her hooves, "Three hundred forty-seven, three hundred forty-eight..."

A sudden roar made Rainbow yelp and drop the ball. On the ground, Rainbow glared at Pinkie Pie, who giggled from her prank. "Pinkie Pie, you scared me! I mean, uh, you... broke my concentration."

Fluttershy giggled as well, "It's okay, Rainbow Dash. Not everypony can be as brave as me."

Suddenly, something touched her back, making Fluttershy yelp and freeze up. With the pegasus frozen with fear, Angel stopped tickling her back with his ear and pried himself out from her hooves. With a smug look, Angel turned and hopped away as the ponies laughed.