A Twist of Fate

by Slireon

Chapter 4: I See Fire

“Of the many constituent kingdoms of the Equestrian Empire, the Nordic Herd has one of the most complex and formidable histories of them all. The Nordic Herd consists of three countries: Danmanke, Selerige and Norhest, with their respective capitals being Hoppenhagen, Sbockholm and Hovslo. The three kingdoms were once bitter rivals, but they have been united under a single crown since the year 1397.

“Located in the northwestern shores of Equestria, near the Frozen North—”

Yep, already know that, Twilight thought as she skimmed over the next few lines.

Today was her first foray into History since the Night King incident two weeks ago. Two days ago, King Eóward II of Trottingham had died after a short illness, leaving the throne to his only heir, a young mare barely out of fillyhood. Recalling what Elusive had told her about politics when she met him, she decided to investigate what she could about recent history so she wouldn't be out of the loop.

Regarding the history of Trottingham, however, she had absolutely failed, her curiosity being instead drawn towards the peculiar northern warriors that had made such an indelible mark on the island's history. Of course, she already knew far more than most ponies did about them, but their customs were what she found most fascinating.

Of course, while she wasn’t actively looking for any prophecies regarding impending doom, nor did she expect to find one, she kept her eyes open as she read her book about the customs of the Nordic Herd. Better safe than sorry. Stranger things have happened.

“(...) for generations, the kingdoms and clans of the Nordic Herd raided down the shores of Trottingham, Scoltland and Prance (...)” Already know that…

“(...) forced vassalization at the hoof of the Princess Sovereign Celestia of Equestria, in the year 1066 (...)” Yep, that too…

A-ha! she thought triumphantly as she found what she was looking for:

“However, the Old Ways still hold strong up in the north, and they are reflected in their naming conventions, cuisine, and customs.

“Most peculiarly, their culture has a deep ingrained hatred against dragons, whom they believe to be former ponies punished for their greed. Given how, due to the historical hardships the Nordics have faced, their culture greatly despises greed in any form, it is only natural they would see the dragons and their hoards with enormous antipathy.

“Indeed, it was, and still is, a commonplace belief that killing a dragon is the bravest, most noble deed a pony can do, and many have journeyed across Equestria aspiring to do so. In fact, the current ruling dynasty claims descent from Sigurvörður the Dragonslayer, the land’s most famous folk hero.”

Twilight frowned with disgust. Note to self: never, EVER, let Spike travel to the Nordic Herd.

She turned her gaze to the small basket where her baby dragon… wasn’t.

Twilight blinked, then looked around.

She had been so engrossed in her reading that she hadn’t noticed the pile of books that was slowly but surely growing into a fort on her bed. She also hadn’t noticed Spike had gotten up from his bed at one point. She frowned.

How did I miss him? Did I seriously stay up all night? She looked towards her window. The sky was pitch black. Perhaps he just woke up for a late snack? On cue, her stomach rumbled. Seems like I could use one too, she thought with a giggle. Reluctantly marking the page she had been reading, the purple unicorn stood up from her bed, stretching her sore limbs after a fitful night of reading.

“Spike?” she called out with a tired smile as she walked down the stairs. “Are you down in the kitchen?”

Only silence answered.

Twilight frowned, the smile leaving her face. Something’s off.

While the library looked perfectly normal, not a single book shelved in a wrongful manner, Spike was nowhere to be seen, neither on the ground floor or in the bedroom.

“Spike?” she called again, but her call once again went unanswered.

Instinctively, she looked up at the clock posted in the far wall.

A quarter past ten in the morning.

Twilight then realised three things:

First, she had stayed up reading all night.

Second, Spike had not been kidnapped, as she was starting to fear; he’d most likely just gone for a snack at Sugarcube Corner or something like that.

And third: if it was ten in the morning… How come the sky was pitch black?

Many thoughts, theories and guesses came to her mind, her body unconsciously starting to pace around the library’s main chamber. Did the Princess fall asleep? No, she now has Prince Artemis to help her with the celestial duties; if Celestia was sleeping, Artemis would have woken her up.

… Maybe he turned into the Night King once again? she thought with dread… albeit far less dread that she had once felt at the thought. She had her friends. She knew how to defeat him again if need came to be. They had the Elements as well. She discarded the idea as her body relaxed. Nah. Besides, he said it himself: everlasting night is a terrible, counterproductive idea. He might have lied about everything else, but at least that much is true...

And she didn’t remember the Night King’s night smelling like smoke, the odour slipping through the windows’ and doors’ frame.

With a sigh, realising that she wouldn’t be able to continue her reading until after... whatever was happening had been sorted out, Twilight opened the door and walked out into Ponyville.

The hamlet was deserted.

No ponies walked down the streets and no fillies played in the parks. The usually moderately bustling town looked more like a ghost town.

What is going on? Twilight thought as dread built on the bottom of her stomach. The last two weeks had easily been the best of her life, so the idea of her new home being threatened did not appeal to her in the slightest.

Keep it together, Sparkle. First things first: finding Spike. Then, round up the guys and investigate what is happening.

But where would Spike be? Following her previous hunch, she headed out towards Sugarcube Corner.

Fortunately for her, the pastry bakery was a few measly blocks from the library, so the walk was rather straightforward.

And yet the town was eerily silent, devoid of any kind of life.

Am I in some sort of nightmare? she ventured. Did I read so much I went insane?

… Naaaah, books wouldn’t ever do me harm!

“Pssst!”

Twilight’s head perked up at the sound.

“Hello?” she called out to the empty streets.

“Pssst! Twilight!”

That sounded a lot like Elu—

A pink blur suddenly shot out from nowhere and grabbed her, then dragged her into the darkness indoors.

“WOAH! HEY!” Twilight yelled, startled, as her horn instinctively started charging a defensive spell. “Get away fro—!”

“Sorry! But you were in danger!”

“... Phil?” The pink pony’s blue eyes were wide. Twilight’s spell fizzled out. “Danger? What kind of danger?”

“Extreme danger! That’s the worst kind of danger!”

Silly me, thinking I could get a straight answer out of Phil Pie. How could I be so naïve. Twilight rolled her eyes internally. As her eyes slowly grew accustomed to the darkness, she could pick out the silhouettes of at least four other ponies… no, four other stallions. There were also three smaller ponies and what seemed to be an overgrown lizard.

“Guys? Are you in here, too?” She paused, then frowned. “And where exactly is ‘here’?”

“Yes, we’re all here, my dear,” came the voice of Elusive.

“Phil rounded us all up and brought us to Sugarcube Corner,” Applejack’s country drawl explained. “Apple Bloom and her friends are here, too. Dunno what’s Spike doin’ here, though.”

“Hungry,” Spike shrugged nonchalantly as he ate a cupcake, not even fazed at the darkness outside.

Oh. Twilight winced as she realised she had just confused Spike, her dragon little sorta-brother, whom she had literally hatched herself, with an overgrown lizard. She had never even seen an overgrown lizard!

“What is going on?”

“You mean you don’t know?” Butterscotch’s deep baritone interjected.

“Don’t know… what?”

“The sky is completely black!” That was Phil. “It’s darker than my ex’s heart!”

Twilight blinked. Slowly, her eyes were getting better at making out the outlines of the ponies in the dark. “I noticed, but what does that have to do with you guys hiding? And seriously, if it’s pitch dark outside, why don’t you just turn on the lights?”

“Because we’re hiding.” She could hear Rainbow Blitz’s eyeroll.

“We can’t turn on the lights, or...” Butterscotch trailed off with a gulp.

Twilight frowned. “I see.” She didn’t. “And we’re hiding because…?”

“She’s coming!” Phil exclaimed fearfully.

He can actually feel fear? Interesting… Twilight observed, her scientific curiosity peaking. But, as much as it pained her to say, this wasn’t the time for science. If Phil Pie could, and did feel fear, then it was bad.

“... Who is coming?”

“Her!” Phil screamed in panic, pointing with his hoof towards the streets.

There was absolutely nothing there.

“... She’s running late, that’s all,” he nonchalantly added with a shrug.

“And what does that have to do with the black sky?”

“It’s an omen,” Rainbow Blitz said.

There was a moment of silence.

Twilight sighed. “Okay, could somepony please actually explain what’s happe—”

*BURP!*

“—ning? Great. And not a moment too late,” she muttered as she grabbed the scroll with her magic, and casted a weak flashlight spell so she could read it without, ahem, ‘blowing their cover’. She rolled her eyes internally.

---

My dearest and most faithful student:

As you may have probably noticed, Ponyville is currently under a heavy cloud of smoke.

Do not panic. It is not the end of the world. The reason of this is simple: a full-grown dragon has nestled in a cave at the peak of a nearby mountain, and should be soon starting a nap. His snoring is generating this heavy cloud of smoke.

It must be remarked that a full-grown dragon’s average nap lasts about a hundred years.

You must go up there and persuade him to move his nap to somewhere else, away from civilization, where he can snore up to his heart’s content without damaging anypony.

I trust wholeheartedly that you and your friends can pull this delicate mission off together.

I’d advise you, however, to ensure Butterscotch goes with you. I know he probably will not want to go, and I understand that you might want to respect his desire, but he’ll prove to be of a most vital importance, both if things go smoothly… Or not.

With love,

Princess Celestia.

P.S. On the contrary, I wouldn’t advise you to bring Spike along for the ride. Dragons are famously hostile to their own kind, and this dragon, if our scouts’ reports are to be believed, is known to be a particularly vicious one. Keep Spike safe. Maybe leave him hanging out with your friends’ little sisters, if he’s getting bored at the library.

---

Twilight looked towards Rainbow Blitz, her eyes having gotten sufficiently used to the dark to be able to discern his face.

“An omen, huh? It’s just a dragon napping nearby.”

“Explain to me how that’s supposed to make me feel better.”

“Well, for starters, dragons are real, so they can be dealt with, unlike ‘omens’, which are mere baseless superstitions.”

“You’re a baseless superstition…” Blitz muttered under his breath, but loud enough for her to listen. Twilight was not amused, but decided to ignore him.

“Second, dragons have been a subject of study for centuries, so there is plenty of information on how to deal with them. And third, we’ve got each other!”

“We’ll burn together. Sounds lovely,” Elusive snarked.

“Come on, guys, don’t be like that. We defeated the Night King! We saved all of Equestria! Compared to that, a dragon should be a piece of cake!” Twilight tried to motivate them.

“Oooh! Are you saying we can eat the dragon? That sounds delicious!” Phil exclaimed happily, bouncing in place. “I’ve always wondered how a dragon must taste!” He then paused mid-bounce, blinked once, crossed his hooves and put on a very serious face as he considered it, his body slowly drifting to the ground. “Hmmm… Probably toasty. Or spicy. Or…”

Spike shot him a wary gaze while he droned on, almost as if in a trance.

“Nnnnnno, we are definitely not eating the dragon,” said Twilight, snapping Phil out of his trance. He actually deflated a bit. Spike shuddered. “We just have to get him to leave to a different cave, instead of, y’know, actually fighting him.”

There was a moment of silence as the stallions seemed to consider her words, looking at each other.

Then, Applejack spoke up.

“Eeyup, sounds doable. Count me in.”

“Me too!” Phil bounced in place.

“If you’re so certain we’ll be fine, then I trust you,” Elusive stated.

“Yeah!” Blitz shot to the air, hovering above the heads of the other ponies (and dragon). “I can imagine it already: ‘Rainbow Blitz, the Dragonslayer’!”

Twilight rolled her eyes. “We’re not going to kill him, Blitz.”

“Stop being a killjoy and let me savour the moment, ‘kay?”

Butterscotch, however, wasn’t eager to jump into the adventure wagon. “Uh, well, that sounds lovely, but I think somepony has to stay to look after the fillies and—”

Twilight winced. She had expected this, but it didn’t make it any easier. “Sorry Butterscotch, but the Princess was very explicit. You have to come with us.”

“Eep!” the butter pegasus squeaked with his deep, rumbling voice, curling up in a futile attempt to make himself as small as he physically could.

“Pretty please?”

“I… I don’t know Twilight. I’m… well… I’m…” he trailed off, muttering so softly Twilight couldn’t distinguish his words.

With a tiny, comforting smile, Twilight moved her head closer to Butterscotch’s. “I’m sorry. You’re what?”

“I said I’m…” Once again, so soft that nopony (nor dragon) understood him.

“Speak up, Butters. We ain’t judgin’ ya,” Applejack said in a comforting tone, he too approaching the pegasus.

“I’m… I’m scared of dragons!” he finally said out loud, an ashamed look on his face.

The group gasped in shock.

“You’re what?!” exclaimed Blitz. “But… But that’s so—”

Applejack silenced him with a death glare, a glare so deadly that, it looks could kill, it would’ve killed Death Itself. It also seemed to communicate ‘We. Ain’t. Judging.’ with the force of ten billion bucks of Big Mac packed together into one punch. Blitz went so still he fell to the ground.

“But you calmed that horrible, terrifying, ginormous, utterly-enraged, tail-stealing, ponycidal manticore with a few words!” Phil exclaimed.

“Yes. But you know what she wasn’t? A dragon,” pointed out Butterscotch.

“I’m a dragon,” interjected Spike, tentatively. “You’re not scared of me, right?”

“Of course not, but you’re just a baby dragon. You’re a far cry from a huge, gigantic, terrifying, enormous, teeth-gnashing, sharp-scale-having, horn-wearing, smoke-snoring, fire-breathing, blood-lusting, viscerae-eating, could-swallow-a-pony-in-a-single-bite, could-raze-a-city-with-little-more-than-a-thought, totally all-grown up real dragon!”

Spike blinked.

“... I feel so insulted right now.”

Twilight ignored him in favour of the butter pegasus.

“Butterscotch, I don’t want to force you to come. Trust me: if I could, I would happily let you stay here while we take care of this. But the Princess’s orders were explicit. You have to come with us. She specifically asked for you.”

“But... but why would she do such a thing?” Butterscotch asked softly.

“To be honest, I don’t have the slightest idea,” Twilight admitted with a frown.

“‘Cause his special talent is communicatin’ with animals?” Apple Bloom asked, startling Twilight. For a moment, she had all but forgotten that the little fillies were there with them, too; so uncharacteristically quiet had they been this whole time. “He could talk to the dragon to get him to leave!”

“That… kinda makes sense…” Butterscotch fumbled.

“Come on, Butters!”

“I… I don’t know…”

Twilight racked her brain for something to say to get him to come with them. Anything that might help. The Princess had been very clear, and she wasn’t going to fail her!

Then, her eyes lightened up. Of course! How could I ever forget? If Shiny couldn’t do anything against it, neither should Butterscotch, right?

“Do it for me?” Twilight said in a cute voice, with the most adorable face she could physically muster. While it was in no way even remotely as adorable as any of the Cutie Mark Crusaders (to be fair, those three were on an entirely different level whatsoever, what with being eldritch abominations made out of pure, undiluted cuteness), it was still pretty darn cute. And she knew he could see it.

Butterscotch visibly trembled, as he struggled to work the courage to say ‘no’ to Twilight’s incredibly persuasive cuteness.

He failed. In the end, he stiffened as he choked out his response.

“... Okay,” he gave up with a sigh.

Twilight’s reaction of happiness was almost as cute as her pleading face; some of the stallions actually had to look away from her to avoid a diabetes overdose.

“So… Ah reckon we should get movin’,” Applejack, blatantly averting his gaze, broke the ensuing silence awkwardly.

“Yes, we’re burning daylight,” Elusive agreed. “Or… whatever that is,” he added, pointing at the black sky through the window. “Rainbow Blitz and me are going to round up whatever supplies we might need. Any suggestions?”

“‘Suggestions’? Don’t be silly, Elusive, I’ve got it all written down in this checklist,” Twilight answered with a smug smile as she popped a checklist into existence with her magic.

The white unicorn frowned. “I hope you don’t mind my asking, my dear, but why?”

“I’ve got checklists ready for every eventuality! It never hurts to be prepared!” Twilight said proudly with a wide grin.

Even though she couldn’t see everypony’s faces in the darkness, she could feel the glare of all five stallions, three fillies, and even Spike, who had been the scribe of said checklists.

After a moment of awkward silence, Twilight spoke. “So… can we turn on the lights, or what?”

Phil looked out of the window, then to his bare wrist, then out the window again.

“Yeah, sure, she’s not coming,” he shrugged, then bounced to the light’s panel. “Let there be light!” and there was light.

Perhaps a bit too much light, Twilight thought as she was momentarily blinded by its flash. She blinked repeatedly, trying to get her eyes accustomed, before rubbing her eyes with her forehoof.

“Much better,” Elusive said. “Let’s go, Blitz.” He levitated the checklist with his magic. “We are going to need… Uhh… twelve Potions of Vigorous Healing... six Philters of Resist Fire… oh, and eighteen Burn Heal.” His face fell with a sigh. “Something tells me this is going to be awful.”

“Don’t worry, I know just the place where we can get that stuff!” Blitz said, shooting to the sky.

“Alright, guys”, said Twilight with confidence. “You two” – she pointed towards Elusive and Rainbow Blitz – “go and get the stuff in that list.”

“Consider it done,” answered the unicorn with a firm nod of his head, before turning and trotting out the door, Blitz hovering by his side. Twilight could still hear the unicorn’s voice as he asked his companion, “why do you know where to find those potions, anyway?”

Turning her attention back to her three remaining friends, she said, “the rest of you, go gather your own supplies. We’ll meet at the Library in an hour from now.”

“Aye aye, cap’n!”

“Will do, missy!”

“Uhm… okay…”

The three stallions left out the door; Phil bouncing, Applejack trotting, and Butterscotch moving slowly and with fear. That just left Twilight, Spike and the Cutie Mark Crusaders alone in Sugarcube Corner. Twilight closed the door.

Spike tilted his head at the purple unicorn. “Wait, the potions are just in multiples of six? What about me?”

“You’re a dragon. Fire can’t hurt you; at least, not nearly enough for you to need any kind of potions,” she said smiling.

“Fair enough,” Spike nodded.

Twilight’s smile then fell. “Besides, you’re not coming.”

Spike stared at her with a look of incomprehension. “Why not?”

“The Princess said it herself, grown dragons are very hostile to other dragons.” As a matter of fact, there were no known records about dragons dying of old age, which was concerning, to say the least. “I want you to be safe, so you’re not going. Why don’t you hang out with the girls?”

Spike turned to look at the Cutie Mark Crusaders, who smiled and waved at him cheerfully.

“I think I’d rather take my chances with the dragon,” he deadpanned.

Twilight chuckled. “Sorry Spike, but my word is final. You’re not coming with us.”

Spike’s head and shoulders dropped slightly, before he said, “Alright, Twilight. I’ll stay here.”

Twilight felt for him, she really did. She would’ve liked to have him, her best and oldest friend (besides her BBBFF, of course), her faithful dragon sorta-brother along for the ride… but this was definitely for the best. It was a dangerous quest, after all, with an even more dangerous foe awaiting for them at the end. If she could prevent him from getting hurt, she’d take the chance.

Besides, the Princess herself did explicitly ask for him to stay back, so there is nothing I can really do. Even if I wanted.

The Crusaders seemed to have felt Spike’s disillusionment as well, as they stepped forward, trying to cheer him up. “Cheer up, Spike,” Apple Bloom helpfully pointed her intentions out. “We’re gonna have so much fun together! Right, Crusaders?”

“Yeah!” the other two yelled cheerfully.

Twilight and Spike noisily gulped at the same time, as she felt the oddest of sinking feelings in her gut. Maybe Spike would be better off facing the dragon…

But before any further action could be taken, a knock at the door brought them back to Equestria. When Twilight went to answer, Phil was standing there with a sheepish look on his face.

“Uh… Twilight?”

“Yes, Phil?”

“This is my house.”

---

“Butters?”

“Yes?” His voice was muffled.

Elusive frowned, “Are you sure you’re going to need a full suit of armour?”

“Yes.”

“... Why?”

“For the dragon.”

Rainbow Blitz joined in. “Are you sure? I mean, it’s going to slow you down.”

“No, it’ll keep me safe and sound.”

“Where did ya even get this thing?” Applejack asked, amazement in his voice.

“Oh, it’s an old family heirloom. My dad gave it to me when I moved out.”

Blitz blinked. “Butters?”

“Yes?”

“What the fuck is wrong with your family?”

The library door opened and Twilight walked out, her eyes looking at a piece of paper held in her magical grip. “All right, guys. I’ve mapped the route we’re to take and I’ve got both good news and bad...” She caught sight of the bundle of steel in front of her. “What’s with the armour?”

“It’s a family heirloom,” Elusive stated evenly. “His father gave it to him.”

“... Why?”

“Your guess is as good as ours,” the white unicorn said, shrugging.

Twilight blinked, then gave a little shake of her head. “Doesn’t matter. If anything, he’s one step ahead of us!” The group stared at her, confused. Twilight cleared her throat. “As I was saying, I’ve got good news and bad news. The good news is, if we keep a steady pace, we should be reaching the mountain top by nightfall.”

“And the bad news…?” Applejack tentatively asked.

“The bad news is that we’ll have to cross the Everfree Forest to get there.”

“Oh! I’ve got a better idea! How about we don’t do that?” Phil said, absent-mindedly caressing his puffy tail.

“The alternative is walking around the forest, but that would take over two full days,” Twilight said. She sighed. “It’s out of the question. We don’t have time to spare. Every second we waste, the dragon falls into deeper and deeper slumber. If we take too long, we could be too late.”

“Too late for what, exactly?” Elusive asked.

“To wake him up without being roasted to death by a pissed off dragon,” Twilight groaned. “I already told you this!”

“Well… I mean, you said some words, yeah…” Rainbow Blitz shrugged.

Twilight shot a smoldering glare at him. But before she could shoot a magic bolt at Blitz, or, Celestia forbid, lecture him, Spike walked up to her, fear clear in his eyes.

“Are you sure I can’t come with you guys?”

“C’mon Spike! We’ll have fun!” Scootaloo called from a few yards away.

“Oh! D’ya think dragons can get cutie marks?” Apple Bloom asked her two friends. Scootaloo seemed to think about it, scratching her head. Sweetie Belle just grinned widely.

“Only one way to find out!”

The three of them suddenly threw their forehooves up and yelled, at the top of their shrill lungs, “CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS DRAGON TRAINERS, YAY!!”

Spike gulped. Hard.

Twilight smiled at him. “Trust me, it won’t be that bad.”

“How are you so sure?!”

The unicorn opened her mouth to answer, but no words came out. She closed her mouth and scrunched her face as she thought, a hoof in her chin.

“... Actually, I’m not. Good luck!” she said cheerfully as she turned around, leaving him to face his certain doom. “Safety first, guys! We’ll have to stop by the armory to get some equipment!”

Et tu, Crepuscula? Spike thought ruefully as Twilight and the rest of the gang cantered down the road towards their quest.

The three little demons fillies surrounded him.

“So, Spike!” asked Scootaloo, grinning widely like a crazed madmare. “What do you want to do to earn your cutie mark?”

Spike faceclawed.

“I’m going to stop you right there. No. Dragons can not get cutie marks.”

The Crusaders looked at each other as if he’d just said something completely incomprehensible for their young minds. And to be fair, it probably was. Apple Bloom asked, “Are ya sure about that?”

“Yes,” he deadpanned. “Pretty sure.”

“What if you can get a cutie mark, but you just don’t know it and that’s why you think you can’t get one?” offered Scootaloo with a smirk. Her friends nodded, smirking as well.

Spike sighed deeply. Well, shit. Can’t argue against that.

“Great!” Scootaloo exclaimed, her little wings fluttering quickly enough to get her off the ground for a couple of seconds.

Sweetie Belle’s smile was the first to disappear. “Wait, how do we even begin to get him his cutie mark?”

After a moment of thinking with her hoof on her chin, Apple Bloom said, “Well, Ah think we just gotta do our own thang and have him tag alon’.” She looked to Spike. “Any ideas?”

The baby dragon rolled his eyes. “Surprise me,” he snarked.

“Scootaloo?”

“I’ve got nothing,” Scootaloo shrugged.

“Sweetie Belle?”

Only silence answered.

Apple Bloom turned to Sweetie Belle. “Sweetie Belle?” she asked again, concern in her voice.

“Uhh… who’s that?” the unicorn asked in a trembling voice, pointing with her hoof towards something down the road. The group turned to gaze at whatever she was pointing at.

A single, cowled stranger stood in the middle of town, digging at the ground.

---

Six ponies marched along the open road, the clanking of steel and the occasional chatter accompanying them.

Every stallion had put on some armour and had some sort of weapon, all but Butterscotch’s being taken out from Ponyville’s Armoury.

Applejack had replaced his old trusty work collar for a basic ugly iron peytral. Rainbow Blitz had a hauberk, light enough to allow him to keep his agility and speed in the air. Elusive had ensured to make the best out of the ordinary and mismatched pieces he had collected, donning a fashionable white surcoat with his own cutie marks emblazoned, while Phil had just gone full out chain mail, a tattered white surcoat with Celestia’s sun on it, and a great helm with a red feather on top.

Twilight, for her part, had no armour to speak of, but she was confident the defensive spells that Shining had taught her would be enough to keep her safe. After all, she had magic, and that was all the armour she needed. Instead, she carried their supplies in her saddlebags.

Truly, what set Butterscotch’s armour aside was the complexity of the patterns, runes and knots enamelled in the fine gleaming steel, and that it covered him completely, wings, mane and tail included, leaving no single hint of the stallion beneath it. Not even the Night King had worn that much armour, and he had been a veritable tank of steel.

Perhaps that explained why he trailed behind so often, finding insurmountable obstacles that to the rest amounted to a walk in the park.

“So…” Rainbow said, hovering in the air. “How long until we get there?”

“We haven’t even begun climbin’ the mountain,” Applejack rolled his eyes. “What do ya think?”

“We’re still a few ways from the portion of the Everfree Forest we have to cross,” Twilight said, shooting a pointed glare at Applejack for his snideness.

“Y’know, I could zoom ahead. Scout a little bit,” Blitz proposed, an anxious twitch in his wings.

“Is that just an excuse to ditch us and go for a nap?” Elusive snarked.

Rainbow Blitz frowned, offended. “Uh, excuse me?” He pointed to himself. “Element of Loyalty? I’m not leaving my friends behind.”

“Touching.” Elusive’s words tone was sarcastic, but the feeling underneath them was genuine and heartfelt. Blitz rolled his eyes, an amused smile in his face nonetheless.

Twilight considered it for a moment.

“Sure, go ahead. Better to know what we’re up against.”

Before Rainbow could shot towards the skies, Applejack interjected in a confused tone, “Ah thought we were just goin’ to face a dragon.”

“Well, yes, but the dragon is at the peak of the mountain, and there’s a good stretch of the route by the Everfree Forest. There are a lot of things standing between us and him. It would be better to know beforehand what kind of obstacles we might find.”

“Ya sure?”

Twilight activated what Spike called her ‘teacher mode’. “Let’s put it this way: the road is hounded by seven angry bandits—”

“It is?” Butterscotch asked terrified, his armour ringing at his trembling.

“Not that we know of…” she said. “But that’s exactly why we’re sending Blitz scouting ahead. If there were, wouldn’t it be better for us to be prepared instead of being ambushed?”

“Fair enough. Go along, partner,” Applejack nodded at the cyan pegasus. He saluted and immediately shot towards the skies.

Elusive turned towards Phil.

“Do you still have your deck of cards?”

The pink stallion nodded happily.

---

“I’m back!”

“Right on time, too!” Elusive said, standing up and dropping his cards in the floor. “I was losing. Again,” he grumbled.

“Card games really aren’t your thing, huh?” Phil chuckled, towers and towers of chips organised into something resembling an awful lot the Manehattan skyline by his hooves.

“And?” Twilight prodded the colourful pegasus, ignoring the banter of her friends.

“Well, good news, everypony! As far as I could see, there’s no bandits in our way to Archdragon Peak!”

Twilight frowned. “‘Archdragon Peak’?”

“I took the liberty of naming the mountain,” Blitz shrugged. Twilight facehoofed.

“Sounds somewhat dramatic, doesn’t it?” Elusive asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Maybe, but it also sounds awesome. Just think about it: ‘we’re on an epic quest to reach Archdragon Peak and vanquish the mighty dragon for the safety of all Ponykind’!”

“Well…” Elusive said, scratching his head, “when you put it that way, it does sound good.” Phil nodded his head in agreement as he put the deck of cards and the chips into the pocket dimension housed in his mane.

“An’ what about the part of the Everfree Forest?” Applejack interrupted.

“It’s a forest.”

There was a beat.

“... Yes, we know,” Applejack deadpanned flatly.

Rainbow Blitz rolled his eyes. “No, what I mean is that the foliage is too dense to actually see what’s in there. We’ll have to go in blind, but after that, it’s a walk in the park!”

“Are you sure?” Twilight asked.

“Hey, if anything happens, we’re armed for a reason, aren’t we? We’ll be fine,” the cyan pegasus shrugged. “Besides, if we get attacked by a monster, Butterscotch can deal with them.”

The soft ringing of metal pieces shivering was the only answer he got.

Blitz looked at the ironclad pegasus with annoyance. “Butters, don’t be such a baby. You turned a ponycidal manticore into a big kitty! You’ve got this in the bag.”

Twilight frowned apprehensively. She was a student. A scholar. An intellectual. Whenever she faced any obstacle, she studied it, analyzed its strengths and weaknesses, and tried to come up with the best possible way to deal with it. That was how she did things. That was her philosophy of life. Going ‘blind’ and unprepared went against her scholarly principles, against her very being.

“He’s got a point right there, missy,” Applejack said, noting her uneasiness.

“It’s just that…”

“Whatever we face, we can deal with,” Phil interrupted her. “Besides, we’ve got each other! Didn’t you say that yourself?”

“Well… yes…” Twilight admitted.

“All we need is some good ol’ jolly cooperation, and we’ll be done in no time!” the pink stallion grinned widely. Not that they could see it, though, what with the great helm covering his entire face.

The Magic of Friendship had overcome the Night King. It should surely overcome whatever nasty beast the Everfree Forest could throw at them… right? Twilight smiled tentatively, then turned back on the airborne pegasus.

“What about the road itself?”

“Boring as bricks. Green hills, then some fun, then climbing Archdragon Peak. Easy.”

“Well, then there’s no time to lose!”

---

'Fun', as it turned out, was anything but.

As they left the last vestiges of civilization behind, a small wooden inn called The Bannered Mare, and entered the wilderness of the Everfree Forest, Rainbow Blitz could barely keep himself flying straight out of anticipation.

Last time they had ventured into the forest, they had fought a manticore. What would they encounter this time? His imagination ran wild.

Three hours into the forest, the answer was still “nothing”.

It was so, so boring, that even Butterscotch had stopped trembling in fear. The light blue pegasus bravely fought the urge to groan in disappointed exasperation.

He failed.

“UUUUGH!” he groaned in disappointed exasperation. “Seriously, what the fuck?!”

“‘What the fuck’ what?” Elusive asked disinterestedly, his attention instead in a patch of bright sky blue flowers at one side of the path. "Oh, they would make for a wonderful dye…"

“This is supposed to be a quest! Where the hell is the danger? The adrenaline? The adventure?! We’ve been walking and walking for hours and the most exciting part was when Butterscotch tripped and needed help getting up like an obese turtle!”

The butter pegasus flinched. “I’m sorry…?” he muttered with uncertainty.

“Oh, fuck off!” Blitz barked at him, full of hostility. He then flew up to Butterscotch’s face and yelled at him, “What are you even doing here?! You’re scared of your own shadow! What are you going to do against the dragon, shit yourself and hope the stench scares him off?!” Butterscotch shrank on the spot with a squeak.

“Rainbow Blitz! That was uncalled for!” Twilight scolded him angrily as she yanked him away from the yellow pegasus with her magic.

Blitz, however, couldn’t spare any sympathy. He had known Butterscotch since pretty much forever, so he knew him the best out of everypony in the group. And he knew that, when it came to the timid pegasus, there came a time when you just had to put your hoof down.

Butterscotch was not a foal. Treating him like one wouldn’t help anypony, and it certainly would not help Butterscotch get over his fears.

If he’s going to be a coward, then I’ll treat him like one. Best case scenario, he gets upset and changes his behaviour. If not, well, at least it’ll make me feel a lot better, he reasoned crankily.

“Yeah, tell Butterscotch you’re sorry right this instant, young man!” Phil added with what he probably thought was a stern tone, but being Phil, it sounded far more like a goofy parody of a schoolteacher.

“For what?! For saying it like it is?!”

“Bein’ honest ain’t the same as bein’ a jackass,” Applejack said, frowning.

“Oh, and you would know,” Blitz growled, rolling his eyes. He was not going to be lectured by a country hick. Not today. Not now.

“Yeah, Ah do,” he pointed out firmly. "Element of Honesty?” he raised his eyebrow, unamused.

“And? You’re even more of a dick than I am!”

“Ah’m not!” Applejack retorted, oddly defensive.

“Oh yeah? Well, that’s not what Carrot Top told me,” Rainbow Blitz said with an evil smirk.

Applejack blanched, his eyes wide, but after a few seconds the look in his face turned murderous as he growled. Blitz was itching for a fight, and if it had to be with Applejack, then so be it. At least that would be fun… Indeed, a fight would surely have ensued if Elusive had not stepped in between both stallions.

“Really, Rainbow Blitz?” the white unicorn said in annoyance. “Really? Even for you, that’s a low blow.”

“Yeah! You’re being very mean, Blitz!” Phil frowned.

Blitz simply shrugged. “... And?”

“Friends aren’t supposed to be mean to each other!”

“It’s called ‘tough love’. Deal with it.”

“No, ‘tough love’ is when, despite the vitriol, you’re actually supportive of the other pony in question,” Phil pointed out, sounding genuinely upset. “You’re just being a meany pants for the sake of it.”

Blitz rolled his eyes. “Whatever,” he muttered, passing the rest of the group without sparing a glance towards them. He could feel, however, the angry stares of four ponies directed at him.

It annoyed him enormously that Butterscotch’s was not one of them.

---

Even the awesomely named Archdragon Peak turned out to be a bust. Instead of the epic adventure he had in mind when he named the place, it was just a stroll in an increasingly winding path of rocks and snow.

At least there’s a dragon up there. The smoke cloud that spreaded from the mountain top was proof of it.

However, the trip was hardly any more bearable to Blitz. Since his previous stunt at the Everfree Forest, the rest of the gang was thoroughly annoyed with him, and mostly gave him the cold shoulder.

Not that he cared that much, it suited him just fine! But it would be some sort of a relief to at least have somepony to talk with, he supposed. Something to get his mind away from the fiasco this quest was turning out to be.

No such luck, however. The gang trailed behind him, Elusive and Phil chatting casually with the Timid Tank, while Applejack and Twilight seemed deep in conversation.

Seriously? Applejack? What could Applejack possibly talk about that’s got her so interested? Apples? Rainbow Blitz thought with a pang of annoyance, grunting. He’d make the worst coltfriend ever.

Bringing Carrot Top up, though, had been a low blow, and completely uncalled for. He knew that. But he was not going to apologise. If anything, they should apologise to me for taking me to this shitshow!

Then leave them, a voice from deep inside his head muttered. No one’s forcing you to stay.

Blitz frowned, upset at his inner voice’s suggestion. No. I’m not going to ditch them.

It would be so easy, the voice incited him. Just flap your wings and you’re off! They’d never be able to catch up to you!

He glanced behind him, still frowning. Surprise, surprise! Butterscotch had tripped over something. He was currently laying on his back on the floor, desperately flailing his hooves around like a big metallic turtle. The others were trying to help him to his hooves.

Again.

Rainbow Blitz groaned in furious exasperation. Yes, he could just leave them. They were the ponies who were angry at him... They were the ponies who were giving him the cold shoulder... They were the ponies that had forced him into the worst experience he’d had in recent memory, alluring him with the false promise of exciting adventure… And they were his friends…

… And he would never abandon them. The mere fact that the idea had crossed his mind deeply disgusted him. No, he sentenced. I’m sticking with them through thick and thin.

Suit yourself. Have fun~, the voice said cheekily. At the same time, the rest of the gang finally managed to help Butterscotch to his hooves.

Rainbow Blitz barely repressed a groan as the group resumed walking at a snail’s pace.

I swear to Celestia, if the dragon gives up without a fight, I’m fucking killing him.

---

Six ponies stood in front of the largest cave mouth any of them had ever seen. They were bathed in the moon’s brilliant white light, so bright not much could hide in the darkness from their eyes.

They stood in an awkward, sobering silence.

Taking a deep breath, Twilight spoke up.

“We’re here.”

No one snarked at her obvious statement, so profound was the effect of reaching their fearsome destination that even their almost endless supply of sarcasm was affected. Indeed, Applejack nodded curtly while Rainbow Blitz flapped his wings nervously.

The silence lingered on, Butterscotch’s armour ringing with his ill-suppressed shivering of fear the only sound any of them made.

“Any volunteers?” Twilight asked with a flinch.

Silence.

After what seemed like an eternity, Applejack sighed and stepped forward. “Ah’ll do it.”

Twilight turned sharply at him, concern in her eyes. “Are you sure?”

“Missy, let’s be frank here: we’re all completely terrified right now. In fact, Rainbow Blitz’s so scared, he even stopped bein’ a jerk.”

“I’m not scared, I’m just... cold...” he protested unconvincingly.

Applejack pressed on. “That thing in that cave? It’s a full-grown dragon. Against that, Ah reckon we’re just little ponies with some metal sticks and funny costumes.” He sighed, then focused his gaze straight in Twilight’s eyes. “But Ah know fer a fact that if Ah don’t do it, nopony else will… And then you would have to put yer neck in the line, just because we were too afraid to do it ourselves. Mah Pops didn’t raise a coward. Ah’ll go.”

Twilight was touched. She knew the stallion was a very brave pony, one who wouldn’t flinch in the face of danger, and who would always do the right thing, in spite of fear. But to outright volunteer himself to face a full-grown dragon… And only to spare her from doing so… Nopony had ever cared so much for her. The farmpony had just given Shining Armor a run for his bits. “Applejack...” she gasped, though she didn’t know what to say.

“Ah’ll go, and that’s final,” he sentenced resolutely, stomping his right forehoof in the ground for emphasis. “Now, before Ah get to actually thinkin’ this through,” he smiled softly.

Twilight did the only thing that came to her mind:

She hugged him fiercely.

“If you die, I’ll kill you. I’ll even ask Granny Smith how,” Twilight muttered into Applejack’s ear.

The farmpony chuckled as he awkwardly returned the hug.

“Guys? Not that I want to interrupt or anything, but shouldn’t we be making contingency plans?” Rainbow Blitz scowled.

“Ah’ll do it. Don’t worry about it,” Applejack answered as he broke the hug.

“Look, man, I trust you. Absolutely,” Blitz said sincerely. “The problem is the dragon. We need to be prepared in case he doesn’t like you.”

“Fair enough,” Applejack shrugged.

“What do you suggest?” Elusive asked Blitz.

“I have got nothing. You see, Twilight is the smart one; otherwise, I wouldn’t stop her from making out with applebro over here.” He rolled his eyes, but there was something slightly off in his voice. Before Twilight could try to discern what it was or be annoyed with him, however, she felt a plan come to mind.

“Right. So, Applejack is going in to talk to the dragon and try to persuade him to leave to nap somewhere else. You’ll need to be as polite as possible, too,” she told him.

“Don’t worry, Ah’ll be as sweet as apple pie,” the farmpony smirked with far more confidence than he actually felt.

“I’m being serious. Dragons are very prickly and very violent. You can’t offend him under any circumstances, got it?” she told him sternly.

“Got it,” he nodded.

Twilight sighed. “Still, should things go south…” please don’t die. “... you come back here immediately. Once you’re back with us, try kicking the dragon’s legs to put him off balance.” The farmpony nodded grimly. “Rainbow Blitz, you’re our air support. I want you to do precise strikes against the dragon; some well placed hits in the head should put him out of commission.”

“Awesome!” he grinned at the idea of taking down a dragon... then paused as he reconsidered. “One question, though. How do I do that without being burnt to a crisp?”

Twilight continued, for that answer was forthcoming. “That brings us to you, Elusive and Phil,” she said, pointing at the two stallions. They shared a quick glance. “You guys create a distraction for the dragon, keep him busy while Blitz snipes at him. Elusive, you’ll keep Phil covered with magic shields and the like.”

Elusive coughed, nervous.

“You see, my dear… The thing is… I’m not that good with defensive spells.”

Twilight raised a hoof to her chin, thinking. “Then, I’ll keep Phil covered. You zap the dragon with magic beams, ideally lightning ones. Dragons are especially weak to lightning. If you need any help, I can back you up.”

Elusive considered it for a moment, then nodded. “I’ll see what I can do.”

Twilight turned towards Phil. “Phil, you... just do your thing.”

The Pink Menace smiled evilly underneath his great helm.

“Thy will be done, O Arcane One”, he said. Evilly.

“And Butterscotch…” she turned towards the shivering wreck of armour. He’s completely paralysed by fear. Twilight sighed, and adopted a comforting tone. “Are you okay?”

“... no.”

“It’s the dragon, isn’t it?” Twilight said kindly. The tank just nodded quickly and curtly. Twilight felt awful for him, she truly did. He clearly did not want to be there. If she could call the shots, she would have let Butterscotch take care of Spike and the girls back home and spare him the trouble... But she didn’t. “Butters… I know you’d rather be anywhere but here. I understand, I really do. But the Princess specifically asked for you to be here, and she knows what she’s doing. We need you to be brave. I need you to be brave.”

“I… I…” he mumbled.

“Please,” she begged.

Butterscotch was at war with himself. That much they could tell despite the full armour. He was mumbling, breathing erratically as he tried to muster enough courage.

“I can’t,” he finally sobbed. “I can’t. I’m sorry. I wished I could. I wished I was as brave as you guys. But I’m not. I’m… I’m so sorry.”

“But why?!” Rainbow Blitz snapped, his brain having taken what little patience he had left, ripped it up to tiny pieces and thrown them off a cliff into a burning inferno. “Celestia’s Amazing Plot, it’s just a dragon, big fucking deal! Come on, you’re Norhestian! You bastards pretty much eat the motherfuckers for breakfast! Seriously, what is your fucking problem?!”

Before Twilight (and Applejack too, who looked downright furious at the pegasus’s brashness) could turn on him and scold him, Butterscotch spoke up.

“A dragon killed my grandfather,” he muttered, a heavy, oppressive silence following his words. Everypony just stared at him in shock, even Blitz. “It mauled him with its talons, then tore his wings off with its teeth… and when he tried to escape, it… it… it burned him alive…”

What?! Twilight blinked in incomprehension, dumbfounded. Did I hear that right?! She hoped not. She really hoped she hadn’t...

“I… I was there… I saw it happen,” he sobbed at the memory.

Phil immediately appeared by Butterscotch’s side, hugging him and rubbing a hoof down his armoured back, cooing in a comforting tone.

“I don’t want that to happen ever again… I don’t want you guys to suffer the same fate...” he muttered, burying his head in Phil’s tabard and breaking down crying.

Understanding slowly dawned on her: she had heard right. To lose your grandfather in such a way… To Twilight, it was utterly unfathomable. Even the thought of any of her grandparents dying felt alien to her. And yet, Butterscotch’s grandfather had been murdered by a dragon... right in front of him. Where do you go from there? How do you move on from seeing such a thing?

“I… I had no idea.” Rainbow Blitz seemed legitimately horrified, his pupils small as pinpricks. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay. You didn’t know,” Butterscotch smiled weakly.

“No. It’s not okay. I… I feel awful, man,” he said, full of remorse as he rubbed his rainbow mane awkwardly. “I shouldn’t have been so mean with you. I just wanted you to get over your fears… I had no idea about that. I should have asked. I’m a terrible friend,” he sighed, guilt-ridden.

“Are you okay? Would you like if we talked about this later?” Elusive proposed softly.

“It doesn’t matter,” Butterscotch said softly as his tears started to subside. “Really.”

“It does matter,” Twilight declared firmly yet softly. “You’re our friend, Butterscotch. Friends are there for each other.” She lowered her face. “I… I shouldn’t have forced you to come.”

But… but the Princess’s orders!

Well, the Princess isn’t the one who is friends with Butterscotch, now is she?

Oh, she’ll be furious, the voice inside her head said with concern. Twilight, however, had no time to spare paying attention to it.

I’m doing what’s right. She’ll understand.

“I can’t force you to be here.”

Butterscotch sobbed for a few more seconds, then sniffed. “And yet, here I am,” he said in a weak, hoarse voice, clearly wishing he wasn’t. But there was something else in his voice. Something new:

Determination.

He took a few deep breaths, then rose shakily to his hooves, slowly but surely regaining his composure. He stood up straight on slightly trembling hooves, a newfound resolution filling him despite his crippling fear.

“I-I’ll do my part. For my grandpa. He… he always wanted to take on a dragon, the old fool,” he chuckled sadly as he took off his helmet and clumsily tried to dry his tears with his heavily armoured hoof.

The hero of one of Twilight’s old favourite tales once said that courage was not the absence of fear, but rather, being afraid and doing what you have to do anyway.

And in that moment, Butterscotch was the bravest of them all.

Still, she wasn’t going to throw him to the wolves immediately. His special talent might be communicating with animals, and would be a great boon to their cause, but there was no way in hell Twilight was going to force him to face the dragon if she could avoid it. “Can you fly with that armour?” she asked instead.

If Butterscotch was taken off guard by that question, he didn’t show it, still rubbing the tears off his swollen eyes.“It’s surprisingly light,” he said. “Yes, I can fly.”

“Do you think you could join Rainbow Blitz on air support?”

“Yes. I can do that,” he smiled tremulously, as he put his helmet back on.

“Then we’re set,” Twilight declared. All ponies nodded with determination, even Butterscotch, despite his reluctance. As they turned back towards the cave, Twilight floated a Philter of Resist Fire towards Applejack. “I really hope you don’t need it, but you should drink this. Just in case.”

With a grateful smile and a nod, the farmpony downed the potion quickly. Then, he took a deep breath, and let it out slowly. “Ah’m goin’ in.”

“Good luck,” Twilight wished him with an uneasy smile, trying to keep the dread she felt from affecting her voice.

“Don’t get killed,” Rainbow Blitz commented lightly, stoking Twilight’s fears by saying them out loud. She gave him the stink eye, but he didn’t notice, watching Applejack’s form fading into the darkness of the cave.

He better not. He has a family to look after.

And if he died…

I…

… I don’t know what I’d do.

---

“Hello?” Applejack called out with uncertainty.

His voice bouncing off the cave’s walls was all the answer he received.

“... Hello?” he tried again.

Nothing.

The cave was pitch black. If it weren’t for the heavy smell of smoke, he would’ve thought that the dragon had simply set up shop and left… Or that he had walked into the wrong cave.

He suddenly felt his hoof collide with an enormous boulder, hard as a diamond, yet one that emanated warmth.

What the…?

Applejack squinted his eyes, trying to discern exactly what he had in from of him. He knew that dragons kept hoards of gems and precious metals... but in his experience, those things felt completely different to... whatever this was!

He tried kicking it a bit, to see if he could move it.

*thud*

Nope. It didn’t budge. Perhaps bucking it would do the trick? Applejack turned around, raised his rear hooves, and gave the boulder a hard applebuck kick.

*Buck!*

A loud, deep groan was heard across the cave, a soft but ominous tremor accompanying it. The warmth the boulder emitted intensified.

It was only then that Applejack realised what was in front of him:

It was the dragon’s head.

And he had just bucked it.

The eye opened slowly, first the scaled outer eyelid, then the nictitating membrane underneath, revealing a reptilian slit in an enormous orange orb staring straight at him.

Ah regret everythin’. He gulped in fear, thoroughly disturbed at what was unravelling in front of him. But still, he’d be damned before he ever chickened out. Ah told Missy Ah had this covered, and Ah’m not gonna let her down.

“He-hello, Mr. Dragon?” he squeaked pathetically. “Mah name’s Applejack. Applejack MacBrightMacintosh Apple.”

The dragon didn’t react, though its eye was still intently looking at him. The look was one of annoyance, rather than anger, so Applejack pressed on instead of unmanning himself in apologies or running away for sweet Celestia.

“Y’see, Ah’m from Ponyville. And yer snorin’ is causin’ many clouds of smoke to cover mah town.”

The dragon raised its scaly eyebrow. ‘Right…?’, it seemed to think.

Applejack let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. Good, it understands Equestrian. On hindsight, that was probably something he should have taken into account before barging in and waking a dragon. Oh well, as Pops always said, fortune favours the bold, he shrugged mentally.

“Now, now, Ah understand ya; we all love nappin’ and all that, and Ah know you don’t mean no harm by yer snorin’, it’s not like ya can control it... But if Ah could just ask ya to maybe find another spot to take yer nap? Maybe, uhmm… Far, far away from civilization?” Applejack smiled widely, trying his damndest to fake some confidence in face of adversity. He failed miserably, looking an awful lot like a ugly, dorky colt trying to ask out Princess Celestia on a date. “Please?”

With a grumble, the dragon slowly, deliberately, turned its face towards the farmpony. Applejack gulped. Once he had full sight of the reptile’s face, it grinned maliciously, showing off its sharp, devastating fangs. Most likely, the dragon was hoping to scare the stallion off.

Instead, Applejack stubbornly held his ground, despite all his courage deserting him. The dragon, however, was not moved by such a display.

“Are you done?” it finally said. The voice was masculine, deep, rumbling, raspy and strained, as if it hadn’t been used in ages and the dragon had almost forgotten how to speak. It sent shivers down Applejack’s spine.

“Ah… yes?”

The dragon stared appraisingly at Applejack for a brief moment.

“No.”

And he closed his eyes, returning to his slumber.

Applejack blinked repeatedly in a quick succession. W-wait, what? What? No, no, nonononono no! You can’t go back to sleep!

“B-but, Mr. Dragon!” Applejack protested.

The dragon opened his eye again, greatly annoyed.

“I thought you were finished,” he said coldly.

“Ah didn’t explain mahself properly! Ya see, yer snorin’ is coverin’ up mah home town, and no sunlight is gettin’ through! We need ya to please leave to nap somewhere else!” Applejack pleaded without any shred of dignity, realising just how close he was to screwing everything up for himself, for Ponyville, and for the Missy.

The dragon blinked once.

“Why?”

“Uh… What?” Applejack asked back in confusion.

“Why?” the dragon repeated bluntly.

“Well… uh… because… because the lack of sunlight would be very bad for life nearby. It could seriously affect our harvests. We, uhh, can’t just spend the next century or two under a heavy cloud of smoke,” Applejack explained awkwardly.

“Why?” the dragon repeated, frowning dangerously.

“Because... because ponies could die,” he said like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“Why should I care?” he snapped at him, annoyed.

“... Ponies could die,” Applejack croaked again.

“So?” he said, utterly uncaring of Ponyville’s plight.

Applejack blinked.

The sheer impotence he felt was slowly festering into burning righteous wrath in his insides as comprehension finally dawned on him.

The dragon wasn’t going to leave. Applejack could spend the rest of his life pleading with him, and he would never budge. Because he didn’t care. He was putting thousands in danger, and yet, all he cared for was having a fucking nap.

He’s puttin’ mah family at risk of death and he doesn’t have any single fuck to spare!

“‘So?’” he repeated. “‘So?’ Really? That’s all ya have to say? Are ya kiddin’ me? Are ya fuckin’ kiddin’ me?!” Applejack knew he shouldn’t offend the dragon, as diplomacy was vital for this mission’s success. Yet, he found he just didn’t care anymore. His vision was turning red. “Are ya really so fuckin’ self-centered that you would let thousands of lifeforms die just because ya fat bastard can’t be bothered to move yer scaly arse to nap somewhere else?! Ya know what?! Fuck you!” And with no further ado, he wheeled round and bucked the dragon’s face with all his might.

The dragon was stunned for all of five seconds. Then, he blinked… and his posture changed, a new gleam shining in his eyes.

Applejack was not a book smart pony. Mathematics made his head ache, and History made him drowsy. He’d never cared to learn much about what he didn’t need for his daily basis. He knew very little about dragons, beyond whatever Twilight or Spike had told him.

But he identified, right away, what was in the dragon’s eyes:

It was rage. It was hatred. It was bloodlust.

The dragon was not only relishing the fact that his dinner had walked right into its cave, with no further effort from his part; worse than that, he was utterly furious. It’s one thing to have your dinner walk up to you in your cave. It’s a different thing entirely to have your dinner walk up to you in your cave, wake you up with a kick to the face, insult you, and then kick you in the face again for good measure. The dragon growled dangerously.

Applejack swallowed forcefully.

It was at this moment that he knew:

He fucked up.

A soft orange hue started lighting up the dragon’s thorax between his scales.

The dragon stood up in his hind legs.

And with a roar, fire filled the cave.

---

Twilight twitched with anxiety as she paced in front of the cave.

Applejack had been gone for at least ten full minutes, and they hadn’t heard a single thing since then. Not his voice, nor the dragon’s… Nothing. It was like the cave had swallowed Applejack up whole, leaving no trace of the pony behind. Like he had never existed in the first place.

“Do you…” Elusive began nervously, then faltered for a beat. “Do you guys think we should check on him? See if he’s alright?”

“Good idea,” Phil nodded, each bit as nervous as the unicorn. “You go.”

Elusive frowned, but his gaze was still fixated in the mouth of the dark cave. “Why me?”

“Well, it was your idea, after all,” Phil reasoned. “Therefore, you should go.”

“Terribly sorry, my dear. Must’ve misheard you. Come again?” Elusive asked tentatively.

“I’m not fucking going,” the pink stallion stated with uncharacteristic bluntness.

Seriously? Applejack might be in great danger and you’re busy bickering? Twilight was about to chide them.

Then they heard the roar, shaking the mountain with its strength.

Twilight stared at the cave, her blood turning ice cold in horror. What had just happened in there?

Was Applejack okay?

She tried her best to keep her dread at bay, to not let it consume her… But her brain refused to let go, allowing terrible thoughts to flood her mind.

Is… is he even still alive? Did we just hear him die? Oh, Applejack... noble, honest and kind Applejack. This is all my fault, she rued. You went inside because of me.

The anxiety, the guilt, the sorrow... it was all almost unbearable, and she was about to run towards the cave to find out what had just happened, just to do something, anything, when she heard a low hum slowly becoming louder.

It sounded almost like a voice.

“RUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUN!!!!!!!!!!”

Panic in his eyes, Applejack darted out of the cave, immediately dodging towards his right side.

Before anypony could question him, they saw the incoming fireball. The earthbound ponies immediately dodged sideways and both pegasi shot high into the air, the blaze of fire passing them by before eventually fading out in the distance.

“Applejack!” Twilight screamed in relief. He’s okay! Sweet Celestia, he’s okay! “What happened?!”

Applejack could have easily lied, Twilight knew. He could have said he had kept his cool, but the hostile dragon had refused to see sense and had attacked him in petty annoyance. He could have saved face, coming across as a competent stallion who had accomplished what he had been assigned to do, and no one would ever know what had truly transpired inside the cave. Yet, Applejack was not that kind of pony, and Twilight couldn’t help but appreciate him wholeheartedly for his unyielding honesty.

“AH FUCKED UP!!!” he screamed back.

“What are you talking about?!” Elusive asked.

“The dragon was bein’ a bastard an’ Ah called ’im out fer that an’ Ah bucked ’im in the face an’ now he hates mah guts an’ he’s comin’ ta kill me!” he rambled.

Unfortunately, he was also the reason they were all about to die, so it all evened out. Twilight groaned. We were so close.

The white stallion sighed deeply, facehoofing. “You’re a moron.”

“Ya think Ah don’t know it?!” Applejack barked back.

“Forget about that! What do we do about the dragon?!” Rainbow Blitz asked, his eyes darting towards the cave.

“We follow the plan! But first, we need to draw him into the open!” Twilight stated. The rest of the group looked at her like she was insane, and given the circumstances, yeah, she guessed she might as well be. “We can’t fight him in the cave!”

“But he could just fly and fry us from up there!” Phil pointed out. “He won’t be able to do that inside the cave!”

“Yeah, but a single fireball will be all he needs to kill us if we’re all in the cave!” Blitz retorted. “Out here, we have room to maneuver, too!”

“Missy and Blitz are right, it’s far too narrow fer us to do much of anythin’ inside! We’ll be like fish in a barrel!”

Twilight took the ensuing silence as tacit approval to her plan. “All of you, drink this!” she said as she grabbed the remaining Philters of Resist Fire and passed one to each of her friends, except Applejack. “You won’t get burns from heat, but it will not prevent you from burning to death if he hits you directly, so do not get caught in the path of the dragon’s fire!” she exclaimed before downing her own potion. A peculiar sensation in her gut told her the potion was working. “All right! Positions, everypony!”

Blitz shot towards a stone ledge above the cave’s mouth, Butterscotch following him with great reluctance. Elusive and Applejack ran towards opposite sides of the entrance, ready to position themselves in the dragon’s blind spots as soon as he came out. Phil just poofed out of existence, but Twilight didn’t spare a thought to wonder where he’d gone. She needed to focus. She couldn’t afford any distractions. Her life depended on her magic.

Her friends’ lives depended on her magic.

“He’s comin’!” Applejack shouted.

---

“Uhh, if you don’t mind me asking, what exactly are we going to do?” Butterscotch gulped, as he felt the boulder he was standing on shaking with the dragon’s footsteps.

Rainbow Blitz’s eyes narrowed in concentration. “We’ll jump on him the moment he comes out of that cave. We hit him in the head with enough force to stun him, and we should get a chance to get some more hits before he recovers.”

A shiver ran down his spine. “A-are you sure this is a good idea?”

“Trust me on this, Butters. Heh,” Blitz chuckled, “with your armour, you might even break his neck!”

Butterscotch paled inside his armour. “Oh, goodness, but I don’t want to kill him...” he said. After all, what fault did the dragon have? He was not necessarily a bad dragon. He’d just made a poor decision, that’s all. And Applejack had been awfully mean to him.

Any further exchange was abruptly interrupted when the dragon slowly walked out of his cave into the night’s sky.

He was enormous. A gargantuan monstrosity. Every inch of his hide was covered with platinum white stone scales. Ice blue spikes, as long and sharp as spears extended all along his spine, from the back of his neck to the tip of his long tail. His claws were as long as sabers, and probably as sharp too. Many small, pointed horns protruded from the top of his head, giving the impression of a twisted, jagged crown. His eyes were bigger than an adult pony; his maw was filled with rows of impossibly razor-sharp teeth and fangs that looked like they could pierce through steel like it was no big deal, and his face was filled with pure, unadulterated loathing. Even for dragon standards, he was a gigantic, horrifying, fearsome beast.

It all came back to Butterscotch as soon as he caught full sight of the dragon.

The chilling cold of winter deep in his bones.

A jolly afternoon out turned into a living nightmare.

The shadow in the sky.

“It’s… It’s him…” Butterscotch muttered, utter terror in his voice.

A knight’s brave last stand.

The fangs ripping the skin to shreds.

Warm red blood splattered on the white snow.

“It’s him,” he said numbly.

His heart rate skyrocketed. His senses stopped functioning, and his breaths became short and ragged.

Past and present blending together as the darkness closed down on him.

Terror, grief, rage.

“It’s him,” he repeated.

Panicked screams of pain and agony.

A child’s cry of fear and despair.

Fire melting steel, flesh and bone into one.

“It’s him.”

The stench of death.

All over again.

“It’s him.”

---

The gigantic dragon slowly stepped out of his cave, the ground shaking with every step. Once he was clear, he straightened, threw his head backwards, and gave a shrill, mighty roar that resonated across the whole mountain and surrounding area. Twilight’s legs almost gave out, and only through sheer force of will she managed to not lose control of her bowels.

It was the most horrifying thing she had ever seen in her entire life. She shivered from her horn to her hooves. Would one day Spike grow to become that big? Would her cute, dorky, loving little sorta-brother one day become such a violent, dreadful and hatred-filled monster such as this one?

Her racing mind, however, was snapped out of its thoughts by a rainbow streak blitzing from a stone ledge above the cave and colliding straight in the back of the dragon’s head. And here we go, Twilight thought with dread as she steeled herself. Unfortunately, the dragon was not stunned by the pegasus’s strike. Anger in its eyes, it spat a fireball towards the pegasus, but he dodged it with ease, moving with precise, agile and graceful movements.

Sticking to the plan, and taking advantage of the dragon’s distraction, Applejack ran straight at it from the side of the cave, turned around, and applebucked his right leg with enough force to send even a giant creature such as this one tumbling to the ground.

Except he didn’t. Instead of falling to his knees, the reptile struck Applejack with his horned tail, sending him flying away. Blitz caught him in the air before the earth pony hit the ground.

Elusive ran towards the dragon from the other side of the cave, attempting to do the same as Applejack. This did not go unnoticed by the dragon, however, who forcefully stomped the ground, trying to smash the unicorn with his huge clawed feet. Fortunately, Elusive stopped running just in time to jump to the side, rolling safely out of the way.

The dragon turned around towards the dodging unicorn. He might have been rather fast for his enormous size and his stone scales, but he was still an enormous creature. The time it took for him to turn around was precious to Elusive as he charged up a spell in his horn.

As soon as the dragon was facing Elusive, the unicorn shot a mighty bolt of lightning.

Stone scales shattered in a cloud of dust and debris as the lightning struck true into the dragon’s left wing.

The dragon’s eyes were wide, stunned for a few seconds by the damage he had suffered. A moment’s distraction which Rainbow Blitz capitalised on, accelerating and striking the now scaleless patch in the dragon’s wing.

The reaction this time was very different. Without his sturdy scales to protect him from damage, the dragon winced and groaned, his knees giving out at the speed and strength of the pegasus’s charge.

It’s working! Twilight marvelled. “Elusive! Hit his legs!” she screamed, but the dragon immediately thrashed around in blind rage, kicking Elusive in the flank. The stallion yelped in pain as he was thrown backwards. He crashed into a boulder, but his armour took the brunt of the impact. Unfortunately, he was trapped.

The white unicorn shook his head and tried to free himself of the boulder, but the dragon wheeled on him and breathed fire in his direction.

With a flash of purple light, Elusive disappeared just before the flames could touch him.

“That was a close one,” he croaked gratefully as he dropped into a heap in the ground next to Twilight, stunned, a bit disoriented, and with his armour dented, but still safe and unburnt. And free from the boulder.

The purple unicorn helped him to his feet with a forehoof. “Are you ok? Can you stand?” The white unicorn grimaced in pain, but he still nodded. “Good. Hit his legs with lightning,” she urged him.

Elusive nodded again as he charged up another thunderbolt with his horn, a strained look in his face.

Meanwhile, Applejack had gotten to his hooves and tried charging the dragon’s legs again. With surprising agility, the reptile shot up into the air, evading the charging stallion… and Elusive’s lightning bolt, which missed Applejack’s face by mere inches.

“Woah, nelly!” he shouted in panic, rearing up his hooves. “Watch out!”

Fortunately for him, the dragon apparently decided that the lightning was a far greater threat than a charging little pony, and he turned to face both unicorns as his thorax lighted up in an orange hue.

Twilight quickly conjured a magic shield around them as the dragon breathed a flaming inferno in their direction. Thanks, Shiny, she thought wearily as the flames engulfed the bubble shield that kept them safe. “If we survive this,” she told the panting Elusive, “I’m studying some healing spells.”

The white unicorn chuckled for all of two seconds before grimacing again, raising one of his hooves defensively. “They might come in handy, yes.”

“Do you need a healing potion?” she asked with concern.

“Don’t worry, my dear,” he said in a tone that did absolutely nothing to prevent Twilight from worrying. “I can take a few more hits.”

She opened her mouth to say something else, but then the flames stopped. Turning towards the dragon’s direction, Twilight felt her stomach drop as the gigantic flying lizard shot higher up into the air, and, with a mighty roar, started charging down towards them at full speed. She gulped forcefully. No magic shield could protect her from such a charge!

Suddenly, with a ferocious war cry, a stallion clad in iron chain mail appeared from thin air and drove a sharp steel sword straight into the scaleless patch in his wing.

The dragon roared in pain, losing control of his flight, as his wing gave out. Phil kept hold of the sword as both forcefully crashed down into the ground, away from the unicorns, driving it further and further inside the dragon’s appendage. Writhing in pain, the dragon violently slammed his back against the mountainside, knocking Phil and his sword off him. A high-pressure blood stream shot out of the open wound.

A lightning bolt immediately struck him in the shoulder, shattering more of his scales. The dragon staggered, bellowing in agony and rage. He stood up and charged against both unicorns, who promptly teleported out of the way. Before the dragon could react, Rainbow Blitz once again shot towards him, hitting him right in his injured wing.

Applejack, for his part, jumped on top of the dragon’s tail, trying to climb his way to the top using his horned spine as a ladder, but the dragon swiftly thrashed his tail up and down, shaking Applejack off, sending him flying across the air, and hitting the ground right next to a cliff.

“Ah need to stop doin’ that…” he muttered as he closed his eyes in pain, his iron peytral battered and dented, and a sharp pain in his thorax. Ugh, broken rib... He opened his eyes just in time to find the dragon’s wrathful gaze focused on him as he charged up a new fireball.

“Over here!” Phil screamed at the dragon, throwing a boulder straight into his eye. The dragon blinked in pain, wheeling around to burn the pink stallion instead. But before the fire could engulf him, he was gone.

“No, over here!” Phil shouted once again, appearing underneath the dragon’s legs. The dragon whipped him with his tail, and the stallion shouted in pain, the horned tail slamming against his side and sending him crashing into the floor. The dragon prepared to stomp on him, but a lightning bolt struck him in the back, sending scales tumbling to the floor and taking him off balance. At the same time, Blitz raced by, grabbing Phil and putting him out of danger.

Before the dragon could regain his footing, a second lightning bolt, even stronger than the first, struck him in the same spot in his back.

And immediately afterwards, Blitz dropped Phil on top of that one spot in the dragon’s back, the pink stallion driving his sword straight down with all of his force. The dragon hollered in agony, and he fell to his knees, breathing heavily, unable to continue fighting.

“Now will you please listen to us?” Twilight asked him tiredly, each and every spell she had used slowly draining her stamina away, as she used some of her remaining magic to float healing potions to Elusive, Applejack and Phil.

The dragon, however, didn’t seem to listen to her. He just laid there, on his knees and claws, breathing heavily.

“Can you please leave and take a nap somewhere else?” Twilight tried. “Ponykind needs sunlight to survive, and your snoring is putting us all in mortal danger! Please, listen to us!” she begged. Please, please say yes. She didn’t know how much longer they could keep this up.

But the dragon didn’t answer.

At least, not with words.

Instead, the dragon smashed his claws against the ground in frustration, and with a blood-curdling bellow of pure loathing, he stood up once again. If his eyes were filled with rage before, they were now dripping with it.

He went first after the white unicorn with the lightning attacks. The dragon leapt towards him, faster than he had any right to move. Before either Elusive or Twilight could even react, the dragon was upon him, grabbed him with his right claw, raised him high in the air, and forcefully threw him against Applejack, knocking out both stallions as they collided with each other.

Rainbow Blitz shot up into the air and tried to ram the dragon in the back. Unfortunately for him, the dragon wheeled around, his claw clenched in a fist, and ran it straight against the pegasus’s face. He was immediately knocked out, crumbling to the ground unconscious. The dragon raised his right leg to stomp on the pegasus.

“Blitz!” Phil shouted desperately, running towards his fallen friend from the left, but before he could reach him, the dragon shifted, rose up to the sky shakily with his wounded wings, and punted Phil with his left leg as the stallion passed him by. Phil crashed against a nasty looking boulder by the cave’s entrance, fell into a heap, and didn’t get up.

Twilight gulped, panic starting to set in. In an extremely rapid succession, four of her friends, the only four in any condition to fight, had been taken down. Their early victory had only been apparent; the dragon had evidently underestimated the ponies who had come knocking. But now, his patience had reached the tipping point.

The dragon turned towards Twilight, murder in his eyes as he leapt towards her. She quickly teleported out of his way, reappearing behind him.

However, the dragon, berserk, turned around in one swift, forceful motion, charging once again at Twilight. She quickly conjured her magic to get herself out of the way.

But while she could use spells and shields easily, teleporting was something she hadn’t yet mastered. Sure, she could teleport herself and/or others, but she couldn’t keep it up for too long. Each time she used her magic to teleport herself, large chunks of her stamina were lost, and when she reappeared once again, she was panting in exhaustion.

The dragon turned around, but this time, he didn’t charge against Twilight. His thorax lightened up, as he prepared his fireball. Twilight’s horn flared with magic… then it fizzled out. Her eyes widened in panic, her breathing accelerating as she charged a new teleportation spell… then it died again. Her horn flared once again, and it died once again.

Twilight’s stomach dropped. Time stopped.

She knew right then that this was it.

She wouldn’t be able to escape again. She was too exhausted to use her magic. She couldn’t teleport out of the way, and if she tried shielding herself, the dragon would just keep throwing fire at her until her magic burned out altogether, an endurance battle she couldn’t hope to win. If she ran for her life, he’d just shift direction and burn her anyways… or, even worse, he would burn her unconscious friends, and then follow her until he eventually killed her.

She was done for.

Scenes of her life flashed in front of her eyes. Building book forts with Shining Armor. Cadence reading her a foalstory as she fell asleep. Earning her cutie mark. Becoming Princess Celestia’s personal student and protégé. Leaving Canterlot for Ponyville. Meeting Applejack, Rainbow Blitz, Elusive, Butterscotch and Phil Pie. Defeating the Night King. The overwhelming bliss she felt during the last two weeks.

Had her whole life led up to this? Was this how she was fated to go? Dying in flames against an enraged dragon in an utterly irrelevant event in the grand scheme of things?

An undignified end to an extraordinary life. The most painful death she could possibly imagine.

And she couldn’t do anything about it, but brace herself for the end as it came in flames.

The dragon breathed fire upon her.

But what she felt on her skin was not the fiery death she expected.

Instead, it was the hard impact of cold steel against her side, pushing her out of the way at the very last second.

Twilight only managed to catch a glimpse of Butterscotch before he was swallowed up by the flaming inferno.

She crumbled to the ground as the fire raged, a numb feeling inside of her.

It was one thing to expect your own death, seeing it coming towards you inexorably.

It was a completely different thing to see one of your best friends take your place at the last second, and watch them burn to death in front of you.

Their lives ending in fire and blood just a few measly meters from you.

And you could do nothing about it.

Nothing.

She couldn’t even cry.

---

Wrath.

Fear had given way to an untempered rage.

An intoxicating feeling burning hot inside of him, coursing through his veins.

The fire outside could not compare to the one within.

No more would he stay afraid in the sidelines.

No more would he be able to hurt his loved ones.

No more.

---

When the flames faded out, Twilight did not see the mound of ash she expected.

Instead, Butterscotch’s steel armour remained unscathed, the runes etched in its surface glowing in a bright blue light, dancing under the moonlight. After a brief moment of silence, the armour shifted as his wearer reincorporated himself, standing tall.

Then, the pegasus roared.

A wordless, inequine primal skreigh that conveyed one feeling and one feeling only:

Unstoppable rage.

Twilight felt shivers down her spine, a fear she had never felt chilling deep into her bones.

Then Butterscotch attacked.

The shy, gentle pegasus she knew was nowhere to be seen as the armoured figure slammed himself against the stunned dragon’s jaw, a mighty uppercut that shattered the dragon’s guard, staggering him. Butterscotch, however, did not allow him a respite. The pegasus immediately wailed on the dragon’s face, drawing out blood and even punching teeth out of its maw, each hit stunning the dragon even more.

The dragon attempted to swat Butterscotch off his face with his arm, but the pegasus avoided the strike with ease, instead diving down and throwing himself against the dragon’s right leg. The impact was punctuated by a sickening bone-crushing sound, and the dragon wailed in agony as he collapsed to his knees.

With another roar, Butterscotch did a somersault and body-slammed the dragon’s head once again, sending the mighty beast tumbling down to the ground.

The mountain shook terribly, and a few seconds later, the snow started to fall off the peaks with a thundering sound. Twilight’s eyes widened as she saw the oncoming avalanche. Swiftly, she picked herself up, ran towards her fallen friends, and, with every last bit of faltering magic she could summon, grabbed them and ran towards the cave with them in tow.

The snow came crashing down almost immediately after they entered the cave, crushing both dragon and pegasus beneath it, cutting them off from Twilight and the unconscious stallions, and trapping all five of them inside the cave.

Knowing every second was key, the purple unicorn quickly took out four of her healing potions, and poured it down her friends’ mouths.

Phil quickly reincorporated himself, the potion having an almost instant effect on the pink stallion.

“Owww, my spine…”

“A-are we dead?” Blitz wheezed.

“No,” she answered.

“W-what happened?” Elusive muttered weakly.

“I… I don’t know,” Twilight answered truthfully, unable to wrap her head around what she had just witnessed.

“It’s… so dark…” Applejack groaned in pain as he stirred.

However, the darkness of the cave did not last. Soon enough, the snow that blocked the way started melting, fast. Way too fast to be natural.

“Watch out!” Twilight screamed, tackling Applejack, the pony nearest to her, to the side.

A fire blast shot out of the snow into the cave, barely missing them and singeing their tails.

The snow melted, they could see what had transpired outside their momentary refuge.

Their jaws dropped to the ground on unison.

The dragon was pinned to the ground, many of his scales destroyed, spitting bursts of fire and blood in a desperate attempt to break free of the armoured berserker that shattered his scales off with each and every single savage punch he connected with the dragon’s battered body.

The dragon no longer had bloodlust in his eyes. Rather, his eyes showed pure, unabashed fear. Utter existential terror for the metal demon that had survived his fire and was now curbstomping him.

Butterscotch wailed on the dragon, lost in the bloodlust of wrath. The dragon thrashed his arm at the pegasus in panic, but the armoured stallion just grabbed the dragon’s arm, and promptly broke it with a mighty axe kick with his hind leg. The dragon screeched in agony and fear.

Desperate, the dragon thrashed with all his might. Finally shaking the pegasus off him, the dragon took off to the sky as swiftly as his damaged wings allowed him, and fled.

Twilight could only stare in astonishment as the fierce dragon that had caused them so much pain and sorrow was finally routed, fleeing weakly into the distance, unsteady on his wings.

Butterscotch did not pursue. Instead, he stood up, walking towards the cliff’s edge, and stared at the retreating form of the dragon hunched over and breathing haggardly.

Then he slumped into the ground, sitting on his flank.

---

The avalanche had cut the winding paths they had taken in their ascent, and trying to brave the snow in the middle of the night was foolhardy at best, and outright suicidal at worst. And so, the ponies had settled into the dragon’s former cave to pass the night.

However, instead of celebrating their victory, silence reigned supreme inside the cave, as the six ponies sat resting by a makeshift bonfire.

Twilight felt very unsure about what she had just witnessed, and she knew the other stallions felt the same. However, she had been the only one who had seen it all from start to end. She knew Butterscotch had survived the dragon’s burning inferno at point blank. She had seen how he had taken the dragon down with nothing more than his hooves and his rage.

And now, she was scared of him.

The stallion that now sat huddled by the fire, his helmet by his side, his head low, his eyes closed and his breathing hard and laboured, had, just a few minutes ago, utterly wrecked a fearsome dragon.

How?

How could the gentle Butterscotch, the timid stallion who had been too scared to talk to her beyond monosyllables, who had turned a ponycidal manticore into a purring kitty just by treating it with kindness… turn into such a bloodthirsty, unrelenting, merciless berserker?

She realised then just how little she knew Butterscotch.

Out of the whole gang, she got along the best with Applejack and Elusive. While Blitz was somewhat annoying and not her first pick of company, and Phil was an absolute wildcard, she felt like she could pin most of their personalities down and still be mostly right.

But Butterscotch… He was a kind, shy pegasus who loved animals. That was it. That was all she knew.

And it was near impossible for her to reconcile the Butterscotch she knew with the one she had just seen in action.

She knew similar thoughts ran through her friends’ heads, each of them at times shooting a wary glance at Butterscotch’s way.

But no one dared to speak up until the pegasus sniffed.

“I’m sorry.”

He spoke quietly, his now open eyes staring intently at the dancing flames of the bonfire.

“I’m sorry that you had to see that,” he continued.

Twilight had no idea of how to respond to that. Fortunately, she didn’t need to, for Phil beat her to the punch.

“What exactly was that?” he asked, in an uncharacteristically quiet tone.

“I… I lost control,” the pegasus said with shame.

“Why?” Twilight croaked.

“The dragon… it…” He took a deep breath to stop himself from shivering. “It was him. He… he was the one who killed my grandpa,” Butterscotch explained softly. His eyes rose from the fire to look at them. They were bloodshot and teary. “He was going to kill you guys too. I had to do something. I couldn’t let it happen again…”

“Where were ya, anyway?” Applejack asked, nursing his mending chest. “When we were fightin’ Ah didn’t see no hair of ya anywhere.”

“I… I started to remember.”

“You froze up,” Blitz spoke up. “You got this thousand yard look in your eye and started repeating ‘it’s him’ like a madpony. I tried to shake you out of it, but… well… there was an angry dragon...”

“It’s okay,” Butterscotch said softly. “It doesn’t matter.”

Twilight frowned as comprehension dawned on her. The stallion she had in front of her was not a psychopath, or some sort of bipolar dangerous monster.

He was just a broken pony. And he was her friend.

“We’ve already said it.” She stood up and walked towards the pegasus, sitting by his left side. “It matters.” She put her right forehoof on his shoulder. “You’re our friend, Butterscotch. We’re here for you.”

The rest of the stallions agreed in their own ways, mostly nodding.

“If…” Elusive started tentatively. “If it’s okay with you… Would you like to tell us what happened to your grandpa?”

Butterscotch seemed to reflect on it, staring at the flames of the bonfire. After a minute or two of silence, he nodded softly.

“It was a long time ago…

“For those of you who don’t know, I was born in Hovslo, all the way up in Norhest. My dad worked in the local cloud factory, and my mum was a gardener. To be honest, it was a dull childhood. It rained and snowed all the time, despite the weather ponies’ best efforts to control the clouds.

“My mum’s dad had once been an onion farmer, but once my younger brother was born, he started to feel like he was getting old. And after being a farmer his whole life, he… well, he wanted to do something else while he still could. He wanted to travel, to know the world, to be somepony his grandchildren could be proud of… So he became an adventurer.

“You see, the Nordic Herd is not lacking in danger. The cities are safe havens, but the country roads are usually filled with bandits who live off the trading caravans coming from the south. So he took out his old sword, fashioned himself an armour out of spare parts lying around in the farm, and left to live his dream.” He chuckled. “His armour was actually pretty funny; it made him look like a big onion.”

He smiled fondly at his memories. “He was so kind, too. He always laughed with us, telling wild stories he had lived on the road, the bandits he’d defeated, and brought us souvenirs from his travels across northern Equestria. He encouraged me to try new things to find my special talent, and always helped me whenever he could.” A single tear rolled down his left cheek. “He was the best grandfather a colt could ask for.

“One day, when I was seven, him, my little brother and me went out into the forest, looking for animals; I had rarely ever seen any beyond fish and birds, and he’d always told me tales of wonderful creatures living in the woods, so I wanted to go explore.

His smile disappeared. “But… but it was a different kind of creature that we found that afternoon.”

“The dragon,” Twilight said in comprehension. The rest of the stallions shared a concerned look.

Butterscotch nodded softly.

---

He came out of nowhere.

One moment we were looking for squirrels and foxes... and the next, an enormous shadow appeared high in the sky.

When I realised what it was, I was terrified. Petrified. Dragons usually stay away from the cities; never has a dragon attacked a city and lived to tell the tale, and the few that do manage to escape are hunted down till death. Such is the hatred Nordics feel against them. I could not fathom where this dragon had come from.

And the dragon was violent. I think… I think he was hunting. And he found us.

My grandfather… He… he tried to protect us.

And he wasn’t armed. Why would he be, if we were a couple of minutes away from Hovslo, and just going out for a few hours?

He told me to stay back, to run home with my little brother while he distracted it…

And we ran away. I turned back just in time to see the dragon… to see him… he...

I…

I couldn’t sleep for weeks.

Because every night, it would replay on my head. He would die over and over again, and I was helpless to stop it.

I was so afraid.

---

“We… we moved to Cloudsdale a few weeks later,” Butterscotch finished quietly.

Silence fell for a while. The five ponies just looked at Butterscotch, at each other, and at the floor indistinctly. Twilight was racking her brain searching for something to say, but nothing came to mind.

After a few minutes of silence, Rainbow Blitz spoke up, his expression the very face of regret.

“I’m so, so sorry, Butters. I shouldn’t have treated you so badly… I… I never knew.”

“It’s alright. None of you did,” the pegasus muttered. “I never told anyone.”

“How did your family cope?”

Butterscotch shook his head weakly. “My dad and my mum were very shaken, but they eventually moved on, but my brother… he started acting out. He was angry, and sad, and scared.”

“So were you,” Twilight said softly.

“Yes, but he was barely five. He… he had no idea how to deal with things beyond crying for mum. Sometimes I feel he never moved on from there,” Butterscotch said with a hint of bitterness. A few seconds later, he sighed sadly. “I just… became scared. I was afraid the dragon could come one day for me. I barely dared step out of the house until I was ten.”

A beat of silence ensued, as the ponies mulled on Butterscotch’s tale.

“I… I’ve lived in fear ever since. Fifteen years. I’ve been afraid of dragons. I’ve been afraid of death. I’ve been afraid of the unknown, and of everything, really…” Butterscotch sniffed. “I’ve even been afraid of myself. You just saw why.”

Twilight remembered all too well. “It wasn’t you. Not really,” she tried to comfort him.

“But it was,” Butterscotch said firmly. “It was me.” He shrunk, trying to make himself small. “I wanted to hurt the dragon. I wanted to make him pay. I… I wanted to kill him. I always have. Ever since that day. And… today, I snapped. All of it, it was all me,” he sighed sorrowfully. “What if I lose control again? I don’t want to hurt you guys… I won’t blame you if you hate me. I know I do...”

“Butterscotch…” Elusive stood up, walked up to the yellow pegasus, and sat beside him, opposite to Twilight, putting his hoof over his friend’s shoulders. “I’ve seen what fear does to ponies. It changes them. It can turn them into petty, paranoid tyrants, afraid of every shadow, control freaks to whom a single unexpected deviance can represent an existential threat. They withdraw, caring only about themselves, and treat everypony else awfully. Do you think that sounds anything like you?”

“Well… no...”

“No,” he said with a smile. “No, it doesn’t. Fear doesn’t have to change you. It doesn’t have to rule your life. You can be afraid without being cruel or cowardly.”

“But...”

“You claim you are a monster for behaving in such a violent way. Might I remind you that you were protecting us? You didn’t do it for whatever pleasure you might get from a dragon’s suffering. You did it for us. For your grandfather’s memory. All the rage you’ve been carrying since that fateful day, it came from the impotence you felt at seeing your loved ones being hurt. Your wrath was not one born of hatred, but one born of love. Butterscotch, you’re truly the kindest, bravest pony I’ve ever met. I could never hate you. In fact, I’m honoured to call you my friend.”

Twilight nodded in agreement, her eyes watering and a few tears rolling down her cheeks.

“Needless to say, he speaks for all of us,” Rainbow Blitz interjected, calm and measured for once. Applejack tipped his stetson, smiling, while Phil nodded solemnly, drying his own eyes with his forehoof.

Butterscotch was at a loss of words. Tears formed in his eyes, his mouth opening and closing repeatedly as he tried to formulate an answer and failed.

“... Thank you,” he finally said, voice thick with emotion, as his smile grew.

“Hey, what are friends for?” Blitz chuckled light-heartedly.

“Yeah,” Applejack agreed. Then, he added, “Sure, we might not be the best ponies in the world, but we’re friends. We’re here for each other. Don’t be afraid to ask.”

The pegasus’s lip quivered. “Thank you... Really. Thank you so much. You don’t know how much this means to me…”

“Hey, you know what you need, Butterscotch?” Phil grinned. “A party!” he declared cheerfully.

“I’d… I’d rather not, if it’s okay,” Butterscotch smiled softly, wiping out his tears.

“No party, then!” Phil corrected himself, still sporting the same cheerful grin.

Silence settled in again. But this time, it was a companionable, relaxed silence. Twilight yawned, exhaustion creeping on her after everything they had been through these last hours. And from the looks on their faces, she was pretty sure she wasn’t the only one who’d be sleeping soundly in just a few minutes. However, just before her mind could slip off entirely into Artemis’s realm, a question popped into her mind.

“Butterscotch…” she started, then yawned once again, “if it’s not a problem, would you mind telling me just how did you survive the fire? It hit you point blank, by all rights it should have… well…” she finished awkwardly.

“Oh. Well, this,” he said, pointing to his suit of armour, “is an ancient dragon hunter’s armour.”

Oh! “The runes…” Twilight thought out loud. “Of course!”

“Yes. The armour’s enchanted to resist the direct hit of a dragon’s fire breath.”

“That’s amazing! How did you get your hooves on that?” Phil asked, genuinely curious.

“You said your father had gifted it to you, right?” Elusive looked at Butterscotch.

The pegasus nodded. “Yes. It’s been in my family for generations.” He deflated slightly at that. “My paternal family, that is.”

Of course, Twilight thought. It had been Butterscotch’s maternal grandfather who had perished against the dragon. How different things would have been if he'd had the armour, she mused sadly.

Nopony said anything for a few more moments… until Phil yawned profusely. As if some sort of magic bubble had been burst, suddenly every single pony yawned almost in unison.

Twilight chuckled. “We better get some sleep, guys. It was a long day, after all. At dawn, we walk back to Ponyville.”

The stallions nodded in agreement, settling down to sleep on the cavern’s floor.

As Twilight dozed off, she couldn’t help but wonder how things were going on at Ponyville. Just what had Spike and the girls gotten themselves into while they were gone? Twilight was willing to bet that, in the end, he’d had a lot of fun, despite his initial apprehensions.

He had surely been exaggerating. After all, they were just three fillies. What’s the worst they could possibly do?

---

Twilight was speechless, her mouth wide open.

“What… the...” Applejack croaked, trailing off in shock.

“We leave for just two days and Ponyville is on fire,” Rainbow Blitz stated flatly.

The peaceful quaint hamlet had turned into a raging inferno, houses on fire, ponies running in panic down the streets, and what seemed to be a swarm of little flying fur balls moving at breakneck pace across town, devouring everything in their sights.

Phil sighed wearily.

“I’ll go get the orchestra…”

Author's Note:

This chapter was delayed for three simple reasons:

A) It went through many reimaginings, as I tried to spin a new take on the chapter, something that, at this point in the fandom, is very hard to do. So I constantly changed my mind and rewrote scenes. Jury's out on whether, in the end, I did good or not.

B) I tried to finally finish Dark Souls III. My attention was elsewhere.

C) William A Grey made the terrible mistake of starting to read Fallout Equestria: Project Horizons. We could only write whenever I'd caught him in between chapters, and as he's been reading almost nonstop, it was near impossible.

Up next: how the CMC + Spike managed to destroy Ponyville in two days!

PS: As native Spanish speakers, to us English curse words are inherently funny, and therefore, we admittedly may overdo it from time to time.
Regarding in-character profanities, however:
Rainbow Blitz is a Sir Swears-a-Lot, and as we've seen, his colourful language has rubbed off in Scootaloo, who, befitting an impressionable 9 years old filly, thinks swearing is Awesome^TM. Applejack censores himself due to his little sister, but both stallions, when truly pissed off, turn to Cluster F-Bombs.
The rest of the guys, on the other hand, rarely ever use swear words, so whenever they do, it's usually for a reason.

Comments

[Comickook]

Whoa mama. Really good work on this alternate spin on "Dragonshy" (with hints of both "Bridle Gossip" AND "Swarm of the Century", though both of the latter two as CMC/Spike adventures). I LOVED the work that went into the characterizations, action, mix of both humor AND serious stuff, general adventure wrap-up AND future story set-up in all the right places. I especially liked the bits of backstory concerning Butterscotch and her family (including not just his fear of dragons, but also why his parents and brother are the way THEY are). And, yeah, I can see why AJ would get so upset about the dragon's self-centeredness , ESPECIALLY concerning the stakes. And Celestia actually gave a good reason for them NOT bringing Spike in on it.

This chapter took a while, but was VERY well worth the wait.

[Chronokat]

To the victors go the spoils too .... 1 dragon hoard .... check ... dovahscotch badassery .... check .... twilight romance points due to self sacrifice ... check.
Unless your going eris butterscotch route.

[Xalok]

that was a fantastic read https://i.imgur.com/CVfSJ7L.gif

[Slireon]

9473815
Probably because it isn't...?

[William A Grey]

C) William A Grey made the terrible mistake of starting to read Fallout Equestria: Project Horizons. We could only write whenever I'd caught him in between chapters, and as he's been reading almost nonstop, it was near impossible.

I regret nothing! Nothing, I tell ya! All hail Blackjack, the Queen of Whiskey!
camo.fimfiction.net/d2vkkkOpeAdHrb6Ma92E9xYlplv6NS-jG8wreiKFX9s?url=http%3A%2F%2Forig13.deviantart.net%2Fb7c4%2Ff%2F2012%2F034%2Fc%2Fc%2Fwe_ride____by_mistermech-d4oji1q.jpg

9473815

This story doesn't have a "sex" tag. It might have romance (though it's still a bit early for any relationships), but it's highly unlikely to have any sex scenes. Still, who knows.

[xDHannibalxD]

“His armour was actually pretty funny; it made him look like a big onion.”

Your Dark Souls is showing^^

[DavisSentoV5]

This is an amazing concept that I'm surprised no one else has done! I love this plan of Twilight being friends with 5 stallions, who each have feelings for her! Can't wait for more & to see what Spike & the C.M.C. did to Ponyville!

P.S. i wished you did Ticket Master. Not doing that episode was a terrible decision, that needs to be fix.

[Slireon]

First and foremost, thank you all so much for your comments! I hope you've enjoyed it.

9473349
Now, that would be spoiling it :v
I will, however, go on the record and say that Discord is the Spirit of Chaos, rather than just an embodiment of it. Therefore, I'm of the idea that Discord is fundamentally genderless, and everything else, physically and psychologically, depends on Discord's own chaotic, self-indulgent whims.

9478168
It's showing? Well, I had no idea it was hiding, what with the constant use of Dark Souls and Dark Souls-themed music, and Phil literally dressing up as Sunbro and shouting "Praise the Sun" while doing the gesture

9481885
Credit goes to William A. Grey. He came up with that one.

9529587
To be perfectly honest, this idea must have been done already in the 7+ years of this fandom, and for that reason, I'm mixing it up with full-blown Alternate Universe elements and alternative character interpretations to make it feel at least somewhat new and exciting. If it worked, that's for you, the reader, to judge (and tell me).

PS: Ticket Master is actually the episode immediately after Spike/CMC's, and already halfway done. We felt the chapter would benefit by having some further character development and world building before, because, oh boi will the GGG be different.
It shouldn't be a long wait between the publishing of the two chapters.

... of course, first I have to finish Spike/CMC, and that's going to take a while. Co-writer's undivided attention to reading Fallout Equestria: Project Horizons put a brake to writing any further during the vacations, and now, University is my full priority.
The chapter will be up when it's done, but I can't give an estimate.
However, I haven't abandoned the fic and it will be continued.

[William A Grey]

9481885
To be honest, I wanted to make a few more changes to the lyrics, but I feel that part of the song fits Twilight well enough as it is (inserting a few lines about magic, of course). The "pegasus, unicorn and earth pony" line was a tough one, tho; nothing else I came up with fitted the metric of the song xd
Glad to see you enjoyed it!

9529587
9529944
To complement what Slireon said, we're Chileans. Southern Hemisphere. Therefore, our summer vacations ended earlier this month, so we haven't had as much time as we had before.

Me reading 1.8-million-words-long Project Horizons during the final weeks of our vacations didn't help much, lol.

Still, rest assured we will see what the fk the CMCs and Spike did to Ponyville. And Ticket Master is coming next; with a setting like this, skipping that episode would be a crime against humanity, equinity, and anything-else-you-can-think-of-nity (?)

[DavisSentoV5]

9529944
Really? There are other stories (kinda) like this cuz usually its either, the Mane 6 as stallions or its just Twilight as a stallion. Maybe I'm just not looking hard enough.

Also, yay! Love that Ticket Master is actually gonna happen, right after Twilight & the Boys fixing what Spike & The C.M.C. did to Ponyville. I was laughing so hard, when the gang came back to see everything on fire!

Anyways Slireon, you're very welcome & thank you for taking a lot of your time & effort to work on this instant classic. All of us, here reading this very appropriate it & don't worry about the next chapter, we can wait.

[DavisSentoV5]

9529994
Summer ends early for you, guys!?!? You poor bastards...

[William A Grey]

9530002
I mean, we had summer vacations from early December to early March, so... Yeah, they were cool.

What does suck is celebrating Christmas with 35°C (95°F, I think). You bastards in the north celebrate with snow, warm food, and overall nice things... and down here we're melting our asses away with seasonally-inappropriate decorations xd

[DavisSentoV5]

9530095
Damn that sucks...

[SWEETOLEBOB18]

“Your guess is as good as ours,” the white unicorn said, shrugging.

To get it the Hell out of the house

[SWEETOLEBOB18]

Applejack was not a book smart pony. Mathematics made his head ache, and History made him drowsy. He’d never cared to learn much about what he didn’t need for his daily basis. He knew very little about dragons, beyond whatever Twilight or Spike had told him.

[kitsune119]

(read with musical tone)Phil Pie the party guy phil phil phil
Please someone get the reference i dont want to feel old

[Mythic Night]

Rainbow Blitz shot up into the air and tried to ram the dragon in the back. Unfortunately for him, the dragon wheeled around, his claw clenched in a fist, and ran it straight against the pegasus’s face. He was immediately knocked out, crumbling to the ground unconscious. The dragon raised his right leg to stomp on the pegasus.

This thing is too big to hit something as specific as a tiny pony face. This should just say that it struck Blitz.