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The Element of Wrath
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Fluttershy carefully walked through the massive cave, looking for the dragon that apparently held her friends captive.
She had immediately seen that the cave was larger on the inside, something she was sure Discord had done. There was a single, huge pathway that she had been following forward for what seemed like hours. Perhaps she could have gotten through faster, had she moved a bit quicker, but she was content to slink, pressed against a wall, in the hopes of not being noticed by anything that might come by her.
“Hey!” A voice echoed down the hall, “Let her go!”
Gasping, Fluttershy ran toward the source of the voice. She may have been afraid of what might eat her, but she was more afraid of being along for much longer.
Reaching a sudden drop, she stopped herself just short of falling to the ground.
At the bottom were all of her friends, as they were pushed along by the largest dragon Fluttershy had ever seen. She now understood why the paths inside the cavern were so big.
“Let me go, you ruffian!” Rarity shouted, having been wrapped up in the tail of the beast, “You won’t be happy when I get out of here!”
“Just stay quiet, Rarity,” Twilight sighed, “We don’t want to make it angry… Somepony could get hurt.”
The Dragon simply ignored Rarity, as it continued down the pathway, keeping all of the ponies in check.
As soon as they had been forced out of the room, Fluttershy gathered all of her courage, and flew down to the floor, and poked her head around the corner of the way they had exited, and to her surprise, were nowhere in sight.
“Oh no…” She said quietly, “Please don’t leave me alone…”
Suddenly, she was hit in the rump with something.
Nearly jumping into the ceiling, she turned quickly, and saw her pet bunny, Angel, sitting on the floor, tapping his foot impatiently.
“Angel?” She asked, quickly rushing to the floor, “How did you get in here?”
He simply shrugged to her, as he hopped up on her back and sat down.
“Well, at least you’re here,” She said, looking back to the cavern they had entered, “That should help…”
A loud, deep growl came down the cavern.
“A bit!”
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Another few minutes had passed before Fluttershy once again caught up to the dragon, and her friends.
“Where is he takin’ us?” Applejack asked, not sure if he could even understand their conversations.
“Maybe he’s taking us out to a fancy dinner!” Pinkie suggested, sincerely hoping that her idea was right.
“I doubt it,” Shining Armor sighed, watching the dragon’s movements carefully.
“Maybe we ARE dinner!” Spike said quietly, shaking a bit.
“Calm down, Spike,” Twilight whispered, “We’ll get out of this, we always do.”
Fluttershy was still well behind them all, but the caves helped the sound travel from them to her, so she was able to listen to each word exchanged between all of them.
As they reached the next open room, Fluttershy quickly caught up, and was shocked at the beauty she was looking at.
“Look at all these gems!” Spike said, feeling his mouth start salivating, “I wish I could still eat them raw…”
“Spike!” Rarity whispered from way above as the Dragon stopped for a snack, “Get some of those gems for me! I could use them!”
“Yes ma’am!” He said back as he ran over, and started filling his saddlebag with the best stones he could see. And luckily, he got back to the group before the dragon looked back to them.
Giving another deafening roar, everypony shuddered as he continued pushing them forward.
“How can I possibly help them?” Fluttershy whispered to her pet, as he started bouncing up and down on her back, pretending to punch an invisible dragon.
“Oh no,” She said, shaking her head, “That’s never the answer to any problem.”
Angel rolled his eyes, as he sat back down, and got comfortable.
Sneaking into the room, Fluttershy gave the massive amount of gems a quick look, and then grabbed a few fancy ones for Rarity that Spike hadn’t been able to reach.
Trotting to the opposite of where she came in, she looked into the cavern once again, and gulped, freezing in place.
Shaking his head in frustration, Angel started kicking both of her sides with his legs, hoping to speed her along.
“Please don’t rush me,” She asked quietly, hoping he would stop.
But, he knew her pretty well, and continued his kicking, knowing she would break eventually.
She whined quietly, as he continued his assault on her, not wanting to have any part in this. But, she realized that there was no point in stalling. So, she ran. She ran as fast as she could, knowing that she would be on them in only a few seconds.
Reaching what looked like the last room; Fluttershy stopped once again, and saw all of her friends start being loaded into a cage by the dragon.
“Why isn’t Twilight doing something?” Fluttershy asked angel, “And shouldn’t her brother be better at this sort of stuff?”
Finally, all the ponies, save Rarity, were loaded into a cage, that was then hoisted up, when the dragon pulled a long rope, that ascended the cage, and moved it a few feet to the side, so it hung over a lava pit.
“What’s he going to do with her?” Fluttershy whispered, peeking out from behind a rock.
The dragon lifted Rarity in front of his face, and gave her a long sniff.
“How rude!” Rarity growled, “I’m not a pony that is ever to be smelt!”
Giving her a determined look, the dragon then extended his tongue, and licked her head to toe.
Rarity could only gasp in disgust.
“Hey!” Spike shouted at the dragon, making it turn to him, “I’m the only dragon that’s allowed to lick her!”
“Spike, would you kindly rephrase that sentence?” Rarity asked quickly, “I don’t wish for those to be the final words I hear.”
“Final words?!” Spike shouted, having not thoroughly considered the possibility of Rarity being eaten.
“Just use your magic, Twilight…” Fluttershy said hopefully.
“If only we had our Elements…” Twilight sighed, watching Rarity be tasted by this monster repeatedly, “They’re the only kind of magic that could work against this chaos…”
Fluttershy gasped, Twilight HAD no powers! That meant that because she had her Element of Harmony on her, she might be able to beat the dragon, if she brought out its true power, with kindness! But, she had to act quickly, because Rarity could be eaten at any moment.
Throwing caution to the wind, Fluttershy ran into the room, and shouted as loud as she could muster, “Um, excuse me.”
“Fluttershy!” They all called from the cage.
“You’re okay!” Pinkie smiled, “We thought we lost you!”
“And you have your Element of Harmony!” Twilight said excitedly, “Quickly! You need to use it!”
By now, the dragon was turned and facing her, giving her an expectant look, expecting her to do something.
Gulping, Fluttershy knew to rely on her ability to talk with animals, and she hoped that would be enough to free her friends.
“I don’t think you should be doing this, um, Mister Dragon,” She said politely, “I’m sure you’re very hungry, but if you let my friends go, I’d be happy to give you something to eat back at my cottage!”
It frowned to her.
“There are plenty of critters, and animals for you to make friends with, and maybe you could even meet some ponies, and make friends with them too!” She explained, confident that he was going with it, “So, what do you say?”
He looked at Fluttershy was an eyebrow raised, then looked to Rarity, and then back to Fluttershy.
Then, with a strong gust of air, he blew Fluttershy out of the room, sending her and angel tumbling backward.
“He doesn’t want to make new friends?!” She asked in shock, not understanding why he would decline her offer like that.
“My goodness!” She heard Rarity shout, “Would you at LEAST clean those teeth before devouring me? I don’t want to be mixed up with your lunch!”
Gasping, Fluttershy ran back into the room, and (actually) shouted, “Mister Dragon!”
Sighing, the dragon rolled his eyes, and turned back to the tiny yellow Pegasus.
“Rarity has family, and friends that would miss her very much if you ate her!” Fluttershy pleaded, “You need to let her go, and start eating things that won’t make anypony sad!”
He growled, and bared his teeth to her, as she felt like her heart was about to give out.
“P-please!” She said, tears welling in her eyes.
However, he ignored her.
Lifting Rarity up over his head, the dragon opened his mouth, and hung the pony by her leg, upside down, her arms dangling just above his teeth.
“P-please!” Rarity stammered, finally registering the danger, “I have gems! I can give you some right now! Spike!”
The dragon ignored her, as it lowered her painfully slowly.
Fluttershy had no choice. She had to grab Rarity, and then she had to put this dragon in his place.
Taking off from the ground at a speed that would make Rainbow Dash proud, Fluttershy flew into Rarity, and grabbed her out of the dragon’s hand, and flew her across the room, to safety.
“Yeah, Fluttershy!” Spike cheered.
Roaring once again, the dragon held the high volume growl for a huge amount of time, using it to stun the pony that had just stolen his dinner.
“ENOUGH!” Fluttershy shouted over the roar, silencing the dragon instantly.
Flying over to him, she bared her own teeth to it, as she felt the searing anger course though her.
“WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?” She shouted, as the dragon leaned back, “YOU CANNOT GO AROUND EATING WHATEVER YOU PLEASE!”
The dragon took a step back, clearly intimidated by her.
She hovered in place, breathing in an extremely scary manner.
“I- I thought you were supposed to be nice…” The dragon whispered, biting his finger.
“SOMETIMES BEING NICE DOESN’T GET THE JOB DONE!” She yelled, “GET OUT! GET OUT! GET OUT! I DON’T WANT TO EVER SEE YOU HERE AGAIN!”
Sniffling, the dragon burst into tears, as it charged out of the room, crying loudly as it went.
“That was a little harsh for you, Fluttershy…” Rarity said.
“EXCUSE ME!?” Fluttershy shouted, turning her rage toward her friend, “I JUST SAVED YOU!”
“Fluttershy!” Twilight called from the cage, “Calm down!”
“I- I!” She stammered, looking around the room, “I just… I had to get him away…! And I lost control of myself.”
Suddenly, a loud cracking was heard from Fluttershy’s Element of Harmony, as it cracked diagonally from one wing to the other.
“Oh no!” Fluttershy gasped, as the pink color was diluted with darkness, until it was entirely black, “What’s happening?!”
“Bravo, dear,” Discord laughed, having no form in the room with them, “I think you’ve learned a very valuable lesson, haven’t you?”
“I- I shouldn’t have gotten angry…” She said, looking like her heart had just been ripped out.
“No!” Discord shouted angrily, as the entire room shook in response, “Getting angry is good! After all, it broke your Element, didn’t it?”
Seizing up, Fluttershy dropped to the floor, and broke into a fit of tears.
“Well… This is just about the most heartbreaking thing I’ve ever seen…” Discord mumbled, “But we need to move on!”
Suddenly, everypony disappeared from the room, and the cavern faded, back into the whiteness Fluttershy had been in earlier.
“Now, you just stay here,” Discord said, patting her awkwardly on the back, “I have some more ponies to teach!”
With that, he danced away from her, and lifted his hand in the air, triggering his disappearing spell.
Beyond that, there was nothing but silence, and the tears of a heartbroken pony.
“I’m so sorry…”
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Alex and Dash shopped through the only two dress stores in town, as they tried to find something that would go well with her ‘look,’ as all the flamboyant men had said.
“How about this one?” Dash asked, walking out of the dressing room, wearing a VERY frilly pink dress.
“That looks horrible,” Alex and the clerk said together.
“Ugh,” She groaned, walking right back into the room.
Alex’s head rolled back in the chair, as he groaned loudly.
How many TV shows had he seen, where the girl would try a bunch of different clothing on in a montage? She would come out in one thing, he would shake his head, she would instantly be out in something else, he would give it a thumbs down, until the song reached the end, and he would nod, they would laugh, and move on. It was supposed to take two minutes! Tops! But, here he was an hour and a half later.
“What else do you have?” Alex asked, looking to the fashionable man.
“We have plenty here,” He said, scratching his head, “What do you think it should look like?”
“Does it look like I have a bunch of diamonds for a Cutie Mark?” Alex groaned, confusing the man, “Okay, how about this… Something that’s soft, and shimmers!”
“I’ll take a look,” He said, walking away from him, and entering the back room.
“What about this one?” Dash asked, walking out of the room in a very clean and shiny dress.
“Ugh, no,” Alex said, shaking his head rapidly, “I’d pick somepony over you in that dress.”
“SomeONE,” Dash corrected.
“Hey, how about this one?” The clerk asked, walking back to them, holding a long, silver dress.
“I’ll give it a try,” She said, grabbing it and walking back into the changing room.
“This dress is very nice, but quite expensive,” The man said, “I’m afraid it might not be within your budget.”
“Money’s no issue,” Alex said, shaking his head, “I got some inheritance recently.”
“Well then,” He said, “Here’s hoping it looks good.”
“I like this one!” Dash said from the room.
“It amazes me how quickly she changes,” The clerk said in disbelief.
Stepping out, Dash showed them the dress that she would be wearing tonight.
“Damn,” Alex said, completely dazzled by the way it worked for her.
Whatever the fabric was, was REALLY reflective, and with her long, multi-colored hair, it made the dress itself look like it was rainbow, but then faded into silver.
The dress itself was strapless, and hugged her tightly; showing off her adequate bosom, and slender thighs, but still had plenty of room to move in the legs.
“You look amazing,” Alex said breathlessly, as she lit up at the complement, “Seriously… You’re going to be the best looking girl there.”
“Thanks,” She said, blushing and looking away.
“Well, I figure you’ll take it?” The clerk asked from behind them.
“Oh yes,” Alex said, “How much is it, again?”
He leaned over and whispered in Alex’s ear.
“Ugh…” Alex frowned, all the color draining from his face, “That’s one expensive dress.”
“Will you still be taking it?” He asked.
“Yeah, of course.” Alex nodded.
Dash watched the two walk over to the register, as they worked out the payment, before turning to the mirror, and admiring herself.
She honestly had no idea of what was supposed to be attractive in this world. Everyone looked like… Weird aliens. She hadn’t really spoken up about it, but had undoubtedly been feeling it.
However, right now, she knew she looked fantastic. She knew that she was sexy. And she was going to go to that dance, and make every guy wish they were Alex.
She was so nice sometimes!
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