Filmatic Escapades: The Pagemaster

by Toonwriter

Heart of a Dragon

As they moved further into the jungle, Richard, Twilight, and their friends noticed that the colors around them began to change. Many new and more brilliant hues fanned out before them.

"Wow..." Twilight spoke out in awe, pushing her way through the flower-lined thicket.

"Look at this place!" Richard exclaimed, feeling the same as Twilight.

"It's so beautiful!" Fluttershy exclaimed.

Soon, the group arrived at a magical meadow. Fairy dust shimmered everywhere. Groves of trees hung heavy with fat, juicy buds. As they walked past, the ripe buds unfolded, offering not flowers, but books. "Is this the Fantasy section?" Nyx asked in wonder as she looked around in amazement.

Spike, noticing a satyr playing a panpipe as they walked past him, spoke, "I got a feeling it is."

Not long after, they found themselves at the top of what looked like a cliff overlooking an enchanted forest. The group looked on in awe at what lay before them just as an old lady flew by on the back of a larger-than-life goose.

"Look! Mother Goose!" Richard exclaimed, recognizing the old lady.

"Hey, girl!" Fantasy called out.

As she flew past, Mother Goose passed by a castle tower where a handsome prince was climbing up a ladder made from long, golden hair. Pinkie noticed a magnificent carriage drawn by horses speeding down the road. In the carriage was a young woman dressed like a very beautiful princess.

"Hi, Cinderella!" She exclaimed ecstatically, waving to the maiden as she rode by.

The princess, Cinderella, waved to the group as her carriage drove on.

"This place is amazing!" Ben remarked.

They soon noticed a group made up of a young girl clad in a blue gingham dress and silver shoes, a little black dog, a scarecrow, a man made from tin and a lion happily skip down the road past the group. Before anyone could say anything, a group of cheery mice bounced around Adventure's feet, offering squeaks of friendship.

"Arrrr!" Adventure grumbled with disgust, "Happyland."

The mice scampered toward Horror, who accepted them enthusiastically. He fell back onto a soft bed of giggling flowers, ready to burst with joy. "I could be misshelved here for a long time," he said.

"Awww! Hello, little mice!" Fluttershy greeted the mice happily. The mice squeaked happily on seeing the kind pegasus.

Soon, six blue shimmering fairies arrived. They danced through the air around Richard, the books, ponies and dragons.

"Whoa!" Nyx exclaimed on seeing the fairies.

"Hello, my little babies. Hi!" Fantasy greeted her twittering little friends in baby talk.

Richard cupped his hands and allowed one of the fairies to land inside. Bringing his hands down, he looked in awe to see the little fairy dancing in his hands like a graceful ballerina. Before long, three more of the fairies landed in the palms of his hands and danced to their hearts' contents before they flew off.

The foals smiled in amazement as the fairies flew over them, illuminating them with their light. The fairies then flew back around Richard, two of them taking his glasses. The boy just laughed before he chased after them. Adventure found no humor in this and drew his sword.

"I knew it! They're all little thieves!" He proclaimed before the other fairies descended on him and made off with his sword, "Hey, now they've got my sword!"

"Oh, they're just being playful." Fantasy said, defending her little friends.

""Playful?" I'll show 'em "playful" when I get hold of the little..." The pirate book snapped, clopping after the fairies, "Come back here with my sword!"

"So ya wanna play, huh?" Nyx asked the fairies with a playful smirk.

"Come on, after them!" Apple Bloom exclaimed eagerly as she started chasing after the fairies with the other foals, except Sweetie following her lead.

"Wait! I'm coming, too!" Sweetie called out as she joined the chase.

The group chased after the mischievous fairies down the yellow brick road, rushing past many fairy tale settings and characters. One of these characters was a slumbering maiden in a glen and her prince stealing a kiss, awakening her from her slumber.

As they went on down the road, Fluttershy, Nyx, Phobos and Spike waved to three pigs who each were building a house; one of straw, one of sticks, and one of bricks. The pigs waved back at the Equestrians who waved at them.

The fairies came near an egg, Humpty Dumpty, having trouble sitting atop a wall before he eventually managed to gain balance. Humpty smiled upon seeing the two fairies carrying the glasses, before they placed them on the egg’s face and he immediately felt dizzy. Humpty soon lost his balance as he yelled out before he fell off the wall and, as his nursery rhyme usually goes, had a great fall. The fairies took the glasses off and held them up while the egg crashed onto the floor with a crack.

In a matter of seconds, Richard, the books, ponies and dragons followed the mischievous fairies to a cave. "Hey, come here! Those are my glasses!" Richard exclaimed, chasing the fairies who still had his glasses up the rocky hill, "Hey! Don't go up there!"

"Wait up, Richard!" Phobos said as he, Nyx, Spike, Twilight and Ben followed him up the hill.

"Come back, you little rascals!" Scootaloo shouted playfully to the fairies as she and the rest of the Cutie Mark Crusaders ran up the hill also.

The fairies carrying Adventure's sword entered the cave at the base of the hill. Adventure, Fantasy, Horror and the remaining ponies looked into the cave, not sure what they would find in there.

Inside the cave, a strong wind whipped ribbons of red smoke around rows of sharply pointed stalactites and stalagmites.

"It looks... s-s-scary in there." Horror stammered.

"I agree." Fluttershy whimpered, "I don't think we should go inside."

"What's the matter? Is Adventure afraid to go in?" Fantasy asked teasingly, giving the old seaman a mocking glance. She knew that he was stalling.

That struck a nerve with Adventure, who turned to glance at the fairy godbook. "What? I live for moments like this!" He retorted, turning around and walking further into the cave.

"Um... you guys go on." Fluttershy said nervously, "I... think I'll just... go back. Or... be with Twilight."

"Come on, scaredy-pony." Rainbow said while pushing Fluttershy forward, "We gotta find that sword."

"But... but..." Fluttershy tried to protest, but it was no use. Then she gave a tiny little whimper.

Speaking of Twilight, she, Richard, her family, and the Cutie Mark Crusaders continued up the rocky hill, searching for the fairies and his glasses. Fortunately, the blond boy didn't have to look too far for he found his glasses on the ground just after the fairies flew away and put them on. When he looked up, he gasped happily.

"What is it, Richard?" Twilight asked, walking up to him.

"Look! There it is! The exit!"

Indeed, just as Richard had pointed out at the top of a very high and steep-looking mountain were the unmistakable glowing green letters displaying an "Exit" sign.

"We're close to the end!" Twilight added, looking excited.

"Let's go!" Ben shouted with confidence.

"All right!" The Cutie Mark Crusaders, Nyx, Spike and Phobos cheered in unison.

Back down in the cave, Adventure was cautiously walking deeper inside, carefully observing his surroundings as Rainbow Dash and Applejack followed him.

"We better be careful, Rainbow Dash." Applejack warned her blue pegasus friend, "Whoever or whatever's in this cave could be dangerous."

"Applejack, aren't you forgetting all the things we went up against?" Rainbow asked, a bit of smugness in her voice.

"Point taken." Applejack said, "But still, we have to stick together."

Adventure, not acknowledging either mare's words, looked ahead and beamed widely. There at the back of the cave was none other than his sword.

"Me sword!" He said excitedly, picking it up.

"Well, well! Looks like we found the sword!" Rainbow remarked with a smile.

Adventure hummed to himself in delight, swinging the sword around. Applejack and Rainbow both kept their distance so he wouldn't slash either mare by accident. However, he did end up slicing a stalagmite from the ceiling. What followed then was something neither of the three were anticipating; the cave began to violently shake.

"Whoa! What the hay?!" Rainbow asked in shock as she briefly struggled to keep her balance before she took to the air.

Outside the cave, the rest could feel the earth shaking as well.

"Good heavens, what is that?!" Rarity asked, trying to stay steady.

"What's happening?!" Toola Roola asked in fear as she and Coconut Cream got near Starlight.

"Uh-oh! Pinchy knees!" Pinkie said in concern despite bouncing from the shaking like a jackhammer.

Atop the hill, Twilight took to the air with Spike, Nyx and Phobos. "I got a feeling I know what it is!"

Richard, Ben and the CMC managed to hold onto a pointed rock for support as the former and the lilac alicorn both shouted, "EARTHQUAKE!!!!!"

"Whoa! Hang on!" Ben shouted as he, Richard and the Cutie Mark Crusaders struggled to climb onto the pointy rock. Then in front of them, Twilight, Spike, Nyx and Phobos, two huge round rocks rolled off, revealing a pair of red-hot eyes!

Spike's eyes shrank at seeing this. "Oh, crud..."

Richard yelled out in fear and alarm at seeing the large red eyes. Back down in the cave, Adventure, Applejack and Rainbow were making a beeline for the entrance of the cave. The reason? A wall of fire was coming their way.

"MAKE WAY!!!!" Rainbow shouted in panic.

"RUN!!!!" Applejack cried in fright.

Just when it seemed like neither of the three would make it, Horror, Rarity and Pinkie were waiting at the entrance and pulled Adventure, Applejack and Rainbow out of the way of the wall of fire.

"JUMP!!!!" Pinkie screamed as she and the other five in the cave jumped out of the entrance, narrowly dodging a fireball. At the same moment, Fluttershy and Fantasy flew out quickly, ahead of the others.

The "cave" shook even more, shedding its rocky exterior to reveal that it wasn't a cave at all. It was a giant dragon!

"DRAGON!!!!" Fluttershy cried in fear.

"Richard, Ben! Let go of that thing!" Twilight cried.

"No need to tell me twice!" Ben said frantically as he quickly lets go of the pointy rock, which turned out to be the dragon's horn on its snout. Thinking fast, he jumped off and headed to the others on the ground.

"Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo! You too!" Nyx cried.

However, Richard- along with the Cutie Mark Crusaders- were too frozen with fear to let go. As the dragon stood up and tall, it noticed the boy and fillies practically latched onto its horn snout and literally tried shaking them off to get them to let go.

The instant she opened her pages, Fantasy turned to Horror as she said urgently, "Quick! Find page 1,001!"

The hunchbook frantically searched through the pages until he reached the one Fantasy indicated. "Arabian Nights?"

"That's it!" Fantasy replied.

Horror then tore out the page, nearly flinging himself away as he did so. Fantasy looked to the torn page, waved her wand and zapped it, magically turning it into a magic carpet.

"Get the boy and the fillies!" She commanded the carpet, which took off instantly, flying towards the dragon.

In that same instance, the dragon successfully shook Richard, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo off its snout horn. The four could only scream as they fell a hundred feet to the ground. Luckily, for them, the magic carpet caught them in the nick of time.

"Richard! Girls!" Nyx exclaimed as she saw what just happened before she and Phobos flew towards the four that landed on the carpet.

"Whew! That was too close for comfort!" Apple Bloom exclaimed, feeling shaken.

"Yeah!" Sweetie agreed, scared from what just happened.

Scootaloo then noticed the dragon getting ready to breathe fire at them. "STEP ON THE GAS, GUYS!!!" She shouted in panic.

""Gas?" We're on a magic carpet." Richard replied in confusion.

"Whatever! Just go, carpet! GO, GO, GO!!!" Apple Bloom yelled frantically.

As if not needing to be told twice, the magic carpet zipped off through the trees, barely avoiding the blast of fire the dragon launched at them. Richard and the CMC shouted in panic as they held on tight to the carpet, Nyx and Phobos flanking them. They barely avoided running into Adventure, who ducked down and they skidded to a halt, causing the boy and fillies to fall off the carpet.

"Apple Bloom!" Applejack shouted in concern as she ran up to the fallen kids.

"Sweetie Belle!" Rarity cried as she followed Applejack's lead.

"Scootaloo!" Rainbow shouted as she flew towards Richard and the CMC.

Twilight flew up to Richard, "Are you guys okay??"

"Yeah, thanks to the magic carpet." Richard replied as he held his head.

Speaking of the magic carpet, it scooped Richard back on top of it with the CMC.

"Come on, the exit's up there!" He said, pointing to the top of the mountain in the distance.

"We're with ya, Richie!" Pinkie said as she and the others got onto the carpet.

"Let's go!" Spike cried as they took off.

As they flew, the group gasped in unison while looking behind them as the giant dragon gave chase, breathing fire at them, burning the landscape and the trees in the process. Richard, the books, and the non-pegasus ponies held onto the carpet tightly as they streaked up into the clouds. It glided smoothly over the clouds. Though Richard was scared of heights, the ride excited him. He almost didn't want it to end. Then the carpet veered and swooped down lower, taking them over magical cloud worlds filled with giants, genies and castles.

Then the carpet began to soar upward again towards the top of the mountain, where the exit resides.

"We're gonna make it!" Richard cheered while raising his fist.

"Hooray, we're gonna make-!" Horror cheered, waving his own fists, but accidentally smacked Fantasy's wand out of her grip, "Oops!"

"My wand!" Fantasy cried. As it chased after our heroes, the dragon, who was flying after them while flapping its enormous wings, snapped its mouth, catching the fairy godbook's wand.

"Oh, baby." Fantasy remarked in concern upon seeing that, "I wish that hadn't happened."

Twilight gulped and murmured, "Well... it can't get any worse..."

But then, the giant dragon stopped for a moment, opened its mouth wide open, took a deep breath, and let out a huge streak of fire, which made a direct hit on the group riding the carpet, causing them all to scream while most of them held their butts from the intense heat.

All of a sudden, the magic carpet began to go down towards the mountain. Twilight, Spike, Rainbow, Fluttershy, Nyx and Phobos quickly followed after them as the carpet began descending in the direction of the mountain. There, upon reaching the side of the mountain, the carpet skidded a couple times along the cliff before crashing into a bunch of rocks that resembled books.

And when they finally came to a stop, the rocks fell on top of the group. Thankfully, Richard lifted one of the rocks on top of him and shrugged it off like it was nothing. He looked up to see the "Exit" sign just above him.

Twilight immediately flew up to him, "You okay??"

"Better than okay!" Richard answered, gesturing to the "Exit" sign above them, "We're almost there!"

"Holy Celestia, you're right!" Rainbow exclaimed as she looked at the mountaintop.

"Come on, guys! The exit!" Richard shouted urgently as he looked at the fallen group while pointing to the top of the mountain.

Applejack groaned, "I heard of bein' on fire, but that was nuts."

"Now I really wish I could fly." Scootaloo groaned.

The books themselves were tangled up in a heap. Richard, Twilight and Spike hardly noticed their friends not following and made a mad dash for the "Exit" sign.

"This way, guys!" The blond boy exclaimed.

"I'll race you guys!" The lilac alicorn proclaimed.

"You're on!" Spike retorted, racing the other two.

"Twilight! Spike! Richard! Wait!" Fluttershy cried.

"The others are in trouble here!" Rainbow cried.

"Get off me!" Adventure snapped, struggling to get Horror and Trixie off of him.

As Fluttershy, Rainbow, Nyx and Phobos helped the remaining group members to their feet, they noticed a dark shadow looming over them. When they looked up, they all saw something that made their hearts stop out of fear. The dragon was right over them about to land! As it searched for them, the blue sky turned into a fiery orange before it found them while glaring at them. Rainbow looked around in panic before noticing a crevice in the side of the mountain.

"In there! C'mon!" The cyan pegasus cried, zipping towards the crevice. At that moment, the dragon breathed fire at the group, who screamed as they ran into the crevice, avoiding the flames that hit near the narrow opening, blackening the area around it.

Meanwhile, with Richard, Twilight and Spike, the trip kept climbing up the side of the mountain, unaware of the fact their friends weren't right behind them. Halfway, the alicorn and dragon had decided to climb up with the glasses-wearing boy because they figured flying would give them an unfair advantage.

"Almost there!" Spike exclaimed, climbing up. Richard had stopped for a few seconds to look to his right. Not too far from them, he saw on a nearby ledge a skeleton wearing armor and clutching a sword and shield. Without a second thought, he kept climbing with Twilight and Spike, his eyes on the "Exit" sign as they got closer.

Soon, the three successfully got onto the mountaintop, seeing the exit sign hovering over an ancient dome-shaped observatory.

"WE MADE IT!" Richard shouted triumphantly with a jump.

"We did it! We did it!" Twilight exclaimed, hopping up and down like an excited filly.

"I knew we could do it, guys!" Spike shouted ecstatically.

However, they didn't hear the other ponies or books sharing their excitement. At that, the three looked around to see no sign of their friends. It wasn't until they heard a growl from below that the boy, alicorn and dragon finally looked back to see they were alone.

"... Guys?" Richard asked in confusion.

"Where'd everypony go?" Spike asked, sharing Richard's confusion.

Looking down the side of the mountain, Twilight spied the dragon, the source of the growl, near the crevice.

"Oh no! In our rush to get to the exit, we left the others behind with the dragon!" The lilac alicorn cried in horror and realization.

Back down in the crevice, the remaining members of the group looked fearful. They immediately pressed themselves against the wall as tightly as they could just before a billow of fire and smoke blew inside. Pinkie, being the random pony she was, brought out of her mane a pole with a marshmallow stuck on one end and held the marshmallow over the flames. As soon as the flames died down, she brought the stick back to reveal her marshmallow was nice and toasty.

"Perfect!" The party pony exclaimed excitedly, quickly pulling the marshmallow off and sandwiching it between two graham crackers and pieces of chocolate and then eating it.

"How could you eat at a time like this?!" Trixie asked in annoyance.

"I practice." Pinkie replied simply, a smile on her face.

After getting off the wall, Adventure drew out his sword as he shouted in determination while starting towards the opening, "This dragon is history!"

Before he could make an inch to the crevice's entrance, Fantasy stopped him by holding onto his arm.

"Don't try to stop me!" Adventure snapped as he got his arm off while glaring at the fairy godbook.

Fantasy only looked concerned as she landed. "Be careful." She managed to tell the pirate book.

This got Adventure to soften while looking surprised. He didn't expect to hear that from Fantasy. While keeping his eyes focused on her, he tossed his cutlass over his shoulder behind him, to the purple book's surprise, before the brown book put his hook behind his back and held her hand with his only hand while getting on his knee and bowing to her.

Fantasy smiled and giggled. "You really are a classic." She spoke modestly as she looked away... ... only for Adventure to turn her around to face him again, causing the fairy godbook to gasp. What happened next was something nobody else was expecting; Adventure leaned his face towards Fantasy's and immediately pulled her into a deep kiss! The purple book, at first, flailed her arms in shock, but let them droop as she melted into the kiss.

As it happened, Horror smiled before laughing bashfully as he covered his eyes while turning away before he uncovered his face while looking at the romantic moment. Rainbow, Pinkie and Applejack looked shocked at the sight, not expecting this to happen.

"Oh... my..." Fluttershy gasped, bringing a hoof to her mouth as she blushed.

"Oh, how romantic!" Rarity said lovingly at the sight.

"Whoa nelly!" Ben exclaimed in shock.

The CMC, Nyx, Phobos, Toola Roola and Coconut Cream looked shocked at this as well for one moment, but then... "Awwww!" The foals and moon dragon exclaimed lovingly in unison, all of them hovering for a bit. They all find this moment romantic.

After seconds of holding the kiss, Adventure finally broke it and Fantasy looked at him with a dazed yet goofy smile. The pirate book then lifted his eyepatch and wiggled his eyebrows.

"How would you like to... curl up with a good book?" He asked in a romantic tone of voice.

SMACK!!!

Adventure got smacked so hard by Fantasy, he got sent flying out of the cave and into the open.

"Oh, me binding!" He cried as he tumbled over and over.

An irate Fantasy stormed out of the crevice as he complained.

"IN YOUR DREAMS!" Fantasy yelled angrily in response to the pirate book's suggestion.

Rarity then joined her, looking annoyed. "After all, there are children present!" She snapped.

Turning around, Fantasy scoffed while fluttering before she flew back inside the crevice. Rarity turned around, turning her nose up with a 'Hmph' before following Fantasy back inside.

Adventure groaned, clearly dazed from being shoved so hard.

"Adventure! Up here!" Richard called from the top of the mountain.

Hearing the boy's voice calling out to him, Adventure turned around, looking up at him, Twilight and Spike as he shouted, "Go on, lads! Save yerselves!" A familiar dragon flew up over the ledge, glaring down at him. Unaware of what's behind him, Adventure spoke to the three at the mountaintop, "You think a bag of hot air is enough to stop me?! Dragon. He's more like a dragonfly, he is! And with big teeth!"

"Uh... Adventure?" Spike asked, pointing behind the pirate book.

"LOOK OUT!" Richard shouted, also pointing behind Adventure.

"BEHIND YOU!" Twilight yelled frantically.

Adventure turned around and looked up, becoming immediately frozen with terror as the large dragon towered over him. The large beast glared down at him before blasting him with fire, causing the pirate book to scream. The rest of the group inside winced as they watched what had happened before Adventure stumbled back into the crevice, looking charred.

"Hoo-wee. That's one way to get fired up." Applejack commented, feeling bad for Adventure.

"You said it." Rainbow agreed, feeling just as bad.

The pirate book's bandanna was burned, and one of the hairs on his big mustache was sizzling. Then he landed on his rear end between Fantasy and Horror.

"Happy birthday." Horror remarked before blowing out the fire on his mustache. Then the fried pirate book fainted. Fluttershy looked at Adventure with concern and sympathy then at the dragon with fear. She looked back at the pirate book for a moment.

"How dare you?" The yellow pegasus asked as she glared at the giant dragon with determination and anger. "HOW DARE YOU?!?"

Rarity looked nervous for her timid Pegasus friend’s sake. “Um, Fluttershy darling? I don’t think-.”

Ignoring the white unicorn, Fluttershy flew out of the crevice and up to the dragon's level, landing on the snout and trotting up to stare it eye to eye.

"Listen here, mister!" Fluttershy shouted, "Just because you’re big doesn’t mean you get to be a bully! You may have huge teeth and sharp scales and breathe fire, but you do not, I repeat, you do NOT HURT MY FRIENDS! You got that?!"

Those were almost the exact same words she yelled at the giant red dragon back in Equestria, who cowered from her assertiveness. However, this dragon, who never cowered from her yelling or her glaring, only snapped its jaws at the pegasus, making her dodge in the nick of time. Fluttershy parted her mane out of her face to glare at the giant beast.

"So that's how it is, is it?" She asked calmly yet angrily, "There's no taming you?" The yellow tossed her mane fully away from her face as she shouted, "Fine! If you'd rather try to kill us..." Then she puts on a fighting stance as she finished, "Then give it your best shot!"

The dragon breathed fire at Fluttershy, who dodged it by zooming upward, flew towards it, and punched it across the face!

From where they stood, Richard, Twilight and Spike watched on in concern for their friends.

“We gotta do something!” Twilight said in concern. The blond boy looked to the exit, then back to the large dragon and once again back to the exit. His eyebrows lowered in determination as he made up his mind and looked back to where their remaining friends were.

“Hang on, guys! We’re coming!” Richard called to them, making a dash back toward their trapped friends.

Spike smiled, flying after him. “Atta boy, Rich!”

"Yeah! Let's go!" Twilight shouted with confidence, following the two.

The three were nearly down the set of stairs when Richard once again noticed the armor-clad skeleton. “A sword!”

He quickly ran over to the skeleton and picked up its helmet, placing it atop his head. The boy at first had trouble keeping the helmet from falling over his eyes, but tilted it back. He then took the shield from the skeleton, whose arm crumbled to dust as soon as he yanked it off before taking the sword just as the skull also crumbled.

"Now you look like a knight!" Spike praised Richard.

"Just what we need! Come on!" Twilight said.

With that, they charged back towards the action. Richard stopped briefly, looking determined and with a “Yes!”, he ran down the steps towards the dragon with Twilight and Spike following him.

“Hey, Horn-Head!” Twilight called to the dragon, getting its attention, “Over here!”

The dragon looked in the direction of the three charging at it.

"Richard! Twilight! Spike!" Fluttershy exclaimed in delight on seeing them.

“Hope we didn’t miss too much!” Spike replied, zipping up next to Fluttershy.

"Not at all!" Fluttershy confirmed.

“Sorry for leaving you guys. We thought you were right behind us.” Twilight apologized, looking a bit guilty.

"It's all right." Fluttershy replied, "Everyone was still barely recovering from the crash."

Spike turned to Richard, "We'll distract him. You show that dragon who's boss!"

"Right!" Richard nodded before he charged at the dragon with his sword and shield ready.

Watching the action, a determined look grew on Ben's face. "They're not gonna be the only ones fighting that dragon!"

"Yeah! Can't let Twilight and Fluttershy have all the action!" Rainbow agreed, sharing Ben's courage.

"I agree! For Princess Twilight, I'll fight, too!" Starlight shouted with bravery in her eyes.

"If Starlight is fighting, then the Great and Powerful Trixie will fight, too!" Trixie shouted with determination.

"You know what?" Rarity asked, narrowing her eyes, "I, for one, am inspired by Fluttershy's courage and determination after she was rudely rebuffed by that brute even when she talked it down!"

"Well, what're we fiddlin' around here for? Let's get out there and throw down!" Applejack shouted.

"Yeah! Let's help our friends!" Pinkie shouted.

"And slay that giant dragon!" Nyx added.

"We're with ya, Nyx!" Apple Bloom said as she stepped up boldly.

"We're not afraid of it anymore!" Sweetie agreed in determination.

"We fought countless evil creatures before, starting with when we helped against Boris!" Scootaloo remarked.

"I'll fight him, too!" Toola Roola said with a determined look on her face.

"Me too!" Coconut Cream agreed, "We're not scared of the dragon anymore either!"

Ben brought out his Master Sword as he shouted, "Then fellow Equestrians, LET'S GO GET HIM!!!!"

Then the Equestrians charged out of the crevice towards the dragon, crying out like warriors in a battlefield.

Seeing Richard charge at the dragon, a recovered Adventure smiled proudly. “HA HA! THAT’S IT, BOY! GO FOR THE GIZZARD!!”

Richard slashed his sword at the dragon's ankle, hitting it a couple times.

“Bite him! Bite him!” Horror encouraged, barking and growling as if he were actually a dog. Spike quickly punched the dragon in the nose. The bigger dragon was, of course, not entirely phased by this, but glared at the smaller one as if he made a huge mistake. It snapped its teeth at Spike, who fortunately zipped out of the way in time.

“Missed me, missed me! Please don’t kiss me!” Spike teased in singsong before blowing a raspberry at the great beast.

Scootaloo jumped onto the monster's foot and bit onto one of its toes as hard as she could, but she was shaken off.

"Hi-yah!" Apple Bloom shouted as she hit the dragon's ankle with a flying karate kick. That didn't affect the giant dragon, of course, as it glared at her and Scootaloo before snapping at them. Luckily, Apple Bloom was narrowly saved by Applejack who roped the former to her with her lasso at the same time Rainbow swooped from the sky to snatch Scootaloo.

"Gotcha, little buddy! Now hang on!" Rainbow said as she put the orange pegasus filly on her back.

“Hey! Pea-brain!” The dragon looked down to see Richard holding his sword at the ready. Just then, the scaled monster shot a blast of fire at the boy. Thankfully, he had his shield up despite letting loose with a frightened yell as the fire came down on him. Once the fire cleared, Richard glared in determination and charged into battle, flailing his sword like crazy.

"You mess with Richard, you mess with me!" Nyx shouted at the giant creature angrily as she started glowing before she turned to her Battle Form and flew up with Phobos. The two charged at it and fired at it with their magic and fire respectively.

Bothered by the blasts, the dragon swatted at both Nyx and Phobos as if they were pesky flies, but the two dodged its swats.

“Let’s PARTY!!!” Pinkie shouted, aiming her party cannon and then firing a giant cake at the dragon.

After being hit by the cake, the dragon shook off the contents before glaring at Pinkie in rage before breathing fire at her.

Fortunately, she bounced out of the way just before she could feel the flames.

"Eat diamonds, you beast!" Rarity shouted as she used magic to conjure a swarm of diamonds at the dragon.

Growling, the gigantic creature swatted away any diamonds that came his way.

“Over here!”

The dragon spun his head around to see Trixie standing there with a smirk on her face. It then breathed fire at her just as she twirled clothes around herself, seemingly charring her to ashes. However…

“Yoo-hoo!” The great beast spun around to see Trixie standing in a different spot, unscathed.

“Now, Starlight!” The silver-maned unicorn cried.

Smirking from nearby, Starlight fired up her horn and shot a ray of magic at the dragon. As soon as the ray of magic died away, the gang found in the dragon’s place a small, harmless frog.

"Ha! Gotcha!" Starlight laughed in triumph.

"Wow! How'd you do that?" Richard asked in amazement.

"Magic." Starlight replied proudly.

"Women." Adventure grumbled under his breath, "Everything's magic to them."

The dragon-frog suddenly croaked. Its eyes bulged out and it grew a tail that expanded to three feet. This had caused everyone to once again look worried.

“Starlight? How long was that spell supposed to last?” Twilight asked nervously.

"I forgot! On a dragon this size, a spell wears off really fast!" Starlight explained fearfully.

The frog croaked again one more time and grew to twenty feet back into a dragon! It let out a bellowing roar of rage, making everybody freeze with fear. Everyone, except Richard who charged into battle just below the beast’s underbelly.

“Richard, WAIT!!!” Twilight shouted.

"STOP!!!" Ben shouted.

“COME BACK!!!” Spike shouted, flying after him.

“WATCH OUT FOR HIS TAIL!!!” Fantasy exclaimed.

"RICHARD!!!" Nyx, Phobos, the CMC, Toola Roola and Coconut Cream cried in unison as they ran/flew after the boy with Spike.

Spike, Phobos and the fillies had caught up with Richard, who was standing just below the lower part of the giant dragon’s neck, presumably where its soft spot was. But before he could strike, the dragon whipped its tail around and snatched the boy, along with the smaller dragons and little ponies.

"Get him! You got him on the run!" Adventure shouted as the mishap happened.

Fantasy just screamed as she, Adventure, Horror and the remaining ponies looked on in shock and dismay. Richard did his best to look determined, but his determination, along with his sword, shield and helmet, ended up being literally shaken off of him.

"The knight gear!" Scootaloo cried as she saw it happen.

Then the giant dragon held the helpless kids towards it, glaring at them with a growl.

Despite struggling in vain and the situation they're in, the nine all glared at the creature as Richard pointed at it while shouting in defiance, "I'm not scared of you!"

Unfortunately, the dragon saw this gesture as no threat and threw the nine into the air before catching them in its mouth and swallowing.

"NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!" Starlight screamed in horror and despair on seeing what just happened.

"APPLE BLOOM!!!!" Applejack cried.

"SWEETIE BELLE!!!!" Rarity wailed.

"SCOOTALOO!!!!" Rainbow screamed.

"SPIKE!!!! NYX!!!! PHOBOS!!!!" Twilight cried.

Inside the dragon, Richard, Spike, Nyx, Phobos and the other fillies slid down the throat as they screamed. They felt as though they were going down a slide at a playground or amusement park, except they weren’t too excited about this slide. Eventually, they landed onto what seemed like an acre of land within the dragon's stomach.

"Oooh, rough landing!" Phobos commented as he rubbed his rear from the hard fall.

“Now what?” Apple Bloom asked, looking around for a way out as she coughed a bit.

"I don't know." Sweetie replied, also coughing some. Richard coughed as well, then yelled out in startlement as a bubble in the stomach acid burst, letting out a blast of fire, before he coughed again.

“We gotta get out of here, that’s for sure.” Richard answered, attempting to climb up the walls, only to fall while attempting to get his footing.

In the spot he fell, the boy felt something poking against his rear end. He pulled it out to reveal that what he found was… “Fantasy’s wand!” He exclaimed hopefully.

"Oh, right! The dragon swallowed that stick!" Toola Roola said, remembering what happened earlier.

"Maybe there's still some magic in it to get us out!" Coconut Cream said with hope.

Richard smiled at the thought of that. He then began waving it, hoping to get some magic sparks from it. What he got, however, were just a few pitiful squeaks with each wave, dampening his and the others’ spirits.

“Well, it was worth a try.” Spike said defeated.

"This is not good." Richard sighed as he pocketed the wand, "Definitely not good at all."

"Now what'll we do?" Scootaloo asked with a frown.

“We could fly up there.” Nyx spoke thoughtfully, looking up.

“We could, but there’s one problem.” Spike added, “We can’t carry everyone at the same time.”

"And besides that, I can't fly." Scootaloo added.

Sweetie looked at Nyx, “Can you teleport all of us out?”

"I could try, but I'm not as good as mommy or Starlight." Nyx replied, "In other words, teleporting out of a creature like this is an advanced spell."

“There’s gotta be something we can do…” Phobos added, looking around for a possible exit.

All of a sudden, a familiar elderly voice echoed through their minds, “Look to the books. Looks to the books…”

"Look to the books..." Richard repeated aloud before turning to a pile of books cluttered nearby, "Look to the books!"

“Oh yeah!” Toola Roola exclaimed, rummaging through a few of the books.

Almost immediately, the others followed suite and sorted through the books, hoping to find one that would help them escape the literal belly of the beast.

Richard picked up one book and looked at the cover, entitled... ""Alice in Wonderland"." Richard read aloud before he opened the book and started skimming through the pages.

"OFF WITH HIS HEAD!!!!" The head of the crazy Queen of Hearts yelled as she popped out like a jack-in-the-box. Her hysterical yelling made Richard's hair, along with the manes of the ponies, feel like they were blowing in the wind from that before the boy quickly slammed the book shut and the queen was gone.

The other kids had to cover their ears at the loudness of the Queen of Hearts’ voice. “Geez, she didn’t need to yell.” Spike grunted.

"That's for sure." Scootaloo agreed while rubbing the inside of her right ear.

"Let's try something else." Apple Bloom said as she resumed searching through the books.

After recovering from that scare, Sweetie pulled from the pile of books The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. “How about this one?” She suggested.

""The Wonderful Wizard of Oz"? Let's see." Nyx said as her unicorn friend opened the book with her unicorn magic while skimming through the pages.

Suddenly, a massive green head popped out from the pages. “I AM OZ THE GREAT AND TERRIBLE!! WHY DO YOU SEEK ME?!” The head known as Oz boomed in a deep and thunderous voice, glaring down at an alarmed Nyx.

Startled by this, the Alicorn filly shut the book, making the head disappear.

"Yikes! Definitely not that one!" Sweetie exclaimed.

“How about this one?” Spike suggested, showing Richard a book titled Peter Pan. The latter looked it over and shook his head, putting it down.

"Maybe... this one?" Apple Bloom suggested while showing another book.

Richard looked over the book titled Beauty and the Beast. He again shook his head and put it down. But then, he noticed another book and picked it up.

“Jack and the Beanstalk!”

"Yeah, this should help!" Nyx exclaimed eagerly.

Richard searched through the pages briefly before he found a specific section. Upon doing so, he placed the open book down as it shook.

“Stand back, guys.” He insisted as he took a couple of steps back.

The fillies and dragons did as Richard said while looking at the book. After a moment, a thick beanstalk started to shoot up out of the pages! The stalk grew faster and faster, coiling up through the dragon's throat.

"A beanstalk!" Scootaloo cried.

“Quick, grab on!” Richard exclaimed as he did so himself.

The others leaped onto the stalk and the kids all shot up with it.

"Hang on, guys!" Nyx shouted.

"I hate HEEEIIIGGHHTTSS!!" Richard cried as he held on tight.

Outside of the dragon’s mouth, the great beast felt something coming up its throat. It suddenly opened its mouth as the beanstalk shot up and grew out of its great maw parallel to the side of the mountain as a certain boy, dragons and fillies held on tight.

The Mane Six, Ben, Starlight, Trixie, Adventure, Fantasy, and Horror watched in amazement. They were even more surprised when Richard, Spike, Nyx, Phobos, the CMC, Toola, and Coconut came riding up out of the dragon's mouth.

Their surprise turn to excitement as they started cheering in joy and delight while jumping.

"MATEYS!!" Adventure cheered.

“They’re alive!” Fantasy shouted excitedly.

Fantasy, Twilight, Rainbow and Fluttershy flew alongside the kids on the beanstalk just as Spike, Nyx and Phobos let go so they could fly themselves. As they neared the ledge where the others were waiting, Richard opened an arm to catch Adventure and Horror as he neared them.

“Come on, guys!” He called as he scooped up the pirate book and hunchbook.

“Let’s go!” Starlight exclaimed, hopping onto the beanstalk and holding on.

“Right behind you!” Trixie called, hopping on.

"All aboard the Beanstalk Express!" Pinkie announced as she hopped on.

“Goin’ up!” Applejack said as she held on and the beanstalk grew towards the top of the mountain.

"Jump on, Rarity!" Sweetie said to her big sister.

“I’m coming, I’m coming!” Rarity replied, hoping she wouldn’t accidentally miss the beanstalk, but leaped and managed to catch a grip.

"Here I come!" Ben shouted as he jumped and grabbed onto the beanstalk.

Up and up the beanstalk grew to the top of the mountain’s peak. Everybody looked eager and excited as the exit sign came closer and closer within their grasp. Richard reached towards the ledge as they got closer and closer. Meanwhile, down below, the giant dragon chomped on the beanstalk, causing it to shake.

"Whoa! Jump!" Ben shouted urgently the moment that happened.

“Hold on, Sugarcube!” Applejack said, scooping Apple Bloom onto her back before jumping onto the ledge.

Richard and the rest quickly jumped from the wobbling beanstalk and to the ledge. The boy at first had trouble holding on because he was holding Adventure and Horror in one hand but managed to pull himself up with Twilight’s help.

Afterwards, Richard was laying down and found himself laying down in semi-consciousness.

"Whew!" Richard sighed in exhaustion and relief.

"Are you all right?" Fantasy asked in concern.

"W-Wha...?" The blond boy regained consciousness.

"Master, you saved us!" Horror exclaimed happily as he hugged Richard's face with joy.

"That ye did, matey." Adventure said proudly.

“That was awesome thinking, Richard!” Spike added excitedly, “Using the beanstalk so we could escape the dragon!”

And that reminded Richard. He reached into his back pocket and pulled from it Fantasy’s wand, which gave off a golden shimmer.

"Fantasy's wand!" Rarity exclaimed in delight, the others smiling excitedly with her. Seeing her wand, Fantasy beamed happily.

“Baby, you’re the greatest!” She proclaimed in delight, accepting her wand before giving the boy a big kiss on the cheek, "My hero."

“Come on, guys.” Twilight spoke happily, helping Richard to his feet, “It looks like our journey’s end is right in sight.”

"I can't wait!" Nyx exclaimed in excitement.

Richard, Twilight and the group slowly approached the tower that stood before them, the “Exit” sign hanging over it in the sky like a beacon leading them to shore.

As they walked further to the tower, the group could have sworn they heard angelic voices vocalizing as though they were approaching the gates of Heaven. Upon reaching the tower at last, they noticed the giant golden doors looked like the spines of books. On the doors read four simple words they remembered hearing throughout their journey:

‘Look to the Books’

"I wonder what's behind those huge doors?" Trixie pondered aloud.

"We'll soon find out, Trixie." Starlight responded.

Upon reaching the doors with his friends, Richard reached up to push the monolithic doors open. However, before the young boy could even touch them, the doors pushed open on their own, allowing them to walk right inside.

"Ooh! Automatic doors." Pinkie said in amazement.

"Whoever's inside is no doubt expecting us." Ben assumed.

The group looked ahead in amazement as they progressed into the very circular room. Their faces were illuminated by a blue twister-like funnel of light rising out of a gigantic crystal dome.

Suddenly, something shifted in the shadows.

“Hello?” Twilight asked, looking to the shadows.

"Who's there?" Richard asked, straining for a better look. Slowly, a figure stepped out into the light. It was a familiar blue-robed man wielding a scroll-shaped staff.

"The Pagemaster." Adventure said as he removed his bandana and bowed respectfully at the same time Horror groveled with a light sob while Fantasy curtsied.

"Hey! How'd you get here?!" Richard demanded the Pagemaster angrily, not too pleased to see him again.

“Quit it!” Fantasy sharply hissed to Richard, beaming a nervous yet forced toothy smile to the Pagemaster, “We’re in the presence of the Pagemaster!”

“I know who he is! He’s the guy who did all this to me, Twilight, Spike and the others!” Richard snapped, not even bothering to calm down before turning his attention to the Pagemaster, “Do you have any idea what we’ve been through?!”

"Tell me." The Pagemaster said, seemingly interested.

The blond boy just scowled as he began to rant, “We were nearly torn apart by a crazy doctor. We were made slaves by a bunch of mangy pirates! And eaten- Got that?- eaten by a fire-breathing dragon!” During the boy’s ranting, Twilight nervously looked back and forth between Richard and the Pagemaster as if either the former were going to burst into flames from being so angry or the latter would smite him where he stood. Spike was practically backing up behind Twilight like he was worried about what the Alicorn was also worried about.

"He don't mean it, my Pagemaster." Horror insisted in worry, "He don't mean it."

“And not to mention being tossed, squashed and scared practically to death!” Richard finished, taking deep, heaving breaths as soon as he was done. Despite being nearly out of breath, he still glared with a seething anger at the Pagemaster.

The blue-clad wizard, of course, look unfazed by Richard's rant as he said with a smile, "Yet you stand before me."

The boy’s expression softened at hearing that. “Well… yeah.”

"Oh, Pagemaster, please forgive him for his tirade." Starlight begged the wizard, "Like Horror said, he doesn't mean it."

"Nonsense!" The Pagemaster said, "The boy is right. I purposely sent him and the rest of his friends, including you, Trixie, the Cutie Mark Crusaders, Toola Roola and Coconut Cream, through the fiction section."

“Wait. So you admit it?” Richard asked, feeling a sense of vindication.

"Of course!" The Pagemaster replied, "Think, boy! What kind of an adventure would all of you have had if I brought you here with a turn of a page?"

He raised his staff and the light emitting from the crystal dome wavered as a maniacal laugh echoed through the chamber. Spike yelped when he saw a familiar madman appear in the funnel and backed behind Twilight, who looked just as unnerved. The others gasped as Fluttershy hid behind Rainbow in fear.

"Back for more, Mr. Hyde?!" Ben shouted as he readied his sword.

Suddenly, the ghostly visage of Mr. Hyde morphed into the kindly Dr. Jekyll who smiled gently. “You prevailed over evil.”

Seeing and hearing this put smiles of relief onto the Equestrians as Ben put away his sword.

"Jekyll." Twilight said warmly.

Before they knew it, the image of Jekyll was replaced with a proudly smiling Ahab. “Ah, you looked Moby Dick in the eye, boy.” He spoke proudly.

"Ahab." Applejack said with a warm smile.

Instantly, Ahab transformed into John Silver, who gave Richard a wink. “Aye, ye had pirate stuff, m’lad. And don’t let no one speak any different.”

"I know we won't, John Silver." Rainbow remarked with a wink.

The Pagemaster then turned to the group as he spoke to Richard, "If I had brought you and your friends here from the start, you never would have found the courage to face your own fears."

All of a sudden, a larger image formed in the light and took the shape of the dragon they all faced earlier. The dragon let out a mighty roar before fading away.

"That giant dragon doesn't scare me anymore." Fluttershy remarked with a confident tone equal to that of Rainbow's, "After what it did to my friends, it's nothing to me!"

“Anybody else reminded of The Wizard of Oz where Dorothy was never told about the Ruby Slippers’ powers till the end and how if she knew the second they were put on her feet, she wouldn’t have learned any valuable life lessons in wisdom, kindness and courage?” Pinkie couldn’t help but ask aloud yet thoughtfully.

"You sure got that right, Pinkie Pie." Applejack remarked, "But still, what had 'ta be done, had 'ta be done. Richard found his courage just the same as Fluttershy did."

The Pagemaster turned to look at Richard, “And in doing so, you triumphed here and always.”

Then with a wave of his staff, the crystal dome glowed brightly. The group gazed into the glass. They were looking down into the library rotunda, where the bodies of Richard, the Mane Six, Spike, Nyx and Phobos all lay motionless on the floor.

"Look!" Apple Bloom cried.

"Hey, that... That's me!" Richard exclaimed.

"And us!" Twilight added.

"That was you." The Pagemaster said.

“I’m ready to go home now.”

But then, he remembered Adventure, Fantasy and Horror, along with the Mane Six, Spike, Ben, Nyx, Phobos and the other ponies.

“I mean… we’re ready.” He added, kneeling down to hug Horror as Adventure sheepishly scooted over next to them both.

“Is this the part where we close our eyes, tap our heels three times and think to ourselves, ‘There’s no place like home’ over and over?” Pinkie asked.

"Wrong story, Pinkie." Trixie said in amusement.

Suddenly, lightning flashed around them as the Pagemaster raised his staff. “The world awaits.” He spoke.

"Whoa!" Richard exclaimed as he, the books and the Equestrians found themselves levitating from the floor.

The vortex of light suddenly became a whirlwind that swept up Richard and the others. “Godspeed to you and your friends, boy!” The Pagemaster called out to Richard as the group flew into the vortex.

"Wait for me!" Horror called to Richard and the others as he followed them.

“Hang on, guys!” Twilight exclaimed, grabbing hold of Spike, Nyx, Phobos and Ben.

"Stay with me, Apple Bloom!" Applejack said as she held onto her little sister.

"Okay, Applejack!" Apple Bloom held onto her big sister tightly.

Rarity had clutched onto Sweetie Belle while Rainbow held onto Scootaloo. Fluttershy quickly took hold of Pinkie, who held onto Toola Roola and Coconut and Trixie did the same with Starlight.

Round and round they all spun about the vortex, not sure when it would all end. Most of them had shut their eyes so that they wouldn’t feel sick from the nonstop spinning. Twilight briefly opened her eyes to notice that the vortex around them began to take on multiple colors.

Before either of them knew it, they all fell to the bottom of the vortex!

Comments

[devin12dw]

Can’t Wait For The Final Chapter.

[Omegamorph]

Know there has got to be at least one more to wrap things up. Now I know that was supposed to be a generic dragon at the end, but if we didn't have to worry about copyrights amongst all this public domain fiction I could imagine Smaug personally.

[Hungry Hero]

What a thrilling penultimate chapter!
On to the end!

[devin12dw]

When Are You Going To Post The Final Chapter?

[Toonwriter]

11571316
Still working on it.