With her biology back under control, Barb was free to enjoy herself, skipping through the town of Ponyville with a smile. "Is it in?" A fine time as any to check the post office. "That'd make this day even more perfect."
She waved at the postal ponies and went up to the next available one. "Hey, Muffins."
"Hello there." She inclined her head left and right. "Barb, right?"
Barb blinked at that. "How'd you already know that?"
Muffins waved behind her. "Postal pony. We get all the redirect requests, and Twilight put in one to make sure all the mail addressed to 'Spike' went to 'Barb' instead." She turned that hoof on Barb. "And you look like a Barb to me."
Barb colored faintly. "Huh! That was really nice of her. Well, since you already know, any mail for me?"
"Some with your old name." She ducked down, vanishing a moment before she popped up with a small stack of large envelopes. "Here you go!"
Barb's eyes shined, guessing what was held within them. "Yes... Today is perfect." She claimed her mail with a happy giggle. "You're the best mail pony."
"Aw, don't let the others hear you giving me that award." Muffins waved Barb off. "Enjoy your mail. Oh, did you need anything else?" She gestured to a basket sitting there. "Pinkie dropped off some muffins. Want one?"
"Since you're offering." Barb snatched one right into her mouth, chewing with a pleased noise. "Best," she whispered conspirationally. "See you later!"
"Bye!" She waved as Barb headed out. "Next!"
Barb hopped through the door to the road outside about just right on time for somecreature else to make a landing. A pegasus? No, not furry enough. A dragon. One he knew. "Ember!" She waved and rushed for the dragon lord. "I didn't know you--"
"--were coming?" she finished, crossing her arms. "Look at you..."
Barb slowed to a stop. Those tones were hard to read. "Look at me?"
Ember leaned in. "Look." She poked Barb in the center of their chest. "We small dragons have a bit of an uphill journey. Everydragon else has already written us off. Small, weak, pathetic, easily forgotten." She counted on her fingers as she went. "And others your pony friends would faint if I repeated." She glanced at the ponies hurrying past them. "But I made it anyway. Shoot, I'm in charge now." She stood tall and defiant. "You were part of that."
Barb dared a little smile. "You're welcome?"
"I thought we had a thing." Ember half turned, eyes turned skywards. "I thought we were two smalls ready to punch this big world right in the face... claim our part of it."
Barb slowly inclined her head. "Um... what changed that?"
"What changed that?!" demanded Ember in an almost shriek. Her voice came back down. "Sorry, scaring the ponies." She may have been upsetting Barb too, but that wasn't as big a thought, clearly. "Seriously, what changed that?" She waved over Barb's altered appearance. "Dummy! There was a time I considered, just for a hot moment, if I should grab you and add you to my horde. Good dragon lords need a plus one... And now?" She whistled sharply, brows falling. "Now..."
Barb began to color more and more vividly as she got a grasp on what was being said. "W-wait... You thought I was... handsome?"
Ember raised both brows high. "Handsome? Adorable in the right way, and compatible." She shrugged softly. "If we're being honest, that was all I was measuring. We'd learn to get along after the fact." She punched Barb in the shoulder. "You are so not used to dragon things."
"No..." Barb deflated, called out on her lack of dragon etiquette. "Um... This may sound kinda rude, so sorry ahead of time. But aren't you a young dragon, like me, or Smolder?" Barb pointed to herself, then the school in the distance. "You'll get bigger, right?"
Ember let out a single bark of a laugh. "No... Wow, you thought that?" She waved over herself with both hands. "This is full sized. Not getting much bigger. Small dragon." The thought hit her. "Oh, wow... that was dumb of me. You are still growing. Maybe you'll end up way bigger than me... I woulda felt stupid... but we'd already be nestmates at that point." She shrugged, as if that wouldn't have been a deal breaker if it had gone that way. "Either way! What's up with going all girl-drake on me? I'm the girl-drake in this dynamic and it doesn't need two!"
Barb tried to fluff herself up. "Well, make room." She flashed a smile. "We're small dragons, making room is something we're good at."
Ember flicked Barb's nose. "Ha ha. Anyway, I learned from Smolder. Imagine my surprise 'I got a little sister'." She made air quotes and toke on a mocking tone. "You made her soft, at least for a moment. It was kinda funny if we're being honest. But you're forgetting something."
"I am?" She looked over herself. She seemed to have all her needed parts...
"You're a lady dragon. You're going to--"
"--Oh!" barb colored, but she knew that part. "I already did."
Ember blinked at that. "You're not lying, are you?"
"No way." Barb pointed the way. "Ask Twilight, or Smolder. They can both back me up. Anyway... Um... So yeah."
"So yeah," echoed Ember with less certainty. "Seriously? And you didn't run back to... wherever this happened?" She wriggled her fingers at Barb's female form. "I'd be tempted."
Barb blinked at that. "Wait, you want to be a boy-dragon?"
"No," Ember flatly denied. "Doesn't mean I enjoy the whole egg part." She seemed to realize. "Lucky little lizard! I bet yours are the right size."
Barb blinked at that. "They can be... the wrong size?"
Ember lifted her hands in a grand shrug. "Look, your parents help set the size of things. They failed in me as a whole, but the eggs? They seem to think I'm bigger. I'm not, but good luck telling them that." She stomped, scowling at Barb. "And here you are, little new-girl, just having no problem! I'm so jealous right now." She saw no reason to hide this fact, glaring at Barb. "Wonder if your parents are small dragons too... Would make sense. Or maybe you just got stupidly lucky."
Barb winced with the imagined pain of her egg being significantly larger. "S-sorry... can I help?"
"Yeah... No, that's really a problem a dragon has to face on their own." She swatted at Barb. "Thanks for offering."
Barb smiled at that, a sign that they were still friends. "Try asking Twilight? She's a wizard and all. Her and Starlight are quite a, uh, arcane duo. Maybe one of them, or the two together, could do something."
Ember huffed at that. "I don't feel like owing either of them a favor." She arched a brow. "Twilight likes making things owe her one. Sure, she's usually nice about it, but she still does! So did they do this?" She waved over Barb's head. "Tell me so I can punch them."
Barb squeaked at that threat. "Don't do that, besides, it wasn't them." She chuckled at the thought. "You don't want to punch who did it, promise."
"Try me," she flatly countered.
Barb shrugged helplessly. "Well, alright. Discord did it, with my permission."
"Spike!" Ember grabbed Barb by the shoulders, shaking vigorously. "What were you even thinking!?"
"Um..." Barb had to shove a hand away to gain some freedom, taking to the air several inches. "Stop that! And it's Barb now. Short for Barbara."
Ember's scowl grew two sizes that day. "Hold up. That's a big name. A huge name. What've you done to call dibs on that name, of all names?"
Barb extended a finger. "Helped defeat the local spirit of chaos." The next finger came. "Defeated an ancient pony of untold power in the north." A third finger came. "Won the rite of the dragon lord, even if I gave it away afterwards." A fourth finger went out, but Ember's hand came down on top of it.
"Enough, enough! Figures you'd have an answer for that." She crossed her arms. "Still... You know you're going to catch flack for that, lots of it. You thought he was a pain before? You haven't even started. Barb... really." She started. "You actually read that book!"
"Yeah?" Barb shrugged faintly. "That's what books are for, right?"
"Honestly... you're the first dragon I know that actually read it. I thought Twilight was just geeking out, like she usually does. Figured her havin' it wouldn't do much harm." She leaned in towards Barb. "Didn't know she was actually giving it to you."
Barb huffed at that idea. "More should read it. It's full of good information..."
"Already sounds boring. I'll leave that to you." Ember smirked at her soft dragon friend. "So, your pony pals gonna throw you a big party? Did I already miss it?"
"Nope!" That wasn't Barb. Pinkie sprang out of a nearby bush, invitation at the end of her hoof. "Here ya go!"
Ember accepted the letter, closing her fingers on it and flipping it into view. She casually passed it to Barb. "Read that for me."
"Sure." Barb had read a lot of things out loud for Twilight before. Which Ember was not... "Hey. Why am I reading it?"
"Because I asked nicely? Please." Ember tapped a foot at Barb. "C'mon, Spike. We're friends, right?"
"Are we?" Barb wagged the envelope at Ember. "My friends use my name."
"What are... Oh, right. Fine. Barb, will you please read the letter? Pony writing gives me a headache."
Barb got the idea Ember didn't read a lot if she could help it. "Alright." She flipped the invite open. "You are cordially invited to my name announcement coming up soon. It'll be just over there." Barb pointed at where the old library once stood. "Gifts are optional."
"You're trying to make me look cheap," huffed out Ember. "I can manage a gift, don't even worry about it. Think about what you're going to do when I drop the awesome all over your head."
Barb came back in for a light landing. "Well, now I'm worried..."
"You should be." Ember rubbed her hands together with dark plans in her eyes. "I know exactly how to pick the right gift." She marched off without a goodbye. She didn't take flight, instead stomping towards the school with a mission clear in her eyes. "Smolder! Get your tail out here!"
That secret hadn't stayed a secret for long. Barb chuckled with a wry sorrow for Smolder. "Guess Ember will be there then." She had quite the full party coming up shortly... "But for today." She reclaimed her dropped envelopes. "I have reading to do!" What was wrong with reading anyway? Comics were great! With a giggle, she rushed off to catch up on her subscriptions.