As the train made its way to the Crystal Empire Twilight couldn’t help but hope that things at the Empire were okay, after all they had the Crystal Heart.

When the train arrived at the station however Twilight saw dragons occupying the empire.

“It was a feint hope,” Twilight said before turning to Rainbow who for some reason was silent the whole time.

“Rainbow, are you alright? You haven’t said a word the whole way,” Twilight asked.

“Hmm? Oh yeah, I’m fine, I just need some opinions answered and to get something while I’m here,” Rainbow said.

“Ok, as long as you're ok,” Twilight said as the guards exited first and then the dragons onboard exited as well.

As Twilight exited with Spike at her side they looked and saw that the Crystal Empire has also seen better days…

Multiple houses had bites taken out of them… as expected and the ponies looked generally uncomfortable in their new forms.

Before Twilight could question it she was grabbed from behind and scooped up.

“AH!” Twilight yelped and turned to see Shining Armor.

“Hi there Twiley,” Shining laughed.

“Shiny!” Twilight turned and hugged him as well.

“Hey!” Spike said.

“Spike! How’s it going?” Shining said kneeling down to see him.

“Good, glad to see you again, where’s Cadance?” Spike asked.

“She’s with Sunburst and the other scholars, she’s hoping to help find a cure,” Shining said.

“Well, I’d like to see her current work… Rainbow? Where are you going?” Twilight asked.

“Just to meet somedragon,” Rainbow said as she walked away.

“Is she alright?” Shining asked.

“She’s been acting weird lately, oh well,” Twilight said.

“Princess, if I may,” A guard dragon approached.

“Yes?” Twilight asked.

“We need to get moving to stay ahead of the evening train traffic,” The guard said.

“Good point, don’t want to get held up around here, come on,” Shining said leading Twilight in with the guards in tow.

Fluttershy made her way back into town with Discord and they saw several regular dragons searching the area.

“What’s happening?” Fluttershy asked.

“I’ll ask, hey!” Discord caught the attention of Razer.

“Oh no,” Fluttershy said nervously.

“Hm? What do you need? I’m a little busy,” Razer asked.

“What’s up? Where’s the dragon tryouts?” Discord asked.

“Ignia is here, and we’ve been ordered to search the area for her draconic scent… speaking of which, h-hi,” Razer waved at Fluttershy who looked away shyly.

“Hi…” Fluttershy said.

“Oh come now, you two can-” Discord tried to say before a stern voice made them jump.

“Get back to searching!” Ember ordered.

“Yes mam,” Razer nervously said as he went back to searching the area.

“For a drake he’s pretty shy, wouldn’t you say?” Discord said.

“Discord, stop,” Fluttershy sighed.

“You’ll thank me later,” Discord said.

After an hour or two of looking Ember rounded up her dragons, looking frustrated.

“That witch must have fled to a different town by now, curse it all,” Ember said angrily.

“If only we thought to check Dumas’s scent before going to Tartarus…” The green dragon said.

“We need to spread out, I’ve ordered all the dragons from the dragonlands to resume their patrols, we’ll need somedragon to stay put in order to watch for her-”

“I’ll do it,” Razer offered.

“Razer… you're not doing this just to get closer to that dragoness who's really a pony are you?” Garble asked.

“If that’s your reason then no,” Ember said.

“Nonono, I am here for the mission, that’s it,” Razer said.

“...Promise to your dragon lord that you will focus, lest you forfeit half of your horde,” Ember threatened.

Razer gulped under her glare but he nodded.

“Very well, then let’s move,” Ember said to her fellow dragons and they flew off.

“...Oook… not how I pictured that turning out…” Razer shivered at the thought of letting go of half of his horde, so he turned and resumed his patrols.

“Please stop Discord,” Fluttershy said.

“Come on, you know you want to be with him, just trying to fan the flames,” Discord said.

“I don’t want you to,” Fluttershy said.

“Why?” Discord said.

“Because I don’t want you to!” Fluttershy said firmly.

“... You're worried you’d become incompatible if you became a pony again, especially given the gap in your lifespans,” Discord said.

Fluttershy looked away.

“There’s always another option to a dilemma,” Discord said.

“...Just leave it be,” Fluttershy said as she walked into her cottage.

“...” Discord stayed silent as he followed Fluttershy to her homestead.

Applejack found that shaking trees helped more than bucking them.

And thanks to Discord making the apples bigger there’s less worry of the Ponyville dragons eating them all.

Looking back on it this does have some benefits, Granny will live much longer now, work is less tough, and Apple Bloom seems to be enjoying it.

Speaking of which AJ wonders what is being taught in Mrs Cheerilee’s class today…

“Ok students, today we’ll learn the basics on gem types, now Opal does what?” Mrs Cheerilee asked, the purple and pink dragoness pointing at a chalkboard, simultaneously she was reading off of a book Ember lent her on crystals at Twilight’s request.

“Ugh, this is even more difficult than her usual tests,” Scootaloo sighed.

“Can’t wait ta get back to scourin the gem caves,” AB said.

“Me three!” Sweetie said.

“Are you three listening?” Cheerilee asked making the three whelps jump a little.

“Uh, yeah,” Scoots said.

“What did I just say?” Cheerilee asked.

“....Well…” Scootaloo, Sweetie and AB tried to guess it.

“See me after class,” Cheerilee said and the three sighed.

“Ah’ll bet they're havin fun learnin a new species traits,” AJ guessed, as she spoke to herself with a chuckle as she shook another tree and got more giant apples.

“That’s so weird,” Shining said now looking at an adult Spike standing in the middle of the lobby.

“I know, why can’t I just stay big?” Spike asked with a sigh as he shifted back into his smaller form.

“What? Do you intend to stay big? Why’s that? Won’t you miss your childhood?” Shining asked.

“Sure, but…. I have a good reason,” Spike said with a slight blush.

“Rarity?” Cadence asked as she came in and Spike looked embarrassed when she correctly guessed, good thing Rarity is using the 'powder room' at the moment.

“Ah hey Cady, there you are,” Shining Armor said seeing the big pink dragoness approaching.

“Cadance!” Twilight said happily and she and Cadance did their Laybug dance, which admittedly was weirder seeing a pair of big dragons performing the sacred sib dance.

After that, they all sat down and resumed chatting amongst themselves.

“I do admit things have been alot more interesting around here since we’ve turned into dragons,” Cadence said with a wink at Shining.

“You mean… ooook,” Twilight nodded.

“What can we say, we’re hoping to give Flurry a dragon sibling,” Cadence said.

“You're seriously trying to make a clutch of eggs? There’s no guarantee this is permanent,” Spike said.

“Well, on the offchance it is I’ll bet Flurry would love to be an older sister one day,” Cadence chuckled.

“Speaking of which, how is Flurry adapting to this?” Twilight asked.

“She’s still to young to really notice the difference between her current self and herself as an alicorn,” Cadence said.

“She’s been enjoying her fire breath, frankly we’ve been trying to curb it before she burns something,” Shining said.

“Well, while I have a chance, I need to ask about-” Spike began before suddenly Rarity came back into the room.

“I’m back,” Rarity said.

“Hello,” Cadence said.

“Ah…” Spike didn’t want to tell Rarity what his plans are yet.

Cadence nodded understandingly before turning to Rarity.

“Mrs Cadance… may we speak, in private?” Rarity asked.

“Certainly,” Cadence said getting a sense of what the conundrum was, she followed Rarity into a different room.

“Darn it, I had a question,” Spike said.

“You can ask me, I know some magic too,” Shining said.

“Alright, we came here mainly for an ingredient for the potion I’ll use to stop age shifting,” Spike said.

“So you and Rarity can be together if I’m understanding right? Don’t you think you may be getting ahead of yourself right now?” Shining asked.

“What do you mean?” Spike asked.

“Do you even know how to be an adult? The complications that come with it, being with Rarity may be a plus but you have to consider everything else you’ll be passing up on,” Shining said.

“Shining Armor is right, you’ll have to be ready for everything else and ready to give up on a large portion of your life, maybe you shouldn’t,” Twilight said trying to reason with Spike.

“I get what you guys are saying but… I have a shot to be with Rarity as equals in age, not to mention she’s a dragoness now, we have a chance at having a family together, I wouldn’t trade this chance for a few hundred years of regrets,” Spike said before looking accusing “You seem to want me to give up on Rarity pretty quickly, wouldn’t you do the same for Cadance Shining?” Spike asked.

“Well…” Shining had to admit he had a point, but still, how can he look past his brother giving up his childhood?

“Alright Rarity, you have me alone, what do you wish to ask?” Cadence said.

“I….I find this hard to admit….” Rarity said.

“Worry not, this zone is judgment-free,” Cadence said.

“Cadance, since you're the princess of love I hoped you’d be able to assuage my doubts, I have always dreamed… of a princely stallion, a high-ranking noble taking me on as his wife and whisking me away to high-life splendor…. But…” Rarity said with a worried look.

“Yes?” Cadence asked.

“Recently my feelings have shifted…” Rarity said.

“I see, so you don’t see a big handsome princely stallion as your husband anymore… but rather a certain young drake, more specifically his older form?” Cadence guessed.

“I… suppose you are the princess of love for a reason,” Rarity said with a sniffly laugh.

“Indeed, what about him charms you?” Cadence asked.

“....I don’t know…” Rarity admitted.

“Come again?” Cadence asked.

“I… read somewhere recently that adult dragonesses who are mateless will begin to yearn for one eventually, and that baffles me, is what I feel towards Spike’s older alter ego simply an effect of this reptillian form I’ve taken, or do I genuinely want to be with him? It’s driving me crazy!” Rarity said sounding like a dragoness at the end of her rope.

“Hey hey,” Cadence embraced the crying Rarity “I understand that these new instincts are messing with you, and you are confused if your feelings are real or not, answer me this, do you care about Spike?” Cadence asked.

“Yes, he is one of my closest friends,” Rarity said.

“What do you like about him?” Cadence said.

“Well… he’s a bit immature but he’s earnest, he cares about me, he’s kind, sweet, helpful, loyal, and… his adult form is quite handsome,” Rarity listed some of these things.

“Rarity, feelings are as deep as your care for somepony, if you are feeling this way about Spike simply because he turns into a handsome adult drake and you happen to be a dragon now, it means that maybe deep down, you truly do care about him in that way,” Cadence said.

“You… really think so?” Rarity asked.

“I know so, after all, I have my own dragon hubby, I always cared about him more than his looks, even back when he was a pony,” Cadence said.

“It does make sense, but as long as he’s shifting back and forth like this, I fear nothing can be pursued yet,” Rarity said.

“Then wait until he makes his decision on where he wants to go before asking him,” Cadence said.

“...You know what? I will do that, thank you Cadence,” Rarity said happily.

“It is no problem Rarity, now let’s get back to work,” Cadence said.

‘Ok,” Rarity said.

Ignia snuck through the castle, having successfully infiltrated The Crystal Empire.

“They never suspected a thing,” Ignia said as she shifted into a guard dragoness and took to the halls, scouring around for her planned theft.

“Just one chunk of that crystal heart and I will almost have the power necessary to truly erase ponykind,” Ignia said as she moved near some guards and gave a forced polite nod to them and they returned it.

“Now, where would the power source to the empire be?...” Ignia asked herself as she wandered up some stairs.

As she got up some floors she spotted several more guards heading her way and she flashed and turned into Cadence.

“Spying spell, shapeshifting spell, where would I be without you?” Ignia chuckled before strutting out in front of the guards.

“Hm? Princess Cadance,” The guards saluted.

“Hello my… beloved guards, I require a routine checkup on the crystal heart,” ‘Cadence’ said.

“Is there something wrong with it?” The second guard asked.

“There’s… a possible situation going on, and of course I know where it is but I would like for you two to take me there,” The fake Cadance said.

“Yes princess,” The two guards said as they turned and led the pink dragoness.

“Alright, in the case of mutant spells we need to find out the combination of spells and separate them by magic force, like breaking a bone at two points and reconnecting them,” Twilight said as she read some books.

“That’s not going to hurt, is it? It sounds painful,” Spike asked.

“Not a literal bone Spike, just an analogy,” Twilight said as she sifted through several more books.

“Ok,” Spike sighed.

“And furthermore, we’ll need some sort of catalyst for the potion to work, since this is ancient runic dragon magic,” Twilight said.

“I imagine that’ll be hard to find out,” Shining Armor said.

“It will without some means to find the information, we’ll have to ask Ember next time we see her,” Twilight said.

“Ugh, when is this waiting going to end?” Spike said.

“Calm down Spike,” Twilight said wonder where Rainbow was right now, she could use an extra claw in this.

“Well we should really get back to the affairs of the kingdom,” Shining said getting up “Your welcome to our supply of books as long as you're here,”

“Thanks, I appreciate-” Suddenly the building shook and the group looked around.

“Thaaat’s never a good sign,” Spike said.

“Somethings wrong,” Shining said as he got up and went to the doorway where Cadance came in.

“Did you guys feel that?” Cadence said.

“Yes,” The others present said.

“What was it?” Rarity asked.

“There’s something wrong with the Crystal Heart,” Cadence said.

“How do you know?” Twilight asked.

“I still have a connection to the heart, we need to check if it’s alright,” Cadence said before they made their way to the room.

“Wait for me!” Spike called as he ran after them.

“Sorry Spike!” Twilight ran back and picked him up before running back with the group.

“This way!” Cadence said as she led them up some stairs and they crossed into a hallway.

As they went up some more stairs they came to the room the Crystal Heart was stored in.

And they saw two incapacitated guards and an orange dragoness.

“Who is that?” Twilight demanded.

“HEY! Who are you? And what are you doing to the Crystal Heart?” Cadence demanded.

The dragoness ignored her and seemed to be reading something to the heart.

“I asked you a question!” Cadence said and Shining stepped forward.

“By order of the Crystal Princess and Prince, we demand that you-”

“Silence ponies,” Ignia said before turning and staring out at them.

“Who are you?” Rarity demanded.

“I would think you’d know,” Ignia said.

“No… Your Ignia aren’t you!” Twilight said getting ready to fight.

“Took you all long enough,” Ignia said before looking directly at Spike and frowning.

“What?” Spike asked.

“Oh, nothing… in any case, I do wonder if you’ll believe I am just passing through?” Ignia said.

“If you're the criminal who turned ponykind into dragons then we’re going to have to take you in,” Cadence said getting ready.

“I’m not going to Tartarus, not when my dream is so close,” Ignia said readying herself.

“You're outnumbered Ignia, you're coming with us,” Twilight said as the group got ready for a fight.

“I may be outnumbered, but I’m far from defenseless,” Ignia said before she made a hand sign.

“Look out!” Twilight said sensing she was about to do something.

“Reva!” Ignia said and an orb of light formed in her hand and she batted it at the group with her hand.

When it hit the ground it burst into a flash of light that stunned everydragon.

‘Ah! My eyes!” Rarity cried out as she fell down.

“Agh!” Shining grunted and he stumbled back as the flash blinded him.

“Stop her!” Cadence shouted as she tried to rub her eyes.

“Farewell!” Ignia said as she turned and ran for the windows.

“No!” Spike shouted, having shielded his eyes in time along with Twilight and they ran after her.

“Ignia broke through the windows and flew out towards town.

“Throw me Twilight!” Spike said.

“Are you crazy?!” Twilight exclaimed.

“Trust me!” Spike said.

“...Spike you could-”

“I have a plan!” Spike said.

“...Ok!” Twilight said as she grabbed Spike, raised him up and she threw him with all her draconic might and he flew towards Ignia.

“Please let me be right about this…” Spike thought.

“Now that I have some of the Crystal Hearts magic I can- OW!” Ignia grunted and she turned her head and saw Spike clinging to her tail with his teeth.

“You…” Ignia said before shaking her tail violently “Release me ponylover!” Ignia shouted.

“Noch a chansh!” Spike grunted as he held on and he grabbed her tail and he hoped that it was going to happen now of all times… and it did.

Spike suddenly grew into a full-sized drake.

“Huh?!” Ignia exclaimed and Spike's sudden weight gain pulled her out of the air “Aaaah!” Ignia tried to flap her wings but Spike was too heavy and she was unable to fly.

“This is going to hurt!” Spike said as they crashed through a building’s roof and several floors before they tumbled out onto the side of a patio and they fell onto the ground.

Both laid there, groaning, as they got up Spike saw he shrunk again.

“Oh man, of all times I had to shrink,” Spike said before seeing Ignia getting up and glowering at him.

“That is going to cost you child…” Ignia said before grabbing Spike up by his neck.

“Agh! Let go!” Spike choked.

“Past be condemned, I will stand for Nodragon getting in my way!” Ignia snarled.

“What?” Spike said confusedly before she threw him onto the ground and raised a foot.

“No!” Spike staggered back.

“DIE-” Suddenly Ignia was tackled from behind by a blue blur and the two tumbled.

“Huh?” Spike looked up and saw Rainbow Dash struggling with ignia “Rainbow!” Spike exclaimed.

“Leave my friends alone!” Rainbow said punching Ignia in the face.

“You get off of me!” Ignia said before grabbing Rainbow by her neck and slamming her head on the ground to her side and she used Devnak while she was pinned and Rainbow was knocked out.

Ignia got up and opened her jaws to bite down on Rainbow’s neck when Spike ran towards her.

“No!” Spike said.

Suddenly Ignia was blasted in her side with a fireball and sent tumbling, as she struggled to get up she saw the other members of the group flying towards them.

“SPIKE! RAINBOW!” Twilight called.

“Guards! Surround her!” Shining ordered and the guards did so.

“Tch… This isn’t over,” Ignia said before she made the hand sign again and formed the sphere of light.

‘NO!” Shining breathed a gout of fire at her but she suddenly used her other hand and made another sign.

“Balko!” Ignia said and a barrier formed in front of her, blocking the fire before she threw the orb at the ground and it exploded making every guard present stumble back clutching their eyes, she then ran away from the group and shifted into a different dragoness and ducked into the crowd that was forming on the side of the conflict.

“NO!” Shining tried to follow her but she managed to escape amidst the crowd “Curses!” Shining growled before running back to the recovering guards.

“Spread out amidst the city walls and train station, she doesn’t leave!”Shining ordered.

“Yes sir!” The guards nodded before flying off.

“Is everydragon ok?” Cadence asked.

“Spike?!” Rarity exclaimed seeing him looking a little injured.

“I’m fine, Rainbow saved me,” Spike said.

Rainbow was snoring on the ground but Twilight picked her up and shook her waking her.

“HUH!?” Rainbow exclaimed seeing the commotion.

“Rainbow, are you alright?” Twilight asked.

“Yeah! Yeah…” Rainbow sighed getting up and turning towards the others.

“We almost had her,” Shining cursed.

“We’ll find her again, somehow,” Twilight said… before spotting something, she walked over and picked it up.

“What is it?” Spike asked.

“One of her scales…. I wonder… I may take this, see if it can help,” Twilight said.

“Well, I have to coordinate a full search before she escapes, good luck,” Shining said before flying off.

“Come on, we should get back, I have a lead we can follow now,” Twilight said.

“Ok,” The others said and they walked back to the castle, as they walked back Spike couldn’t help but think back to what Ignia said.

“Past be condemned, I will stand for nodragon getting in my way!”

Author's Note

Twilight may have found a solution with Ignia's scale, and Ignia's plan is slowly reaching fruition as she escapes.

Who will come out on top?