Smolder's mother lived in a cave that was artfully decorated by dragon standards. Part of a circus tent was draped across the entrance to keep out the elements, the stone floor was covered with a patchwork of ornamental rugs, and oil lamps hung from the ceiling. Smolder thought that Discord might appreciate the décor. She stepped through the passage that led to the main chamber, pausing to look at a framed photograph held by a nail driven into the rock wall. The display of modernity and sentimentality made Smolder tilt her head. Most mature dragons had as much use for pony inventions as they had for breath mints, and they didn't keep reminders of their children in their homes unless they happened to be fashioned from precious metals.
“What did you do this time?” came her mother's voice from the interior chamber.
Smolder shook her head. “Nice to see you too, Mom.”
“Oh. I thought you were Garble.” There was a pause as Smolder walked deeper into the cave. “But it's still a valid question.”
Smolder strolled into the main chamber and saw her mother stretching out the cricks in her joints on top of her favorite sleeping spot: her pile of treasure. Even though she had updated her residence with amenities, some traditions were difficult for any dragon to let go.
As a dragon of full maturity, her mother was easily ten times bigger than Smolder, with orange scales on her upper body and a standard off-white belly. Many dragons thought that Smolder resembled her, except that her mother's crest and tail tip were blood-red instead of magenta, and they were pointed like Garble's.
Smolder sighed. “I didn't really do anything worth writing home about. My problem is that I don't know what to do.”
“Oh?” Her mother raised her eyebrow. “You're asking your mother for advice? Perhaps my little whelp has finally matured.”
“I wish.” Smolder plopped her rear end onto the pile of gold next to her mother. “See, my friends are all grown up and raising their own replacements, and I'm still barely older than a juvenile! I can't lay an egg yet even if I wanted to!”
Her mother's eyes grew to the size of wagon wheels, which was significantly greater than their typical dinner plate size. “You don't want to lay an egg, do you?”
“No!” Smolder clenched her fists. “But all of my friends are! They've grown up and in just a few decades they'll be old and then they'll leave me and their kids will probably be old with kids of their own by then, and it won't be the same! Their kids think of me as their aunt, not their friend.”
Smolder took a deep breath after her rant, and tears stung her eyes. She looked down so her mother couldn't see her blubber. “I can never be friends with them the way I am with Ocellus, Gallus, Silverstream, Yona, and Sandbar.”
“It's okay to be upset.” Her mother's voice was like gentle rain. “Anydragon would be in your position.”
Smolder stared up at her in surprise and relief – relief that she could be vulnerable in front of her mother without being scolded. “Really?” She sniffled.
Her mother nodded her head, which was as big as Smolder's whole body. “To be honest, I was afraid this would happen. This is why dragons shouldn't be friends with other species.”
Anger replaced Smolder's relief. She welcomed the ire, because it made her feel stronger than grief.
“Oh, really?” She infused as much sarcasm as possible into her words. “You let me go to the School of Friendship in Equestria and you expected me not to make friends with other species?”
Her mother held up her hand. “The Dragonlord handpicked you to go. What was I supposed to do? Tell her no?” She snorted, twin puffs of smoke billowing from her nostrils. “You can't say no to the Dragonlord. Just ask your brother.”
“Well, I'm glad the Dragonlord chose me.” Smolder wiped tears from her eyes and grimaced. “I mean, not right now, but a lot of good came from it. The school taught me that friends are the greatest treasure anycreature can have.”
“Even if that treasure will be gone in mere decades?” her mother asked pointedly.
Smolder's throat tightened, as if she had just swallowed a mouthful of peanut butter. “I . . . I don't know.”
Her mother placed her hand on Smolder's arm, which was a little awkward with their size disparity, but Smolder accepted the gesture nonetheless, since her mother did not often show physical affection.
“Let me tell you something,” she began quietly, as if revealing a deep, personal secret. “When I was your age, a salamander followed me home.”
Smolder didn't have to ask which type of salamander – she knew her mother meant the fire lizard as opposed to the amphibian.
“The salamander became my constant companion. He wasn't the brightest star in the sky, but he was the most loyal and affectionate lizard that a dragon could ever ask for.” Her mother smiled sadly. “I remember how I used to breathe fire in front of him and he would breathe fire back at me.” Her smile faded. “And then one day he stopped eating. I took him to a healer, but there was nothing he could do for him.” She closed her eyes. “It was so painful to lose him that I never got another pet.”
At first, Smolder wasn't sure how to react. She'd expected sympathy, or even scorn, but she didn't anticipate that she would be the one to have to offer comfort to her mother. Fortunately, her friendships with softer creatures had given her experience in offering a metaphorical shoulder to cry on.
Smolder patted the giant hand. “I'm sorry to hear that, Mom, but . . . You know my friends aren't my pets, right?”
“I know.” Her mother gazed down at her. “And Garble was not just a pet, either. He was part of my family.”
“Wait . . .” Smolder raised her eyebrows. “Garble? You named Garble after a salamander?” Despite the sad story, she snickered. “I'm sorry, but I can't wait to tell Garble!”
Her mother began to smile again. “I should have told both of you sooner, but it was too painful to talk about.” She shrugged. “But maybe if I had told you before you went to the School of Friendship, you could have kept your distance from those short-lived creatures and spared yourself the heartache.”
Smolder shook her head. “That's the funny thing – I actually tried to do that at first, but I didn't last long. They kind of sucked me in. Changelings are all about love, and hippogriffs are free-spirited and welcoming, or at least Silverstream is. And yaks are actually pretty friendly even though Prince Rutherford is known for his quick temper, and griffons are basically just fragile dragons, so we get along really well. And Sandbar and the other ponies literally weaponized friendship!” She spread her arms. “Six ponies planted the seeds that became the Tree of Harmony, which turned out to be pretty important in regulating the forces of chaos and disharmony in Equestria and beyond. It can stop conflicts before they start! And the Tree chose me and my friends!” She took a deep breath after this long speech and held her claws to her chest. “We helped regrow it into something better after it was destroyed! So how can I let five of its chosen ones die?”
Her mother closed her eyes once more. “That's a lot to take in.” She opened her eyes and picked up a tiara, a tribute from a lesser noble from ages past. “I have often thought about the innovations ponies and other equines create in their brief lives. They are like children to us dragons, and yet the average equine is more clever and ambitious than the average dragon.” She turned the tiara in her claws. “So how is it that with all their intelligence and, dare I say, freakish magic, only a handful of them have managed to live as long as dragons?”
“I already asked Princess Twilight about that. She said something about how eventually all spells wear off – some just take longer than others. The only pony magic that hasn't worn off yet is the magic that makes ponies alicorns, and only ponies can become alicorns, so that's not an option for anycreature besides Sandbar.” She sagged, resting her claws on her knees. “But if I can just save him, it'll be better than if I lost all of them.”
“If your friends really are your greatest treasure, you should do whatever it takes to hold onto all of them,” said her mother, tapping a claw on the tiara's golden surface. “If I could travel back in time and save Garble, I would.”
Smolder ran her hand down her face. “Don't even get me started on time travel. If even half of what Princess Twilight told me is true, it's more trouble than it's worth.”
Her mother blinked. “I was speaking hypothetically. You mean ponies can actually do that?”
“A few of them can,” confirmed Smolder.
Her mother went still. “Do you think–”
“Not a chance.”
Sparks flew out of her mother's mouth. “Don't interrupt your mother! You don't even know what I was going to ask!”
Smolder rolled her eyes. “You mean you weren't going to ask if the ponies would send you back in time so you could save the original Garble?”
“Okay, so you do know what I was going to ask,” grumbled her mother.
“Look, I know you miss your pet, but the ponies wouldn't cast a time travel spell for you even if you bribed them with all of your hoard.” Smolder spread her arm over the golden mound.
Her mother slipped the tiara onto her claw. “Fine, I'll take your word for it. But are you sure that all pony magic wears out except for being an alicorn? You said that the Tree of Harmony has only grown stronger since it was planted. That was a while ago, wasn't it?”
“Yeah, uh . . .” Smolder eyed one of the oil lamps in thought. “I think it was planted in the third century of Dragonlord Torch's reign.”
“That's pretty old for a tree,” said her mother with a satisfied nod. “If it hasn't started to deteriorate yet, maybe it's possible for other magical things to last that long.”
“So you're saying that the Tree could help my friends live as long as dragons?” Smolder scratched at her crest.
“I'm saying that the pony princess either doesn't know everything or isn't telling you everything. You may need to look beyond pony magic to get what you want.” Her mother lumbered from the pile of gold over to a marble table, where a stone tablet lay. “Since you last came to visit, I traded four doubloons for this rare sphinx-crafted tablet,” she said proudly.
“That's pretty cool,” said Smolder, admiring the craftsmanship – or craftssphinxship, as it were. “But what does it have to do with anything?”
“Sphinxes are some of the most magical creatures in the world.” Her mother swished her tail. “Maybe if you and your friends put your heads together, you can find some use for it.”
Smolder leaned over the tablet. “Wait, that's a picture of the Unchanging Stone!” She pointed to an octagon with four intersecting lines.
“The what?”
“I heard about it when I went to Southern Equestria!” said Smolder with a grin. “I can't read hieroglyphics, but this tablet could be the key to unlocking the Unchanging Pyramid!”
“The what?”
“Why didn't you tell me about this in the first place?” Smolder glanced up at her mother.
“Because I thought it was just a rare sphinx-crafted tablet, and I still don't know what you're talking about,” said her mother, wrinkling her brow.
“Can I borrow it? Please?” Smolder clasped her hands in front of her chest.
“Of course.” Her mother held up her claw. “But be careful with it. If you break it, you owe me four doubloons.”
Smolder frowned. “Where am I supposed to get doubloons?”
“Well, that's more incentive not to break the tablet, isn't it?” Her mother smirked.
“Fine,” said Smolder, picking up the tablet, “but I'm gonna need something soft to wrap this in.”
“Here, take my smallest rug.” Her mother wrapped up the tablet in the rug and placed it in her arms.
“Thanks, Mom.” Smolder paused, feeling the weight of the tablet. “So, what made you change your mind?”
Her mother tilted her head. “You mean about your friends?”
Smolder hunched her shoulders. “Yeah, I mean, first you said I shouldn't be friends with non-dragons, but now you're helping me be friends with them for life.”
“Well, like I said, at first I didn't condone it, but I kept my mouth shut because I didn't want the Dragonlord breathing down my neck. But you've obviously grown quite attached to your friends, and I know better than to get between a dragon and her hoard.”
Smolder smiled, feeling a lightness in her chest. Her family were not huggers – most dragons weren't – but she had to do something to show her appreciation.
To Smolder, words came more easily than embraces.
“Thanks, Mom. I love you.”
“I love you too, Smolder,” her mother said quietly. “Good luck keeping your hoard.”
Three weeks later . . .
The monarch of Equestria walked in a slow circle around the octagonal limestone pyramid. “This is amazing!”
Smolder interlaced her claws together in front of her belly as she watched the tall mare inspect the carved rock. When she and her friends had found the pieces of the stone and pushed them together, she'd felt satisfied and relieved, but now that the wizard ruler was scrutinizing her priceless charm, she felt nervous. Her life, and more importantly the lives of her friends, were about to change forever. To Smolder, it was no less momentous an event than the arrival of her friends' children. Once her friends became dragons, there was no going back – such was the magic of the Unchanging Stone. But unless mages and scientists invented a way to reverse aging, there would be no going back when they grew old in a few short decades. Being dragons in their prime for centuries would be preferable to short lifespans as other species, but Smolder was biased, being a dragon herself.
“There are so many uses for this stone! But if it ever fell into the wrong hooves, the consequences would be disastrous! Just imagine what you could do with poison joke alone!”
“We'll make sure nocreature steals it,” said Gallus, bringing his talons to his chest. “Or at least I will, if the stone stays here in the royal castle.”
“And even if they do, it's not like Equestria hasn't had magic artifacts fall into the wrong claws before,” added Smolder with a shrug. “If there's one thing I've learned from school, it's that any villain can be defeated with friendship.”
“Or reformed.” Ocellus raised her foreleg.
“So, can you do it, Twilight?” asked Silverstream. If she seemed overly familiar, it was because she was a princess herself, even though most creatures tended to forget. Also, she was Silverstream.
“Can you cast a permanent transformation spell?” she added for clarification.
The alicorn lifted the stone in her aura before setting it carefully on the checkered marble floor. “The Unchanging Stone was designed to make any magic permanent, which means it's irreversible. I can use it to cast an unchanging spell, but before I do, I'm going to tell you the same thing I'm going to tell my friends. My recommendation is to try living as dragons for a week or two before I cast the spell to make the transformation immutable. Once I cast it, you can never go back to being the creatures you were, not even for a minute. You should make sure this is what you want.”
Ocellus changed into a dragon with pale blue scales, a raspberry crest, and backward-curving horns the color of charcoal. “I've been a dragon before,” she said simply. “I'm ready.”
Twilight gave her a fond smile before turning to the remaining four creatures. “What about the rest of you?”
Yona and Sandbar held hooves. “I think we already made up our minds as soon as we decided to help Smolder find the Unchanging Stone,” answered Sandbar. “Neither of us want her to have to care for us in our old age, or mourn for us when we're gone.”
“The same goes for Silverstream and me,” said Gallus with a nod. “We've already explained to our daughter what we're going to do. I think she understands as much as possible for a chick her age.”
Smolder blinked back tears. “You guys are the best! But what about your kids? Are you going to get them to change, too?”
Ocellus shook her head. “I thought we all agreed that dragon puberty is rough. I wouldn't ask my nymph to go through that!”
Smolder held up her claws. “Hey, I hear you. But won't it be kind of weird with you being . . .” She trailed off as she caught Yona's and Sandbar's eyes, remembering who was in the room.
Yona smiled. “Yona and Sandbar already have unconventional family.”
“Yeah,” agreed Sandbar, chuckling. “You know, it's funny – growing up I had accepted that I was always going to be average, but my life has been anything but!”
Yona kissed Sandbar on the cheek. “Sandbar always above average to Yona.”
Smolder crossed her arms and rolled her eyes. “Ugh, get a room.” But she was smiling.
Twilight cleared her throat. “Are all of you really sure you want to become dragons now? Because if you want to keep bantering, I can go work on my speech for the Festival . . .”
“We're sure!” said Silverstream. “But first, I want to get a picture to remember the last moment all of us were like this.” She held out a camera to Twilight. “Will you take it for us, please?”
The regal pony obliged, holding the camera in her telekinesis while encouraging the six friends to group together.
“Alright, everycreature,” she said as she floated the camera back to Silverstream. “First I need to cast a simple spell to make you like Smolder. This might feel a little funny,” she cautioned.
“Funny ha-ha or funny – waaaah!” Silverstream cried as a bright beam shot into her, Gallus, Sandbar, Yona, and then Smolder.
The dragon felt dazed as the brilliance filled her vision, and for a moment she forgot where she was or what she had been doing. After a few seconds, the dazzling luminescence faded, and Smolder blinked and shook her head. And there before her stood five dragons, but she still recognized them as her friends. Yona, Sandbar, Silverstream, and Gallus each stood on all fours, and each was a bit larger than Smolder, with Yona being the biggest. The colors of their scales matched the hues that their fur, hair, and feathers had been. Yona's horns were unaltered, while the others had sprouted horns in various sizes and colors: Gallus had small gold horns that bent backward, Silverstream's were slender and pink, and Sandbar's were turquoise and curved forward. They all shook themselves and looked at each other in surprise.
Gallus's gaze lingered on Silverstream. “You look beautiful.”
Silverstream peered at her limbs before turning back to Gallus. “And you make a handsome dragon.” She nuzzled his cheek.
“Finish spell, pony princess!” demanded Yona.
Twilight straightened to her full height and gave them all a serious look. “You do look good as dragons, but this is about more than just appearance. It's not too late to slow down and think about your decision first.”
“No, I've already thought about it,” said Sandbar. “If this is the only way to be friends forever, then I'm all in!” He made a fist with a triumphant expression, as if he felt proud that he mastered the use of four digits on the first try.
“Wellll,” Smolder scratched her head. “For a few millennia, at least.”
Gallus flexed his leathery wings. “We're ready, your Highness.”
Twilight smiled. “So be it.” She sent a ray of magic into the stone, and it shot up out of the top of the pyramid, descending in a shower of sparks over Ocellus, Gallus, Silverstream, Yona, and Sandbar. The five dragons glowed for a few seconds, and then faded.
Silverstream smiled and hugged Gallus with one arm, and then embraced Smolder with the other. “Now we really are best friends forever! Group hug!”
And as Smolder felt the warm scales enfold her, she knew that they really would be her friends for as long as she lived.
She'd done it. They had done it. They had saved her hoard of friends.