Mayor Concerns (obsolete description)

Fluttershy heard a knock at the door, she answered it and there was the mayor who said, "I heard you had a new houseguest and I wanted to see how things were going. It's been so long since I dropped by, too long. I should visit more often to thank you for all the fantastic work you do with the animals around in Ponyville."

Fluttershy was surprised but smiled, "Thank you, mayor mare. I appreciate it, but I really don't mind taking care of my little animal friends. it's what I love doing the most." Jade was slowly carrying objects from the cottage over to a different area inside.

The mayor didn't seem to even notice what Fluttershy said, "So... has your guest been behaving properly? I could always send someone over to help if you ever need it."

Fluttershy was still smiling, "Oh no, it's fine"

"No problems at all?" asked the mayor.

"Oh no..." answered Fluttershy.

Mayor Mare asked in quick succession, "No sudden growth spurts, vocabulary loss or damaged property?"

Fluttershy became confused, "wha-?"

Jade interrupted by shouting, "Look fluttershy, I've got a hoard!"

Fluttershy turned around and looked to her and the pile of chewy toys she had made, "That looks very nice, Jade."

The Mayor's eye twitched and she stepped back from the doorway, she couldn't think of anything to say. Quickly she turned around and walked away slowly.
Fluttershy kept smiling when she turned back around to the mayor, "Oh, goodbye," and shut the door before continuing, "I'm really lucky to live where so many ponies care about me."

Jade had climbed onto her "hoard" and was sitting on it when Fluttershy said that to herself. Fluttershy looked at the hoard again and then to Jade, "Jade, it's really a nice hoard but I think we should put things back now."
Jade hesitated, but did as she was told, figuring Fluttershy had planned some other fun activity. She put the toys where she had found them, which meant scattering them across the room. Fluttershy sat outside and was talking to the many animals she cared for.
When she finished, Jade went outside and stood next to Fluttershy and asked, "So what are we going to do now?"

Fluttershy thought for a moment, "What do you want to do?"

Jade shrugged, "I don't know. I thought you had come up with a plan."

"Oh, no, I was just going to talk some to my little friends here."

A squirrel chittered next to Fluttershy. Jade didn´t know what to make of that and asked the pegasus, "is there anything else I could do?"

"What would you like to do?" asked Fluttershy curiously.

Jade put a claw to her chin and thought. She wasn't in the mood to get everything back out and make another hoard, so she'd just have to find something else to do... but what? She went back into the cottage and looked around to see if she could find anything interesting to play with. She started repeatedly flicking the light switch, but that got old fast, so did yelling into a fan and chasing her own tail. Eventually she walked over to her basket and dropped herself into it. Time would probably go by faster if she took a nap, but the harder she tried, the more difficult it got to close her eyes.

Eventually she just gave up and stared at the wall. That was, until she noticed a spot. She stared at it until it annoyed her, then deciding to look at the ceiling, the boredom taking over, before she started to think.
The events of the last two days were finally sinking in and started to replay in her mind. She had been so busy and entertained, that she had almost forgot what she went through before she reached Ponyville. Memories of hunger and cold, darkness and fear, her mother telling her to stay close to her, all these filled her head.

She started to focus on her family more. She didn't realize before how far away from them she was but now...
She wondered if they knew where she had gone, and how they were doing. Jade felt dread when the idea that she might not see her parents or siblings again found its way to the front of her mind. The gravity of the situation hit her and caused her to sink down into the basket, Jade curled up as tears began to form in her eyes.
The young dragon laid there silently, she let the tears flow into the pillow as she grabbed onto it and pulled it close into a hug. Jade stayed there for a long time before Fluttershy came in, she quickly turned over the other way and shut her eyes.
Fluttershy looked around to see what Jade had been up to, then saw her laying in the basket without the blanket on her. A smile came across her face while she walked over to cover Jade, but she then saw the pillow was damp. She leaned over and saw that Jade was forcing her eyes shut, Fluttershy knew that look and asked, "Are you okay, sweetie?"

"Yeah" Jade said, sitting up and quickly wiping her eyes. She did her best to look composed, but didn't fool the pony.
Fluttershy sat next to the basket and wiped Jade's cheek with a hoof, but Jade pushed it away.

"I'm not crying." Jade protested.

"I know you're not." Fluttershy replied, smiling warmly, earning a smile back. The little dragon was proud, Fluttershy could tell. She wasn't going to ask. If Jade wasn't ready to talk about it, she would just wait until she was.


========


The Mayor raced through the streets. All around her the buildings suffered from terrible destruction; black smoke rose from them as the fires burned a path through ponyville, the nearly ashen buildings lay in sprawled heaps into the streets, and lumber went spilling into the paths of those trying to escape.

Desperately she tried to lead other ponies to safety but with the terror that loomed over them all it seemed there would be no escaping the dragon. What had been Fluttershy's simple guest became frightful as the greed growth overtook her. Giant horns stuck from the back of her head, massive wings flapped to fuel the inferno in the town, the dragon's body showed great strength and her claws looked to be ready to grasp all the ponies up to feed to this dragon's surely massive appetite.

Jade's attention fell upon Mayor Mare; the mayor bolted and the dragon chased. There was no outrunning this beast. claws sank into the ground and pulled Jade closer with every second and before the mayor was snatched up she managed to duck behind a building. Jade lost sight of the mayor and using this advantage she carefully retreated to behind another building.

She curled up against the walls of the building, shaking and hoping to simply be forgotten by the rampaging monster for the time. Then she felt a hoof on her shoulder and heard a voice, "are you okay? Mayor?"

She recognized the voice, "Twilight Sparkle?" she said as she opened her eyes. Several other ponies stood around the mayor, as she looked around she realized she had sunk into a daydream and quickly stood up. Clearing her throat and straightening her hair, "Yes, I'm quite fine, you can move along now. I'm really okay." As she said that the ponies bid her farewell and started to leave, each looking somewhat confused by what they saw.

Twilight had stayed behind and asked, "Are you sure that you're okay? You were pale and sweating, and you were talking about dragons. Does this have anything to do with the baby dragon that just came to town??

"Actually, yes. How did you know?" asked the mayor with a slightly surprised expression.

Twilight continue, "I assumed with everything that's been happening since yesterday. I'm curious, how did you learn about Jade?"

Mayor Mare smiled as she answered, "Oh, Pinkie Pie told me, she invited me to the baby dragon shower this evening."

Twilight looked confused, "Strange, she didn't say anything about that to me when I passed her by earlier. Where is this baby dragon shower going to be anyway?"

"Why, in the library. Didn't you know?"

Twilight's confusion turned to frustration, "No. If you'll excuse me, I need to speak with somepony right now."

"Of course, have a good day Twilight" said the mayor before she stumbled off, continuing to think about the greed growth problem.

Twilight stormed off to Sugarcube Corner, there she found Pinkie gathering party supplies.
She didn't see an opening to interrupt so she just loudly said, "Pinkie, we need to talk."

Pinkie heard Twilight but continued her preparations, "Sure thing, I'm just getting everything ready for the baby dragon shower tonight."

Aggravated by Pinkie not taking time to focus, but knowing this was just Pinkie Pie, Twilight carried on, "that's what I'm here about. Why didn't you tell me about this party you're throwing?"

Pinkie kept working as she replied, "Well, I was going to send you an invite but then I realized you were going to be there already so I didn't need to give you one."

Twilight took a moment to register that, then asked: "Who did you invite to the party?"

Without stopping her packing, Pinkie said cheerily, "Just my friends."

Twilight let out a sigh, "You're friends with everypony in Ponyville."

"Uh-huh" said Pinkie Pie, smiling just a little more as she thought about it.

Twilight's frustration was building up, "So you invited everyone?"

"Why do you think I needed a bigger place to throw the party?" rebuted Pinkie, her tone expressing how silly she thought the question was.

"Pinkie!" shouted Twilight, her aggravation broke free for that brief second.

Pinkie stopped and looked at Twilight, fluttering her eyelashes, "Yes, Twilight?"

Knowing better, Twilight decided to give up and return to the library, "I need to lie down, I'm heading back to the library."

"Ooo, that's a good idea," said Pinkie enthusiastically, "If you take a nap now you won't get sleepy at the party and it'll last even longer! Why didn't I think of that?"

As Twilight left Sugarcube Corner, Pinkie called out to her, "Twilight! Tell Spike I'll be there soon with party supplies!" Twilight didn't answer, instead she carried on exhausted.

When she got back to the library, Spike had cleaned up all the paper and was dusting a shelf of books. He smiled as she walked in, "Hey Twilight, did you enjoy the walk?"

Without changing her tired expression, Twilight said, "I'm going to sleep. Pinkie will be here soon, we're having a party." The tone of her voice was telling that she was not excited about this.

Spike was confused but excited for the prospect, "A party? What's the occasion?" All he heard was Twilight crashing into bed upstairs.


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