//------------------------------//
// The Experiment 
// Story: Noble Dragons 
// by Cobalt the Kitsune 
//------------------------------//

        “Ready Rarity?” Twilight said, getting into her position.
        “As I’ll ever be...” Rarity said nervously, watching Spike hook up another wire to a set of glowing monitors. The screens beeped and booped, measuring Rarity’s vital signs.
        “Don’t worry Rarity, you’ll love being a dragon!” Spike said, grinning widely.
        The mare’s worries lessened and she giggled at the young drake’s enthusiasm. Rarity smiled warmly, and said, “Thank your for you assurances Spike, but I don’t plan on being a dragon for long.” Spike seemed to droop a bit from this, and turned to Twilight for confirmation.
        “That’s right, Spike.” The alicorn said, stretching her wings. “If my calculations were correct, she should only be a dragon for a couple hours.” Slowly, her horn started to glow. “Alright, here we go.”
        Rarity held her breath and waited for the spell to take hold. At this moment of high stakes and adrenaline, her mind wandered back, and she recalled how this situation even came to be.

.........

        Rarity, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy were all sitting at their usual table at Sugarcube Corner as Pinkie Pie walked up while bouncing a platter of milkshakes on her springy bubblegum mane. She set the tray down and noticed an empty chair at the table.
        “Hey where's Twilight?” Pinkie exclaimed, looking under the table for her lavender friend.
“I don’t know...” Rainbow said as she took her shake, her eyebrow raised at her strange companion.
Applejack shrugged, before taking a swig of her caramel delight. “‘Ah know ah haven’t seen her for weeks now.”
“Oh, I’m sure she’s just busy with some important princess duties.” Fluttershy uttered softly as she sucked at her strawberry shake. “We shouldn’t worry too much...at least, I think so...”
“I agree with Fluttershy.” Rarity said. She levitated her mocha shake to her mouth and started sipping it. “I’m sure Twilight wouldn’t neglect spending time with her friends without good reason.”
Suddenly, the door burst open, and a very excited looking alicorn stood in the doorway. She was breathing heavily, but she grinned widely when she spotted her friends.
“Well, speak of the devil, how are ya, Twi?” Applejack said, smiling as she got up to greet her friend.
Twilight hugged her friend, and then trotted over to the table. “I’m great! I’m sorry I haven’t met up with you girls for a while.” She leaned back and moaned, putting a hoof to her forehead. “I was too engaged with this new spell I’ve been working on.”
“Ooooh, a new spell?” Pinkie Pie exclaimed. She jumped over the table and grabbed Twilight by the shoulders, shaking her. “What’sitdowhat’sitdowhat’sitdo? WHAT’S IT DOOOOOOO!!!!”
Applejack tutted, and pulled her eccentric friend back to her seat. “Calm down, Pinkie! Ah’m sure Twilight’ll tell us all about what she’s been working on.”
“Indeed I will!” The librarian said loudly. “Observe!” Twilight then plucked a hair from Rainbow’s mane. She then got up from her seat and stood in the center of the room.
“OW!” Rainbow shouted, surprised at the sudden removal of her hair. “What was that for?” 
        Twilight ignored the prismatic pegasus’s protests, for all of her focus was going to her horn. Everypony held their breath as the glow of Twilight’s magic aura intensified. Twilight started to sweat heavily, she shook from the intense build-up of arcane energy.
A sudden blinding blast of magic shot ballistically from Twilight's horn, filling the room with blinding light. When everypony could see again, they were all concerned about Twilight, who had been knocked down by the force of her own magic. 
“I’m fine girls.” Twilight assured them as she got up.
“Ooooh, pretty!” Pinkie cried out as she picked up the rainbow colored dragon scale that had taken the place of Rainbow Dash’s hair strand. “Waaaay cooler than Gummy’s scales!”
“What...happened?” A dazed Fluttershy asked.
Twilight brushed herself off with her wings. “Well you see Fluttershy, I have just transformed equine DNA into draconic DNA.”
“What in tarnation is a dee-’en-hay?” The confused country pony asked.
“I’ll explain it later Applejack.” Twilight said.
“Soooo,” Pinkie Pie said. “YOU CAN BASICALLY TURN PONIES INTO DRAGONS!?”
“That’s the basic principle.” Twilight said. Suddenly, she gave a sheepish grin, and looked nervously at her friends. “And, um....I was kind of hoping one of you girls would be my, um....guinea pig.” As Twilight uttered the last word, she gave an uneasy smile.
The room went silent . It seemed that everypony liked the idea, but nopony wanted to put life and limb on the line for science. Twilight’s smile slowly started to fade, in it’s place a disappointed frown. Suddenly, one of the mares stood up shakily, and uttered three words.
“I’ll do it.”
Everypony gasped and turned to the source of the voice. It was Rarity.
“Are you sure Rarity?” Twilight asked, her smile coming back. “This spell is much more complicated than the one that gave you wings.”
“It’s fine Twilight.” Rarity said. “I can tell that this is important to you. And I’m sure you wouldn’t ask for volunteers unless you were sure it was safe.” 
Twilight then smiled brightly and embraced her friend with her soft feathery wings. “Thank you Rarity.”

.........

Rarity shook as beads of sweat rolled down her face as she watched Twilight’s magic aura grow larger and brighter. Oh, why did she have to sweat when she was nervous? It was so....unsanitary! Of course, she was a little scared as well. It isn’t a pleasurable experience, standing at the business end of a unicorn’s magic blast. But, if it helps her friend reach her goal of creating a new spell, then Rarity would bite the bullet. At least, so long as she didn’t get too dirty.
Twilight, now groaning under the stress of the magic building in her horn, cried out when she let loose a blinding ray of energy. Rarity bit her her lip as she experienced a sensation she would liken to spontaneous combustion. Spike shielded his eyes; the light given off by the magical procedure was too bright. Twilight, now sprawled across the floor, covered her face with her wings
Soon the light dissipated, and it was apparent that Twilight’s spell has a resounding success. Rarity the unicorn was gone and Rarity, the enchantingly beautiful dragoness, stood before them. She was larger than a pony, but still much smaller than a fire drake. Her neck and tail were lengthy and serpentine, and the high quality of her manicured hooves were reflected in her sharp, shining, talons. A set of purple spines lined the back of her neck, curving and twisting. Her tail extended out, ending in a magnificent swirl of purple scales. Upon her head, a majestic horn curved back slightly. Rarity opened her eyes, as she looked around, they shone with cerulean brilliance.
Spike fainted upon the sight of this reptilian beauty.
“Spike!” Rarity scooped up the baby dragon, and worriedly tried to revive the poor bag of scales.
“He’ll be fine” Twilight said. She started to peruse her shelves  for a particular book. Rarity, still worried about her favorite dragon, cradled Spike against her chest. Twilight noticed that the book she wanted was on the top shelf. Twilight was still new to flying, but she decided to flap her wings to ascend to the level. Carefully, she worked the book from a tightly wedged spot. When she only got it a little ways out Twilight put her back hooves on the shelf below the top so she could get a bit more leverage. When the book finally gave way and Twilight was sent tumbling through the air.
Rarity quickly extended her free claw to catch her frantic falling friend. 
“Are you alright Twilight!” Rainy said with concern.
“It’s fine.” She said, blushing. Feeling strange, Twilight noted that the dragoness’s grip was unusually cold.“Rarity! You’re freezing!”
“Excuse me?” Rarity said, confused as she slowly set down the little princess. 
When her hooves were once more touching the wood floor, Twilight shook her head in disbelief. “Rarity... you’re freezing cold to the touch! Can’t you feel that?”
“Really? I find it a bit calmly actually.” That was a bit of a lie on Rarity’s part. The truth was that she was burning up. The temperature of the room was stifling! Perhaps less of a degree than when she was transforming, but still relatively uncomfortable.
Twilight then picked up her book, which had landed on the table near her the wooden horse statue. 
“Hmmm...perhaps you’re an ice or snow dragon.” Twilight flipped through her book, trying to identify the breed of dragon she belonged to. She fell quiet as she scanned the pages, looking for the right information. A yawn broke the silence, signalling that Spike had returned from unconsciousness. 
“Spikey-Wikey, you’re awake!” Rarity exclaimed, opening her talon so that Spike was resting on her scaly palm.
“R-rarity?” The groggy dragon stuttered as he stretched and opened his eyes. Rarity’s eyelids fluttered as Spike realized what he was looking at. Spikes jaw dropped.
“Rarity.... Y-you look absolutely gorgeous!” He said. He felt himself falling in love with her all over. One could see hearts in his eyes
The flattered Rarity blushed and put her talons over her heart. “Oh Spike...” Rarity really didn't know what to think of Spike. He’d always been like that annoying boy that hung around you always begging for a date. But he had begun grown on her. It was too bad that they were so different in age.
Rarity and Spike’s daze was ended abruptly due to an awkward cough from the lavender alicorn in the room. The two blushed, and turned their attention towards Twilight.
Twilight cleared her throat. “It says here, Rarity, that you best fit the description of a snow dragon.”
“What’s the difference between a regular dragon and a snow dragon.” Spike asked curiously, scratching his head.
Twilight used her magic, choosing to levitate her encyclopedia back into place instead of flying. “Well you see Spike, there really isn’t such a thing as a ‘regular dragon.’ There are many different types of dragons. There are different types of dragons that are varied according to what natural element they represent, such as fire, water, earth, and ice. Since fire dragons and the most common type of dragon in equestria, I will use them an example for comparison purposes.
“As I have already noted, Rarity feels cold to the touch. Fire dragons have an internal flame that keeps them warm, if not burning hot. And since snow dragons are more closely related to water dragons than ice dragons, they are wingless and have slightly serpentine bodies. Some dragonologists say that snow dragons are the most beautiful creatures they’ve ever seen. Instead of the fire and smoke fire drakes breath, snow dragons can blow clouds of freezing fog and blizzard-like blasts. Sometimes snow dragons can even use magic like faerie dra-”
The lavender alicorn was interrupted by the sudden snoring of two dragons that had fallen asleep during her lecture. Rarity’s long neck curled back so that it cradled Spike in her talon. Twilight heart melted and she smiled at the sight of the two. Deciding to let them sleep, Twilight yawned and headed upstairs. All that magic made her tired. Twilight turned off the lights and headed up the stairs. She looked back to get one last glance of the two dragons embracing each other, and smiled once more.
Tomorrow morning, Rarity will be back to normal, and everything will be just fine.