“Ready Rarity?” Twilight said, getting into her position.
“As I’ll ever be...” Rarity said nervously, watching Spike hook up another wire to a set of glowing monitors. The screens beeped and booped, measuring Rarity’s vital signs.
“Don’t worry Rarity, you’ll love being a dragon!” Spike said, grinning widely.
The mare’s worries lessened and she giggled at the young drake’s enthusiasm. Rarity smiled warmly, and said, “Thank your for you assurances Spike, but I don’t plan on being a dragon for long.” Spike seemed to droop a bit from this, and turned to Twilight for confirmation.
“That’s right, Spike.” The alicorn said, stretching her wings. “If my calculations were correct, she should only be a dragon for a couple hours.” Slowly, her horn started to glow. “Alright, here we go.”
Rarity held her breath and waited for the spell to take hold. At this moment of high stakes and adrenaline, her mind wandered back, and she recalled how this situation even came to be.
.........
Rarity, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy were all sitting at their usual table at Sugarcube Corner as Pinkie Pie walked up while bouncing a platter of milkshakes on her springy bubblegum mane. She set the tray down and noticed an empty chair at the table.
“Hey where's Twilight?” Pinkie exclaimed, looking under the table for her lavender friend.
“I don’t know...” Rainbow said as she took her shake, her eyebrow raised at her strange companion.
Applejack shrugged, before taking a swig of her caramel delight. “‘Ah know ah haven’t seen her for weeks now.”
“Oh, I’m sure she’s just busy with some important princess duties.” Fluttershy uttered softly as she sucked at her strawberry shake. “We shouldn’t worry too much...at least, I think so...”
“I agree with Fluttershy.” Rarity said. She levitated her mocha shake to her mouth and started sipping it. “I’m sure Twilight wouldn’t neglect spending time with her friends without good reason.”
Suddenly, the door burst open, and a very excited looking alicorn stood in the doorway. She was breathing heavily, but she grinned widely when she spotted her friends.
“Well, speak of the devil, how are ya, Twi?” Applejack said, smiling as she got up to greet her friend.
Twilight hugged her friend, and then trotted over to the table. “I’m great! I’m sorry I haven’t met up with you girls for a while.” She leaned back and moaned, putting a hoof to her forehead. “I was too engaged with this new spell I’ve been working on.”
“Ooooh, a new spell?” Pinkie Pie exclaimed. She jumped over the table and grabbed Twilight by the shoulders, shaking her. “What’sitdowhat’sitdowhat’sitdo? WHAT’S IT DOOOOOOO!!!!”
Applejack tutted, and pulled her eccentric friend back to her seat. “Calm down, Pinkie! Ah’m sure Twilight’ll tell us all about what she’s been working on.”
“Indeed I will!” The librarian said loudly. “Observe!” Twilight then plucked a hair from Rainbow’s mane. She then got up from her seat and stood in the center of the room.
“OW!” Rainbow shouted, surprised at the sudden removal of her hair. “What was that for?”
Twilight ignored the prismatic pegasus’s protests, for all of her focus was going to her horn. Everypony held their breath as the glow of Twilight’s magic aura intensified. Twilight started to sweat heavily, she shook from the intense build-up of arcane energy.
A sudden blinding blast of magic shot ballistically from Twilight's horn, filling the room with blinding light. When everypony could see again, they were all concerned about Twilight, who had been knocked down by the force of her own magic.
“I’m fine girls.” Twilight assured them as she got up.
“Ooooh, pretty!” Pinkie cried out as she picked up the rainbow colored dragon scale that had taken the place of Rainbow Dash’s hair strand. “Waaaay cooler than Gummy’s scales!”
“What...happened?” A dazed Fluttershy asked.
Twilight brushed herself off with her wings. “Well you see Fluttershy, I have just transformed equine DNA into draconic DNA.”
“What in tarnation is a dee-’en-hay?” The confused country pony asked.
“I’ll explain it later Applejack.” Twilight said.
“Soooo,” Pinkie Pie said. “YOU CAN BASICALLY TURN PONIES INTO DRAGONS!?”
“That’s the basic principle.” Twilight said. Suddenly, she gave a sheepish grin, and looked nervously at her friends. “And, um....I was kind of hoping one of you girls would be my, um....guinea pig.” As Twilight uttered the last word, she gave an uneasy smile.
The room went silent . It seemed that everypony liked the idea, but nopony wanted to put life and limb on the line for science. Twilight’s smile slowly started to fade, in it’s place a disappointed frown. Suddenly, one of the mares stood up shakily, and uttered three words.
“I’ll do it.”
Everypony gasped and turned to the source of the voice. It was Rarity.
“Are you sure Rarity?” Twilight asked, her smile coming back. “This spell is much more complicated than the one that gave you wings.”
“It’s fine Twilight.” Rarity said. “I can tell that this is important to you. And I’m sure you wouldn’t ask for volunteers unless you were sure it was safe.”
Twilight then smiled brightly and embraced her friend with her soft feathery wings. “Thank you Rarity.”
.........
Rarity shook as beads of sweat rolled down her face as she watched Twilight’s magic aura grow larger and brighter. Oh, why did she have to sweat when she was nervous? It was so....unsanitary! Of course, she was a little scared as well. It isn’t a pleasurable experience, standing at the business end of a unicorn’s magic blast. But, if it helps her friend reach her goal of creating a new spell, then Rarity would bite the bullet. At least, so long as she didn’t get too dirty.
Twilight, now groaning under the stress of the magic building in her horn, cried out when she let loose a blinding ray of energy. Rarity bit her her lip as she experienced a sensation she would liken to spontaneous combustion. Spike shielded his eyes; the light given off by the magical procedure was too bright. Twilight, now sprawled across the floor, covered her face with her wings
Soon the light dissipated, and it was apparent that Twilight’s spell has a resounding success. Rarity the unicorn was gone and Rarity, the enchantingly beautiful dragoness, stood before them. She was larger than a pony, but still much smaller than a fire drake. Her neck and tail were lengthy and serpentine, and the high quality of her manicured hooves were reflected in her sharp, shining, talons. A set of purple spines lined the back of her neck, curving and twisting. Her tail extended out, ending in a magnificent swirl of purple scales. Upon her head, a majestic horn curved back slightly. Rarity opened her eyes, as she looked around, they shone with cerulean brilliance.
Spike fainted upon the sight of this reptilian beauty.
“Spike!” Rarity scooped up the baby dragon, and worriedly tried to revive the poor bag of scales.
“He’ll be fine” Twilight said. She started to peruse her shelves for a particular book. Rarity, still worried about her favorite dragon, cradled Spike against her chest. Twilight noticed that the book she wanted was on the top shelf. Twilight was still new to flying, but she decided to flap her wings to ascend to the level. Carefully, she worked the book from a tightly wedged spot. When she only got it a little ways out Twilight put her back hooves on the shelf below the top so she could get a bit more leverage. When the book finally gave way and Twilight was sent tumbling through the air.
Rarity quickly extended her free claw to catch her frantic falling friend.
“Are you alright Twilight!” Rainy said with concern.
“It’s fine.” She said, blushing. Feeling strange, Twilight noted that the dragoness’s grip was unusually cold.“Rarity! You’re freezing!”
“Excuse me?” Rarity said, confused as she slowly set down the little princess.
When her hooves were once more touching the wood floor, Twilight shook her head in disbelief. “Rarity... you’re freezing cold to the touch! Can’t you feel that?”
“Really? I find it a bit calmly actually.” That was a bit of a lie on Rarity’s part. The truth was that she was burning up. The temperature of the room was stifling! Perhaps less of a degree than when she was transforming, but still relatively uncomfortable.
Twilight then picked up her book, which had landed on the table near her the wooden horse statue.
“Hmmm...perhaps you’re an ice or snow dragon.” Twilight flipped through her book, trying to identify the breed of dragon she belonged to. She fell quiet as she scanned the pages, looking for the right information. A yawn broke the silence, signalling that Spike had returned from unconsciousness.
“Spikey-Wikey, you’re awake!” Rarity exclaimed, opening her talon so that Spike was resting on her scaly palm.
“R-rarity?” The groggy dragon stuttered as he stretched and opened his eyes. Rarity’s eyelids fluttered as Spike realized what he was looking at. Spikes jaw dropped.
“Rarity.... Y-you look absolutely gorgeous!” He said. He felt himself falling in love with her all over. One could see hearts in his eyes
The flattered Rarity blushed and put her talons over her heart. “Oh Spike...” Rarity really didn't know what to think of Spike. He’d always been like that annoying boy that hung around you always begging for a date. But he had begun grown on her. It was too bad that they were so different in age.
Rarity and Spike’s daze was ended abruptly due to an awkward cough from the lavender alicorn in the room. The two blushed, and turned their attention towards Twilight.
Twilight cleared her throat. “It says here, Rarity, that you best fit the description of a snow dragon.”
“What’s the difference between a regular dragon and a snow dragon.” Spike asked curiously, scratching his head.
Twilight used her magic, choosing to levitate her encyclopedia back into place instead of flying. “Well you see Spike, there really isn’t such a thing as a ‘regular dragon.’ There are many different types of dragons. There are different types of dragons that are varied according to what natural element they represent, such as fire, water, earth, and ice. Since fire dragons and the most common type of dragon in equestria, I will use them an example for comparison purposes.
“As I have already noted, Rarity feels cold to the touch. Fire dragons have an internal flame that keeps them warm, if not burning hot. And since snow dragons are more closely related to water dragons than ice dragons, they are wingless and have slightly serpentine bodies. Some dragonologists say that snow dragons are the most beautiful creatures they’ve ever seen. Instead of the fire and smoke fire drakes breath, snow dragons can blow clouds of freezing fog and blizzard-like blasts. Sometimes snow dragons can even use magic like faerie dra-”
The lavender alicorn was interrupted by the sudden snoring of two dragons that had fallen asleep during her lecture. Rarity’s long neck curled back so that it cradled Spike in her talon. Twilight heart melted and she smiled at the sight of the two. Deciding to let them sleep, Twilight yawned and headed upstairs. All that magic made her tired. Twilight turned off the lights and headed up the stairs. She looked back to get one last glance of the two dragons embracing each other, and smiled once more.
Tomorrow morning, Rarity will be back to normal, and everything will be just fine.
The Sudden Realization
As Twilight walked down the stairs in the early morning, the first thing she felt was the chill. Stretching, she yawned and got out of bed, heading for the stairs. Twilight blinked groggily, her eyes but half opened. She took her first step, and suddenly, the room turned upside down. The unicorn yelped as she tumbled down the staircase, hitting both her head and her rump on the cold floor. Finally, she hit the bottom, and groaned in both pain and relief.
As she rubbed her head Twilight said, “Ugh...It’s like my first day at Canterlot High all over again.”
As the fuzzy spots in her vision cleared up, she discovered the source of her fall. Every surface in the room was coated in a thick layer of ice! Twilight look around about for the source of this deep freeze. When she found what turned her library floor into a ice skating rink, she was thoroughly stunned. Rarity had not changed back during the night, like Twilight had predicted. Instead, she laid there in full draconic glory, with a smaller purple dragon cuddled against her side. Whenever she exhaled, a plume of freezing fog escaped her nostrils.
That accounts for all the ice. Twilight thought. Cautiously making her way across the floor, Twilight tried to figure out what could have gone wrong. Her train of thought was interrupted, however, when she fell flat on her face. She slowly slid across the floor, finally stopping at the side of the two dragons.
Woken up by the thud of Twilight hitting the ice, Spike yawned and said groggily, “Did I leave a window open last night? It’s freezing!” When Spike rubbed the sleep from his eyes, he gasped. He didn’t seem to care that Rarity was still a dragon, or the fact that Twilight had her tongue frozen to the floor. “Why in the world does this place look like a popsicle?!”
Twilight rolled her eyes, and spoke. “Ghee, ‘ah vumber…” (“Gee, I wonder…”) She tried to jerk her head away from ice to try and free her tongue, but only managed to bring more pain to her mouth and neck.
Rarity, who had been holding Spike against her chest, reared up and yawned. The cloud of fog that she released floated up and formed icicles on the roof. As she used her tallon to brush back her mane-spines, she realized something was very very wrong. She stared down at her claws...yes, her claws, not hooves!
Rarity’s eyes widened and her pupils shrank. “Why am I not a pony?!”
Twilight really didn’t want Rarity to launch into a massive emotional breakdown “Wawuty, just wemaim cawlm.” (“Rarity, just remain calm.”)
Rarity’s eyes started to fill with tears, and she started to choke up “You promised me it would only be a few hours!” Rarity collapsed in despair and let icy tears flow down her cheeks. “I’m going to be stuck as a dragon for-e-e-everrrr!” As tears dropped, they froze and shattered when they hit the ground.
As Rarity sobbed, Spike, who had narrowly escaped being crushed by the distraught dragoness, put a comforting claw on her slender neck, and said, “Hey it’s not so bad. There’s lots of worse things it be stuck as.”
Rarity stop sobbing and sniffled a little. “I guess that’s true...”
“I mean you still have your good looks, your gorgeous smile, your amazing voice, your golden personality...” Spike said, putting a finger up for everything he listed.
Rarity blushed and lifted herself off the floor “Oh stop it, Spike! You’re flattering me.”
“I will not!” The determined drake said. “I will not because it’s true.”
Rarity blushed, turning a deep red color that conflicted with her snow white scales.
Twilight, who had been struggling with the ice all this time said. “Yook I ‘ate to innu’rupt uh tu but we ave some maujor issuwes ‘ear!”
The two dragons couldn't help but burst out laughing. “Ey, whats tow ‘unny.”
“I’m sorry, darling.” Rarity said, putting a talon over her mouth to stifle a chortle. “But you sound simply ludicrous!”
Spike had to wipe away a tear from his eyes before he said. “I agree with Rarity. You sound like Pinkie Pie when she stumbled into that poison joke patch!” Rarity and Spikes tails thrashed as they laughed hysterically.
Unamusined, Twilight horn glowed, and a magic laser melted the ice her tongue was frozen to. Although free, Twilight’s tongue was still quite numb.
Trying her best not to slur her speech as she said. “Alright you guys. I think we should consult the other Princess’s about this problem.” Spit sprayed from Twilight’s mouth with every “s” syllable, adding more frozen patches to the floor.
Using his arms to shield himself, Spike yelped. “Say it, don’t spray it, Twi!”
“Sorry, Spike, but soon, when the summer sun is at high noon, Rarity will shrivel! She will never survive a sweltering ponyville summer.” Rarity had been cowering behind a now spit soaked, and bemused looking, Spike.
Just then the door shook as somepony tried to get in. “Twilight are you ok? The door won’t open!” Pinkie Pie shouted.
“Pinkie, The door and everything in her has frozen over. We can’t get out!” Twilight said back hoping her voice could be heard on the other side.
“Did one of you get your tongue stuck to something?” Pinkie Pie asked.
Twilight rolled her eyes and said. “Pinkie I don’t think that really matt-”
“Did you?!” Pinkie Pie said, cutting twilight off mid word.
Twilight rolled her eyes and gave an annoyed sigh “Yes Pinkie, now can you--”
“It’s just that my hooves got all chilly, and when my hooves get chilly it means someone is stuck to something frozen, and since it’s-”
“Pinkie, we need to find--”
“And that’s when my Uncle Eddy Pie said, ‘That’s not how you make spinach soup!”
“Pinkie!” Twilight shouted, trying to redirect the scatterbrained pony’s train of thought.
Suddenly the pink mare snapped to attention, “Way out, right!” As Pinkie zoomed off, Twilight sighed and turned towards Rarity and Spike. Rarity was trying to find something too clean Spike off with, while Spike just whipped the freezing silvia off himself.
Rarity’s mind was going a million miles an hour. She was currently thinking of all the new complications her life would have. One item stood out in her mind the most. Now that she was a dragoness, how would that change the dynamics between Spike and her?
There were always two major barriers that stopped her from becoming romantically interested in Spike: age and species. When Spike and Twilight first came here, Spike followed her around like a little lost puppy, always offing to hold her purse or do household chores. At first Rarity gracefully declined, because she didn’t want to take advantage of the baby dragon’s crush on her. But as the little drake kept insisting, Rarity caved and let him do of the less dignified chores, such as taking the garbage out, or washing the dirty dishes.
As she began to spend more time with him, Rarity started to notice that Spike was simply, the most charming, most adorable little reptile she ever saw. After all it was Spike that was there for her when Prince Not-So-Charming let her heart down. Rarity started doing little favors for him too like, giving him a gem or two, or making him cute little outfits. But even with that Rarity remained firm in her position against a romantic relationship
It was only after that fiasco during Spikes birthday, that Rarity’s firm footing started to slip, and realized that she liked Spike a lot. Even then, she still tried to convince herself that a relationship between her and Spike could never happen.
Rarity’s train of thought was redirected due to a knock at the door.
An excited Pinkie Pie then said loudly.“I was able to find one of thouse little blow torches the cakes use to make creme brulee, Twilight. Perhaps you can use it to thaw the ice.”
“That would be perfect Pinkie. Except the ice is on the inside!”
“Oh yeah sorry.” Pinkie Pie giggled and tossed the propane torch over her shoulder. It promptly exploded when it hit the ground, causing everypony in town to jump. Applejack ran over, thinking something bad had happened. Close behind her was Rainbow Dash.
“What’s going on here.” Applejack asked as she walked over to the bubbly mare.
“Well somehow everything in the library got coated in ice now they can’t open.”
“How in tarnation did that happen! It’s almost summer!” Applejack said. She glared at her friend above, and immediately Rainbow Dash put up her hooves.
“Hey, it wasn’t me this time!” Dash protested. “That whole prank with the snow clouds was a one time thing.”
“They didn’t tell me, But my hunch is that Rarity turned into an ice dragon and didn’t turn back during the night, even though Twilight thought she would. So her freezing breath sent everything into a deep freeze!” Pinkie Pie said, adding a shiver for effect.
Applejack just rolled her eyes and got ready to kick down the door. “Stand back Twi. This door’s coming down.”
Inside, Twilight, Rarity, and Spike all huddled together in the corner and trembled as they waited for the storm of ice and splitters. When Applejack’s strong hooves hit the door the brittle door shattered, with a sound of breaking glass.
“Whoa,” Applejack looking around at the sparkling room. “Pinkie Pie wasn’t exaggerating.” The 90 plus degree temperature wafted into the room, causing some of the ice to melt and drip to the floor.
Rainbow dash took a peek inside. “So, what's going on here?” Suddenly her eyes widened when she saw the white dragoness. “Rarity is that you?”
Rarity had already beginning to sweat; the outside heat was starting to fill the room. “Yes Rainbow it’s me.”
Rainbow cocked her head at the overheating Dragoness and asked. “Hey do you feel ok? You don’t look so good.”
Rarity blew out a little fog then waved it towards herself, hoping it would cool her down. “I’m just a little warm.” Rarity lied, more sweat pouring down her face.
“Rarity’s a snow dragon,” Twilight explained to the rainbow mare. “They find any temperature above 60 degrees fahrenheit unbearable.”
“A snow dragon, hun?” A sly grin snuck across her face. “You girls wait here.”
“Wait Rainbow!” The lavender alicorn tried to stop her friend, but Rainbow had already flown up into the sky.
Quickly the Rainbow pegasus gathered up the clouds from the highest point in the sky so that they were freshly cold. Then, after she gathered them together into one cloud, she quickly brought them back and put it over Rarity’s head. Rainbow Dash started jumping up and down on the clouds, making snow on Rarity. Absolutely dumbfounded, Twilight’s jaw dropped.
Rarity was grateful for this gesture, but saw one major flaw in it. “Don’t you think we should have done this outside Rainbow?” Rarity said with a gentle smile.
Rainbow Dash screeched to a stop mid-bounce. When she noticed the facehoofing Applejack and the utterly shocked Twilight, she blushed in an embarrassed sort of way. “S-sorry Twi.” Rainbow Dash said as she landed in front of her alicornian friend.
“M-My Library!” Twilight exclaimed her mouth still agape.
“SNOW ANGEL!” Pinkie Pie said as she jumped into the snow pile which went up to Rarity’s underbelly.”
“I’m sure it will thaw out.” Applejack said as she put a Comforting hoof on Twilight’s shoulder.
Rarity settled into the snowbank and chuckled happily as she watched Pinkie backstroke by. Suddenly, a rumbling in her stomach forced her to action. She asked “Spike, do you have any gems?”
The purple dragon who had just escaped out of a relative avalanche of snow looked towards Rarity. He looked a little disappointed in himself. “I ate all my gems a couple days before you turned into a dragon.”
“SPIKE!” Twilight shouted in a scolding manner. “I got you a full chest only a week ago!”
Spike did not make eye contact with Twilight as he said. “I know, and I know you told me not to eat them all at once. But they tasted so good and I just couldn’t stop.” Spike hugged his tail and frowned.
Rarity took pity on the sullen looking reptile and moved her open palm towards Spike. “Here, we can get some gems back at my place, would you like that Spike?”
Spike sniffled and nodded climbing into her palm.
Twilight then looked worried as the giant dragon lumbered toward the entrance “Um, Rarity I don’t think that that’s a good idea!” Twilight said as Rarity lowered herself so she could crawl to the doorway. “You're going to spook a lot of ponies and also I don’t think you will-” Rarity’s waist had gotten stuck in the doorway, as she was thrashing about trying to get lose. “fit.”
Applejack, Spike, and Rainbow Dash outside the outside of the library’s back door, looking dumbfoundedly at the white dragoness. Rarity was clawing at the ground as she tried to escape her tight trap.
“Rarity! All that thrashing about is just going to rub off your scales!” Twilight shouted at Rarity as she looked for a way to free her draconic friend. “You’ve got to stop struggling!”
Rarity, obviously tried out, stopped her frantic movements and started to pant. Sweating is so undignified. Rarity said as she wiped her brow with a tallon.
“Why don’t you just widen the door?”Pinkie said as she hopped over to where the dragoness was squeezed.
“Pinkie you can’t widen the door!” Twilight said a more than slightly annoyed tone. It wasn’t Pinkie Pie herself that annoyed her but this whole situation. What with the spell reversion failing, Rainbow Dash making it snow inside the library, Pinkie Pie’s antics were just the cherry on top of this absolutely chaotic cake.
“Of course you can silly.” Pinkie said as she positioned herself to the side of Rarities giant hips. “You just need to stretch the door frame like this!” Pinkie Pie then began to stretch the door frame like it was an elastic band.
A Rarity fully emerged on the other side of the threshold, a bemused looking Twilight facehoofed. “What was I expecting...” When Pinkie Pie then let go of the door frame, letting it back to its old shape with a loud SNAP.
“Come along Spike, We have some gems to devour.” Rarity said as she let Spike climb on her back via her tail. Rarity took big thumping footsteps toward the boutique.
Twilight quickly teleported in front of the stomping dragon. She had to walk backward so she could stay with Rarity. “Rarity, parading about Ponyville while you're still a dragon is a terrible idea! It would only cause mass panic and chaos!”
Rarity rolled her eyes. “Honestly Twilight, I think these ponies have learned how to not overreac-”
“EVERY PONY RUN IT’S A DRAGON!!!” Lilly the local flower mare shouted. In ten seconds flat, everypony had vacated the streets and began to quiver in their houses.
“See? See?! What did I tell you!” Twilight exclaimed. She jumped into the air and hovered in her face. “Rarity we have to go back to the library! Perhaps I can sort out this mess!”
“GANG WAY!!!” A small voice said as the trampling of small hooves.
“Apple Bloom! Is that mah rope?!” Applejack yelled, her mouth agape and her eyes flashing.
Apple Bloom and her two other cutie mark crusaders were careening toward Rarity, a rope carried between them. “Not now big sis!” Apple Bloom said, her words muffled by the rope. “We need to stop the dragon!”
Twilight then stood in front of them to convince them to stop. “Girls wait you don’t understand!” She said before being tripped by the taut rope the fillies were carrying.
The little fillies then began to wrap the rope around Rarity”s ankles. As Scootaloo tied a slip knot into the rope and pulled it tight. Grimacing in pain, Rarity shouted, “Girls, Stop!”
“Rarity?!” Sweetie Belle said in surprise as she watched the draconic form of her sister tumble to the ground. Sweetie Belle was absolutely dumbfounded. How did this happen?
“Sweetie Belle, your sister turned into a dragon?!” Scootaloo exclaimed. “That’s so cool!”
Rarity was sweating heavily. It felt like every drop was a gallon of salty water running down her face and quickly disappearing in the sun. “Could someone untie me? Please?” She said with a pleading note in her voice.
“Sure Rarity.” Applejack said, as she went to undo Rarity’s bonds. “I’ll get you out of this hog-tie in a jiffy.”
The confused Sweetie Belle had a worried look on her face as she asked. “How’d you get like this?”
“Well I-” Rarity was then interrupted by her alicorn friend. “Allow me to explain Sweetie Belle. Rarity had volunteered to help for a new spell. A DNA transformation spell I’ve been working on for little over a month now. I’d hope that Rarity would turn back into a pony after a hour or two, but as you can see, the spell reversion failed.”
“OW! Applejack, can you not be so rough? My scales are being rubbed off!” Rarity complained and Applejack tugged at the knot with her teeth.
Applejack spat out the rope and scolded Rarity. “Well if you’d stop fidgeting.” She said tramping her hoof on the ground. With one strong tug the ropes on Rarity’s ankles come loose. “There we go!”
“Thank you Applejack.” Rarity said as she tried to get back but she collapses and pants.
“Rarity!” Sweetie Belle yelped, rushing over to her sister. “Are you ok?”
Rarity was almost running about of sweat. “Yes dear I’m just a lightheaded.” She said as she tried to lift herself up. Rarity rose a couple of feet before her legs gave way, letting her collapse back onto the earth.
Twilight then hurriedly rushed over to her friend. “We have to get you to a cooler climate.”
Rarity tried to speak though her panting, but all she could muster was a slight mumble.
“I’m sure Cadence will find some place for you to stay in the crystal empire. That’s a cool climate.” Twilight said as she looked up to the sky as she thinks over her sister-in-laws reaction.
Rarity’s mumbles trailed off as her thoughts became incoherent and faded into unconsciousness.
“These just one problem.” Applejack said as she came towards the dragoness. “How are we going to get a fewtons of Rarity onto a train?”
“I’ve been working on the carrying capacity of my levitation spell.” Twilight comments casually. “I’m sure that I can at least carry her with magic long enough to her her to the train depo. Do you think you and your brother can get her into a train car from there?”
Applejack paused to think about her and Big Mac’s abilities. “It might take a while but we can do it.”
.........
Applejack and Big Mac put their shoulders to Rarity’s thick tail as they worked the last bit of her rump into the all metal refrigerated train car they had acquired.
“Put your back into it!” Applejack barked as she strained to push Rarity into the car. Twilight looks on with a slightly worried look as she her friend is packed into the car.
Spike looks up and Twilight and asks. “What's wrong?”
“it’s going to be awfully cold in there... And with Rarity’s ice breath it could make it almost intolerable..” She said with a sorrowful voice. “But I don’t want her to be alone when she wakes up...”
Spike hung his head as he thought through the options. “I can stay with her.” Sipke volunteers.
Twilight spun around and looked down at her dragon. “Spike are you sure about this?”
Spike nodded with an excited smile. “My internal fire will keep me warm and I’m sure I could calm Rarity down if she starts panicking.”
“ALL ABOARD!” The conductor called out as the last ponies got on.
“You better hurry Twi,” Applejack said as she and Big Mac hopped of the train.
“Don’t worry.” Spike said as he climbed up onto the train car. “I’ll make sure Rarity’s safe until we reach the Crystal Empire.”
“Hurry Twi!” Applejack said as the train started to inch forward.
As Twilight ran to get on the train, she called back to Applejack. “Tell the others we’ll be back as soon as I sort this out, okay?”
“We’ll see ya soon, Twi!” The cowpony said, waving her hat as a sendoff. Twilight mounted the metal steps that lead up to the car
“Eeyup.” Big Mac added solemnly as Twilight entered her passenger car.
The afternoon sun was soon brightly overhead as the steam whistle shrill screech perched the air. Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Rainbow Dash all waved farewell to their good friends as they sped north to the Crystal Empire.
The gentle vibrations and clicking of the wheels ran against the rails of shining steel, awaking Rarity. She felt the urge to stretch herself out but unfortunately her new confines where did not permit any movement besides a few small trashes of her tail and the wiggling of a claw or two. She then sighed and let her head sink to the floor as she looked about her claustrophobic container. It was made of a greyish metal ,wrought iron perhaps? And everything in the car was coated ice (probably a result of Rarity’s freezing breath.)
Rarity groaned out of boredom when the iced over door to her car slid open, and Spike entered the room carrying a motley mountain of foodstuffs into the chilled car. Rarity chuckled when she saw Spikes amusing display of appetite.
“R-Rarity!” The little drake said. He had frozen stiff out of surprise and had dropped all of the snacks. “Y-You're awake!!”
“You say that as though it is a bad thing,” Rarity comment with a serious look on her face.
Spike gave a small cough and then began to pick up the food. “Of course it isn’t; you just surprised me. Thats all.”
"I see," Rarity said. A wide grin became plastered to her face as she though about how much she loved the way the little dragon acted when he was embarrassed. He was just so cute while he was stammering and trying not to blush.
"So umm, they said we should be arriving soon." Spike said as he thought of some sort of small talk. "How do you think Princess Cadence will react to you being a dragon?"
"I honestly haven't thought about that yet.” Rarity said as she raised her head in though. "I suppose I'm not really concerned about Princess Cadence."
This peaked Spike's interest. "Oh. Then who are you concerned about?"
"I worried more about Shining Armor's reaction," Rarity said with an uneasy tone. "I mean, with his militaristic background he'd be naturally wary of a dragon coming into the city."
Spike smiled and set a reassuring claw onto Rarity's. “I'm sure Twilight will talk him out of any kind of crazy ideas."
Rarity smile and looked spike in the eyes and said. "I know she will. I honestly don't understand why I was worried in the first place." She said before the train screeched to a halt, tossing her to the other end of the car and smashing herself and Spike into the wall.
Spike teetered across Rarity’s palm and weakly said, “I think we’re here!” He then promptly fell face-first into Rarity’s open palm.
“Dear me...” Rarity said as she drew her claw close to herself and began to stroke the unconscious baby dragon lightly with her index tallon.
“Rarity?! Spike!?Is everything ok?” A concerned Twilight said.Her voice was muffled scene she was talking from behind the steel wall.
Rarity stumbled a little as the thought about what she would say. “Uhh... Spike, He is slightly unconscious at the moment.”
“Unconscious!!” The princess howled hysterically. .
In an attempt to calm her friend down Rarity said. “He just was knocked against the wall.”
Meanwhile on the other side of the wall Twilight was doing the deep breathing exercises she learnt from Princess Cadence. Then, when she felt sufficiently calm, she said. "Cadence and Shining are waiting for me on the platform, I will talk to her and try to explain the mess we’re in."
Twilight then stepped off the train. She smiled at the brother and sister-in-law with a look of what she hoped was calmness.
Cadence walked to her side, and asked her in a concerned tone. "Twilight, what's wrong? In you letter it seemed you needed to talk with me about something of great importance. Has something happened?"
"It’s..a little complicated." She said, before showing the couple to the steel container, which had been set apart from the rest of the train. "You remember how I told you about the new spell I was working on?" She asked as she tried to not let panic show in her voice or mannerisms.
"You mean the one that would let a pony turn into a dragon temporarily?" Shining Armor asked as some of the workers on the train undid the padlock and chains holding the doors of the container closed. "Yeah, I remember it. What’s that got to do with anything?"
"Well, um, temporary isn’t the right term anymore...." She admitted as the door broke open revealing Rarity in all her draconic glory. "You remember my friend Rarity, right?"
Rarity, always remembering her etiquette bowed herself a little and gave a cordial. "Your highnesses."
Shining was speechless. An equally shocked Cadence gave a shaky. "H-hello, Rarity."
"You see," Twilight began to explain, "Rarity volunteered to be a test subject for my new spell. I was certain that the spell’s effects would only last an hour or two, but that turned out to be wrong. Due to Rarity's new nature as a snow dragon, she cannot reside in Ponyville during the summer months as I work on a cure for the spell. So in short, I would like to request accommodations here for Rarity as I figure out a way to return Rarity to the way she was."
The long winded explanation of her sister-in-law seemed to have calmed Princess Cadence from the shock of seeing Rarity as a dragon. After taking a deep breath she spoke. "We'd love to help you Twilight, but why couldn't you have put that in your letter?"
"I...I thought it would be better if you saw my plight first hand." Twilight said, laughing nervously as she rubbed her foreleg in an ashamed gesture.
Just then, Spike groaned, sat up, and rubbed his head with a talon. "I have such a headache," he said. He then looked at his surroundings and noticed Princess Cadence looking at him. "Oh, umm, hello your majesty."
"Hello Spike," Cadence said before turning to her husband. "Shining, please send a message to the staff at our summer resort about guests. I believe Rarity will be comfortable there."
"What is this summer resort?" Rarity asked with curiosity about the place she would be staying at.
"It's some 100-acres of meadow in the foothills a few miles outside the city." Cadence explained. "It's a beautiful plot of land far away from prying eyes. We've also built a beautiful home there where you can stay Twilight."
"That is very kind of you Cadence." Twilight said with a slight bow of thanks. "It will suit our needs nicely."
"And Twilight." Cadence said with a smile as she remembered a certain somepony. "I insist you take some of our personal guards along."
Twilight, oblivious to her plot graciously refused, but after Cadence's insistence she finally agreed.
"Great!" Cadence said gleefully. "I'll assemble a group of the finest stallions."
"I'll provide some traveling arrangements." Shining said, "We need to find some way to get Rarity into the countryside without causing an uproar."
"Perhaps we could do it at night-time, when every pony is sleeping." Spike suggested.
"That's not a bad idea my small purple friend." The white stallion said as he went over the logistics of such the operation in his head.
"Of course you would stay here until it was time to go, Rarity." Cadence added.
"That sounds awfully dreary." Rarity said as she tried to make herself more comfortable. "I would have nothing to do all afternoon." Spike volunteered to keep Rarity company, but the white reptile politely declined.
"She’ll be alright by herself." Twilight said as she placed her wing about the disappointed looking spikes shoulders. "Come along, I'm going to need your help searching the library for a way to help Rarity." Twilight moved Spike along with her wing as stallions went to close the door to the container in which Rarity was being kept. Spike glanced back at her to see her wave farewell to him right before the doors were shut all the way.
Spike sighed as he walked the streets of the Crystal Empire, a pace or two behind Twilight. He did not take delight in the beauty of this place as he usually did. The thought of Rarity being alone in a dark area with nothing to do and nothing to see made his heart sink into a dreadful pool of sadness.
While in the library Spike remained zoned out in thoughts of Rarity as he let Twilight muse to him what useful or interesting facts she was learning. As day turned into mid afternoon Spike slowly was able to focus at least some part on what Twilight was telling him. He asked the occasion question to keep her on track but mostly he gave affirmative unn huns. As late afternoon turned to night, the little dragon found himself falling asleep. It was about half past ten when Twilight noticed her little drake was asleep. She smiled softly and put him on her back and put a wing over him as a blanket.
She looked up and the clock thought that it nearly must be time for the guards to move Rarity. So Twilight quietly backed up her things and started to make her way towards the station. As she walked she noticed a marked difference in the atmosphere of the streets. Instead of every pony hustling and building about, the street was dark and quiet. It wasn't erry or scary. It was more peaceful and serene.
When she arrived at the train station she saw about a dozen stallions preparing to move Rarity. Twilight walked next to her brother, who was directing the operation in hushed tones. “Can I just check on rarity one more times before we ship her out?” Twilight asked with a small pleading tone in her voice.
Shining Armor glanced about warily as he said in a hushed voice, “Just once more but then we really must get underway.”
Twilight nodded and gave her brother a thankful nuzzle before going over to the steel container and prying the door open with magic. The hinges where cold and creaked loudly as they slowed the process of opening the metal doors.
Despite the squeal of metal Rarity lay sound asleep within the container. Even as a dragon her snoring was effeminate and soft, she also murmured in her sleep. The only discernible word was “Spike” after which Rarity subconsciously reached out with her tallon as though trying to find something.Twilight realised what this gesture mean and giggled before levitating the sleeping Spike into Rarity’s tallon.
Rarity sighed happily as he pulled Spike close. She gently nuzzled the purple reptile with her muzzle as a soft dragonic purr started to sound from deep within her throat. The heart warming display would make even the most cynical old pony go “daww”
With this, Twilight let a smile grow on her face. She saw how much the two were bonding now that the species barrier was out of the way. It made her feel that warmth she felt when she discovered the magic of friendship for the first time. “Good Night you two...” She whispered calmly before she slowly shut the doors to the container.
