//------------------------------//
// 2 Quarantine 
// Story: The Crystal Dragon 
// by Brass Polish 
//------------------------------//

	Impulsoria stopped hugging Fluttershy and suddenly looked blue again.
“Um, could you possibly bring some more jewels later?” she asked.
Fluttershy broke a few sweats. She knew that if Impulsoria kept getting more gems, her sense of greed would only get stronger. But now that she knew that this dragon’s sadness would cause power to drain from the Crystal Heart, she felt she had no choice but to agree.
“I’ll… I… sure.”
Impulsoria smiled her half-hearted smile again. “Thanks.”
And with that, she carried her emeralds into the depths of her cave.

Despite the awkward position she was in, Fluttershy managed to forget about Impulsoria for about three hours. She spent the morning learning how to milk crystal cows. By the time she was done, she’d gotten four buckets of sparkling silver milk. But her lunch break was cut short when she passed by the Crystal Heart and saw it was just the way it was that morning.
I have to get her more jewels, she thought. Just a few. Then maybe she won’t mature too fast.
So she flew up to the clouds and started fishing for gems. Eventually, she found two amethysts.
“Oh, I hope it’ll be enough for today,” she breathed, looking at the purple gemstones and remembering Impulsoria’s pleading, voracious eyes.

The happiness Fluttershy felt when she was milking the crystal cows was more or less squeezed out of her when Impulsoria had her in a one armed hug for several minutes. And the whole time she was hugging her, she was gazing lovingly at the amethysts. She hadn’t gotten bigger as far as Fluttershy could see, but she certainly was enraptured by these gems. So much so, that she forgot all about the pegasus pony she had pinned to her side as she took the amethysts into her cave. Fluttershy tried to tell her to let go, but she could hardly breathe under the dragon’s arm. And her breathing didn’t get any better because being carried into a dragon’s cave was on her top 5 list of fears. It got darker and darker, and then it started to get light again. Fluttershy watched as the tunnel widened and the cave ceiling went higher and higher. Then she saw something that made her eyes pop. There was barely any room in here for any creature because there were diamonds, sapphires, emeralds and gems of all varieties and sizes everywhere.

Impulsoria added the two amethysts to the gargantuan mound of jewels and remembered that she was still holding Fluttershy.
“Oops. Sorry.”
She set Fluttershy down on the cave floor, which had several gemstones on it.
“Um… I th-thought you said you were… d-deprived,” said Fluttershy delicately.
“Yeah, I am,” Impulsoria replied. “Could you bring me some more gems, please?”
“Uh…”
Fluttershy knew that she couldn’t keep this up. Impulsoria had clearly succumbed to congenital dragon greed and would always want more no matter how many gemstones she got.
“I’ll be back soon,” she told the dragon.
And before Impulsoria could say or do anything else, Fluttershy flew out of the cave and headed to the Crystal Empire as quickly as she could. She decided to tell Twilight and Flash about the dragon.

In a matter of minutes, Fluttershy spotted Twilight and Flash Sentry peering around the library at a large ruby on the front steps. She certainly lived up to her reputation of being the best at not making a sound because Twilight was so startled to see her appear in the corner of her eye, she backed right into Flash making him jump. Luckily, none of the crystal ponies noticed.
“What is it, Fluttershy?” asked Twilight.
“I know who stole Rarity’s gems,” Fluttershy told them. “I know what’s causing the Crystal Heart to lag.”
“Uh, let’s go into the library,” suggested Flash Sentry.
And once they were absolutely alone, Fluttershy told Twilight and Flash all about Impulsoria the crystal dragon. None of them quite knew what to say for a while after the whole story had come out.

“We gotta cut her off from the Crystal Empire,” said Flash at last.
“But she never leaves the cave,” insisted Fluttershy. “She knows the crystal ponies would drive her out if they knew about her.”
“Fluttershy, don’t you remember when we tried to get Spike under control?” asked Twilight.
“Oh, yeah. He took the cake,” Fluttershy recalled. “And everything else we threw at him.”
“Right. So we need to make sure Impulsoria can’t get a hold of anything,” said Twilight.
“I’d hate to be cruel,” moaned Fluttershy. “Even to a dragon.”
“Well, Fluttershy,” said Flash Sentry, “there are times when you gotta be cruel to be kind. Trust me. If she’s not too far along, I’m sure she won’t be completely miserable when we cut her off. Besides, the Equestria Games are coming soon. The crystal ponies’ excitement will be enough to overpower that dragon’s influence on the Crystal Heart.”

So the three of them flew to the hills. When they reached the rocks, Fluttershy spotted the bright, violet eyes in the darkness of the cave.
“Fluttershy!” called Impulsoria. “You got me more…!”
The dragon hadn’t noticed that Fluttershy wasn’t alone until Twilight’s horn lit up like a torch. Then before she knew it, the entrance to her cave was sealed by a wall of stone.
“What’s going on?!” came Impulsoria’s voice from within the cluster of rocks. “I can’t get my gems!”
“Listen, Impulsoria!” Twilight called. “You’re in danger of losing control of your gemstone craving! We can’t let you become a threat to the safety and the morale of the crystal ponies!”
“Forget the crystal ponies!” shrieked Impulsoria. “I need more gems!”
“Fluttershy tells me you have tons of gemstones in your cave!”
“It’s not enough! I need more! More gemstones!”
“No more gemstones!” said Twilight firmly. “You’re in quarantine for a year!”
“Fluttershy, don’t leave me here with no gems!” the dragon almost screamed.
Fluttershy took a deep breath and flew up to the blocked up cave.
“You’ll be fine, Impulsoria. Trust me,” she said a little shakily.
“How about one more gem?! Huh?! Just one more?!”
“Come on, you two,” said Flash Sentry. “We better tell Princess Cadance and Prince Shining Armour about this.”
“You ponies are evil!” roared Impulsoria. “I won’t survive! You’re gonna…!”
The sound of Impulsoria’s despairing voice stopped abruptly, causing the trio of flying ponies to stop in puzzlement.

Inside the cave, Impulsoria had bolted into the heart of her dwelling and began goggling at her pile of gemstones as if they’d just been dumped into her home.
“Oh! Thank goodness! I’m saved! I’ve got more gems!”
She started looking left and right, and every time she saw a pile of jewels, she deluded herself into believing that it had just been brought to her. And for each “new” pile of gems she spotted, she got bigger and bigger. And the more she “gained”, the more she wanted.

“Could she really have gotten over it that fast?” asked Flash.
“Or did she completely break down?” worried Fluttershy.
“Flash, you better go check on the Crystal Heart,” said Twilight.
“Yes, your highness.”
“Please, call me Twilight,” said the blushing alicorn.
Her face wasn’t the only thing going red. Before Flash Sentry turned to leave, steam began to rise from the rock cluster where the cave opening used to be. The three ponies felt as if the temperature outside had gone up.
“Surely she’s not trying to burn her way out!” Fluttershy was horrified.
“But she’s not big enough!” Twilight insisted.
The rock face began to crumble and the steam began to turn to smoke.
“Flash, go get Shining Armour!” cried Twilight. “Tell him to make a force field around the city!”
As Flash took off towards the castle, bright blue flames began to erupt from the cracks in the crumbling rocks, which were now white hot.

“Stand back, Fluttershy! I’ll hold her off until Shining Armour’s ready!”
But as Fluttershy drew away, the rock face was smashed by a great, red tail and white hot stones rocketed towards them.
“Ouch!”
“Twilight! Are you alright?!”
“No! I got burned!”
A massive cloud of smoke rose from the smashed barrier, and when it cleared, there was Impulsoria. Fluttershy gasped when she saw how much that small dragon had grown in just a few minutes. She no longer looked sad and pleading. Now her large violet eyes were brimming with mindless avarice. From where she stood in her insane state, the Crystal Empire looked like a heap of jewels the likes of which a dragon would do anything to get its claws on. She began to walk towards the city.

Fluttershy started to carry the injured princess away.
“No, Fluttershy! I have to stop her!”
Twilight cast a freezing spell on Impulsoria’s legs, but dragons that size are not easy to stop by magic. The spell quickly began to wear off. Twilight tried to back up to give her more room to cast another spell, but the burns on her legs and wings prevented her.
“Fluttershy, move me back! Hurry!”
But the freezing spell subsided before Fluttershy had gotten Twilight very far. Twilight made a force field right before Impulsoria shot her blue flames at the two of them. The two ponies felt like they’d been thrown into a boiling kettle. The force field began to wane. Twilight strained to keep it going. At last, Impulsoria’s fire stopped.
“More gemstones!” roared the mad crystal dragon.
“Impulsoria, you’ve got to listen to me!” cried Fluttershy. “You can’t have any more gems!”
Impulsoria’s mouth began to smoke.
“Trust me! It’s for your own good! Honest, we’re doing you a favour!”

Twilight thought Fluttershy was trying to convince herself more than Impulsoria, but either way, it was not working. Twilight conjured another force field just in time to repel another fire attack. But this one was diminishing faster than the first.
“I can’t keep this up!” cried Twilight.
“Stop, Impulsoria! We’re not trying to hurt you! We’re trying to help you!”
The stream of fire got hotter and hotter, and Twilight began to shake with the effort of shielding them. Neither she nor Impulsoria noticed that something shiny and pink was flying towards them from the distance. As soon as Fluttershy spotted it, it zoomed right to her and latched itself onto her neck. She looked down at it and thought she was seeing things. It was her element of harmony, the Element of Kindness.

Twilight began to whimper. The force field was barely there. Impulsoria’s fire wasn’t relenting. Fluttershy’s element glowed brighter and brighter, and just when Twilight’s shield diminished, a beam of rosy light shot from the Element of Kindness like a round shot from a canon. Twilight could not believe what she was seeing when she looked back to see where that beam was coming from. Not only was Fluttershy’s element holding off Impulsoria’s fire, it was even pushing it away. The crystal dragon didn’t stop attacking, but her fire wasn’t beating them anymore. The element’s beam grew longer and longer, and before any of them knew it, the fire was gone and Impulsoria was enveloped in a ball of light.

A minute later, the beam and the ball of light disappeared. Fluttershy and Twilight were both panting heavily, Fluttershy’s element still attached to her. They looked at each other for a second, and then stepped cautiously towards Impulsoria, who was lying on the ground. She appeared to be unconscious.
“Could you give her a tap?” asked Twilight, indicating her singed hooves.
Fluttershy took a deep breath, but before she approached the dragon, a burst of cheering sounded from behind them. Twilight looked back and could make out the image of crystal ponies standing just outside the city. Shining Armour, Flash Sentry and the rest of the guards were making their way towards them cheering along with the crystal ponies.
“That was amazing, Twily!” exclaimed Shining Armour.
“It wasn’t me,” said Twilight. “It was Fluttershy. She took that dragon down with her element of harmony.”
“That,” said one of the guards, “was the most impressive thing I’ve ever seen. You know…”

Suddenly, Impulsoria’s eyes shot open and she stood up sharply. She rubbed her forehead and looked around at everyone. There was a pause.
“I… I feel a lot better now,” said Impulsoria slowly. “I, uh, I haven’t hurt anyone, have I?”
Fluttershy pointed to Twilight’s burns.
“Oh.” Impulsoria gulped. “I’m very sorry. I guess I lost my mind.”
She began to look at herself taking in how big she’d become.
“Do you…” Fluttershy stammered. “Um, do you still feel deprived?”
“No,” smiled Impulsoria. “No, I was being stupid. I’ve got plenty of gemstones in my cave… um, unless I don’t fit in it anymore.”
Fluttershy sighed. “I’m so happy I could help.”
“See, Fluttershy?” asked Twilight. “You definitely were doing her a kindness. If you hadn’t, your element wouldn’t have come to you.”
“Here, here,” smiled Flash Sentry.
The guard who had spoken earlier approached Impulsoria and cleared his throat.
“Hello, miss dragon.”
“Um, excuse me, but her name is Impulsoria,” cut in Fluttershy politely.
“Ah,” nodded the guard. “Miss Impulsoria. My name is High Jump and I’m on the Equestria Games Committee. I have a proposition for you.”

About an hour later, the crystal ponies who had seen what had happened from the city were surprised to see the crystal dragon making her way towards the empire along with Twilight, Fluttershy, Shining Armour, Flash Sentry, High Jump and the other guards.
“May I have your attention please?!” said Shining Armour. “I have an announcement! This is Impulsoria, the crystal dragon. She had a bit of a mental episode earlier, but thanks to Fluttershy, she’s perfectly level-headed now. So, we have asked her to play a part in the upcoming Equestria Games.”
There was intrigued murmuring among the crystal ponies. Impulsoria did her best to not look intimidating.
“I’m sure you’ve all heard of the legendary sport of dragon riding,” High Jump announced. “Something that ponykind hasn’t seen or done in over a millennium. Well, Miss Impulsoria here has kindly consented to be our bucking dragon!”
The fears and concerns the crystal ponies had about a dragon in their home vanished completely. Cheering and applauding echoed all around the Crystal Empire, and right before everyone’s eyes, the Crystal Heart glowed with the light and love of everyone around, and spun like a weathervane in a tornado.

The following morning, Twilight and Fluttershy bade Impulsoria, Flash Sentry, Shining Armour and Cadance farewell and made their way to the station.
“I thought we got lucky when Spike managed to beat his genetics,” said Twilight, “But I guess any dragon can overcome their greed.”
“Yes. Impulsoria didn’t even ask for more when High Jump offered her twenty gemstones a game as payment,” smiled Fluttershy. “She really does know she’s got plenty.”
“I guess she won’t be getting much bigger any time soon,” Twilight said. “Unless she eats all her gems in one sitting.”