Chapter 9: Eye of the Dragon
Chapter 9: Eye of the Dragon
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It had been three whole days since the attack of the strange creatures. So far, Azure Courage had been able to keep his part of the secret, and from the way things were around town, the pegasi and Twilight had been able to follow suit. Other than the fact he was patrolling for a while after work, there wasn't a whole lot changed to his routine. For his part, the cyan colt definitely felt restless day by day.
He'd just finished another day of assisting on the current building project and still had a bit left to do before he was completely caught-up with all the work he had left to do. The boss didn't seem so happy with the fact he had those two foals to help out for the designated week of absence, and after returning to work, Azure understood exactly why.
One, they weren't nearly as physically capable as he was, so obviously heavy lifting was out of the question; two, they had to struggle to do any form of magic whatsoever, making levitating the stuff Azure did impossible for them; three, they became almost comically inept at what they'd done two days after Twilight had assigned them their punishment. But when it all came down to it, the unicorn hoped that those two at least had the brain cells between them to learn their lesson.
With all of that considered, Azure Courage had been putting in a fair amount more work than usual, so he was starting to get a little sore from the daily work. However, he still had another job to do, so he couldn't falter too much. He began trotting along, wondering where to patrol along the ground first. Of course, just as he made his selection and opened his eyes following this deep thinking on matters, he'd noticed something strange.
"Am I imagining things, or is it darker than usual out here?" he asked himself, looking around as he continued. His mouth curled into a half-hearted snarl as he considered the implications.
Did I miss something or-- His thought stopped mid-consideration as he chanced to look up. A long, black cloud of smoke stretched across the zenith of the blackened sky, seeming to come from a mountain not too far off from Ponyville. What the--?! Is that...!
The memory of the Shadow Ghouls and what they broke down into returned, hitting Azure like a train. He recalled the smoke they'd turned into when defeated.
Could that be another attempt at...! He quickly turned towards where he knew the library was, and began galloping for it. Twilight's gotta know what that is better than I do! Best not jump to conclusions!
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As Azure made his way for the library, he continued to glance up at the sky.
These dark clouds are getting me on edge... he thought to himself. I have a bad feeling about this...
The cyan unicorn continued his trek, not bothering to speak with any of the other ponies. But they definitely seemed to have noticed the mess long before he had.
"Definitely missed something...!" he grunted to himself. "The one day I spend most of my workday indoors!"
He finally managed to reach the library after a good five minutes, but what he saw was unexpected. He didn't find just Twilight and Spike, but all the other mares he'd befriended were there, too. Given what had happened half a week ago, Azure felt on-edge.
Is this as bad as it looks? The colt thought to himself. They look like they're about ready to storm out to war! Did that secret already get out? Is that the cause of this smoke?
Twilight turned to regard him.
"Oh, Azure," she said, sounding unusually stern. "You're just in time."
"What's this all about? I just got off and the sky's dark..." Azure responded, a question already on the tip of his tongue. Before he could properly pose it, though, the purple mare was able to speak again.
"There's a dragon that made his nest up in that mountain," She motioned with a forehoof to a mountain that the cyan colt could now see was pouring smoke from its face. "His snoring is causing a lot of smoke to fill the sky; if this continues, all of Equestria will be shrouded in the smoke."
Now that he knew what was going on, the cyan colt gave a small sigh in relief. He lifted the hard hat he was wearing off his head, and casually let it drop to the ground.
"Just a dragon, okay," he said. Only now did he notice Twilight fixing him with a completely stern, yet moderately unsurprised look.
"Only you would be happy about a dragon threat..." she said, unblinking.
"Oh no, I'm not happy about it at all," he responded, dropping his voice in volume so that she was the only one who could hear him, "Just rather it be this than some other thing..."
Twilight backed away for a moment, at first not completely understanding what he was talking about. Thankfully, it dawned her just as she blinked. She made sure to whisper to him in response.
"I see what you mean; I thought it was something like that too until Princess Celestia sent me the letter telling me what it was..." She sighed again. "So, just so you know, we're going to go up on the mountain and persuade the dragon to nap somewhere else..."
To say the cyan colt couldn't help but ask was an understatement.
"Now, when you say 'persuade'..." he started. Twilight shot him a look of utter frustration and disbelief.
"Of course your first response is to resort to violence," she scolded.
"Well, how else are you going to convince a dragon to move?" Azure defended his style of diplomacy with a speed he hadn't quite expected of himself.
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"If we simply explain to it what its snoring is doing, it might realize what it's doing!" Twilight called back, looking more and more angry with Azure the more they spoke about it.
"If it cared enough about what it was doing, it wouldn't have moved so close!" Azure screamed back, looking straight into Twilight's eyes. It was a full-blown argument brewing. To say Spike was surprised about this would be only half a lie. Truth be told, he had somewhat expected them to be at odds given how often Twilight referenced the colt's stubbornness, but not like this.
"Oh, wow..." Rainbow said, pressing a hoof to her face. "Spike, you were right...they're really going at it..."
"She's always calling him stubborn," Spike grinned in response, looking back. "But I didn't think Azure felt the same way..."
"Why should I have expected a peaceful resolution out of you?!" Twilight screeched. "You still wanted to resort to violence after you got that sprain!"
"How was I to know it was just a baby?!" The cyan colt responded.
"You're always taking on things bigger than you are, even when you're hurt!"
"Is there really any other--"
"Alright, alright, enough is enough, you two!" Applejack had moved quickly, rushing up to the two feuding unicorns and grabbing them both by the nape of the neck. "In case you haven't noticed, there's still that--" she turned them both roughly to look at the smoky mountain again, "--to deal with! Save your...fightin' for some other time..."
Both of the unicorns looked to each other after Applejack released them, and a look of understanding both passed over them at the same time. Arguing really wasn't helping matters at all, yet they were arguing it out over whose approach was better. The feuding unicorns immediately turned a bright shade of red and looked away, looking more angry than flustered that the event happened the way it did.
"Well," Twilight said shakily, "Guess I'd better...plan the shortest route, then..."
Spike wanted to laugh so hard, but given what he was tasked to do in Fluttershy's place, he didn't quite feel up to it. He had so many animals to take care of...
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Azure Courage turned to the group's eventual destination, trying not to look in Twilight's direction straight away until he properly calmed down following that rather heated discussion. Seriously, if he hadn't resolved to use violence during the Nightmare Moon fiasco, there was a very good chance that there wouldn't be a day to save now. Not to mention those Shadow Ghouls...
And yet she focuses on when I got hurt... the cyan colt thought to himself. Dragons don't get that big when they're fully grown, do they? I mean, Spike's considered a baby, so...
His ear twitched when he heard what could only be described as the sounds of a timid shuffle. Confused, he turned, and saw Fluttershy, looking especially uneasy, approaching Twilight, who appeared to be very engrossed in her work.
"Um, excuse me, Twilight?" the yellow pegasus asked, "I know you're busy, but--"
"Uh-huh," the purple mare said, Azure unsure if that even qualified as a response. "Well, we could go this way," It wasn't even clear if she was actually listening.
"If I could just have a second..." Fluttershy continued, still awfully quiet for somepony trying to get another's attention.
"Uh-huh," Twilight didn't even appear to be paying attention, continuing to gaze upon the map. "No, we can't go that way..."
Twilight, Fluttershy's got a problem, you might want to pay attention... thought Azure to himself, watching the two mares.
"So, um, I was thinking that, um, maybe," The pegasus continued, but at this point, the colt was utterly convinced Twilight wasn't paying so much as a silver of attention to her. "Maybe I should stay in Ponyville?"
Azure wasn't too stunned by this; except for the fact she had been present to assist in the defeat of Nightmare Moon. What was one dragon compared to that dictator? He didn't quite get the reason for her wanting to bail out when she was clearly there for them before, but didn't press the issue.
"Uh-huh," Another non-committal sound from Twilight, pretty much confirming to Azure that she was not paying any attention.
"Oh, good!" Fluttershy said, apparently taking the purple mare's statements to heart. "I'll just stay here and--"
"Wait, you have to come!" Twilight said, cutting off Fluttershy midsentence as she finally put away the map. The mare in question froze as the studious pony quickly shifted her attention onto her. "Your way with wild animals will surely come in handy..."
Not sure if a dragon counts... thought the only male pony present to himself as he watched the antics.
"I don't think I--" Now that the meeker mare had her friend's full attention, it was suddenly very hard for her to get a word in.
"Oh, and don't worry about your animal friends," The lavender unicorn motioned toward Spike with a forehoof. "Spike's got it covered while you're gone."
"Leave it to me!" said the much smaller dragon, turning his back on some of the creatures in question. The creatures quickly took the initiative, starting to run off. "Oooh! Hey! Hey! Wait!" He began to frantically chase after them.
Azure winced, his mind clouding with doubt. That's not very reassuring...
"I don't think he's up to the task..." Fluttershy said, echoing Azure's thoughts on the subject. "Maybe." Only now did she notice that Twilight did not appear to be paying attention. "But...but..." This was followed by a sound, similar to a whine.
Well, that was cute...wait, what? The colt thought to himself upon hearing it. He blinked, trying to shake off whatever that little mental outburst was. Thankfully, he didn't get to dwell on it too long.
"Are you sure you want Fluttershy to come along?" asked Rainbow, flying down in front of Twilight, "I mean, that pony's afraid of her own shadow. She's just going to slow us down!" This sentiment certainly made sense coming from her; Azure could not picture the blue pegasus taking much of anything slow.
"Oh, she's just a little bit nervous," Twilight defended her decision. Azure wasn't too convinced, but again, it was understandable given the magnitude of what they were about to do. "Once we get going, I'm sure she'll be fine."
"It's not like anypony can be that prone to--" Azure never got to finish putting in his two bits on the matter. Fluttershy squealed, and the cyan colt turned, expecting to see something worth her squealing over...and saw her backing away from her own shadow before leaping into a bush. Uh...okay...never mind...Azure felt his eyes widen and his jaw drop from the display of fear. She sure didn't show this side often enough...
"Alright girls," Twilight called out to the others, turning to them, and everypony who was still ready to move toward the mountain snapped to attention in their own ways. "Move out!" The ground-bound ponies ran, while Rainbow Dash started to fly. To Azure's surprise, Fluttershy was in the way, and despite her best efforts to protest (read: quietly and meekly, ending with a scream), she was just picked up and carried along with them.
Something in Azure's head clicked, and instantly whatever momentary concern he had was replaced with mild frustration.
"Am I chopped hay?!" he snarled. "Alright, I'll show what I can do here, just watch!"
He took off at a full sprint after them. He didn't know Blitz's speed spell, but he did know enough to move about on certain topography...it was how he'd saved Twilight from falling, after all...
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Rainbow Dash couldn't believe that Twilight had insisted on bringing Fluttershy along. Sure, the hopelessly meek pony was a great friend to have, but in a situation like this, she was near useless. Even after she'd proven that she was afraid of her shadow and had to be carried half the way to the base of the mountain, Twilight insisted that the yellow pegasus would come in handy.
As the mares began to reach the foot of the mountain, Rainbow had been on the verge of voicing her concerns again, when the others below her (except for Fluttershy, who had been bringing up the rear for the better part of the trip) skidded to a halt and had stupefied looks on their faces. And when Dash looked, she was quick to mimic.
Azure Courage, that male unicorn that almost always seemed to know exactly how to move and when to do so, was sitting at the foot of the mountain waiting for them, and from the looks of his face, it seemed like he had been waiting for a short while.
"Azure," This was the first time she'd ever used his full name since she'd met him, "how in the hay did you get here before us?" He had to have some secret to it, he had to, the mare reasoned to herself as he got to his feet.
"I ran." His expression was so neutral and his tone was so flat that Dash almost wanted to clock him. Almost.
"But..." Twilight immediately started fiddling with her map again, and after studying it for a good ten seconds, she turned to him. "I don't see any shortcuts here...are you sure you didn't teleport?"
Azure now seemed to look angry, but he didn't seem to be in the mood to argue his case out with words this time. He trotted right up to Twilight, and after looking at the map, he motioned to an area on it that was off the path that the mare had insisted upon the whole way up.
"Right there."
"But that leads to a lake," She said. "Not just any lake; a lake with a fast moving current...how did you cross it?"
"There were rocks sticking up from the water. All I had to do was jump across. Then from there it was a five minute walk," Azure responded, still seeming angry that she'd doubted his ability to run the whole way there.
None of the mares could possibly think of how he could have done it, but there wasn't much time for it. A loud, roaring sound shook the area. Fluttershy gave a loud gasp, and when Dash next saw her, she was right behind Azure, who seemed mostly unaffected by the noise.
"Whoa," Rainbow started, at a loss. "What was that?"
"That is what it sounds like when a dragon snores," Twilight said matter-of-factly.
"It-it's so...high," Fluttershy squeaked, trying to peek up from behind Azure. The rainbow-maned mare floated up ahead of them.
"It is a mountain," It was her turn to say something matter-of-factly. She immediately turned away. "I'm going to go up there and check it out..." She tried to fly straight to the peak, but something clamped down on her tail and halted her from ascending as quickly as she'd like to. She turned, and saw Applejack once more holding on to her tail.
"Hold on now," Applejack said as soon as she let go. "I think we should all go together. Safety in numbers an' all..."
"Plus," Azure said, his eyes sending a different message. "We never know what could be ahead..."
Rainbow picked up on what the colt was referring to, and relented.
"Oh, all right," she said, very annoyed at the fact she had to slow down.
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The ground-bound ponies quickly began to climb up the steep mountainside, none of them having a significantly hard time. Twilight had definitely picked the correct path for all of them to take straight up the side. Azure had to hand it to her, she knew exactly what to do with that map. If he wasn't so used to needing one every time he'd entered somewhere new, he'd never have been able to figure one out without scratching his mane for a good two minutes.
Even Rarity seemed to be taking the hard work in stride, casually speaking of what she knew about dragons.
"I hear the only thing that sparkles more than a dragon's scales are the gems they use to build their nests!" The white unicorn said. "If I play my cards right, maybe I could convince him to part with some."
For some reason, Azure found himself unable to get the image of Rarity trying to work her charms on a beast out of his head.
"Welcome to my cave, Rarity," Pinkie spoke in a strangely guttural tone for her, clearly imitiating a dragon. "Care for a diamond?" The others broke out in laughter, for the most part; Azure couldn't hold himself from smiling.
"Girls, this is no laughing matter!" Twilight scolded, immediately taking most of the fun out of the moment. Azure could not withhold a glare entirely. But he could at least respect her committment to-- "Fluttershy, you're the expert on wild creatures, what do you think the dragon will be like?"
There was no response. The unicorn colt's ear twitched at the utter silence. The others started to look around, to see if they could find her. She wasn't even on the mountain.
"Fluttershy?" The purple mare asked again. Eventually, he felt his ear twitch again, and he looked to a bush. The yellow mare's head soon became visible, as she finally popped up out of said shrub.
"Hey, what are you waiting for?" Dash asked, looking back to her. "An invitation?"
"I think I have one in my bag!" Pinkie responded, and Azure couldn't hold himself from looking. She dug through one of her saddlebags, and withdrew a party invitation. As if that wasn't weird enough, confetti shot out of it, covering Rainbow in it. The colt felt his eye twitch.
"Please tell me you're not inviting the dragon to a party..." he said, making no effort to correct his twitchy eye. He didn't even care it was Pinkie Pie he was talking to; the idea struck him as so odd he almost slipped off the cliffside from even considering it.
"Why not?" The pink party pony seemed utterly oblivious. "It would be fun!"
Azure cringed. Pinkie, every time you've told me that so far...
"It...it's so steep..." Fluttershy said, looking up to them. Rainbow Dash sighed, sounding even more peevish on the matter of having to wait.
"Well, it is a cliff," the blue mare pointed out. "You could just, oh, I don't know, fly up there!"
She's afraid of heights too...? Azure still couldn't hold himself from twitching his eye slightly. We'll be here all day! Even if it's Fluttershy, she seems suddenly...jumpy...
"C'mon, Fluttershy, flap those wings!" The pink earth pony began to demonstrate how using her forelegs, a sight which almost made Azure's sides split when he first witnessed it. Thankfully, the urge passed soon enough.
"Uh...okay..." This was her quiet response. She slowly opened her wings, and started to flap them as Pinkie instructed. It took her a bit of time to start getting off the ground, but it soon seemed like she'd be able to fly her way up the mountainside. That is, until the dragon gave another terrible snore. She gave another whine, and her wings snapped shut with an audible sound, causing her to fall and land perfectly in the bush.
The colt's mind began to work into overdrive, while Rainbow Dash applied her forehoof to her face, and Twilight complained about the lack of time the group had for things like this.
Even against Nightmare Moon, she wasn't like this... Azure thought to himself. Something triggered in his brain as he recalled that extended night; something he'd almost overlooked were it not for his own reaction to a creature from that day... What if she's...?
Azure snapped to attention as he looked over to see Applejack rummaging through Twilight's bags.
"What are you doing?" Twilight asked of her.
"I'll need this if I'm gonna take her around the mountain another way," she said, already starting to look at the map that she just withdrew.
"Wait." Azure spoke up loud enough for them to hear. "Think I'd better do it..."
"Az, you're gonna get yourself lost if you try to do it!" Applejack argued, and the cyan colt felt himself lose wind almost immediately.
"Not if I take the map," he responded. There was another loud snore from above, and Fluttershy gave a sound that was easily considered a goat bleat, her body seeming to stiffen completely. Azure's brows furrowed. "Please, let me do it..."
"Around the mountain?" Dash asked. "That's going to take forever!"
"I know how to use a map!" Azure asserted, starting to become angry. His horn glowed with a bit more vigor as he rudely grabbed it himself using his magic. He scanned the paths, making note that Twilight had marked the group's planned path on the map. After giving it a thorough scan, he made sure to memorize the directions he'd just mapped out. "Here, take it back. We'll catch up later."
He could feel them staring at him. Admittedly, he did have a poor sense of direction in new places, and while this cliffside was a new place for him, if he knew the geography well enough through a map or a tour, he usually didn't have so much trouble finding it. The dragon gave another loud snore, and this time, Fluttershy looked so stiff she could have passed for one of Rarity's dress dummies if not for the hair and expression.
"Guess we don't have any other choice..." Twilight finally relented. "Let's go, girls..."
Azure finally began to slide down the mountain as the other mares resumed their climbing. He approached the fallen mare, trying to figure out exactly how to take her along around the path he'd memorized. With a sigh, he took her by the tail as gently as he could, and began to drag her along the path, trying to be as gentle with it as possible.
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Thankfully, Azure's directional memory wasn't as bad as Applejack made it sound. He recognized the topography from the route he'd taken on the map. To make matters slightly better, the meek mare seemed to have recovered enough ability to stand up straight again, but still seemed so scared that she had trouble doing something as simple as walking.
The long way alone was bad enough; Azure knew he could have scaled the roughest of cliffsides, but due to his own curiosity, he'd decided to do this. The least Fluttershy could do was attempt to walk. It felt like it really was going to take forever, and with time as short as it was. And with the others, especially Applejack, making it seem like his sense of direction was poor, his temper wasn't exactly the greatest either.
"Look, Fluttershy," The colt finally said, his patience starting to reach its limits as he trotted in front of her, "I can't push you the whole way up there..." The meek mare immediately looked away, as though ashamed.
"I-I-I'm sorry..." she stuttered out, already seeming to feel bad about the fact that they were taking the long way on her behalf. The unicorn immediately flinched.
Nice job, you're so brave you made her almost cry, Azure thought to himself, immediately backpedaling. "I-It's not that I'm upset about it..." An idea came to him, but he was a bit unsure it was going to hold up like most of his other decisions usually did. However, it was the only thing he could think of given the time constraints. "But how about..." And it was going to sound painfully awkward no matter how he tried to say it. "How about I carry you the rest of the way?"
Fluttershy didn't seem too taken aback by the offer, other than the very tiniest of blushes on her face.
"Oh, no, you d-don't have to go to that trouble," Azure looked the other way as she took a couple of soft steps forward, somewhat relieved she'd turned him down on that one. "I-I can walk just--" The dragon snored once more, and Fluttershy once more gave a small squeak, and exactly one second later, he felt the weight of a fully grown pegasus mare, slightly quivering from obvious fear, come down on his back. Her forelegs latched around his neck in a manner not unlike a collar used as part of the harnesses he'd occasionally had to wear as per his job.
"Fluttershy...?" Azure found it a little hard to breathe, and it certainly wasn't because he had an extra pony to carry.
"I-if you insist..." she stuttered flatly, and as Azure turned to look at her, her head just poking over his shoulder, she gave a bashful smile.
With this exchange over, Azure found he was able to ferry other ponies his age on his back, but because it was still a mare he was carrying, the colt felt a little awkward. Of course, after that last snore, Azure had to make sure his suspisicion was correct; it was sort of the reason he'd wanted to walk with her in the first place.
"Fluttershy, while we're here away from the others, mind if I ask you something?" He continued to face the path ahead, but it was clear to the mare he was questioning he was looking at her.
"Oh, um, sure..." she responded, and Azure found once again her grip was a little too tight.
"Why, exactly, are you so afraid of dragons?" The cyan colt made sure to be as gentle as he could in his tone; even Rainbow seemed to want to be gentle with her. He'd just about broken that rule earlier when his temper flared to her, but Azure would argue he'd recovered from that. "I can understand being afraid of one if it was attacking, but you seem to be afraid just from thinking about them."
He felt Fluttershy completely freeze for a moment, pretty much confirming his hypothesis then and there, but as he continued to move along his path, she unknowingly began tightening her hold on him as she finally responded.
"Well, it's because they're big," Azure felt himself start to choke, "mean," He could have sworn he heard one of his upper vertabrae pop, "and scary!" She was literally putting him in a sleeperhold now without realizing it. It wasn't until he'd coughed that the yellow mare realized what she was doing, and quickly loosened her grip. "S-sorry..."
"It's okay," Azure rubbed at his neck unconsciously, wondering if he was going to have bruises from where she was before long. "Sounds like you've got some phobia of them." With a small sigh, he decided to at least let her know what the score was. "It's nothing to be ashamed of, really. I know what it's like to be that scared of something."
He felt Fluttershy look up in disbelief. It was a bit awkward since he had to duck down a little so she didn't hit her head on his, but she was definitely surprised to hear this, judging from the way she shifted.
"B-but...you're one of the bravest ponies I know..." she stuttered out, surprise very evident in her quiet voice. "What...what are you afraid of?"
"I'm afraid of chimeras, truth be told." It was a little awkward considering he'd never told this to anypony. Not even his cousins knew to his knowledge, and he was around them more than his father, who knew the incident all too well.
"B-but...you fought one...when Nightmare Moon appeared," Fluttershy continued. "I...I...don't understand..."
"Yeah, I did." Azure said. "I didn't show it at the time, but deep down, I was still scared out of my mind..."
"H-how...?" The meek mare seemed completely confused. In this moment, the colt realized he felt like his father must have on that fateful day.
"Well, it was because of you and the others, really," Azure said, looking up slowly. "At first, I saw it, but I couldn't move. I was terrified by the mere sight of it. But, the thought of it hurting any of you...it pushed me forward, and motivated me to do what I did that night."
Fluttershy moved her head down so she was next to his neck again, allowing him to stand up straight.
"I-I wish I could be that brave..." She sounded sad again.
"I'm going to tell you what my dad told me," Azure finally said. "Courage has nothing to do with being brave. It's about standing up even though you're scared. That's why I could fight through my fear..."
The words seemed to trigger something in Fluttershy. Her grip tightened again, but it wasn't a choking grip. In fact...Azure didn't even know how to describe said grip. It felt...strange, to say the least, certainly stranger than when she started riding on his back.
"D-do you think I could ever have courage like you?" she asked, her voice in a low volume even for her. Her head seemed to be pressing up against his neck a bit tighter than it should have been.
"Sure of it," Azure felt his own voice lower in volume. "Maybe even more than I do..." That last part was almost to himself. He raised his head again after briefly lowering it to gather his thoughts. He could see the forested path become more mountainous, so he knew he was getting reasonably close.
Was that much distance covered during this conversation?
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Rainbow Dash could sum up her entire mental landscape in one simple word: bored. She'd been waiting Celestia-knows-how-many minutes for Azure and Fluttershy to catch up. The mare knew she probably could have arced over the mountain several times by this point after the others had managed to catch up to her. Why Twilight didn't at least continue up the mountain further at a slower pace, Rainbow didn't get, but it was clear the others were starting to get impatient.
"Whoo-hoo!" Pinkie chirped, "I win again!"
The ground around the mare in question and Rarity was surrounded by finished tic-tac-toe games; Pinkie having just won another one. At first, it came as mild amusement when Pinkie won about five in a row, but her constant victory was actually starting to get ridiculous and...boring.
"That's thirty-five games in a row," the white unicorn scoffed, "Best out of seventy-one?"
"Look, they're almost here!" Twilight said, having caught sight of two approaching figures.
Rainbow turned, clearly agitated. "Told ya it was going to...take...them..." She trailed off, unable to process what she was seeing straight away.
"Uh..." Applejack couldn't process it either. It was certainly odd enough that Azure had volunteered in her place to take her around the mountain, but the fact Fluttershy was holding on around his neck and literally riding him to the others was...
Rainbow tried her hardest to keep herself from snickering when, only now, did the unicorn colt realize what could have been weird about that positioning when all eyes were on him. His eyes widened to the size of dinner plates.
"This is not what it looks like..." Azure responded, looking from mare to mare. Rainbow almost snickered, but it didn't mean she wasn't grinning.
"Sure it isn't..." replied Rainbow. It was clear Azure wasn't in the mood to argue (which was funny given what happened before they actually left), so he merely rolled his eyes and looked to the meek mare on his back. C'mon Az, if you put the moves on her, I won't mind...a lot...
"Think you can walk now?" He was as blunt as possible, and Fluttershy could only nod straight away.
"Oh, y-yes..." Fluttershy stuttered in response., climbing off his back. She seemed able to walk, so Rainbow gave a small scoff.
"Alright, let's get going already!" she declared, starting to hover off after the trotting ponies. However, her attention was soon drawn to something else of interest. Applejack stood next to Twilight, who, for some reason, appeared to be spacing out. The farmer pony was waving one of her forehooves in front of the studious mare's face.
"Twi, you in there?" she asked. The unicorn snapped to attention after a few seconds.
"S-sorry," responded Twilight, "I was just...thinking about something. Let's go."
She's been focused all day on this... Rainbow Dash didn't get it quite yet, but decided not to pursue it further, flying off after the others.
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Fluttershy didn't quite get what had happened during that trip around the mountain. It was clear enough to Azure that she was afraid of them; why else would he have opened up like that? In addition, when she'd been riding on his back, she'd felt safe even with the knowledge of the dragon, whose lair seemed to be getting closer and closer the further up the group went.
Her renewed vigor soon faded, however, when the group approached a gap on the path. One by one, all her friends hopped over the gap, but Fluttershy could not bring herself to follow. In addition, her wings were still unable to open. Instinctively, she clung onto a nearby rock, as her fear of heights kicked in.
"Your turn, Fluttershy," Twilight said from across the jump.
"But...it's...so...wide..." All the confidence she'd felt while riding atop the unicorn's back had faded away as she stared toward the gap. She looked to her friends again, who were more or less waiting on the other side.
"C'mon, Fluttershy, we should be much farther along by now," the purple mare said again. Fluttershy looked over to Azure, who closed his eyes and sighed. The message wasn't immediately clear at first, but given that he actually stood up to a chimera despite his fear as he said, the meek pony was able to deduce he probably wanted her to do the same. But she knew they were nothing alike...
"You could just leap across," Applejack pointed out. Fluttershy walked to the edge of the gap and looked down.
"I..." She started, but as soon as the dragon gave another one of its terrible snores, Fluttershy felt shivers rake up her body, and she instinctively backed away from the edge of the gap. "I don't know..." Her fear was starting to hinder her, just as it had been from the start. Somewhere deep down, the mare realized she wished she was back on top of her friend's back.
"There's nothing to be afraid of!" Pinkie was leaping back to her side cheerily, demonstrating how easy it was. "It's just a hop, skip and a jump!" She then jumped back across. "See?"
The pink party pony, inexplicably, started singing again. She'd done this once before in a crisis, when everypony except for Azure and herself were scared stiff by the possessed trees. As she sang, she continued to hop back and forth.
"It's not that very far
Just move your little rump
You can make it if you try with a hop, skip and jump!"
"We don't have time for this," Twilight commented.
"I don't see you doing anything..." Azure responded, dropping back into a sarcastic tone. The purple mare turned to him, looking even more agitated.
"I don't have time to deal with your tone right now," the studious mare said, clearly not wanting another argument. Meanwhile, Pinkie continued to sing the same three words, repeating them six different times as she continued to leap back and forth, ending on the opposite side of the gap once again. The song certainly lent her enough confidence, and Fluttershy once more stepped forward. She started to walk towards the edge, and closed her eyes.
"O-okay..." she said as soon as she reached it. "A hop..." She hopped straight up in place.
"That's it." encouraged Applejack.
"You've got it," Twilight offered.
"You're almost there!" Rarity said.
"Skip..." Fluttershy left the ground and began jumping towards her friends.
"Just don't look down," the purple pony said. Having closed her eyes up to now, Fluttershy opened her eyes and went against her friend's advice. As she descended into vertigo-induced panic, she gave a squeal. She felt as though she would fall, but the gap was really that small.
Her forehooves and back hooves were stuck on opposite ends of the cliffs. Rainbow Dash gave a groan of disapproval.
"I guess I forgot to jump..." the meek mare quipped.
After Rarity and Pinkie pulled her forehooves while Rainbow Dash pushed her forward, Fluttershy was back on solid ground again. With that incident over, the group continued forward, though the meek mare once more found herself wishing she could have been as bra--no, courageous was the right word, as her friends were.
----------------------------------------
Isn't this going to get any easier? Azure thought to himself as the group continued around the mountain. They were getting closer to the top, and each time the dragon snored, it seemed like it was getting progressively louder. He knew his luck, however, was pretty shoddy when it came to crisis management being easy. Speaking of which, he was about to receive more bad news. The gang reached a cliffside, which by itself looked pretty rocky.
"Let's keep it down," Twilight whispered, and even if she hadn't explained why, he probably would have figured it out on his own. "The map says this is an avalanche zone. The smallest peep could cause a rock slide."
Of course, this did wonders for Fluttershy's emotional state.
"An...ava...ava--" Twilight shushed her; apparently, Fluttershy talking in her normal tone was going to be enough. If the meek mare could just remain quiet for this part of the mountain, the group would probably avoid a rock slide. If there was a pony he could pick that he knew couldn't stay quiet long, it was Pinkie Pie. He kept one eye on her, just in case she started mouthing off.
However, his concern was wasted; even the party pony knew when it was prudent to keep the noise level down. Azure sighed as internally as possible; it seemed like things were finally going to go his way.
His ear twitched, in response to an unseen wind. A couple of seconds later, he heard a completely unfamiliar shriek coming from a very familiar pony.
"AVALA--" Applejack reached out and forcefully shushed the unusually loud mare before she could finish her statement. What was the cause for her outburst? Azure could barely notice a leaf floating off her back at the distance he was from her. The colt looked up, same with the others, as they waited for something to happen.
It was quiet. Not a rumble to be heard. Everypony let out a sigh of relief.
That could have gotten ugly real fa-- A loud quake was heard above, and Azure grit his teeth. "Manure...!"
Sure enough, as a delayed reaction to Fluttershy's squeal, the rock slide that Twilight warned of began. It was a storm of loose debris, raining down. Immediately, Azure's horn lit up.
I can not get a break, ever...! The other ponies scrambled to get away, and Azure leapt into action, shooting whichever rocks he could see to try and thin the danger somewhat. Even so, it was still not easy for him to avoid the ones heading for him. Through his perhiperal vision, he could see an incredibly large rock starting to head for Fluttershy, and pinned his ears back. There was no way he could blast it away in time unless he charged up a shot...
"Not today!" he yelled, immediately rushing through the storm of rocks and over to the frozen mare. He did the only thing he could think to do at the time. His horn once more glowed cyan as he began to lift Fluttershy to make his task just a little easier. The mare seemed unaware she was starting to float. Azure skidded to a halt, sliding just underneath the floating pony. He quickly set her down on his back, forgoing the gentleness for a moment. Azure continued to run. As the debris finally started to stop, there were piles of rocks everywhere, but there was an especially large one just up the path. The colt could just barely see Applejack saving Twilight from a similiar situation, and sighed somewhat in relief.
Can't be in two places at once... he thought to himself.
"Everypony okay?" Applejack asked, as soon as the debris was raining down. Seeing as how the rockslide had already happened, there probably wasn't a reason to whisper; at least, the farmer mare didn't when she'd asked.
"Thanks to you, I am," Twilight responded, rubbing her head against the orange mare's in response in thanks. Azure stepped forward, and Fluttershy had apparently recovered from her lag, because her grip was once again tightly wound around him.
"Guess it's for the best," he mumbled when all eyes turned to his resumed carrying of the meek mare. "At least it'll be easier for her to move..."
Rarity, who had lost her scarf and hat she had been wearing up until the slide, shook the dust off her fur. It soon covered a very excited-looking Pinkie.
"Whoo-hoo!" She started hopping up and down, clearly not bothered by the fact she could have been crushed into paste, "Let's do that again!"
"I'll take a pass on that..." Azure mumbled to himself. It seemed that nopony was going to draw attention to the colt carrying Fluttershy again because of their own issues. The white unicorn of the group scoffed, and began digging through her belongings.
"This is why a girl always brings extra accessories," she said, pulling out a different scarf. After putting it on, she sighed again. "Oh, please tell me I brought the matching tiara that goes with this!"
"Uh, I think we have bigger problems than making sure our hair bows match our horse shoes..." Dash floated down and motioned to the gigantic pile of rubble that now blocked the chosen path.
"S-sorry..." Fluttershy said with a sigh. Azure wasn't sure if she was imagining things or not, but he felt her grip slacken just a little bit.
"Aw, it's no big whoop, sugarcube," Applejack tried to console the obviously upset mare.
"Yeah, we just have to..." Twilight sighed, clearly not at all happy about the way things turned out. "climb over..."
"At least we shouldn't need to worry about another avalanche..." Azure commented, starting to climb. Except for Rainbow Dash, the others started to climb up the mountain. It was a bit harder since Azure had to lift an extra pony, but it wasn't anything he wasn't incapable of handling.
Azure noticed out of the corner of his eye a small pebble, but didn't do much about it. However, it apparently bounced in such a way that it so happened to bounce off Fluttershy and not him.
The mare in question let out a tight squeal, and Azure had to quit moving so that he could maintain his balance. The others turned to look, but the cyan colt was far more worried by the fact that the mare he was ferrying was squeezing him tighter than he thought possible. He felt an unusual tension in his chest, just below where her forelegs were crossed.
SQUEAK.
Azure's eyes widened. The others completely stopped what they were doing, also transfixed at the sound that had just come out of his mouth.
"D-did I just...squeak?"
It wasn't even like a squeal that got cut off halfway because of lack of air. It sounded like somepony had crammed a dog toy down his windpipe and left the squeaker intact. The tension eased, and the others began laughing. Fluttershy loosened her grip, and the cyan colt kept right on climbing, blushing the whole way up.
I really hope they all don't start trying to make me do that for fun...
----------------------------------------
It had been unexpectedly hard to make it over the rocks. Well, going up was the easy part, but Azure soon found out that trying to keep his footing when he had an extra pony on his shoulders to worry about was easier said than done. Even his sure-footed cousin probably couldn't pull it off. It was taking a significant effort to not simply slide down the avalanche, which would have caused both himself and Fluttershy to collide into Rarity, who was having similar troubles getting past the rocks. That in itself may have caused another embarrassing squeak to issue from his lungs.
Seriously, why'd I squeak? I've been squeezed half-to death before... Too caught up in his introspection, the cyan colt failed to find traction, and found himself painfully sliding on his belly the rest of the way down. The others, who by this point had either flown over or climbed over the pile safely to the other side, all turned to him, worried.
"I'm fine..." Azure confirmed, getting back on his feet. Rainbow Dash shot another glare at the mare he was ferrying, making it all too clear she blamed her for all the slowdowns. Which, while certainly true, wasn't exactly fair. It sort of surprised Azure when he'd thought about it: the two seemed to know each other quite well judging from that incident a few days ago, but Rainbow didn't know about her biggest phobia of all? The group continued for a few more yards when the mare began to speak again.
"Still think it was a good idea to bring Fluttershy along?" she questioned of Twilight, turning to her.
"We're about to find out," Twilight walked a few more feet, then stopped. "We're here."
Azure turned his head as he reached what the studious mare was referring to. What he and the others saw was a gigantic crevice in the mountain. Out of this cave, black smoke was pouring into the atmosphere. It was clear this was where the dragon had chosen to sleep. The colt turned back to Fluttershy, and made a small subtle motion for her to climb off his back. After some hesitation on her part, she managed to rise to her hooves, just as Twilight began to go over her plans for the monster within the mountain.
"Rainbow Dash, you'll use your wings to clear the smoke," she started. The cyan mare gave a nod of approval and began to fly up into the black clouds.
"Pinkie Pie and Rarity, you two will distract the dragon in case things get a little hairy in there," The two mares in question gave nods of approval, though the pink earth pony was holding a rubber chicken, which squeaked as she squeezed it. Azure gave an involuntary shudder from the memory of his own recent squeak. He then wondered exactly what she was going to do that.
"Applejack, you're ready with apples in case the dragon attacks..." Twilight continued, and the orange mare briefly chucked two apples into a nearby rock to demonstrate. Azure almost completely fell over, not only feeling left-out again, but not knowing exactly what apples would do to a dragon.
Of all the--
"Okay, seriously?" Azure had done his best the whole trip up the mountain to pretend the argument from earlier hadn't happened, but now he really had to protest this lapse of judgment on Twilight's part. Even if she didn't like it, she had to at least know he'd had experience fighting large creatures too. "I mean, no offense, Applejack, but what can apples do to a dragon?"
"You really can't wait to attack something, can you?" Twilight asked, turning to him, wearing that same expression from the foot of the mountain.
"Oh no, you're not bringing that up this time," Azure responded, taking a step forward. "I didn't come all this way just to stand here and look pretty!" There was clear sarcasm in his tone. Or get turned into a squeaky toy, for that matter...
"Alright, if it comes to it, you can help out Applejack," Twilight's expression changed, seeing how serious he was about it. "But it shouldn't come to that, because Fluttershy will do what she needs to do to wake him up, and between the two of us, we should be able to get him to understand why he needs to go." The purple mare began to walk up to the cave. "Is everypony ready?"
With the exception of one voice, the entire group gave a grunt of approval. The purple mare began to trot into the cave, apparently not noticing a second set of hooves hitting the ground next to her.
Azure felt his eyebrows lift, and he looked over to see Fluttershy doing her best imitation of an ostrich.
"Uh..." was all he could manage to say before Twilight realized somepony was missing and walked out of the cave.
"Come on, come on," The studious mare responded to Fluttershy's response to her role, pushing her head from the ground and trying her hardest to push her to the dragon's cave. "We have to do this!"
Rainbow Dash came flying down, and began to help push, but surprisingly, the yellow mare wouldn't budge.
"We have to do this now!" Twilight continued to make her case as Rarity and Applejack joined in on the effort. But it was no use; Fluttershy was practically a living iceberg. "Every second the dragon sleeps is another acre of Equestria covered in smoke!" Pinkie Pie joined in to the effort, and Azure could only watch in awe as the meek mare successfully walled the efforts of five others in an attempt to push her.
Sweet Celestia, fear is a great source of strength... The cyan colt thought to himself. But it's how you use it...
"I-I-I can't go in the cave," The yellow pegasus stuttered out, which caused all five of her friends to fall over.
"Oh great," Dash complained, hovering into the air and crossing her forelegs. "now she's scared of caves, too..."
"I'm not scared of caves, I'm scared of..." Fluttershy's jaw appeared to lock, and she mumbled. Azure blinked, realizing she was having yet another panic attack.
"What's that, sugarcube?" Applejack asked, stepping in closer.
"I'm scared of..." The mumble was slightly louder, but only Azure knew what she was trying to say.
"What?" Twilight asked, taking another step closer.
"I'm scared of dragons!" Again, Fluttershy proved she had a volume louder than "inside voice", proclaiming to the others for the first time her fear of the huge beasts.
"But Fluttershy, you have a wonderful talent with all kinds of animals!" Twilight responded, clearly confused.
"Yes, because they're not dragons," Fluttershy defended. It sounded flimsy, but Azure wasn't about to point it out. He could fully understand what it was like to have a phobia, but that was as far as it went.
"Oh c'mon!" Dash argued, clearly irritated by this confession. "You walked up to a horrible manticore like it was nothing!"
"Yes, because it wasn't a dragon..." It was basically a repeat of what she just said, but the unicorn colt could see the stress forming through the cracks again.
"Spike is a dragon," Pinkie pointed out, "You're not scared of him."
"Yes, because he's not a huge, gigantic, terrifying, enormous, teeth-gnashing, scarp-scale having, horn-wearing, smoke-snoring, could eat a pony in one bite, totally all-grown-up dragon!" Fluttershy practically wailed this information as she gave even more details than she had before when alone with him. The dragon apparently wasn't disturbed by the exclamation, giving out another loud, loud snore which caused the mare to buckle and cave in on the ground.
"But if you're so afraid of dragons, why didn't you say anything before we climbed all the way up here?" Twilight asked.
It really wasn't that obvious? Azure privately wondered to himself, preparing to come forth with the knowledge. Even considering it's Fluttershy we're talking about--
"I was afraid to..." said the mare on the ground, earning a facehoof from Rainbow Dash.
"How was that not clear to everypony?" The cyan colt had quietly watched this up to this point, but now felt the need to elaborate further. The others turned to him, blinking, but Twilight spoke up.
"Wait, how did you know?"
Azure found he couldn't come clean about his fear as easily as he thought he could. "Because she told me..."
"And you didn't tell us...why?" Now that anger in her voice was back once more. How many times today did she...?
"At least I thought to ask about it..." The others immediately realized when he did it, but none of them chose to point out that was why he'd carried her up all that way. The glare from Twilight intensified, but Azure noticed it was a bit more than usual.
"Then why didn't you ask her in front of us?!"
Darn it, I'm having trouble coming clean about my own too...
"She just said she was too afraid to tell you!" Azure shouted back. Twilight's eyes opened, and the others seemed disturbed by this fact. Rainbow looked a bit more disturbed than the others.
"B-but then...why did she tell you over the rest of us..." The purple mare finally asked after some silence.
"Because..." The pony found himself once more unable to speak directly about why she had done so, "Because I know what she's going through..."
Twilight returned to an argumentative mode again.
"How could you, of all ponies, know what she's going through?!" The others seemed to agree, though Applejack seemed a bit angered that she was taking this tone again at a time like this. "You're ready to attack anything that moves! On a moment's notice, no less!"
Do you really want to know? Fine, but you'll have a hard time believing it too! Azure scowled as he considered her statement. He really wanted to tell them now...
Before he could find a way to share this information with the others, Applejack once more stepped between them.
"All of us are scared of the dragon," said Applejack, trying to actually reassure Fluttershy while at the same time cutting off any further arguments.
"I'm not!" Rainbow yelled back, almost indignant at the notion.
More intimidated since I don't know how big exactly one is... thought Azure to himself, recalling how it'd felt when the Ursa Minor came to down and he was powerless to act.
"Almost all of us are afraid of that dragon," the orange earth pony re-stated. "But we've got a job to do. So, get on in there with Twilight and show that dragon what you're made of." Despite the strongly supportive tone of her voice, Fluttershy didn't move from her prone position.
"I-I-I just...can't..." Fluttershy rose to her feet, turning her head down, apparently ashamed of her inability to do what Azure himself did. Azure merely closed his eyes and sighed as she began to walk away.
If there was a way to pass on my courage, I'd do it. But sadly, all I can do is give advice. he thought to himself. But with Fluttershy out, Twilight's approach should still be doable, right?
Twilight seemed nervous now that Fluttershy was unable to help her out, but she continued to stand tall, turning her attention back to the cave.
"He probably just doesn't know what he's doing, right?" She sounded honestly unsure of herself when she asked herself this. The others didn't seem sure; Azure himself could only cite Spike as an example of a dragon being able to exercise sound judgment, but he also knew that he didn't know a thing about dragons other than what he'd seen Spike do.
Twilight swallowed hard, beginning to once more go into the cave alone. Azure started stepping forward after her, and within moments, all of the still-in ponies were crowded around the entrance of the cave. It was a dark cave, but within it, one could just make out the gleam of what vaguely appeared to be treasure, covered by a hulking mass, no doubt the dragon.
"Mr. Dragon?" Even so, Twilight was having a hard time seeing, bumping right into the mass. Azure couldn't see what was going on straight away, but when the mass flipped over, the others could see a little more clearly its treasure trove and more importantly, its size. The thing was definitely huge, bigger than an Ursa Minor for sure. And it was only lying down scratching at the scales on its stomach.
Smoke poured from the nose that Twilight had bumped into, no doubt where the offensive smoke was coming from.
"Excuse me, Mr. Dragon?" Now that the mare had apparently seen the dragon she'd bumped into, she looked up toward it. The dragon continued to seemingly ignore Twilight, but just as it seemed that the mare would have to try harder to get it to wake, the eyes of the dragon opened, and the eyes were yellow. Azure almost had a flashback of the Shadow Ghoul invasion, and instinctively, he felt himself get on guard. Yet, even as the dragon turned his attention to Twilight, clearly not amused at having been roused from his slumber, it didn't seem like it was going to attack.
"Oh good, you're awake," she observed, taking a few steps back to allow herself some breathing room. "Please allow me to introduce myself. My name is Twilight--" The dragon yawned, and Twilight suddenly looked dizzy. Azure was just about ready to dash into the cave to see if he could do anything, but the dragon continued to not attack.
That is one bad case of morning breath... Azure found himself wondering how its breath smelled like, since it almost made Twilight pass out from the scent.
"Ugh, Sparkle..." She finished, coughing while covering her snout with a hoof. "and my friends and I are residents in Equestria, Ponyville to be exact." The dragon turned to look at them directly. Azure didn't budge too much, even when the yellow eyes focused on him. He gazed over to the others, and saw that they were standing their ground, especially Pinkie, who looked about ready to hurl a party invite his way.
One wrong move and I'll do...something... Azure wasn't quite sure what he'd do if the dragon decided to get violent, given the size difference. Even with six of them here, it would have taken a true miracle to take this thing out with force.
"We've come here to ask you to find another spot to take your nap," Twilight continued, at which point the dragon turned its attention back on to her. "It's just that you seem to be doing an awful lot of snoring, and every time you do, you send out a terrible cloud of smoke."
He wasn't sure if the dragon was being disrespectful or not by snorting smoke directly on the mare, who coughed from the fumes.
"Equestria just can't survive a hundred years of dark haze!" She continued, trying to argue her case to something that could, as Fluttershy had so eloquently put it earlier, "eat her in one bite". "You understand, don't you?"
Whatever look that the studious pony had on her face seemed to work. The dragon got up and stretched, just like anypony would have done in the morning if successfully woken up.
"So you'll find another place to sleep?" There was hope in the mare's voice. But Azure soon realized it was foolish to think it'd be that easy. The dragon then immediately fell back over, assuming a napping position. Now, this time the dragon was being discourteous, snorting a nostril full of noxious smoke directly on to Twilight, and sending another blast of black fumes straight out the mouth of the cave. Everypony started to cough, Azure included, when the smoke blasted them as well.
"Well, that went about as well as I thought...!" the cyan colt hacked, raising a forehoof over his snout and trying to choke out the noxious concoction. On the bright side, the dragon didn't start attacking, so at least it wasn't too violent.
"So much for persuading him..." Rainbow Dash had also caught a lungful of smoke.
"What now?" Applejack asked, having just as much of a hard time breathing as the others. The smoke finally cleared, but the others still coughed a bit more.
"Obviously, this situation calls for a little pony charm. Allow me." Rarity declared, and Azure immediately facehooved.
Well, I saw this coming... the cyan colt thought to himself. He lifted his head up, ready to see how well the whole flattering a dragon thing would work out, when he noticed something from the corner of his eye. Towards the edge of the cliff, behind a very large rock, was Fluttershy, still looking down on herself as she peered out from behind it to see what was going on. ...I thought she'd have left for Ponyville by now...
Azure closed his eyes in thought.
This is Fluttershy you're talking about, Azure. Even with all that meekness, she's still capable of being a friend. Maybe she just wants to see if we can do this. He thought to himself. I have a feeling this'll just be like a broken record, but...I've got to talk to her once more... The unicorn couldn't place it, but he'd felt a similarity to her now, ever since her phobia first came out. Plus, he still had his Protector role to carry out. With the others busy watching how Rarity's attempt at charming the dragon was going, Azure walked over to the rock. She'd since hidden herself behind the structure again, and he peered around it.
"Fluttershy?" To his question, she looked up at him for a moment, then back down, rubbing a hoof on the ground. "So you're still afraid, aren't you?" He walked around the rock and out of sight.
She gave a soft affirmative, looking away from him entirely for a moment.
"It's not your fault," Azure said, attempting to be reassuring. "A fear as deep as that can't be overcome in one night."
"Y-you did..." she stuttered in response. While it was true, it was a bit unfair given what else had been going on that night.
"I'm sure you could face your fear if you just gave it a try..." The colt decided to be a little stubborn about it, but he never let the gentle tone leave his voice. He tried to be convincing about it, but it fell flat.
"I-I can't..." Fluttershy looked away ashamed again. "I just don't have as much courage as you..."
Azure raised a hoof to his head, rubbing at his mane.
How can I get her to believe in herself enough...? He felt his headband come loose a little, and began to readjust it, when something hit him. He remembered the reason why he'd been given it. Then, something stood out even more than that.
When his fear of chimeras had started, he'd been corrected that he'd still deserved his name, despite the fact he'd been too scared to stand up to the beasts at the time. It was that memory of what his father had told him on that day that allowed him to stand up to one years later and pave the way for Nightmare Moon's defeat.
She never got the help she needed, but I did... Azure said. He began to finish taking off his headband. I just hope it isn't too late...
"Fluttershy," Azure started, hoping his tactic would work. "You want to know my secret to having such courage?" Already he knew Applejack would see right through this, but she was too busy paying attention to whatever was going on in the cave. Fluttershy snapped her head back to him, and her eyes sparkled. He could see her wanting to turn it down, but perhaps it was her want to help her friends that motivated her next answer.
"This band was a gift from my mother when I was younger," He'd hoped her fear would mask her memory of what the memento really was as he floated it over to her and began to wrap it around her head. "I'm sure that if you wear it, your courage will finally be unlocked. My mother cast a spell on it to help me become the way I am now."
"B-but..." Fluttershy stuttered. She seemed doubtful, even with this "information". "D-do you really think it'll work on me?"
"Of course I do," Azure nodded softly with a smile. The mare's mouth twitched as though she were about to in return, with a slight pinkening of the cheeks. The cyan colt's ear twitched as he registered a new voice.
"It's time to stop wasting time!" This was Rainbow Dash declaring something she'd probably already been declaring half a dozen times over. "I'm goin' in!"
"That can't end well," Azure said aloud, turning his attention back to the mouth of the cave. "I have to get back out there now. Remember, don't worry about being afraid of the dragon, that headband will help you overcome it!"
Without even checking to see if Fluttershy would follow him, Azure dashed out from behind the rock, hoping nopony would notice straight away the dark blue band missing from around his head. Despite the fact he wore it all the time...
He'd managed to get back to the others just as Twilight pleaded with the flying mare to not do what she was about to. There was something about how she'd expect it more from Azure in there too, but he wasn't about to argue now.
"Get! Out!" This was obviously Rainbow Dash screaming at the dragon, followed by the unmistakable sound of a hard kick. Judging from the disgruntled grunts and the subsequent sneeze, it was an attack straight to the dragon's nose. It didn't seem to have any real effect on the dragon other than waking it up, and boy did it sound mad. Apparently, it also looked mad as well, since even Dash didn't want to mess with an angry dragon. "Heh, sorry."
The apology wasn't going to cut it. The dragon roared audibly, and Azure had to move quick since the force of the roar alone sent Rainbow flying backwards, directly toward the others. While he'd managed to jump clear, the others were sent flying like bowling pins on impact. They didn't get a whole lot of time to recover from the apparently painful impact, given that the sound of the dragon on the move was very audible. The others began to scramble, trying to find a place to go, but Azure didn't follow.
I've got to try something...! he thought to himself, already focusing magic into his horn for a charged shot. It wasn't exactly the best option he could have done, but given the others didn't seem to have any other ideas, he decided to settle on his opening course of action: running bravely to the front of the cave and doing...something, to get its attention. The dragon's...arm, slammed down on the ground, causing the mountain to tremble. Azure figured it was probably trying to intimidate him. He looked up, just in time to see a large, bright red dragon's head poke out of the cave.
It was clearly mad, and though the colt knew he wasn't going to make the situation any better, he couldn't see any other way. The instant the dragon poked its head out, he shot his blast to him, but the dragon easily avoided in the attack, and Azure froze up, seeing how easily the large creature dodged his charged shot. The dragon made a move as though to attack.
This is going to hurt...a lot... With one flick of a claw, Azure's nerves overloaded with pain as his feet left the ground. Knowing he'd probably be completely sent over the side of the mountain if he didn't act quick, he lessened air resistance and used a gravity spell to slow the resulting fall, allowing him to land without breaking anything this time. The impact still knocked whatever wind he had left out of him. Azure struggled back to his feet, not knowing what to do next, especially since the monster was massive, dwarfing the Ursa Minor in size when it stood in a bipedal position.
He gazed to the others, and saw something he didn't quite expect completely. The others had huddled together, and even Rainbow Dash looked petrified; the very same pony who had assisted him in the Shadow Ghoul attack; the one that had said she wasn't scared of the dragon, was scared out of her mind. But the biggest fright of all was yet to come. The dragon reared back, taking a deep breath, and Azure felt as though he were standing in an infinite tunnel.
Is that thing gonna breathe fire...?!
Thankfully, his hypothesis was proven wrong as the dragon shot out a very strong puff of smoke. It was still enough to send the five mares back, slamming them into a rock hard enough to cause it to crumble. The other five writhed around, groaning, and Azure felt his heart skip a beat when Fluttershy, still wearing his headband, popped up, looking to the dragon.
"Bad, bad, this is bad!" Azure grunted, already going towards the mares before the dragon decided to attack Fluttershy too. In that instant, though, something changed. The meek mare in question saw what had happened to her friends, who were still struggling to stand from the impact. She looked to them, and though Azure was focusing for another attack, the meek and gentle pony's demeanor completely changed.
"How dare you..." She looked up to the dragon. Azure hesitated, hearing the tone of her voice. The dragon turned to her. "How dare you!" Her wings shot open, and she was up in the air faster than Azure had ever seen her move.
"Fluttershy--?!" Azure couldn't even speak more. He'd completely stopped his movement, ceasing his focus on the attack, staring in disbelief as Fluttershy moved into eye level, landing on the dragon's nose.
"Listen here, mister," She sounded angrier than he'd ever think possible from her, and even more stern than...actually, she'd never sounded especially stern before, but right now, she definitely was yelling...and at a dragon, her biggest fear, no less; talking down to it as though it were a foal. "just because you're big doesn't mean you get to be a bully!" The sight was so stunning Azure couldn't even come up with anything to say. Even the dragon had lost steam upon having the meek mare glare at it. The others managed to get back to their feet, just as surprised at the sudden growth of a backbone.
"You may have huge teeth, and sharp scales, and snore smoke, and breathe fire, but you do not, I repeat, you do not! Hurt! My! Friends!" This was followed by the sharpest, angriest glare that Azure had ever witnessed anypony give. Not even Nightmare Moon's sneer compared to it. The colt's mind had blanked out. "You got that?"
W-what...what...? Just as it dawned on Azure that he should have been more ready to attack again, the dragon ducked down as though in fear, leaving the colt thoroughly confused and yet...impressed.
"I don't believe it..." He whispered to himself.
"Well?" The dragon flinched again when the mare asked him again, her tone still that stern, almost commanding tone.
"But...that rainbow one kicked me..." The dragon said, as though it justified it; which, by all rights, it probably did. Rainbow Dash seemed a little proud to be mentioned, as she smiled and nodded.
"And I'm very sorry about that," Fluttershy's tone eased back into the one she'd used on the manticore. "but you're bigger than she is and you should know better than that. You should also know not to take a nap where your snoring could become a health hazard."
"But I--" The dragon continued to attempt to explain, sounding as though he had a perfectly legitimate reason to snore smoke.
"Don't you 'but I' me, mister!" Fluttershy gave the dragon a stern look once again, still using her inside voice. "Now then, what do you have to say for yourself?" When no response came, the yellow pegasus used her commanding tone. "I said: what do you have to say for yourself?"
The colt continued to gawk, especially when the dragon, confronted with the mare's anger, began to break down and cry, showering the ponies below with tears. Azure was too off-put by the sight to even bother with trying to keep himself dry, impressed at how things turned out.
"There, there," Fluttershy had once again returned to her normal tone, and seemed completely calm once more. "You're not a bad dragon, you just made a bad decision. Now go pack your things, you just need to find another place to sleep is all."
With that, the mare got off the snout of the obscenely large beast, who hurried to comply with her request. The mares cheered, but Azure wasn't quite at ease just yet. He kept an eye on the dragon as he slowly made his way toward the others.
"You did it, Fluttershy!" Twilight congratulated, "I knew you could!" As the celebrations amped up, the dragon emerged from its cave with more treasure than Azure knew he'd ever see in his lifetime, and began flying off into the distance. The dragon mumbled something to himself, though, and by pure luck, the colt caught it.
"First rats with yellow eyes run me out of my first cave, and now a yellow pegasus makes me leave my second?!" He grumbled under his breath. "Yellow just isn't my lucky color..."
"Rats with yellow eyes...?" Azure's memory returned to the fight with the Shadow Ghouls. Could it be...?!
He began trotting faster toward the others, wondering about the conditions that the dragon was trying to tell Fluttershy.
"When did you become so brave, Fluttershy?" This was Rainbow Dash, sounding genuinely curious.
"It wasn't bravery," corrected the mare in her completely normal, "inside voice" sort of tone. "It was courage."
Only now did the others seem to notice the headband around her head.
"Hey, wait a sec," Applejack raised a hoof to point at it. "Ain't that Az's headband?"
The others took a closer look, and some of them released a small gasp when they realized it, turning to him.
"...did I miss something...?" Twilight wondered aloud to herself, but Azure couldn't really fault her for it given the fifty-foot reptile she had to worry about.
"The headband has a spell on it," Fluttershy "explained", using the tale that the cyan colt had spun on the spur of the moment. "It helped me have courage like him." She smiled. Azure sighed to himself, knowing it was now or never.
"Actually," Azure said, cutting in. "I kinda made that part up..."
"W-what?" Fluttershy seemed confused by this admission, while the others remained silent.
"The band had no magic," Azure responded. "I received it right before my move. It's just an ordinary band with my virtue sewn into it." He smiled. "Standing up for your friends against that dragon which you feared so much...that was all you." He reached out and touched her shoulder, to which the mare flinched a bit. "That was from inside you."
The yellow pegasus's mouth opened wide and her green eyes began to sparkle.
"Y-you mean...I had courage all this time?" Fluttershy asked, to which the others all agreed. She smiled wide and blushed a deep rose color.
"C'mon, everypony," Twilight broke up the victory celebration. "Let's go home..."
-----------------------------------------
It didn't take near as long for the group to get back down the mountain, partly because Fluttershy was no longer slowing them down. They were able to take all the shortcuts they couldn't before as a group. Eventually, the group reached town again, and after saying their goodbyes and thanking Fluttershy for coming through in the end, the ponies went their seperate ways.
Azure reached his home, content with what had occurred. His body was a bit sore from being chucked through the air like he was, but other than that, he hadn't gotten hurt. The others who had been pushed into the rock hard enough to break it, surprisingly, didn't have any serious injuries of their own.
"This day was pretty interesting..." the colt commented, lying down on his bed. "Even Fluttershy can lose that meekness, that gentleness, when her friends are threatened...I just wish it didn't have to come to all of us getting hurt for her to make the dragon cry..."
But his thoughts soon returned to the dragon's parting words, how it had complained about being forced out of its caves previously.
But if that dragon was referring to the Shadow Ghouls... He was troubled, his brown eyes reflecting this. It should mean we can relax; the one that summoned them isn't anywhere near here...Yet, I can't. I can't relax knowing that.
A knock on the door disrupted his concentration. Azure rose from his bed and began making his way to the door. He'd opened it, to see Fluttershy, with a sea of critters behind her, all heading toward her home. The meek mare seemed to have evened out completely, and was her usual gentle self again. The mare was still wearing his headband around her head.
How'd I forget...? he asked himself.
"Oh, Fluttershy, what brings you here?" The pony asked.
"A-Azure, I'm sorry," she whispered, reaching up for the band with the slightest blush showing on her face. "With all that happened, I-I'd forgotten to give this back to you."
"Oh, thanks," Azure levitated the band from her hoof and began to wrap it around his head, back where he'd had it before he gave it to Fluttershy. "Y-you're not mad that I lied about it, are you?"
"N-not at all," She said. "If you hadn't, I'm not sure I would have been able to face my fears like that..." The mare seemed unusually sheepish all of a sudden, even for her, turning from him as though she were about to leave, yet couldn't bring herself to.
"I knew you could do it," the cyan unicorn continued, not bothering to point out her shyness. "Like I said when we were going around the mountain, you have more courage than I do. You even gave me a little scare up there!"
The mare said nothing, seeming to blush more at his comment. Azure felt awkward to stand there, and didn't quite know what to do.
"I...guess I'll see you around..." Azure responded, starting to back away so he could re-enter his home.
"W-wait...Azure..." Fluttershy's voice was barely a whisper. Azure stopped, and was caught off-guard for the umpteenth time that way when her snout entered the space of his cheek, and he felt the unmistakable moist pressure of a pair of lips against his cheek. Her face was bright red now, and after she'd pulled away, she looked away. "T-thank you..."
Azure didn't need to be told he was blushing a reddish color now. He watched the mare turn around and start flying away back to her home, once again moving faster than he expected her to. The colt watched her retreat, blinking. Once the shock of the event wore off, Azure smiled, and looked after the mare's direction.
You're welcome, Fluttershy...
The cyan unicorn went back inside his home, still confused about what had just happened. Sure, he practically carried her most of the way up the mountain, and had given her the drive she'd needed, but--Azure decided not to dwell on it further.
"Like heck Virid's hearing about the dragon that decided not to kill the lot of us on the spot." Azure said aloud. "After what he did during his and Blitz's visit, it's going to be a little longer before I'm writing about any of our adventures..."
With this in mind, Azure went back to his bed, lying down and preparing to meditate.
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Per the request of the author, I shall now write an update on what I think of this fic.
In chapter six we are treated to a lovely redux
of "Boast Busters" if one has seen the episode, they have read much of this chapter already, the difference here being that it is written mostly from Azure's point of view. Getting into the heads of characters and learning what makes them tick is, more often than not, a good thing. Such is apparent here, Azure seems to be gaining something called depth in his personality, a rare phenomenon indeed in this type of story. This becomes even more apparent as the next couple chapters roll in.
Speaking of Chapters Seven and Eight, turns out that these are actually original. I shouldn't go into details about the latter for not wanting to spoil anything. However, it turns out that Virid Strategem and Crimson Blitz are not just complete gits when they check up on their cousin. It is chapters like these that should make this fic as a whole: Enticing, have meaningful morals at the end and of course, originality. Originality is very good.
Somewhat sadly, Chapter Nine is a reenactment of "Dragonshy" largely through Azure's POV. I felt a bit disappointed that after the amusing-and unique-events of the previous two chapters, the author returned to rehashing history. At least, until the little plot twist at the end
(no, the other kind of twist), a twist that relates to the previous chapter and made me think 'Hello what's this, oooh, fascinating, the plot thickens a little. Now I do not need to claw out the bark of that tree over there in boredom.' I shall leave it to others to discover what I mean.
Chapters Seven and Eight are shining examples of what this story can-and probably should-be. Azure does not make me wish to rip his innards asunder with his character traits, so that is a success there. This story still has a way to go, and I seem to care enough to follow. Hopefully others may share this viewpoint and give this fic a bit more deserved recognition.
I will update my thoughts every few chapters, I am not going into spelling, grammar and other fundamentals for I need not to. Any errors are too few and far in-between to be concerned with.
I await the next chapter, may it be something new to look at, or at least tolerable.
-Dr. Angryslacks