• Published 2nd Aug 2012
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Dragon Your Hooves - Twinkletail



A lab mishap turns Spike into a pony.

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Chapter 5

If there was one thing that Twilight Sparkle was known for around Ponyville, it was her part in saving Equestria numerous times from various dangers. If there were two things Twilight was known for around Ponyville, they were her part in saving Equestria numerous times from various dangers, and her propensity for organization. Everything that she dealt with had to be neat and organized at all times. To be fair, one would expect no less from a librarian, but there were times that Twilight took it just a bit too far. This was not one of those times.

Books were strewn all about the Element of Magic's bedroom. This in itself was not abnormal; Twilight would often have many books nearby, should she suddenly wish to change topics of research or cross-reference a fact she'd read. The abnormality arose from the disorderly manner in which they were tossed about; a far cry from the carefully-arranged stacks one would typically find. Sometimes even the neatest of ponies could eschew order if there were more pressing matters to attend to, and in Twilight's frenzied state, she had no time to worry about neat piles. She would take care of it once the crisis was averted.

"I hate to say I told you so," Zecora said calmly, as she assisted her friend in searching through books. "For it is something you already know." Twilight knew that Zecora wasn't trying to be rude. She was a wonderful friend and would never do such a thing intentionally. It just wasn't what she wanted to hear right now. Perhaps it may have been something she needed to hear, but "wanted" was another story altogether. She was okay with being told that she was wrong about something when it truly was the case. That wasn't the issue. The issue was that she had been so certain that she had researched all possible outcomes for the situation. With how thorough her studying methods were, to make as large an oversight as she had was frankly embarrassing, and she didn't need to - didn't want to be informed of it. She answered Zecora with an exasperated sigh, akin to the ones she'd often respond to her parents with when she was a filly. It was slightly rude, but Zecora would understand. She added "apologize to Zecora for rude sigh" to her mental checklist for post-crisis activities, right before "put books in neat piles." Friendship was more important than neat piles as well.

"It doesn't make any sense..." the unicorn muttered as she rifled through research material. "I was certain I'd looked through every book on the matter."

"Perhaps there may be one you missed," Zecora responded. "Have you compiled a complete list?"

"Of course!" Twilight answered, presenting the zebra with a list of all her research materials on the matter. Zecora looked through it carefully. After a few moments, her eyes lit up.

"For your subject, you've found a great many books," she told Twilight. "But there seems to be one you have overlooked."

"That's impossible," Twilight said, but her statement was proven false when the zebra showed her a book. Twilight blew the dust off of the green hardcover and inspected it.

"The Powerful Pony's Primer to Potent Potions and Powders," the unicorn read. "I'd looked for this, but couldn't find it! Where did you find it?"

"One would assume it to be under P," Zecora answered. "But instead I found it under T." Twilight groaned. Knowing exactly what had happened.

"I told Spike that one ignores 'a,' 'an,' and 'the' when alphabetizing!" Twilight said, exasperated. "I'll have to go over that section later. Did you find anything useful in it?" Zecora nodded, and Twilight's eyes lit up.

"What does it say? What does it say??" the eager unicorn begged.

"I would read to you the details of this curse," Zecora told her, with a small smirk. "But I am afraid it is not written in verse." Twilight rolled her eyes at Zecora's poorly-timed joke and took the book, turning to the page that the zebra had bookmarked. She read dutifully, recognizing the ingredients as being identical to the ones she'd used in the powder.

"One dose of the powder causes a rash when applied to a pony," Twilight read. "But one dose applied to a non-pony creature will cause a complete transformation into pony form within an eight-hour time span. A second dose will greatly accelerate transformation time, providing transformation within two minutes, but the subject risks mental transformation as well, which is accelerated by reaffirmation of their new form." Twilight's heart sank as she stared into the middle distance. "What have I done to poor Spike?"

"Relax, my friend," Zecora said, patting her on the back. "You can make this curse end." Twilight sighed miserably before perking up.

"I can!" the unicorn exclaimed. "I CAN make it end!" Before Zecora could stop her, Twilight zoomed out of the room, a look of sheer determination in her eyes. Her hooves wouldn't allow her to stop until she reached Spike's door. With a quick surge of magic, she threw the door open, surprising the dragon-turned-pony.

"Twilight? What's wrong?" Sparkstar asked, bewildered. Twilight calmed herself as much as her nerves would allow and sat down in front of Spike.

"You are not a pony," Twilight said evenly. "You are Spike, a baby dragon and my number-one assistant, and I'm going to help you remember." She closed her eyes and touched her horn to Spike's head, concentrating. Her horn lit up as she cast her memory spell on him, the one that had worked so effectively on her friends during Discord's takeover of Ponyville. The purple pegasus looked at her, unsure of what was going on. After a few moments of casting, Twilight dimmed her horn and smiled at Spike.

"Do you remember now?" Twilight asked, a hopeful grin on her face.

"Remember what?" Sparkstar asked, head tilted.

"Being a baby dragon!" the Element of Magic answered.

"Twilight...I'm not a dragon," he said, starting to get uncomfortable. Twilight drooped.

"Wh-why didn't it work?" the baffled pony asked. "That spell worked perfectly on the girls!" Before Sparkstar could say a word (even though he had no clue what he could possibly say in this situation), Twilight zoomed out of the room, returning moments later with a vial of the antidote.

"I'll show you, Spike," she said, determination in her voice. "I'll fix the mistake I made and get my number-one assistant back, if it's the last thing I do." The dragon-turned-pegasus had no time to respond before he was doused with the strange powder. He felt a bizarre feeling of warmth all over, before being bathed in bright white light. Twilight closed her eyes tightly, hoping beyond hope that this would do the trick. It was a few moments before she could muster up the courage to look. One purple eye cracked open slightly, surveying the scene. The other quickly followed, as she was overjoyed to be presented with the sight of her number-one assistant once more.

"It worked!" Twilight shouted, starting to bounce around in circles. "Yes yes yes yes yes yeeeeees!" Spike looked himself over. He picked up one of his dragony feet, wiggled his dragony fingers, swung his dragony tail.

"I'm a dragon!" he exclaimed,

"Yes! You're a dragon!" Twilight responded giddily.

"This is awesome!" Spike said. "How long is this gonna last?" Twilight stopped bouncing.

"What do you mean, how long is this going to last?" Twilight asked.

"It's not permanent, is it?" the dragon asked, looking nervous. "I mean this could be fun for a while, but I don't want to totally stop being a pony."

"But...I...you..." the unicorn stammered, before running back out of the room and towards her lab.

"Twilight, wait!" Sparkstar shouted after her. "I don't even know how to be a dragon!" He shook his head as she paid him no heed. Twilight could be so weird sometimes. He hopped up onto the bed, kicking his new dragon legs. He stuck his tongue out, and gawked at how cool and lizard-like it was. He hopped back onto his feet, then felt a burp coming on. He made sure Twilight was not within earshot, then belched out loud, watching a green trail of flame spew from his mouth.

"Whoa..." he marveled. "A guy could get used to this!" He fiddled with his newfound claws, reaching towards a nearby book and picking it up. It didn't take him long to decide that fingers were quite possibly the coolest thing in the history of things; an impressive feat considering how many things there were. His mind worked quickly, and he came to a conclusion.

"I have to go show the girls!"

~~~~~~~~~~

"So whaddaya think that was all about?" Apple Bloom asked her friends as she hopped up onto a swing. After Twilight's interruption and the removal of Sparkstar, the three had gone to the nearby park, just across the way from Golden Oaks Library. None of them had said a word on the short trot over, too confused over the awkward situation to even comment on it until now.

"I still think Twilight didn't get enough sleep," Scootaloo answered, placing her front hooves on Bloom's back and giving her swing a nice push. "I mean Spike isn't even a pony! How could she mix him and Sparkstar up?"

"Ah dunno," Bloom said, holding tightly onto the swing's chains. "Though Ah guess they're pretty much the same colors an' all."

"Huh...they are, aren't they?" the pegasus filly mused, stepping out of the way just in time to avoid a Bloom to the face. "Maybe Twilight suddenly got a disorder where she can't tell who's who and just guesses based on what color they are. But I guess then she might have called Sweetie Rarity."

"Or you Applejack," Bloom said with a grin as she swung forward again.

"Hey! I'm a much more awesome orange than Applejack!" Scootaloo responded with a huff.

"Nuh-uh!" Bloom shouted back. "Applejack's the best orange!"

"And besides, we have different color manes!" Scootaloo said, helping Bloom with another strong push. "So she'd have to think I'm...like...a mix of Applejack and Rarity or something. Rarijack!"

"Why's Rarity gotta come first?" Bloom said, swinging back again.

"Because Applety sounds dumb!" Scootaloo retorted. "And it sounds like a drink! I'm not a drink!"

"That's true," Bloom answered, a grin on her face. "Cuz if ya were, ya'd be chicken juice!"

"That isn't even a thing!" Scoots shouted.

Sweetie Belle sighed as she watched the two from about ten feet away. She'd been stationed there with a large mattress so she could catch Bloom when she inevitably jumped (or fell, which was honestly more likely). All she could concentrate on now, though, was the fact that the two were arguing once again. The unicorn couldn't understand how two friends as good as Bloom and Scoots could argue that much. They were just fine most of the time, but the arguments were frequent, and it often seemed like each one was louder and angrier than the one before. The only time she could think of where they went for an extended period without arguing was when Sparkstar was around.

Sweetie's heart began to race as she thought about Sparkstar. Even the simple act of thinking about him gave her a nice, warm feeling in the pit of her belly. Her friends teased her about it, and even her sister would get on her case here and there about "the handsome young colt who'd stolen her heart." Rarity read too many romance novels. At the same time, though, she couldn't deny the crush she'd developed on him. He was so nice, and so handsome, and a great kisser...her cheeks reddened as she thought about that. She and Sparkstar had spent most of the past few days trying to find reasons to go off by themselves, hiding themselves away so they could share another kiss without being heckled. As far as they knew, their friends were oblivious to what they'd been doing. She hoped they were, at least. If they had noticed, they hadn't said a word. She sighed again, her face falling onto the thick mattress. Why did he have to go home? Why couldn't he stay here and play with her and give her more kisses? It wasn't fair.

"Sweetie Belle! Hey!"

Sweetie's ears perked up. There was no way she could be THAT lucky. Her head swung around, hoping beyond hope that she'd see that handsome colt standing next to her. Her enthusiasm drained as she saw Spike standing next to her. Not that she didn't like Spike; she hadn't interacted with him much, but he was always nice when she had. He just wasn't what she was hoping for right now.

"Oh, hi Spike," Sweetie said, instantly feeling bad about the disappointment that had seeped its way into her tone. Spike didn't deserve to feel bad just because she was hoping to see somepony else. Her tone, however, seemed to go right over the head of the excitable baby dragon.

"I'm not Spike!" he exclaimed, beaming. "I'm Sparkstar! Twilight turned me into a dragon! Isn't that cool?" The filly raised one brow, looking him over critically. It wasn't out of the realm of possibility that Twilight had changed Sparkstar into a dragon, but why would she? And why would she make him into one that looked exactly like Spike?

"That's silly, Spike," Sweetie answered. "I know you're Spike. You look exactly like Spike."

"But I'm not Spike! I'm Sparkstar!" the dragon argued. "Come on, let's kiss while Bloom and Scoots are busy arguing!" Sweetie gawked at him, then realization set in, and her eyes narrowed.

"Oh, VERY FUNNY, Spike!" the unicorn filly shouted, startling her dragon companion. "You must have heard that Sparkstar and I were kissing, didn't you?"

"I..." Spike began, but Sweetie cut him off.

"And now you're pretending you're him but turned into a dragon so YOU can kiss me, aren't you?!" she yelled, steaming. "Well I'm not dumb, okay?" She felt her eyes begin to water, but stood strong. "And it's really mean of you to try and play a trick like that on me!"

"But I'm not..." Spike said meekly, somewhat terrified of the usually-gentle Sweetie changing so drastically.

"Just cut it out!" Sweetie shouted. Before Spike could utter another word, she ran off as fast as her little legs could take her. Spike's heart sank as he watched her abscond. That wasn't the result he'd been hoping for at all. He tried to go back over the events in his head to figure out what he had done wrong, because he couldn't for the life of him figure out what it was. His thought process was soon interrupted by a loud thump on the mattress next to him.

"Did Ah get it? Did Ah get mah livin' projectile cutie mark?" The little yellow filly anxiously looked back towards her flank, her ears drooping when she saw that it was still blank. She then turned her attention to the dejected dragon standing off to the side. "Hay Spike. What's wrong? Where'd Sweetie go?"

"I'm not Spike," the saddened dragon replied weakly. "I'm Sparkstar...and she ran away cause she was upset with me." Bloom gave him a confused look, one that was echoed by Scootaloo, who had just joined them.

"But...yer a dragon," Apple Bloom said matter-of-factly.

"And you look exactly like Spike!" Scootaloo added.

"Twilight turned me into a dragon!" Spike exclaimed. "And I wanted to come show you three, and I thought Sweetie would think it was cool, but then she thought I was playing a trick on her..."

"But why would Twilight turn ya inta a dragon that looks jus' like Spike?" Bloom asked, looking him over. Spike sighed, not too keen on going through this again right after it had upset Sweetie so much. Thankfully, he wouldn't have to.

"Spike!" Twilight shouted as she ran out to meet him, followed closely by Zecora. "There you are!" Spike drooped even more, ready for another reprimanding from the mare.

"I'm still not Spike," he said quietly. "And I'm sorry that I left the library without telling you."

"Never mind that," Twilight responded. "I'm the one who should be sorry. Sorry for making a big mess of everything just to prove a point."

"What are you talking about, Twilight" Scootaloo piped up. "Did you really turn Sparkstar into a dragon like he said?" Twilight fell silent, hesitant to explain, but a gaze from Zecora goaded her on.

"Girls, this isn't Sparkstar," the Element of Magic said, shame in her voice. "There never was a Sparkstar. Spike accidentally dropped a powder on himself that turned him into a pony the first time. He did on purpose the second time, but I'd set him up for it. I didn't realize that he'd take two doses, though, and that made him forget who he really was and think he was really Sparkstar. And I'm so, so sorry for doing that to my number-one assistant." Spike, Bloom, and Scoots all looked at each other, none of them sure whether or not they were supposed to believe her. It was Bloom who finally spoke after a moment of silence.

"...Seriously?" Bloom asked, her tone flat.

"Seriously," Twilight responded. "But Zecora and I found the right concoction to reverse the effects, and I'm going to fix it once and for all." She knelt down in front of Spike, floating a vial out of her saddlebags. She uncorked the vial, holding it up in front of Spike. He made a scrunchy face, watching the smoke billow from the opening. He sniffed it and recoiled, clearly put off by its aroma. The confused dragon looked up into Twilight's eyes. She didn't have to say a word; the genuineness in her eyes was enough for him. The dragon took a deep breath, the downed the vial's vile contents as quickly as his throat would let him. The poor baby dragon wretched violently, brought to his knees by the foul flavor. Twilight winced, barely able to watch her number-one assistant in such agony. She attempted to step towards him, but was held back by Zecora, who shook her head. After a few moments of groaning, Spike's cheeks puffed out, and a powerful green flame burst from his mouth. Twilight, Zecora, Bloom, and Scoots ducked out of the way of the terrifying fire, watching with wide eyes as it shaped itself into the form of a pony head, then dissipated as quickly as it formed. Spike, exhausted by the entire ordeal, flopped onto his back.

"Spike! Spike, are you okay?" Twilight cried out, as she and the others ran over to check on him. Tense moments passed as Spike lay still on the ground, and Twilight feared that she had done something wrong. Her fears were thankfully quelled when Spike sat up with a sputter.

"...Spike?" the lavender unicorn asked tentatively. "Y-you know you're Spike, right?" The dragon rubbed his aching head, then nodded.

"I do, Twilight," he said, looking ashamed. "And I'm really sorry I broke your trust..."

"I don't care about that anymore," Twilight said, scooping him up into a tight hug, swallowing hard to keep back her tears. "I screwed up, and all that I care about now is that you're okay." The two shared a long hug, eliciting an "awww" from Apple Bloom and an "ewww" from Scootaloo.

"Ah cain't b'lieve that whole story was really true!" Bloom said excitedly. "Ah didn't even know it was possible ta turn a dragon inta a pony an' vice versa!"

"Hey, you should turn US into dragons!" Scoots exclaimed.

"No!!" Twilight shouted back. She quickly realized how loud she'd gotten and blushed. "I mean...no, that's enough species swapping for now. I think what we all need now is to head home."

"But we can't yet!" Spike said, shaking his head. "I need to go explain everything to Sweetie. She reacted kind of badly when I tried to explain things the wrong way before."

"Hay, yeh, that reminds me!" Bloom said, suddenly taking an aggressive stance, one that was mirrored by Scootaloo. "What didja say ta her ta make her run off all upset like that?"

"Yeah!" Scoots said, frowning. "The Cutie Mark Crusaders stick together! When you upset one of us, you upset us all!" Spike looked at the two angry fillies in front of him. Honestly, they weren't terribly intimidating. Or at least they shouldn't have been. No, they certainly shouldn't have been. Yet here he was, getting nervous from being stared down by them. He really didn't want to reveal the exact reason for Sweetie running away. It would just make the girls laugh at him. And then Twilight would go on about his little marefriend again...none of it would go well. At the same time, he knew he couldn't possibly get out of this situation without letting it spill. All the attention was on him, and it didn't look to be going anywhere until he explained himself. He sighed a deep, painful sigh.

"She didn't believe that I was Sparkstar," he said, starting to wince in anticipation of his next words. "And she got upset when I asked if we could k-kiss." Twilight, Zecora, and the fillies looked at him silently for a very long moment, before Bloom broke the silence.

"AWWWWW!" Bloom cooed, putting a foreleg around him. "Ya really do like her, huh?" Twilight and Zecora exchanged knowing glances, while Scoots looked disgusted.

"Well...y-yeah," Spike said shyly, kicking a foot in the dirt. "She's nice, and pretty, and sweet...though I guess that makes sense since sweet's part of her name..." Twilight stepped in, placing a hoof on Spike's shoulder.

"Then go tell her that," Twilight said, smiling warmly to him.

"B-but I'm not even a pony!" Spike said worriedly. Twilight simply rolled her eyes.

"That never stopped you with Rarity," she said with a smirk.

"Oh yeah...good point," Spike was forced to concede. "But what about the fact that I was lying to her about Sparkstar? She'll get mad at me and hate me forever and..."

"Spike," Bloom said, stuffing a hoof in his mouth before he could continue. "Jus' go! It'll be fine!" She hesitated, trying to think up a profound statement to convince him. Profundity was not her strong suit, but she tried nonetheless. "It's like...the apple an' the worm! The worm lives in the apple, an' the pony wants ta eat the apple, but if he worries too much 'bout the worm he won't even try it! Though Ah guess he shouldn't cause there's a worm in it...an' Ah s'pose it should be the pony an' the apple instead..."

"Just go before all this talk about love and kissing makes me throw up," Scootaloo groaned, nudging the still-babbling Bloom away. Spike nodded and took off running, Twilight and Zecora following close behind. Scootaloo watched the group leave, then turned back to Bloom.

"The apple and the worm?" she asked, a bemused smile on her face.

"Reckon Ah ain't gettin' a good-at-metaphors cutie mark any time soon," the yellow filly lamented.

"Reckon you ain't," Scoots replied.