Chapter 1
Patient Zero
It was a slow morning at the boutique, but when the difference between a slow day and a busy day was two or three sets of hooves through the door it was hard to notice. For the moment the little shop was empty save its owner, Rarity, and her little sister, Sweetie Belle. The young filly was perched atop a dais amidst enough mirrors to reflect her strained expression from every conceivable angle, or guarantee a lifetime of bad luck if she were to misstep.
“How much longer do I have to stay this way?” Sweetie Belle asked through gritted teeth. Every muscle in her body was sore from standing perfectly still. She'd been positioned there for the past ten minutes, practically a lifetime, whilst big sister Rarity fussed with color and shape, pinning together the base of the gown around her little sister.
“Just a while longer,” Rarity said in a distracted, singsongy voice. Sweetie Belle bit the inside of her lip in frustration, trying to will herself to hold still for another few seconds. The snow white mare hummed quietly to herself as she circled her living mannequin taking measurements and jotting down notes. Nervous sweat beaded on the curly-maned filly's brow as she found herself on the front lines of a silent war between big sister's instructions to stay absolutely still, and the growing, almost irresistible urge to scratch her nose.
“Rarity my nose itches,” Sweetie Belle whined softly.
“We'll be done in a few minutes. Try not to think about it,” Rarity suggested. The little unicorn's eyes crossed. At the moment it was the only thought she could muster. A series of sharp raps at the door brought the torture to an end.
“Come iiiin, we're open!” Rarity trilled. More knocking. The seamstress huffed, setting her measuring tape aside as she made her way to the door.
“Honestly who knocks in the middle of the day?” Rarity grumbled, half to herself. “This is a business not a bedroom.”
Sweetie Belle heaved an audible sigh of relief. She struggled gracelessly off the dais, still blanketed in the cumbersome gown. The clamor of her effort caused Rarity's ear to twitch and she turned her head to see her new gown headed toward the kitchen, the train of the gown dragging along the ground behind her.
“Sweetie Belle, where are you going with that?” Rarity asked.
“I'm starving, I'm taking a break.”
“Alright, well do be careful! We wouldn't want to see our lovely work ruined,” Rarity called back. She cast a glance toward her fleeing sister with growing concern. Her imagination was already conjuring up all the nightmarish ways Sweetie Belle could ruin the gown without so much as opening the refrigerator. More knocking brought the purple-maned mare out of her horrified revelry and brought a scowl to her face. Such impertinence! She did her best to put on a smiling face and swung the door open.
“Good morning,” Rarity sang. “Welcome to the Carousel Boutique, where everything is chic and magnifique! How can we -”
Spike's slitted emerald eyes were looking up at her. For a moment they seemed to sparkle like the gem they resembled. The little dragon was out of breath, his scales were slick with sweat.
“Oh, uh Spike, what are you doing here?” she asked, withdrawing a little from the uhh... “You're looking quite... sweaty... today”
A scrap of cloth floated out of the boutique like a little ghost and landed on Spike's forehead. It scrubbed the scales furiously under Rarity's sapphire influence. Beneath the onslaught Spike loudly protested, but Rarity paid it no mind. The little dragon's complaints simply faded into the background, like Sweetie Belle's. Speaking of...
“Come in come in, I'm afraid we're very busy today, but you're more than welcome to stay of course,” Rarity said, making her egress from the door.
“Rarity it's really important I need to talk to you for a minute,” Spike said.
“Of course, it'll be just a moment. Oh Sweetie Belle! Break time is over!” Rarity called. When this failed to prompt Sweetie Belle to immediately appear, Rarity's face turned to a scowl. She began shuffling through a stack of fabric bolts, trying to imagine each color if it were the base of the new gown.
Spike crossed his arms, equally impatient. “Rarity!”
“Just a moment Spike now don't be boorish,” Rarity said sternly. She still had not looked up.
“Rarity!”
“Patience!”
Spike interjected himself between the unicorn and the pile of fabric bolts. He held her head still with both hands and looked her right in the eye.
“Rarity! I'm trying to tell you something important! It's an emergency!”
For a moment Rarity just looked back at Spike without saying anything. Her pupils seemed to narrow, forming thin black slits in the sapphire pools. Her muzzle swelled, stretching forward like one of Pinkie's balloons until it pressed right up against the little purple dragon's snout.
“Yes Spike what is it?” she asked. She was looking him right in the eye now but her listless tone made it clear that she was somehow paying even less attention than before.
“Uh Rarity? What's with your eyes?” Spike asked, pointing at the mare's cat-like pupils with a clawed purple digit. As though on cue a little white horn emerged on the tip of Rarity's muzzle. Her reptilian eyes crossed as she focused on it.
“What is...?” she asked quietly, reaching up to touch it. A snowy white claw caressed her bulbous muzzle, prodding at the new horn protruding into her field of vision. An unsettling expression settled on the white unicorn's face. Spike took an uneasy step back, getting a better look at her. She was hardly a unicorn at all now. A single white horn still protruded from her forehead, but her entire body had changed shape. Curved and lithe, she was completely covered in sleek white scales. Dark purple fur cascaded wildly down her elongated neck. A slender white tail was curled against her hind claws, adorned with royal purple blades that matched her feral mane. Of course, three little diamonds still adorned her flanks.
Rarity was taking stock as well, studying herself in wide-eyed shock. The seamstress's voice quavered as she gaped at her new body.
“My mane! My beautiful tail! ...SPIKE! Spike what did you do to me! Change me back at once! This is most improper! How undignified! Look at me I'm... I'm...” her eyes had settled onto the bulbous curve of her draconic belly. “FAT!”
“Actually all dragons look a little chubby,” Spike said with a widening grin. “I think you look cute!”
Rarity's eyes narrowed. Was she growling? Yes. Spike could swear that for a moment smoke puffed from her nostrils, currently flared like a minotaur about to charge. “Chubby? A little chubby?! OUT! GET OUT!”
“I didn't mean it like that!” Spike protested, but Rarity was a much bigger dragon than he was, and she seemed to be all too aware of this, swatting at him with her tail, then racing after him. The young dragon dashed out the door, slamming it shut behind him. From the relative safety of the front porch, he could hear Rarity screaming for Sweetie Belle.
“That could have gone better,” he grumbled, sulking as he slunk away. A loud growl caused Spike to practically jump out of his scales. Half expecting the curvy white dragoness to be stalking him down like a hungry panther, the little dragon stole a glance over his shoulder just to make sure it was just the rumble of his belly following him. To his relief he found he was alone, a problem he meant to remedy shortly.
* * *
Hunger, seasoned by a healthy dose of fear, had driven Spike to seek refuge. He was halfway to Sugarcube Corner when he came across a familiar face headed the same direction.
“Applejack! Applejack!” Spike called frantically, hurrying to catch up with the rust-colored mare.
“Good mornin' Spike!” Applejack hollered back, face lit up with a smile. She wore a pair of baskets across her back that had the distinctive jingle of coins with every step.
“Ah just got back from the market, an' it's a good mornin' indeed!” she said, giving the baskets a little shake.
“That's... great...” Spike said, panting for air. He nearly collapsed right there on the ground in front of the farmer.
“You look plum tuckered Spike, what's the matter?” Applejack asked, wrinkling her nose.
“It's Rarity! She's out for blood!” Spike yelped, gathering up just enough air to spit out the words.
“Uh huh an' why's that? Take a bite out of one of her froufrou dresses?” Applejack asked, a mischievous grin creeping across her face at the thought.
Spike bit his lip for a moment, nervously tapping his fingers together.
“I kinda called her fat,” he confessed, averting his eyes from Applejack's prying gaze.
For a moment there was silence. Applejack's chesire grin had turned to slack-jawed disbelief. What followed next was a wild fit of laughter, the mare pounding the earth with her hooves as she struggled to breathe.
“Hoo wee! Ah bet she's madder than a soggy wolverine!” Applejack guffawed.
“Yeah something like that,” Spike said, forcing a nervous chuckle.
“Aww don't worry there Sugarcube, she'll come around, always does.” Applejack said, quickly warming up to soothe Spike's apparent distress.
“She turned into a dragon!” Spike protested.
“Ah bet she did,” Applejack chortled.
“No really!”
“Uh huh, tell ya what Spike, Ah could use a little break before headin' back to the farm. Where were you headin'?”
“Sugarcube Corner,” the little dragon said. “I'm starving!”
“Good choice,” the rust-furred mare said. “Rarity won't be caught dead in that place for a week after that Ah reckon. Though between you an' me Ah'm not sure how she's not skinny as a rail with how fussy she is 'bout her food. Hop on, Ah'll take ya over there.”
The farm pony nodded toward her back. Eager to be off his feet, the little dragon scrambled up onto her back. Applejack stood still and silent as a statue. Several moments passed without a sign of life from her.
“Applejack?” Spike asked, confused as to why he wasn't already on his way to a delicious sapphire encrusted cupcake at Sugarcube Corner.
“AJ?” Spike asked, prodding at the back of the pony's head.
“Ah'm fine...” Applejack mumbled listlessly.
“Are you sure? You sound kinda... sleepy...” Spike said. Suddenly he felt himself rising into the air, Applejack's body expanding beneath him. Curved ivory horns protruded out the back of her soft blond mane, lifting her hat off her head for a moment before it flopped back down, nestled between the new horns. Spike found himself seated on the back of a sunset orange dragoness.
“Uh oh...” Spike grimaced, sliding off. Applejack the dragon still seemed dazed. Spike slipped around in front of her, looking up into her slitted green eyes. She blinked them slowly for a minute, her long, slender tail curling back and forth through the grass.
“Ah'm fine,” she said mechanically.
“Applejack?” Spike asked quietly, waving his hands back and forth in front of her spiked muzzle.
“... Ah'm hungry,” the new dragon announced, vitality suddenly returning to her voice. Spike snorted, covering his mouth to try to hold in his snickering.
“Okay, this is getting ridiculous,” the little purple dragon said.
Applejack flicked her heavy new tail sharply, then prodded at one of the golden-yellow spines along its length.
“This is a little... strange,” the earth dragon mumbled.
“Now Spike, when you said Rarity turned into a dragon...” Applejack said, choosing her words carefully. “Did y'all mean in the fanciful sense or the lit.. lit.... regular sense.”
“Uh...” Spike scratched his chin.
“Nevermind Ah got a pretty good idea which one it is,” Applejack said. She held her claw up in front of her draconic snout and stretched each digit one by one.
“You know if you're still hungry...” Spike said, feeling the quiet rumble of his stomach.
“Now hold on a minute there,” Applejack said. “We can't just go 'round Ponyville infectin' everypony with dragon, or whatever this is. You need to tell me what's goin' on 'round here.”
“You think I know?” Spike asked. His focus was down the road toward Sugarcube Corner.
“Spike this is important. Now c'mon, ah've got time to listen,” Applejack said, lowering her head to look him in the eye. “How 'bout you start with what happened at Rarity's.”
“Augh can't we talk about this over lunch. I'm going to starve!”
“Focus Spike,” Applejack said firmly, narrowing her eyes. “Ah'll get you somethin' to eat, soon as you talk.”
Spike threw up his hands. “Ugh fine!”
* * *
A chime rang out from the Ponyville clock tower, letting Fluttershy know that she was late. She hurried her strides, closing the distance to Carousel Boutique.
“Oh dear oh dear, I hope Rarity won't be mad,” Fluttershy said to herself as she trotted up the walk. She'd been late before, and Rarity had not been upset those times. Today felt different though, the meek pegasus could hear the unicorn wailing in grief upstairs.
“That's not a good sign,” Fluttershy said. She could feel little beads of sweat popping out beneath her forelock as she nervously studied the door. She whined softly, torn between knocking on the door and fleeing to the safety of her grove. But if Rarity was mad now...
Fluttershy reached out, tapping the door ever so slightly with her hoof. The sound was so silent it could have blended with the lightest drops of a spring shower. It brought no response from inside. Again she knocked, this time a little louder.
“Don't worry I'm coming!” somepony called from inside.
“It's no rush,” Fluttershy said, though it was doubtful she was heard over the harried scampering inside. The door cracked open just slightly, an emerald eye peering forth through the narrow gap. Fluttershy bit her lip. Her ears folded flat against her skull and she found herself backing away.
“Eep!” Fluttershy squeaked, suddenly finding herself backed up against the railing.
“Oh hey Fluttershy!” Sweetie Belle said, swinging the door open. The little white dragon pranced out onto the porch. She was taller now, able to look the visiting pegasus almost right in the eye. Pink and purple spikes that matched her curly mane ran along the center of the little dragon's neck and back. Her tail was long and slender, ending with swept, razory curved flukes. One was cotton candy pink and the other a soft rosy purple.
“Sw-Sweetie Belle?” Fluttershy croaked out, her eyes wide as saucers.
“Yup! Rarity's upstairs. She says she has to cancel spa day on account of us looking like 'unseemly brutes unfit for public viewing'” Sweetie Belle said, doing her best impression of the uptight seamstress.
“Sweetie Belle?” Fluttershy asked again, still staring.
“That's my name!” she answered, grinning. “Oh, and she says she's 'mort...morti...' uhm... cannot receive guests.”
The little dragon's head sank. “You can stay if you want though,” she said. “Rarity's just been screaming all day and it's no fun.”
“Uhm... well... okay... if you want,” Fluttershy said. Immediately Sweetie Belle hopped up, bouncing a little circle around her.
“Yay! Company!”
“Aww you're so cute,” Fluttershy said, a simpering smile forming on her face. Sweetie Belle was absolutely beaming from ear to ear.
“Do you wanna play a game?” Sweetie Belle asked, sitting on her haunches in front of the yellow mare.
“Oh yes of course, you make such a cute little dragon Sweetie Belle. C'mere you,” Fluttershy teasingly pounced her, embracing her tightly.
Sweetie Belle grinned warmly. “Oh, hey look!” the little dragon said, pointing up at Fluttershy beneath the shadow of spreading wings.
* * *
“Alright so let me see if Ah got this straight,” Applejack the dragoness said. She was pacing circles around Spike, trying to re-acclimate herself to her recently altered limbs. Spike was flopped on the belly, dramatically stretching his right claw toward distant Sugarcube Corner like a wayward traveler, clawing and scraping his way across the desert to an oasis. The two of them had found the relative shelter behind a carpenter pony's shop, safe for now from prying eyes.
“I told you all I know!” Spike pleaded.
“An' we've got to get to the bottom of this. Now y'all said Rarity turned into a dragon right after you touched her cheek right? An' Ah turned when you got on my back...” Applejack said.
“Yes that's what happened, now lets get lunch!”
Applejack's eyes lit up with an idea. “Spike are you contagious?”
“What? You mean like a cold?” Spike asked, looking up at her from his place on the ground.”I don't think so. I mean Twilight turned and I didn't touch her.”
The pliable jagged spikes along Applejack's spine all seemed to go rigid for a moment at this new revelation. That mare was always getting herself into the strangest sorts of trouble.
“Well when did that happen?” Applejack asked, trying to sort through all the details. “Before or after Rarity?”
“Before,” Spike said, scrambling to his feet, “but after breakfast. Then the mail came. Twilight was in the basement with all her fancy sciency stuff. So I took her the mail, and then started chores. When she didn't come up for brunch I went down to get her. She's always losing track of time down there. One time, I fell asleep after dinner, and when I woke up she was still down there working on some spinning light thing. And I'd slept for a day and a half! This other time-”
“Spike? Spike!” Applejack had to practically roar to get the young dragon's attention.
“Yeah?” Spike asked, looking up.
“Dragons, Spike, when did Twilight turn into a dragon,” she asked, tapping him lightly on the head with one claw.
“Oh, I found her that way when I went to get her for brunch!”
“Well what'd she have to say for herself?” Applejack asked, frowning.
“Nothing,” Spike said. “She's been sleeping and I can't get her to wake up.”
“What? Why? Is she okay? She's not hurt is she?” Applejack asked, feeling just the slightest twinge of panic rising in the back of her mind.
“No,” Spike said, crossing his arms. “Just full. She ate my entire stash of gems and fell asleep. So I went to Rarity for help.”
“Uh huh, Rarity?” Applejack asked, panic quickly dissolving beneath a heavy tide of skepticism. “Now Rarity's great an' all but she's not really the best in a crisis Spike.”
“Well, you know... I figured it looked like magic, maybe another unicorn could help?” Spike offered, grinning nervously.
“So it had nothin' to do with the fact that Twi ate all yer gems, an' Rarity's place is chock full of the little sparklers?”
Spike looked away. “Well who was I supposed to go to?”
“Did ya tell the princess yet? Ah suspect that's a good place to start.”
“I... I thought she'd be too busy. This seems like something we can fix without bothering her.”
“Spike, the princess takes Twi's letters about friendship magic all the time. She's very obviously got some time on her hooves. Ah think she'd want to know that her star pupil's suddenly sprouted scales.”
“Okay so I was hungry!” Spike confessed, dropping to his knees bawling. “Rarity has so many extra gems. I thought she might give me a few to tide me over. I just wanted one little sapphire...”
Applejack sighed heavily. “Well lets send a letter to the princess.”
“My paper's back at Books and Branches,” Spike said.
“Alright, let's go,” Applejack said, nudging the little dragon back to his feet.
“Where are we going?” Spike asked, still sniffling a little.
“To send a letter to Princess Celestia,” Applejack said, “and to find ya some of those gems. Now hop on.”
Applejack adjusted her hat, and then looked down at her scaly belly, scratching the broad chest scales with her slender claws. A subtle churn somewhere beneath brought to mind her own appetite. She could really go for a golden delicious or two, or perhaps a delicious golden diamond? It seemed a little... unnatural to the traditional earth pony's sensibilities, but the impulse was an undeniable presence. Perhaps she'd sample just one or two small gems to sate her appetite while Twilight and the princess worked on a cure.
“Uhm.. AJ? The library is the other way,” Spike said, tapping on the sunset-scaled dragon's back to get her attention.
Applejack didn't immediately respond, but kept walking along the backs of buildings, avoiding staying in plain sight for too long..
“Rarity's got paper for her designs and her place is closer,” she said at last. Her tone seemed a little... anxious, Spike thought.