-Diamonds and Dragons-
A short story about the magic of friendship, dragons, more magic and all the associated problems of combining these.
It was a quiet morning, the sun was just peeking over the horizon, birds were singing and Spike was asleep in the main square. Again. Celestia, apparently did not agree with this and the morning sun shone straight through his eyelids and proceeded to torment his retinas.
“Huh, I’m getting up Twilight…just five more minutes…”
The sun didn’t move. Placing a claw over his eyes to block the harsh light, he sat up and groggily surveyed his surroundings. This definitely wasn’t the library. Thinking back to last night, he hazily remembered something about a party, Rainbow Dash dancing and distilled rainbow mixed with hard cider. Anything after that was too incoherent to make any sense of.
Rolling over, he stood up and began the walk back to the library. Many questions had to be answered.
That morning had been relatively normal for Rarity - waking in the embrace of another mare, in this case a particular orange farmpony. Untangling herself from this awkward position she found herself in, she trotted over to one of her boutique’s many mirrors and began furiously brushing her hair to rectify the mess it had become.
Turning back to the orange heap on her bed, she levitated her friend out the door and gently placed her on the ground outside.
“I suppose the least I can do is take her back home,” she thought aloud, “but think of all the dirt! No, she is my friend and I will help her.”
With all things said, Rarity grabbed a fashionable set of boots, a matching coat and her saddlebag and picked up the mess that was Applejack, and began the walk over to the farm.
It was going to be one of those days.
It was by pure coincidence that their paths converged just outside the library, each looking bedraggled as the other, even if Rarity had tried to disguise it.
“What happened to you?” they both said at the same time.
“You go first,” Spike mumbled tiredly.
“No, I insist that you should Spike,” replied Rarity.
Too tired to argue, the dragon began his recollection of whatever he could remember from the previous night.
It had been another of Spike’s birthdays, and Twilight had finally decided he was old enough for drinking some of the more potent things that were brewed in Ponyville – like some of Applejack’s ‘ home brew. The combination of alcohol and where dragon fire is made lead to some unexpected results, like when Celestia sent a congratulatory birthday letter and all the writing came out backwards. The intricacies and magic of dragonfire had left Twilight positively puzzled for quite some time.
Most of the day had been quite uneventful: Spike had only gone on a greed rampage for half the time he had on his last birthday and regained control just as he was about to bite the top off the town hall. Aside from the rampant destructive dragon the last couple of years, ponies had been a lot more accepting of the damage and this time around - somewhat. It would take months to rebuild all the damaged properties – even with Twilight’s magical assistance, and it was highly likely that the same thing would happen next year.
The sun eventually made its way down the sky, making way for the moon to take its place, signalling the start of the evening. Dressing in his best clothes, a sharp black tuxedo, he patiently awaited his partner for the evening. The beautiful, magnificent, Lady R -
“Spike, I
know
what happened,” Rarity interrupted, “I met you at the door and took you out for dinner at a restaurant I had to book weeks in advance. We had the most divine meal, I drank a little, you walked me home to the boutique and I think I …”
“You did.” Spike fondly rubbed his lips with his claw, an intoxicated smile on his face.
“Ah, well, it was to be expected sometime – I do suppose we’ve been together a while now. Anyway, after that I think I passed out just inside the door and slept there for I don’t know how long. Sometime early this morning, dear Applejack stumbled up to the door, drunk, asking for a place to stay the rest of the night. Despite her uncouth state, she is my friend and I couldn’t possibly refuse to help one of my friends in need, so I let her sleep in Sweetie Bell’s room. This was the one occasion I’m glad she was staying over at Scootaloo’s with Apple Bloom – I wouldn’t want them to see their sisters in such a state…”
“Oh,” said Spike, noticing Applejack for the first time, slumped over Rarity’s back, “I don’t think you’ve been able to ask AJ either, have you?”
“No, and I wouldn’t dream of waking her at the moment – I can imagine she had a long night and needs the sleep to recover from, well, whatever it was she was doing. Say, would you care to accompany me to Sweet Apple Acres to return our friend home? We can discuss the recollection of the rest of the evening as we walk.”
“Sure,” replied Spike, “I’d love to come, but I’ll definitely need a nap soon.”
With that, he promptly collapsed forward onto the ground, claws splayed in all directions. The only sound to be heard was the singing of birds, the wind rushing through the trees and the frustrated sigh of white unicorn – who had to carry another one of her close friends home.
Sweet Apple Acres was quieter than normal, lacking the distinct, intermittent sound of applebucking that usually filled the air. Carefully hoof-tipping up the well-worn dirt path, orange farmpony slung over her back and unconscious dragon in tow, Rarity begrudgingly made a slow path up to the farmhouse.
Knocking on the door as loudly and politely as she could, Rarity waited patiently but received no answer. The red house was empty; none of the other members of the Apple family were home, which may have been a good thing for Rarity, given the current situation. Pushing the door open, the unicorn released her magical hold on the dragon and placed him inside the door, as one would do the same with a fashionable bag or umbrella.
Making her way up the stairs, she unceremoniously dumped her friend in the room that looked the most like it belonged to her. Trotting back down the stairs, Rarity scavenged through the ‘office’ for a quill and paper. Finding some on the top of a desk she carried it back upstairs and began writing a simple note.
My dearest Applejack,
Sometime in the early hours of this morning, you came knocking at my boutique, rather intoxicated from Spike’s party. Being my friend I let you stay the night and I brought you here this morning, however, there are still some details of events which need to be discussed.
Please visit me at your earliest convenience.
Your friend,
“…Rarity,” she narrated aloud. Rolling the letter into a tight scroll, she placed under Applejack’s forehooves, hoping that it would be easily enough found and that her friend didn’t suddenly develop a strange taste for parchment.
Heading back downstairs, she picked up Spike from beside the door and began the walk back towards the library, carefully picking her way back down the dirt path. The sun burned down on her as she travelled the tedious road into the centre of town, unyielding in its midday intensity.
Arriving outside the great tree that was the library, the white unicorn knocked on the door, and waited. A shout erupted from inside, followed by the sound of a pony falling down a set of stairs and many things being knocked over in the process. The door was answered by a bedraggled Twilight, who appeared to have fallen down the stairs in the process of opening the door.
“Who is it?” asked Twilight drowsily.
“Rarity,” replied the white unicorn unsteadily.
“Um, Rarity, have you seen Spike this evening?” inquired Twilight, “I can’t find him anywhere.”
“It’s not evening, it’s around noon. Yes, I have seen Spike, he is on my back. Surely you should have noticed these things. Are you sure you’re awake Twilight?” asked Rarity.”
Opening her eyes for the first time that morning, the librarian found herself looking around in confusion, the understanding.
“I’ve been asleep the whole time I was talking to you,” replied Twilight unsteadily, “I was certain I’d cured myself after I did the same thing to Celestia, but the spell must have faded over time. Wait, what was I talking to you about anyway?”
“You were complaining that you couldn’t find Spike,” explained Rarity, “which, had you been awake you might have heard my explanation or would have noticed him on my back.”
“Oh, that bad?”
Rarity nodded, a slight smile creeping to her face. Leaning in towards Twilight, she whispered in her friend’s ear. “Don’t worry though, your secret’s safe with me.”
“Pinkie Promise?” asked the librarian quizzically. Rarity did the appropriate motions.
“Good, because-”
“FOREVER!” yelled Pinkie Pie, suddenly appearing on the library balcony, hanging upside-down from the railing above the two mares. They both went deathly stiff, Rarity screamed. At this point, due to the commotion and screaming, Spike was forcibly ejected from whatever dream he was having, back into the land of Upside-Down Pinkie Ponyville.
“Hey Pinkie, what’s up? Or what’s down?” asked the dragon, grinning at his joke. “Great prank, you totally got them! Great party last night as well! Wait, how are you even hanging there?”
“Dunno,” replied the pink pony, “the moment I start thinking about it, it stops working, so I figured I’d stop thinking about it.”
“Wow. That explains a lot.” Twilight said, somewhat sarcastically.
"Rarity, Spike, do you want to come inside? We'll catch up with you later Pinkie!"
With that, she became a pink blur heading towards Sugarcube Corner, leaving a pink trail of dust in her wake.
Following the pair into the library foyer, Twilight wandered over to the 'Dark Magic' shelf and absentmindedly began rearranging the heavy tomes, pausing to ask,
"So what brings you here, aside from returning Spike?"
"It's actually something personal I wanted to talk to ask you, about me and-" Rarity replied, subtly nodding her head towards the dragon.
"Ah, right." said Twilight, understanding the motion. "Spike, could you run into town and buy some more parchment for me? I need it right now! Take some bits from the Emergency Parchment Supply Jar - you know where it is, and you can take two extra to buy a snack for yourself as well. Now!"
"Sure Twilight, calm down, but didn't we just get some yesterday?" asked Spike.
All he got in response was a look from Twilight that would have happily dissected your brain while calmly humming along to a classical symphony.
Turning around as fast as he could, Spike sprinted to the office as fast as his little legs could carry him, grabbed a handful of bits as fast as he could and then ran out of the library as fast as he could, heading towards the markets.
Rarity stood in silence, a shocked look on her as she stared at the door Spike had just speedily exited through. Turning back to Twilight, she asked hesitantly, looking over at the crate by the wall marked ‘Parchment Supplies & co.’
“Did you actually need more parchment?” asked the white unicorn.
“It doesn’t hurt to be oversupplied, rather than run out sooner,” replied Twilight, “and if I’d asked Spike to leave, he would have been highly suspicious of what you had to say. So what did you want to ask me?”
“Spike and I both have feelings for each other, there’s no doubt there, but I’m worries about the differences between us. He’s a dragon and I’m a pony – it just can’t go further.”
“You know, I’m a little surprised neither of you thought of this sooner. Dragon and pony biology isn’t exactly compatible. Dragons are mostly immune to magic – so I can’t do anything in terms of Spike, but you, on the other hoof are a different matter entirely.”
Rarity blushed red. Very red.
“Well I think I found a solution to that. I’ve done my research, and I’m ready to make my choice.
Twilight, I want to be a dragon.” stated Rarity
Twilight coughed in surprise, losing her concentration and dropping everything within her magical grasp, then asked slowly, ignoring the mess she had just made,
“Rarity, are you sure about this? What would Spike think?”
“Do you remember when I borrowed that book on dragon culture, the one with the inlaid gems in the cover?”
“Of course, I remember just about everything!”
“Well, one of the chapters explained that dragons will only take one partner for their entire life. I know Spike will outlive me by a long time, and it would be selfish of me to deny him a partner who will live as long as he does.”
“You’re right,” replied Twilight solemnly, “Spike loves you too much to take on another partner after you move on. What will all our friends think though?”
“You are the best friends I have,” said Rarity, a smile on her face, “and I don’t doubt that you’d accept me as I am – even if the outside has changed. I’ll still be your friend and nothing should ever change that.”
“I can tell you have thought a lot about this, but how are you going to do it?” asked Twilight.
“Actually, I was hoping you could help me with that, knowing your skill with advanced magic like this.”
“I hope I can help, though I don’t think I have ever done anything so complex and delicate before in this field. Transmogrification is highly challenging, but I’m sure I saw something on that shelf which might be useful…” said the librarian, walking back over to the shelf and scanning the titles. Not finding the object of interest, Twilight dashed back to the table and began rummaging through the pile of books she had been organising, and then suddenly held a thick, black volume aloft with great enthusiasm.
Slowly and carefully skimming through the ancient pages, she finally stopped on one picturing a dragon and began writing down notes on a sheet of parchment she already had. Rarity watched in awe, unable to match her friend’s reading speed, occasionally looking at the parchment for progress.
“…need to transfer magic…suitable storage vessel…diamond perhaps?” muttered Twilight, thinking aloud.
Rarity’s ears perked up at the mention of the rare gemstones, suddenly listening more carefully to the librarians mumblings.
Suddenly Twilight sat bolt upright, and turned to Rarity, speaking considerably faster than normal.
“Whattypeofdragon?”
The white unicorn gave her a quizzical look.
“What type of dragon?” asked Twilight, slower, “As in, which breed of dragon were you considering for the transformation?”
“Well, wings would be nice,” said Rarity.
“That narrows it down to about, ninety per cent.” Twilight replied sarcastically.
“What colour will my scales be?” exclaimed Rarity, starting to panic.
“I am not going to deal with this now…” murmured the librarian, wandering over to the zoology section and retrieving a thick volume, decorated with the motif of a coiled dragon.
“Right,” she asserted, “just answer yes or no to the questions, or whatever is appropriate. Understand?”
Rarity nodded calmly, and excited smile on her face.
“First question. Wings?”
“Yes.”
“Second. Fire?”
“No, I simply can’t think of a use for it.”
The purple mare glared at her slightly.
“Claw length. Short, moderate or long?”
“Moderate.”
“Spine shape. Round, angular or curved?”
“What’s the difference between round and curved?”
“Round is like what Spike has, curved is more like a dragon’s claw. Fore reference, that sleeping dragon last year had curved spines.”
“Curved”
“I’m skipping the next question, because I think I know the answer.”
“Which question would that be?”
Twilight turned the book around and pointed at the particular question.
“Streamlined or less-than-aerodynamic? I think you are right on that one, streamlined it is. I love the thought of looking elegant while flying, how fantastic!”
“I thought so. Next question. Sharpness of spines and claws. Rough, moderate or razor.”
“Moderate.”
“Preferred type of stone?”
“Diamond, of course, although I don’t mind sapphire either.”
There were many, many more questions to ask.
Checking over the notes she had made, and Rarity’s answers, Twilight’s gaze furiously switched back and forth between her notes and the book, as she flicked through the pages in both directions, searching for something specific. A look of triumph broke through her concentration as she stopped on a page, then placing the volume on the table for her friend to read.
“Here it is – the Eastern Mountain Dragon. This breed of dragon is known to live in the far east mountains bordering Equestria and the Silverfin Sea, inhabiting caves in the mountains overlooking the ocean. Although their primary food source is fish, it is believed to be supplemented with oceanic coloured stones such as diamond, sapphire and lapis lazuli - this is thought to be due to the colour similarities between the stones and the different hues of the ocean.”
The fashionista’s eyes lit up.
“What a refined taste! Perhaps I was fated to be this type of dragon, we are so compatible!”
“It gets better, pointing out that what it lacks in fire, it makes up for with its ability to…”
The librarian trailed off, staring at the page in disbelief, scrutinising it from every angle to check it still said the same thing. Sure enough, it did.
“Well, what does it say?” asked Rarity curiously.
“I’m not sure what to think of this, but here goes - what it lacks in fire, it makes up for with its ability to use limited magic and an apparent extra sense, especially when tracking things. Mastery of this skill greatly contributes to the size of their hoard, helping the dragon grow.”
Rarity’s jaw dropped.
“This is the BEST. Possible. Thing!
Finishing her notes, Twilight picked them up the table and turned around to an expectant Rarity, who was awaiting her response.
"Well?" asked the white unicorn, balancing precariously as she leant in towards the librarian on her front two legs.
"I'm confident we can go through with it," replied Twilight calmly, "But if you do, it's permanent. The transformation will be irreversible.”
“I know, but I’m already decided on this. Can we begin?”
“Alright, first I need five diamonds to store your magical energy during the transformation and an amethyst to boost my own energy. You wouldn’t have any of those with you right now, would you?” asked Twilight
“You happen to be in luck, I have some in my saddlebag I needed for a client’s order. I can always go and collect some more though.”
“If you stand over there, we can get started on this,” said Twilight, indicating the centre of the room.
The white unicorn took her place in middle of the floor, waiting for the first part of the spell while Twilight retrieved the gemstones from her friend's bag and placed them on the floor around Rarity, carefully measuring the distances between each of the stones.
Using her magic to clear the rest of the room of obstructions, Twilight began preparing the components for the spell. Laying them out on her workbench by the wall, she ran through her checklist, ticking them off one by one.
“Reference books? Check. Magical gemstones? Check. Rarity? Check. Spike out? Check. Enough space in the library? Not sure. Magical barrier in case of emergency?”
Her horn flared as a purple bubble popped into existence around the centre of the library, containing the area around the centre of the room, emitting a distinctive hum, which resonated throughout the library. The shimmering purple walks of the shield distorted their view of outside the room, refracting the light as it passed through, tainted by flecks of silver as the shield sparkled from the magic sustaining it.
Looking back at the diagrams in the book, she paused a moment to check everything, making minute corrections to the setup before making a triumphant announcement.
"Phase one preparations complete! In order for this to work, we need to drain your magic into these diamonds, which you'll then ingest as a dragon, returning your magic. In theory, it should work, but will leave you quite dizzy."
Rarity smiled nervously, attempting to suppress her fear.
"Now I want you to focus on the gems with your magic, but don't do anything else. I've enchanted them to absorb magic
As her horn started to glow blue, the diamonds began to resonate and transition from their sparkling transparency to one of a pale blue, emitting a similar glow to the one around Rarity’s horn. An invisible force rattled the stones, pulling them closer to the unicorn, her magical aura slowly fading as the diamonds absorbed more and more energy from her, appearing to grow slightly as they did.
Finally, as the blue glow around her horn finally winked out of existence, the gemstones stopped moving, emitting a only resonant hum and a soft blue glow from within the centre of the stones. Completely exhausted of all energy, Rarity collapsed to the floor, breathing softly as she lay, held in the dark embrace of unconsciousness.
It was at that moment when Spike burst through the doorway, carrying a roll of parchment taller than himself, and tripped over the step at the front door – sending the roll high into the air towards the shield, where Twilight instinctively caught it with her magic. Spike looked over at Twilight, who was standing over an unconscious spread-eagled Rarity at perhaps an uncomfortably intimate distance.
"This isn't what it looks like," said Twilight cautiously, "you see, um...she was...um...ah..."
"I thought I could trust you! You send me on an 'errand', and I come back to this. Is she going to take my job too?" retorted Spike.
"Now listen here! We were doing nothing of the sort you are implying - she needed help with a serious, complicated spell. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to finish this, and I won't have you interrupting again! One last thing – she’s doing this for you, so you’d better be damn grateful about it."
With that, she picked him up in her magical grasp and threw him outside, barring the door with yet another defensive spell.
Turning back to Rarity, she lifted the amethyst off the table and held it high above the white mare. Closing her eyes, she began channelling magic through the purple gemstone, listening carefully as it started to emit a low hum. Tentatively opening her eyes again, the purple crystal floated high in the above them, pulsing brightly.
The inside of the library was bathed in a soft lavender light as the magic contained within the amethyst escaped it and began to weave its way down like a purple waterfall, twisting and spiralling slowly towards Rarity. Tendrils of light, flowing from the crystal started to seep into the white unicorn, alighting on her coat and flowing over her body, driven by an unseen force in the direction of her head.
Twilight stood in awe, watching as the luminescent tendrils of magic took form around her friend’s body, stretching out and creating shapes that were coalescing into draconian limbs. Rarity’s white fur began to glow, and then dissolved into particles of light, quickly being shaped by the tendrils flowing from the empowered amethyst.
The light surrounding her faded, Twilight watched intensely as the familiar shape of Rarity’s unicorn body was replaced by the elegant form of a moderately sized white dragon. Smooth purple spikes ran along the length of her spine and extended from her newly formed claws – already visibly sharp, the light glinting off their razor edges. Quickly inspecting the rest of the dragon on her floor, the librarian confirmed that all parts of the dragon had formed correctly and there were no visible flaws in the result of the transformation. Twilight let out a sigh of relief, everything was perfect. Then the effect of the intense magic strain took hold, and she collapsed to the floor.
Dreams floated through the librarian’s peaceful mind, dreams of books, sitting beside a warm fire reading books, inhaling the pleasant smell of new books, unpacking crates of new books, sitting in front of a quiet fire, bathing in its warmth, the fragrance of slowly burning wood oils. This was peace.
The pleasant sensations of warmth and the smell of burning wood became more pronounced, turning her dream into a nightmare. The library was in flames. Fighting vigilantly, she attacked the blaze all ways with her magic, but to no avail.
The warmth encompassing her body began to become uncomfortable and the smell of smoke penetrated her nose. The library really was on fire! Eyes jolting open, she shot into the air, her vision filled with blue flame.
“Aaaaaaaaghhhthelibraryisonfire!”
Taking a moment to consider why the flames were blue, she immediately realised that the library was, in fact, very much not on fire. Beside her, a small purple dragon sat curled in the embrace of a larger, white dragon – which seemed somewhat familiar and was breathing a gentle blue flame into the fireplace. Both of them stared at her with matching looks of disbelief.
“I’m so glad you’re finally awake Twilight!” cried Rarity in the scratchy voice of her draconian form.
“So am I,” chirped Spike, “we were so worried that something had gone wrong. But I’m still upset that you didn’t tell me what Rarity was doing.”
“Wait, how long have I been out?” asked Twilight nervously. “How were you breathing fire?”
“In answer to your second question - the book was wrong about this type of dragon not having fire.” replied Rarity, before adding flatly, “It’s been a whole day. Spike locked up the library after he found us unconscious, and I only woke a few hours ago. He’s been on a vigil protecting us, keeping anypony and everypony out of the library – even our friends.”
“They must be worried sick!” exclaimed the librarian.
“They’re not the only ones,” explained Spike, “the Princess sent a letter this morning as well. You didn’t reply to the one she sent yesterday, while you were unconscious – and I didn’t know how to respond to it.”
Twilight gasped, and then snapped into action, pulling a quill and sheet of parchment off the desk on the far side of the room and thrusting them towards her trusted assistant.
“Spike, take a letter please.”
He snapped of a salute, holding the quill above the page at the ready.
“Dear Princess Celestia,” Twilight began, pausing briefly before continuing,
“Today I learned that love is a strange and powerful force that transcends all barriers. It can give you strength when you need it, and also take it away from you. It can also drive some ponies to do the strangest of things.
I will update you as my research into it continues.”
Twilight trailed off, then added calmly, “Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle.”
“I still think it needs something else…” added Rarity.
“p.s.” continued Twilight, “I should probably mention that Rarity is now a dragon.”
Looking up from the letter, Spike rolled it up and opened his jaws, an emerald green fire pouring forth, incinerating the parchment and sending off to Canterlot. The three of them looked at each other, and then burst out laughing - wondering what the Princess would think when she read the letter.
“You know,” said Twilight, with a grin, “I think we have a bit of explaining to do to our friends…”
Rarity and Spike nodded in agreement, then Spike turned the key, unlocking the door for the first time in a day, and together the three of them stepped out to the morning.
-The End-
Author's Note
For any latecomers to this - please be both patient and aware that I am indeed working on re-write of this which significantly expands upon the ending and events after that.
I will finish it. Eventually....
