Friendship is Magic: Growing up with Scales
By Winter Quill

--- Dragon Study ---

Twilight Sparkle had her head down, eyes focused firmly on the book in front of her as she read over the carefully printed text. In one hand she held her quill, using it to scratch out her notes on a piece of parchment sitting on the table next to her. One corner parchment was being held down by her inkwell, while the book itself kept the other side end from curling back up. She knew just how important the history of magic before the founding of Equestria really was, but the author who wrote the textbook somehow made even the most interesting things about the past sound boring.

It made it hard to focus, as her mind wanted to drift away from her studying and into her own imagination of what it must have been like, which was usually far more exciting than the reality was. But that wasn’t the only distraction she was dealing with.

“He’s looking at you again,” Moondancer said in a whisper as she leaned in a little bit closer to Twilight.

With a twitch of her ear fin, the young dragoness carefully rested her quill in her inkwell and slowly lifted her head from her book. The ‘he’ in question was Ruby Facet, and just as Moondancer had said, the colt was looking her way, though was also trying to hide it with the edge of his book. There was a slight blush on his cheeks, hidden by the ruby red of his fur, his grey eyes looking toward her then back down at his book, only to glance back a moment later.

Twilight really didn’t know what to make of all the strange looks he had been giving her for the past week. She got the feeling the unicorn colt wanted to ask her something, but couldn’t gather up enough courage to do so. They only had one class together, as he was a year ahead of her, so it couldn’t be for help with his studies. Maybe he knew she had been the one who had taken his book? Though she didn’t know how he could have possibly found out, as she had left it in the back of study hall the next morning before anypony else had come in. He would have just thought he had misplaced it, not that Twilight had accidently taken it.

“You should go talk to him,” Moondancer said, moving a bit closer.

“Why?” Was all Twilight could think to ask, turning her head slightly to look at her friend.

Carefully the unicorn floated her own quill down into her ink pot, giving the ink a little stir before she lifted again. “Because colts don’t usually look at fillies as often as he’s been looking at you,” she said.

That made Twilight snort softly and shake her head. “I think he would have noticed that I’m not a filly,” she said. It was true, but it was also a fact that still bothered her. She missed being a pony, being a unicorn just like the rest of her family. She wanted to be that again, she wanted to be what she was meant to be, she just wanted to belong again… no matter how much she enjoyed being a dragon.

“That isn’t the point,” her friend replied with a sound that was somewhere between a snort and a laugh as she turned her attention back to her book, the nib of her quill scratching along on her notes. “He’s a colt, you’re a girl, and you’re also exotic. Clearly, he has some interest in you, otherwise he wouldn’t be paying so much attention. If he won’t talk to you, you should speak to him.”

Twilight pushed her book away, and turned towards Moondancer. “I tried talking to him, and he ran off as soon as I approached,” she said.

Moondancer looked up from the book, her eyebrows raising up into her bangs. “That is even more evidence that he’s interested in you. You really must speak to him soon in order to resolve this before it becomes a schoolyard crush.”

Letting out a sigh, Twilight ran her claw over her face. Moondancer was right, as she often was. If Ruby Facet had somehow gotten it into his head that he was interested in her like that, talking to him might help dissuade him before it was too late. Though there was also the chance that it could backfire and make the situation even more awkward for everypony involved.

She glanced back to where the colt was sitting. He had his head down in his own book, but was surrounded by two other colts who were whispering and nudging him, which just seemed to make his blush grow even brighter. She had no idea who the other two colts were, as they didn’t share any classes with her, but it was clear they were Ruby’s friends.

Finally, his eyes looked back up at her again, freezing the moment that he realized she was watching him in return. There were a few moments where they just stared at each other across the study hall before he grimaced and shook his head. While ignoring his friends, he closed his book, picked up something in the nearly invisible grey glow of his field, and stood up. There was one more moment where he seemed to be speaking to himself, then he started walking across the room towards where she was sitting.

Twilight gave Moondancer a nudge as she watched the young stallion as he approached. He still seemed reluctant, slowing down after a few steps but not actually stopping. His eyes were focused on her the whole time, never looking away even though his blush was growing brighter.

Folding her claws together on her book, she watched as he approached, hoping that things weren’t about to get strange or weird. Moondancer just shifted away from her, providing the illusion of space between them, but both of her ears were turned in her direction.

“Twilight Sparkle,” he said as he finally reached her table, keeping his voice down to a low whisper, though the silence spell over the table would help muffle his words. She could see there was a small piece of paper in his field, the edges of which were starting to waver as he tried to keep himself composed. Though the consent swiveling of the ears gave him away.

“Ruby Facet,” she said in turn, leaning forward a little bit. “I’m guessing you want to speak to me?”

He swallowed and floated the piece of paper towards her, his field sputtering out and vanishing only inches from her, allowing the paper to fall on top of her open book. “I found this in my school book the other day. I just wanted to know if you actually sent it,” he said, his voice cracking a little between the words.

That wasn’t at all what Twilight had expected. She hadn’t left him any sort of note, why would she? Maybe it was some sort of prank. She reached out to pick up the paper, carefully unfolding it to reveal the words written in shaky, but also familiar, horn writing.

Twilight Sparkle is interested in you. You should ask her out.

She frowned at the words, taking a few moments to really process what they said. While she did, Ruby started to speak again. “I just wanted to be sure this wasn’t some sort of prank. I’ve been pranked like that before, told that somepony wants to ask me out, but is too embarrassed to do it, so I go up and ask them only to be rejected.”

“I didn’t write it,” Twilight said, a frown on her muzzle, pulling at the corner of her mouth and showing a hint of her fangs. She didn’t write it, but she knew who had. Cadence must have put the note in the book after Twilight had accidently taken it, but why would she do something like that?

Ruby let out a long, and relieved sigh, the tension melting away from his body. “So, a prank then. I’m glad I checked with you first. Though it’s weird, I don’t know anypony who would try and prank me like that with you. I’m not even interested in you, and all my friends know that.”

“Somepony probably thought it would be funny to watch you try and ask out a dragon,” Moondancer said.

He jumped, like this was the first moment he had realized that Twilight wasn’t alone at her table. He looked at the mare for a moment, then back to Twilight. “I mean… it’s not that I don’t like you or anything, you’re really nice for a dragon. I guess, I’ve never met another dragon before, let alone a girl dragon, but you're nice. It’s just that… well… you’re a mare,” he said, and as if that somehow explained everything turned and hurried back across the study hall towards his friends.

Moondancer rolled her eyes. “Colts. He’ll grow out of it the moment he finally notices the length of Amber Gem’s tail,” she said with a snort and a shake of her head. “Stupid puberty,” she added under her breath.

For her part, Twilight just watched as Ruby gathered up his books and hurried out of the room, his friends following right on his tail. She didn’t quite know what to make of it, should she be insulted? Or was it funny? It’s not like she had ever been asked out before. She might have been the right age to start being interested in colts, but that wasn’t something she wanted to do, at least not until she was back to being a pony. She doubted that any colt would be interested in a dragon anyways. Let alone one that looked like her.

That thought gave her pause. Before she had become a dragon, she had always assumed that she was rather plain looking mare. Sure, she had been told how cute and pretty she was, but that was the sort of thing you told ever foal, it didn’t mean anything. Anyways, long tails ran in her family, and the odds were good when she was a full-grown mare her tail would be just a full as her mothers, so she knew that no matter what there would always be some stallion that would have eyes for her.

Yet when it came to dragons, she had no idea how she actually looked. Was she pretty by dragon standards, was she even old enough to be interested in colts? She knew dragons lived a lot longer than ponies, but that didn’t mean their childhoods were shorter. Dragons hatched from eggs; they may develop far faster than ponies. Maybe by dragon standards she was already an adult?

The thoughts went around and around in her head, making it start to spin. Ever since she had been changed, her new body had been the cause of constant surprises. There were some biology books on dragons, but they were all about full grown adults, it said nothing about growing up, or how much meat they needed to eat, or how to clean their scales, or which sort of gems she should and shouldn’t be eating, or what would happen to her when she started puberty as a dragon, if such a thing even happened. She wasn’t even sure if there were boy dragons… Well no, that was silly, of course there were boy dragons, otherwise Spike wouldn’t be a boy at all.

She started slowly to rub the side of her head with the tips of her claws, trying not to allow the thoughts to take over, but finding that it was becoming harder to focus on anything else. The more she really thought about it, the less she realized she knew about herself. As a pony she had thousands of books to read about pony biology, and failing that she could always ask her teachers or her parents. As a dragon she didn’t have any of those, the closest thing she had was Princess Celestia, but when it came to dragons, she only seemed a little bit more knowledgeable than the average pony.

It was surprising, she had always thought that Princess Celestia knew everything, but maybe that was only about ponies and pony magic. What she knew about dragons came from her working with them in the distant past, did she still talk to those dragons? Maybe Celestia could get them to answer all of Twilight’s questions. All she had to do was ask.

Twilight wouldn’t have to wait long to speak to the princess, as they had a private schooling sessions after her normal classes. Even so the young dragoness found herself preoccupied through the remainder of her classes for the day, not quite focusing on what her teachers were saying or the work she was doing. It didn’t cause anything to blow up in her face, not like what seemed to happen to Lyra every time her mind drifted in class, but it was still below her own personal standards for her work.

The moment her last class was over, she quickly gathered her books—making sure that they were only her books—and rushed off to Princess Celestia’s private office at the school. Twilight arrived only a few moments after the end of class, stopping at the door and pausing to catch her breath before lifting her hand to knock on the door.

“Come in,” the Princess said through the heavy wooden door.

Grabbing the handle, she pushed the door open, stepping inside. The office itself was actually one of the oldest and smallest ones at the school, and it was overflowing with books, many of the many bookshelves were sagging under the weight of the tomes they were supporting. Every other surface that could support them was also covered in books; the only exception was the floor. There was a window on the far wall, looking out into the quad, but it was partly filled by a large potted plant, with many of the leaves pressed up against the glass. The center of the room was a large wooden desk, the white pine surface stained a dark brown from centuries of spilled ink. The desktop was no longer smooth, instead it waved up and down from being constantly used. Piles of papers were scattered across the surface, with one being much taller than the others.

Celestia herself was sitting behind the desk, bent down and carefully reading a page, quill floating in her field. She had her mane pulled back into a ponytail, though Twilight had no idea how the ethereal hair could be held in place. A pair of reading glasses were perched on her muzzle, making her eyes look even brighter than they normally were. A book was propped up next to her, and every few seconds she would glance between it and the paper she was reading.

“Twilight Sparkle, may I have a few minutes to finish?” the mare asked, glancing up from her work to the young dragoness.

Twilight nodded as she moved to the one bench in the room, sitting on the near side of the desk. A small table was sitting next to it, a place for her to write her notes during their lessons. In the week since the last time she had a lesson in the office, three books and two empty tea cups had already found their way onto it.

Sitting down on the bench, she set her bag down next to her then carefully picked up the three books, scanning over the titles. They might have been books that Princess Celestia wanted her to study, but they may have also been books she simply put there because she was going to use them in their lesson, or she had just sat on the table to get them out of the way.

The first book was horn written in a language she didn’t understand. From the flowing shape of the letters and the way they moved across the page from right to left, she was pretty sure it was from the griffon tribes that lived near Saddle Arabia. The next one was a collection of speeches, though there were many notes scribbled on every page, all in Celestia’s long lopping horn writing. Comments, corrections, and at least one page simply had the word NO written across it in heavy ink, while another page simply had a crude word filling the blank space. The last book was just one of her textbooks, though it was almost ten editions behind the one currently in her bag.

“Just put those anywhere,” Celestia said, putting her quill back into the ink pot, the paper she had been reading floating over join the larger pile, the book she had been referencing floated behind her to take its place on one of the many overflowing shelves.

Using her own magic, Twilight picked up the books and floated them over to another set of shelves, making sure it wouldn’t cause anything to fall down. “Princess Celestia, there’s something I wanted to ask you,” she said, once the books were safely in place.

“Of course, Twilight, please ask,” the princess said, gently taking her reading glasses off and setting them down on her cluttered desk.

Nodded her head, Twilight leaned forward slightly. “When I had the stone scales, you talked about a General Nova, which is how you know how to treat it. Is it possible that you could send a message to him? I have so many questions about being a dragon, to the point I’m not even sure I know what questions I would be asking.”

Celestia shook her head, lowering her head slightly. “Sadly, he’s passed away.”

“That’s too bad,” Twilight replied. “Do you know any other dragons I can talk to? I just… need answers.”

Carefully, Celestia placed her hoofs on the desk, her eyes closing as she took in a deep breath. “Twilight, when it became clear that it would take time to learn how to turn you back into a pony, I reached out to the one dragon I know who is still alive. Torch… and he refused my letter. Sending the courier back to me with my missive unopened, he’s sent every courier back, the last with a warning not to try to contact him again.”

“Why?”

The princess let out a long sigh. “Torch is the ruler of the dragons, or as much of a ruler dragons could ever have. We used to be…” she paused, lips pressed tightly together as she let out a small sigh through her nose. “I suppose close will suffice, but the years between us have not been kind. Border issues, dragons hunting ponies, ponies hunting dragons. Dragons napping in the worst places, and that’s just the political problems, the personal ones were greater. There has been a great deal of friction between us over the years. I didn’t want to lose him as… as a friend, but I did, and I have nopony to blame but myself,” she seemed to deflate a little as she spoke, slumping down behind her desk, head sinking lower, ears dropping down and wings sagging.

Twilight wasn’t sure what to say to that. It was clear that there was far more than what Celestia was telling her, and even saying that much was hurting her. It wasn’t her place to try and push for more of an answer, she was the princess after all, and she knew what she was doing. “I see,” she finally said, though it felt far too small of a response.

Celestia nodded, lifting her head a little too took at Twilight over the top of her reading glasses. “I knew that he wouldn’t be willing to answer my questions directly. So, I was asking him to send a smaller dragon to help you, someone who could teach you how to be a dragon, and all the things that I don’t know about. I’ve tried a number of different ways to contact him, and there is one final one left. I have been reluctant to try it, because it is a risk, and could cause more problems than it solves.”

“Oh,” she said, sinking down a bit more. She wouldn’t want to ask Celestia to do something for her that could cause problems, as her problems could be much larger than what most ponies could deal with.

The princess gave her a wan smile. “I supposed I had hoped that I would learn how to turn you back before it became necessary, but it’s far more complicated than anypony had expected. I apologize, Twilight Sparkle; I’ve let you down. I shouldn’t have allowed my own past with Torch to prevent me from doing what must be done to get you the help you need. It is an error that I don’t intend to allow to continue much longer. I will contact Torch, I will make him finally listen to me, and I will get you the help that you need.”

Twilight smiled, sitting up on her bench. “Thank you, Princess Celestia,” she said.

Celestia returned the smile, this time it was filled with the warmth that made her face shine. “Of course, Twilight Sparkle, it will be my pleasure,” she said. “Now, shall we start your lesson?”

Pulling out her notes, she eagerly nodded her head, happy to know that soon she would finally have some of the answers to her questions, and probably many more questions after that.

Author's Note

No, the story isn't dead... I'm just coming off a long bout of burn out. Hope to see more frequent posting on everything if possible.