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Even now, weeks later, Twilight is still unable to properly explain what possessed her into taking that first bite.
The spell had gone over as well as can be expected for a first attempt. She was a little apprehensive at first -- what unicorn in their right mind trying out a full-body transformation wouldn’t be? -- but in the end, after double and triple and quadruple-checking the formula and magic behind the spell, she knew she’d get it right. She always did.
Though, actually becoming a dragon was much different than simply theorizing about it.
It wasn’t so different from being a pony, really; everything looked the same, still smelled the same, and still sounded the same -- if not a little sharper with her larger ears and reptilian eyes. Clearer, crisp.
Her new body took some getting used to. About three minutes-worth of methodical testing out her new, stronger limbs, a prehensile tail and scaly hide instead of fur. Her face in the mirror was another matter entirely. Purple slitted eyes, splashed with gold in the iris gleamed back at her, eyelids sliding shut once vertically, and then again horizontally. Her tongue slid out past her knife-like teeth like a hungry serpent.
She turned away from the mirror.
Time passed and dark settled in the library. Spike was, thankfully, out with the Crusaders, and Twilight lay in her bed, the frame creaking and groaning like an old carriage under her larger size, considering the ruby between her claws. It was one of Spike’s -- a glittering, bit-sized gemstone of bright crimson.
She knew it wasn’t the greatest idea. She knew, instinctively, that anything foreign to her own body could affect the spell. And who knows what would happen after she turned back into a pony a couple hours later! Whether it was good or bad, she wasn’t sure; still, she still knew she shouldn’t.
But the ruby gleamed in the light pouring in from the half-moon outside her window, and she sat there, pinching the stone between two nail-like claws.
She took a breath, fire rumbled in her chest and throat. The ruby shimmered gloriously in the sweltering heat. It bloomed in her palm, casting a warm red glow around the room, illuminating the shadow of her dresser, her cluttered desk and the back of a chair, and the far window with her own draconic reflection in it.
Twilight turned away from her face in the window and watched the ruby, for minutes or hours or seconds. If she looked close enough she could almost see herself in it. But this reflection was different; it was warmer, flattering, almost. She blew gently on it and watched as the polished surface flickered with embers.
She wondered what it would taste like. She wondered why Spike always preferred rubies to other gemstones, to diamonds and sapphires and quartz. Would it be sweet? Salty? Tangy? Would it be hot or cold? Soft or crunchy?
Twilight lifted the ruby to her mouth and popped it in. The taste flooded her mouth -- and it was like sweets; that oh-so-sugary candy drop that Bon-Bon makes specially for the fillies and colts when they get out of school, and they all flock to her shop, their meager collection of bits clinking happily in the saddlebags, begging to be spent. The flavor was all that and yet different, salty, sweet, mellow and delicious all in one.
Crunch.
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It was just as well that Spike never noticed the missing ruby, but Twilight should have known that her number one assistant would eventually notice if his entire collection of rubies -- as well as an assortment of sapphires and emeralds -- had conspicuously disappeared. But by the time she thought to worry about such a thing, she had already worked her way through each and every one of them.
She should have been concerned, really, at how quickly she became accustomed to eating gemstones. But she felt little worry at all, not with the variety of new and wonderful flavors assaulting her taste buds with every glittering stone she cracked between her teeth.
Emeralds were crunchy. Salty like fresh hayfries, loaded with ketchup and the kind of cheese you break off entire chunks to melt on top of them. The kind that makes your mouth water and so desperately dry at the same time.
Sapphires were brittle. They flaked off in her mouth from the first bite and melted around her teeth like bits of peppermint, and tasted just the right balance of sweet and tart.
But Rubies… oh, rubies… those were still the best. Sweet, like candy drops, and crunched and crushed in her maw, like hugs from her mother and playing with her brother in the sunshine, and being surrounded by her friends, talking about everything and nothing until Celestia’s sun settled behind the horizon. And how the light caught in the reflection and spun along its surface, entrancing her to just take one more bite.
Just one. More. Bite.
Snap. Crack. Crunch.
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She didn’t open the library for three days, ponies were starting to ask questions, and her excuses were getting worse and worse. Her friends could only believe she was sick for so long. Especially when Spike himself didn’t know what was up with her.
“Geez louise, Twi!” Pinkie Pie would say when Twilight opened the door to the bathroom and -- surprise, surprise -- there she was. “It’s so hot in here! What, do both you and Spike breathe fire now?”
“No don’t be silly Pinkie of course I can’t breath fire now if you’ll excuse me”
And without further ado she shoved Pinkie out the door with a burst of magic.
There had to be some more gems squirreled away in the library somewhere! Spike wouldn’t just leave her hanging like this! He couldn't!
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On the fifth day, Twilight was desperate enough to leave the library.
Her mission: find some more gems.
Her destination:
Knock, knock. KnockknockknockKnockknockknockKnockknockknock
Come one come on… open uuuuuup
“Just a minute~” came the trilling from inside. Twilight tapped her hoof on the ground impatiently. She was about to start running in place when the door finally opened and Rarity blinked down at her she opened her mouth to--
“Rarity can you loan me some gems right now please?” Twilight nearly forgot the ‘please’. That would have been bad, right?
“Oh! Of course, Twilight, dear!” Rarity tittered, leading Twilight inside. She followed at her flank, nearly running into the other mare but holding back at the last second. “What do you need them for, if you don’t mind my asking?”
“Just, um, a project. Magic. Need some gems for… catalysts. Yeah. That.”
There. That sounded about right.
“I see, I see.” She led Twilight to her storeroom, and opened a few boxes with a burst of pale lavender magic. “What sort were you looking to use?”
Oh. Oh my.
Rubies, sapphires, emeralds, garnets, tourmaline, amethyst, amber, turquoise, pearls, jade, topaz, quarts, diamonds, agkjsbfliabkfljalkfbkadad---
Rarity you’ve been holding out on me howdareyouohmysweetCelestiaIcouldkissyou!!!
“I’ll, uh, I’ll just take… some of each. Uh, yeah. Okay? Cool? Cool. Thanks.”
Bundling up her loot, Twilight scurried away, leaving Rarity blushing and slack jawed.
Oh, maybe she did really kiss Rarity.
Oh well.
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Twilight tried amber. It was an odd taste. Complicated, like too many flavors packed into one. Like you take all different colors of jelly beans and pop them into your mouth, and all you get is bleeeeuuuugghhhh. It wasn’t her favorite.
Turquoise was nice. A bit bland and chewy but a good aftertaste, making her want more and more and more and -- oh, she’s out now. Oh well.
Amethyst was great. Maybe her new favorite, after ruby. Like coating your tongue in sugar and chugging grape juice, with none of the grainy aftertaste you get from the sugar going scritchy-scratchy down your throat.
Tourmaline was interesting. Both crispy and soft. Crispy outside but once you got through the outer shell it was like taffy, stretching and melting all down your throat. And banana. Like banana taffy. Yum.
Jade was… no. Nope. Twilight didn’t like jade. She spat that out, and the molten remains popped and snapped at her wooden floor, making her squeal and flap her leathery wings in shock.
But diamond! Wow! What a rush! Diamond was salty and tangy and then bitter, like coffee you could bite and chew and swallow and pick out of your teeth and oh, so good. She wanted more and she ate the entire clawful in one gulp.
She giggled, flames licking at her jaw.
She wondered what other kinds of gems she could find.
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Spike was demanding to be let back in the library. Her friends were all worried. She couldn’t ask Rarity for more, no matter how generous she would be with her collection. She had to find gemstones somewhere else. Somewhere nopony would expect.
Somewhere with a lot of gems and minerals and rocks and--
“--of gems, did you hear?” a pony gossiped close enough for Twilight to hear.
She was actually completely across the town square, but at the word ‘gems’, she teleported right in the mare’s face and demanded, “No I didn’t tell me now where are the gems!”
She wasn’t sure if it was was a question or a demand, but she got an answer anyway.
“D-Diamond Dog den!” the pony stammered, falling back on her haunches in shock.
That’ll do.
“Tell me where there are?” she asked. There. That was a question. Wasn’t it?
“Please.”
Politeness was a virtue, after all.
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It was ridiculously easy to find the Diamond Dog den. Even easier to convince the residents to find somewhere else to live. Twilight got the impression they didn’t want to leave, but, really, she didn’t give them much choice.
It was weird how much the idea of all those gems and tasty minerals helped convince Twilight to try out her mass teleportation spell. She’d never actually tried it out on live subjects before. She hoped all those dogs made it across Equestria alright. And in one piece.
Oh well.
But oh -- how these dogs loved to horde their bounty of deliciousness! There were stacks of it all! Diamonds and rubies and sapphires and emeralds, onyx and pyrite, malachite and bloodstone… more yummy treats than she could even recognize!
Stone after stone -- but cut and uncut -- she popped into her jaws, snapping and crunching, chewing and grinding, feeling the tangy sweetness and the salty sourness of it all. Gems and stones melted between her fangs and played on her forked tongue, molten goodness teasing new, distinct flavors that mixed together to form a magic all its own.
And she ate, and ate, and ate some more, totally lost to hedonism as she felt her head getting fuzzier and fuzzier the more she ate and the smaller her horde got. Her chest began to tingle and burn, leaving her flushed and wobbling where she crouched.
She felt hot. It was hard to think. Her thoughts got quieter and softer, and then simply weren’t there anymore, and then she was alone. That was fine. That was okay. She was good.
She laughed. She belched flames, orange light licking around the cavern as she nibbled on a piece of lapis lazuli. Mmm, like a bouquet of lilies all wrapped up on Hearth’s Warming Eve and first kisses, all lemony and marshmallows.
She spit globs of shimmering gold, chunks of agate and slabs of quartz, giggling drunkenly as it gouged chunks of molten slag from the walls.
She… swayed? Tilted?
The walls spun and twisted. Was she still standing? Was she lying on the dirt? Stars glittered in her eyes, and her eyelids felt heavy, and she stumbled to her knees as her bones creaked and groaned. They shrunk underneath her skin, and her scales slid back into her body, purple fur sprouting out of her like an overfed garden.
Twilight’s mind surged and pounded with a headache, hissing and snarling behind her forehead and for a brief moment, she thought she was going to die. But then the pain faded, leaving only a deep ache, a soreness in her body that made her feel alive, if not terribly hot and cold. She wanted to scream, to cry and curse. All she could do was groan tiredly.
Well… That’s that, then.
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Spike was asleep in his bed when Twilight finally dragged herself home. She considered waking him up, telling him everything that happened the past week. Would he be mad? Would he find it funny? Would he think she was crazy?
Well, no time like the present. Shrugging, she poked him twice with a hoof. “Spike.”
The little dragon jerked awake with a snort. “Whozat? Twilight?” he blinked once, twice, and then balked at her. “Whoa. What… cave did you crawl out of?”
She must have looked as bad as she felt then.
“It was me,” she said. “I ate your ruby. And emeralds. And sapphires. They were delicious. Are you mad? Sorry,” she added, because she felt she should.
The little dragon blinked a few more times, and then cracked a grin. “Hah. Yeah...I remember my first ruby…”
And with that, he rolled over the went back to sleep.
Huh. Well. Okay, then.
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Author's Note
Mmm.... yummy.
