“That was NOT over-reacting. I was just exhausted from all the talking I did last night. Besides it’s already kinda late.”
“Alrighty then, whatever you say Spike,” chuckled Twilight, tilting her head back to roll her eyes.
“Hey be careful! It’s not easy riding up here!” he replied swinging around a bit on her horn. The spines running down her back didn’t provide any room for him to sit. So, at her suggestion he had decided to sit behind the horn on her head. It was a decent ride unless Twilight decided to move her long neck around. This continued happening because she kept slipping on the muddy trail the whole way to Canterlot.
“It’s not easy walking down here either Spike. I’m not exactly sure how to properly get around on these things yet,” she wobbled, almost getting off balance again on her two feet.
“Walking is easy. I do it all the time,” said Spike proudly.
“Yeah, sooo difficult for you mister freeloader,” she snorted, jet black smoke shooting from her nostrils, “since you’re so proud of it would you like to walk next to me the rest of the way to the castle?”
“Uh…” he kicked his free hanging feet, “nah, you’ve got things under control. I’d just end up slowing you down or something.”
“That’s what I figured,” Twilight said, rolling her eyes.
Spike grinned, his smile unseen. As soon as he had woken up he had written out a letter detailing Twilight’s little situation and sent a scroll to Princess Celestia straight away. The immediate return letter requested her appearance at the castle soon as possible. Even under the duress of this silly situation he knew Twilight would be excited for any excuse to see the princess again.
“Anyway, how do you like being a dragon Twilight?” he asked when they passed through the marble white Canterlot gates.
“I’m too big,” was her immediate reply, Twilights size constantly weighing on her mind “it’s hard to walk, my tail keeps slicing things by accident and I’m hungry all the time but otherwise it’s quite the experience.”
"Have you tried using your magic?" he asked.
Sighing heavily Twilight said. "Yes, and nothing seems to be happening. I can feel my magic but otherwise I can't get it to funnel through my horn. It's weird. I've been able to do magic my whole life Spike and now that I can't it makes me feel...vulnerable."
"Vulnerable?" repeated Spike. "Uh...I think you're forgetting how big you are."
There was a light smushing sound underneath her feet. She gingerly lifted one up to see she had flattened what was once a very ornate hedge cut into the shape of gargoyle.
“Hey look over there!” he waved at some passing unicorns. “I can see Moon Dancer from here!”
“Really!?” she hissed, ducking her head. “Did she spot you?”
“Probably…not like she’d recognize you like this. Especially since you’ve been falling in mud all the way here,” he chuckled.
Twilight shook her head fiercely.
“Whoa WHOA whoa WHOA,” he gripped the length of her horn. “Okay OKAY I get it!”
Several minuted later they had entered the massive castle gates. The beautiful stone archway carved into a series of twisting vines and flowers, engraved at the top with Celestia’s crest, the emblazoned orange sun glowing by magical means. Twilight sauntered over until she met the too small doorway.
Princess Celestia stepped outside, her regal multi colored hair flowing in the wind behind her. Her long white wings were spread erect her slender form, golden jewellery lighting her face and casting a yellow shine to her white pelt.
“If it isn’t my most faithful student Twilight Sparkle!” she smiled, her voice full of warmth. “You’ve grown since I’ve last seen you.”
“PRINCESS!” cried Twilight, craning her neck forwards in a hasty bow. “I didn’t expect you to uh…”
“-To step outside my halls to visit you in this state?” the Princess only looked at her with laughter in her eyes. “My dearest student, you should realize that my archways only accommodate little ponies.”
“Of course…I wasn’t thinking…” Twilight rose back up, standing upright as Spike slid off her horn.
“Hello again Spike. I see you returned for the ride,” said Celestia, sounding glad to see him again.
“You bet! Always like coming to Canterlot you know. Place feels nicer every time I show up,” Spike replied.
Princess Celestia flapped her wings, rising gracefully to meet Twilight eye to eye. Her features changing from pleased to a visage with much less expression. It unnerved Twilight, making her feel small despite being several times the size of the Princess.
“Transformation magic is quite a powerful subject to tackle for such a young unicorn,” she said, her sweet voice unwavering, “and I am very proud of you for casting a spell like this. Your skills only continue to grow with time.”
Celestia frowned, extinguishing the good feelings of pride Twilight was feeling. “In your letter you explained that you cast the spell without confirming for yourself that there was a counter written inside the book, assuming that since the majority of the spells did that they all would. That was very foolish of you Twilight Sparkle.”
Twilight could feel her gut twisting into knots. The Princess’ words were so right, and she could do nothing but take the honest criticism.
“Luckily I have obtained an existing counter spell. Would you like me to cast this spell for you now?” the Princess said, voice still stern.
“Yes please,” squeaked Twilight, feeling like a little foal again.
“When I finish we will discuss the situation further. Things will start making sense to you in a moment,” she said curtly.
Celestia descended back to the earth, wings folding against her sides. Spike was fiddling with his claws. The Princess looked at him wordlessly, the two sharing a silent knowing exchange. Twilight shifted uneasily, the Princess’ long, majestic horn beginning to shimmer a light pink. Tendrils of magic shot from the long spiralled fluting and the magic quickly enveloped her, much faster than her own spell.
Buzzing assaulted her senses, the sound, and the sensation everywhere all at once. Her eyes were filled with pink. It was like she had just entered a gigantic pink beehive. She shut them, the only thing in her world at the moment this buzzing.
Everything abruptly stopped.
Twilight sighed.
“Thank you Princess Celestia, I’m s-“
She opened her eyes.
A very sick feeling announced its presence in the pit of her stomach.
“Princess?” gaped Twilight, staring at her still draconic form. “I-I don’t…”
“Twilight, there is a very crucial aspect of dragons that you seem to be ignorant of. I had hoped you would have surmised it once before after my lack of involvement when the red dragon, Lucien, decided to take a nap outside Ponyville’s town limits,” the Princess spoke loudly, her clear voice like a bell, “it’s also one of the very reasons the counter spell I just casted upon you was not included in that book.”
“All adult dragons are immune to magic,” finished Celestia with absolute finality.
***
“It’s not the end of the world Twilight, c’mon! She didn’t say that it was completely impossible remember?”
Spike gently patted the side of the curled horn sticking out of Twilights cheek. After Celestia had led her through the gardens into the grand gala ballroom all she had done was sob into her hands. The floor around her face had grown damp with her tears. There wasn’t much else he could do but try and cheer her up.
“I’m so stupid…what is wrong with me?” she choked into her hands. “I can’t do anything right…”
“Nah, it’s okay Twilight. There’s plenty of things that you can do right! Planning ahead just wasn’t one of them. You’re still great at loads of other things…” Spike said, hoping she wouldn’t ask him to start listing things.
Twilight said nothing, big fat tears still rolling down her check
“The dragon council is flying back in you know. They should be here by tomorrow morning! I’m sure they have a solution.”
She sniffled, murmuring another hopeless response under her breath.
“Aw lighten up already. The Princess is preparing something special for you because even she knows how mopey you can get.” Spike poked her with his claw.
Even with her mood so low Twilight felt a smile creeping across her face– her teacher would always make sure to pepper her with gifts and favors after Twilight beat herself up over a mistake in her magic studies.
Spike tapped her head. “Look, that must be it now!”
Twilight stretched her head. At the far side of the room a troop of unicorn ponies began filing inside. Each one wore a white uniform, small hats emblazoned with Celestia’s cutie mark perched atop their heads. In tow were a great variety of colorful sponges, fluffy bath towels, big round red cushions, long bristly brushes, blocks of soaps, smelling shampoos and a large pool of bubbling warm water.
“Celestia’s royal groomers?” Twilight said in quiet awe.
“Yes! We are here to clean, lather and pamper a pair of purple dragons as requested by our royal Highness Princess Celestia,” chirped a bright blue unicorn shooting her a perfect white smile. “so stretch yourselves out, sit back and relax while we do our job!”
Twilight unfurled her body, stretching out her arms and legs as the unicorn ponies swamped her in heated towels and brushes. She lay down on her backside, one arm propping herself up when a gray unicorn jumped up onto her belly, diligently scrubbing at her the mud caked onto her scales.
It was so alien seeing the pony standing on her, busily cleaning her like a worker ant tending to its immobile queen. Then there were brushes tickling all over: her feet, her legs, both of her mud-smeared arms. Twilight failed to stifle a giggle, then tilting her head back she closed her eyes, trying to imagine she was a pony again being waited on in the town spa…
*
*
*
“You look good Spike! I think the color suits you well,” goaded Twilight.
Spike folded his arms. “Ha-HA! Very funny.”
Twilight and Spike sat side by side. The grooming ponies had finished with him an hour ago, removing all the old scales flaking off him to reveal the much pinker hue beneath. Twilight, having a much larger expanse of scale to scrub was still getting treatment to her hind legs. The sharp, bladed sail at the end of her tail was wrapped in a multitude of soft towels. After falling into the grip of serene comfort her tail had jerked all by itself upon some particularly warm water being dumped onto the side of her. The blade had nearly sliced one of the grooming ponies in half!
Now the air was cooling her glistening hide, the pale moonlight giving her body a bright healthy purple sheen. Spike and Twilight were munching on some gems that a few of the Unicorn guards had wheeled in.
“What is funny is how good these taste,” she grabbed a handful of bright red rubies, tossing them into her mouth, “which is your favorite Spike?”
“Turquoise to be honest,” he said chewing on some amethyst, “they don't form in the ground around here like these other gemstones. These are good though.”
“Emeralds are my favorite. They taste like spicy apples,” Twilight nosed around the cart, then picked out one of the last emeralds and popped it in her mouth.
“Ew, those are gross. I’d rather eat pyrite than emeralds,” said Spike sticking a finger in his mouth.
Twilight blew a raspberry at him, then gasped. With a thumb and forefinger she grabbed her tongue.
“Thpike ‘ook! My tongthe ith thorked!”
Spike clutched his sides, rolling over on his cushion. “Hahahaha! Wow! To think that Dash calls Pinkie Pie random!”
“What? I just noticed this. Of course I’m surprised. Well not too surprised I guess,” she flicked her tongue out of her mouth a few times. “I can taste stuff in the air!”
Twilight flicked her tongue a few more times. The air carried the strong taste of soap and jasmine bath salts, along with the sulphuric flavors of the minerals that were carted in. Experimentally she turned to flick her tongue near the two remaining ponies scrubbing her thick tail. Their unique musky scents hit her senses. Then she turned to the still giggling Spike and flicked her tongue at him.
“Spike you…have a …flavor!” she said to him in between flicks.
“Cut that out!” he said, trying to push her away.
Twilight playfully flicked him again. “No!”
Although the taste of soap was still weighing heavily on him, his fresher layer of scales did reveal his own odd smell. Like dragon sweat mixed with soft clay and gemstones.
“Stop it!” he said, trying to bat her tongue away.
“Nope,” she flicked at him again, enjoying this new sense.
"C'mon its gross!"
"Uh-uh."
"Cut it out!"
"Nah."
Spike squirmed on his cushion, slapping at the air. “Twiliii-EURGH!”
“OMIGOSH!!” she withdrew her tongue. That last flick had literally slid right into his mouth when he’d said her name. He had his hands clasped over it now, face a beet red blush.
“Twilight Sparkle!” rang out the Princess’ tranquil voice.
The Princess appeared from the farthermost door. Twilight was so happy to be rescued from the immediate awkwardness of the situation that she completely forgot her usual attempts at a bow.
“Princess Celestia! Thank you so much for the banquet! Also the bath and cleaning and everything! It’s so kind of you,” gushed Twilight energetically.
“No trouble at all, my faithful student,” the Princess coasted over to them gracefully. “I’m letting you know that the dragon council should be here by sunrise. Both of you should have a good night’s rest for when they arrive. It’s best that you be wide awake.”
“Of course, Princess. Thank you!” she said, bringing her head down low to meet the Princess’ eyes. Celestia was larger than all the other ponies, but remained quite small compared to Twilight. Her regality and consistently calm composure filled the air around her with the intensity of her imposing form.
“You still feel that tingling beneath your scales, correct?” asked the Princess.
“I still do, but it’s not very strong,” replied Twilight.
“That’s the effects of the original spell you cast still trying to work its way through your body’s scales,” said Celestia. “It should disappear in the morning. I had forgotten to tell you earlier.”
The Princess flew over to the doors she walked in. Was this all she wanted to say?
“One more thing Twilight,” said the Princess, standing by the double doors.
Was that a smile?
“Yes?” said Twilight cautiously.
“I’ve brought you visitors,” she said.
At this hour? Who would want to visit me at-
“Oh Celestia no,” said Twilight, feeling the spines on her back shiver.
The doors magically flew open. A pair of unicorns raced into the room.
“HONEEEEY! Look at you!” yelled her mother, running…right past her over to Spike. “Did you have your first moulting already? Poor baby, you’re all pale!”
“Star, you’re smothering him! Spiiiiiike c’mere ya little lizard you, ha-ha,” said Twilight’s father, grinding a blue hoof onto Spike’s head.
“Has Twilight been treating you well Spikey? I know she must overwork your scales off. Goodness gracious I don’t know where she gets it from,” huffed Star Sparkle, glaring at her husband.
“Definitely not from me,” he threw his hooves in the air, “most of the time I’m sleeping at my desk anyway!”
“AHEM,” Twilight cleared her throat. Both of her parents stopped doting on Spike to look at her as if the large purple dragon in the middle of the room had suddenly appeared from nowhere.
“Hello pretty dragoness, have you seen our daughter Twilight Sparkle?” said Star twisting her head around. “She’s a light purple unicorn, about ohhh, my size now with a purple cutie mark. The Princess said she was waiting for us in this very room!”
Twilight drummed her claws against the tiled floor. “Yes, I’ve seen her around.”
“Wonderful!” said her father with an excited nod, “If you could point her out for us that would be swell! I haven’t seen my little gal in ages!”
“Ooooh Celestia whyyyyy?” Twilight buried her face in her claws. Mr. and Mrs. Sparkle looked at each other, then to a chuckling Spike, then to a grinning Celestia and back to the large purple dragon.
“Do you guys remember when Twilight was a baby and she turned you two into potted plants?” said Spike.
“Of course! It was her first real spell!” said Star brightly.
“I was quite the handsome cactus!” added Twilights father.
Twilight sighed heavily, then lifted her claw and pointed at her face.
“I’m not following,” said her father.
“…I…think I’m starting to,” Star rubbed her chin, blue eyes beginning to narrow, “and I don’t like it one bit.”
“Hi mom, hi dad!” said Twilight softly.
Princess Celestia trotted away to her chambers with a warm smile on her face. Poor Twilight was awkward even at the best of times. The decision to summon Twilights parents was completely justifiable in her eyes. The sound of parental scolding’s leaving her ears she noted to herself that Twilight would thank her one day for this.
***
Twilight woke up with a yawn, scratching her belly. Last night was the first time she’d been actually full since the whole mess began. With her parents showing up literally out of nowhere to do so much talking she hadn’t actually gotten much sleep. It was fun though, she enjoyed catching up, and after ten minutes of being scolded by her diminutive superiors she felt miles better having them to talk to. Rolling to her feet she could feel the slightest trace of the magical buzzing under her hide which must mean....
“Oh dear,” Twilight stood up straight. She had grown another fifteen feet in her sleep, the tip of the horn on her head just grazing the ballroom ceiling. The bladed fin at the end of her tail had sliced through the towels wrapping it up. Seeing it lodged in the floor Twilight assumed she had been swinging it in her sleep.
“Uh, Spike? Spike?! SPIIIIIIKE!” Twilight stood stock still, looking around for Spike.
“Don’t move!” she heard in response, down by her feet - or more specifically, in between the talons of her toes.
Spike carefully pulled his tail out from under her foot, then dashed away. “You almost stepped on me Twi! Watch where you’re going…you got bigger.”
“I know…” she grimaced, “my scales are still tingling. If I grow anymore I’m afraid I’m going to start stepping on ponies by accident.”
“Let’s just get you going to the council. Princess Celestia said they should be here. C’mon follow me. They should be holding in the same place as last time.”
Twilight followed Spike rushing out through the garden doors, squeezing her massive form through and tilting her bladed tail sideways to prevent it from getting caught. The trail he was blazing for her led straight towards the massive mountain that the city of Canterlot itself was so precariously perched on.
Everything should turn out fine
***
The doors to the mountain’s entrance were two massive slabs of white stone hinged by the vines that grew around the mouth of the caves entrance. As big as Twilight now was, she was absolutely dwarfed by the imposing doorway before her. All matter of worn rune and artwork dotted the statue, incomprehensible to her but significant to any dragon that bothered to sit and try to decipher it.
“Spike, this doorway looks like it hasn’t been used for centuries,” she said to him, her assistant sitting comfortably in the palm of her hand.
“It hasn’t because the dragon council members just fly through the top,” he pointed upward to a crop of sunken rock near the mountains peak, “except me of ‘course. I just hitch a ride from who ever.”
“Guess I’ll open it then,” Twilight put Spike atop her head, and then with both hands dug her claws into the cracks. Grunting and pulling hard the doors groaned in protest. Finally one gave way under Twilights efforts, sliding along a deep groove in the ground by the caves entrance.
“Here we go Spike,” Twilight took a deep breath, walking inside.
The cave was so dark. Cold, drippy, musty, dank with the smell of sulphur and ancient bat droppings. It wasn’t a particularly long walk until she spotted the burning fires that signified the large room where the council must meet with Celestia. Twilight gulped when she met the entrance, the heavy footfalls a loud signifier of her presence.
“ENTER!” boomed a loud voice beyond the gateway inside.
She froze, rooted to the spot. Spike noticed and tapped her horn until she snapped out of it and walked in the room.
There were seven dragons inside the room. All their slitted, glowing eyes immediately locked on her form as she shuffled inside. They were all unknown to her. To the left was a medium sized blue dragon with a pair of spiralling horns twisting from his skull, a large jet black dragon with curved horns like a ram’s, a smaller pale orange dragon with two crooked brown horns and hooked tail swinging behind him. To her right were some more similar winged dragons, including the large bleary eyed red one named Lucien that Twilight and her friends had been forced to wake up and move several months ago.
None of them looked particularly happy, and spoke in hushed whispers to each other in their language, sounding like steel being grinded against stone.
“STATE YOUR NAME, DWELLING, AND PURPOSE FOR APPEARANCE!” boomed the largest dragon, his long lined face forming an impassive glower.
“T-Twilight Sparkle of Ponyville,” she said involuntary glancing to Lucien. His focus snapped to her, recognition crossing his visage along with a low growl.
“I am here to request a solution for my…mishap…uh…,” Twilight added quickly.
“Grimlock,” hissed Spike into her ear.
“-for a solution to reverse this, uh Grimlock. Yes.”
Grimlock blinked his round silver eyes. “PROCEED TO MAKE YOUR CASE!”
Twilight gulped again, feeling the intensifying stares of all eyes around her.. She explained to them how she had cast the spell in the first place, the lack of material in her library about dragon biology and culture, all the new things she had learned, felt and noticed while experiencing life as a dragon for the past few days. At the end of her little spiel she added that while it was an interesting new life experience it wasn’t the body she was born with.
“ENOUGH!” rumbled Grimlock from his mighty stone chair. “YOU ARE DISMISSED WHILE THE COUNCIL DELIBERATES! STAND OUTSIDE!”
Twilight bowed her head and shuffled out the room.
“Spike I’m worried. What do they mean by making a case? Deliberations!? I thought I was getting a choice in the matter. No. I thought that this was supposed to be a simple task of reversing a spell with dragon magic.”
Spike twisted his tail in his hands. “I think they’re deciding ‘cause of what yesterday’s council was all about. It was boring so I fell asleep for most of it but uh…I got the gist of it from the start.”
“What was yesterday’s council about?” she asked warily, pulling him off her horn and resting him on her open palm.
“You ever notice how in Ponyville, there’s more girls than boys?”
“I’ve noticed that Spike,” replied Twilight knowing very well of the gender imbalance plaguing Ponyville.
“It’s kinda the opposite for us, uh, dragons. Like on the super extreme end, Twi,” he said, sounding extremely uncomfortable. “There’s only like three girl dragons left. One’s missing, one is kind of sick in a really sick-sick kind of way and the other is too old to lay eggs.”
Things started fitting into place inside Twilight’s head. “That’s really…disconcerting.”
“I know. So when you show up being a uh, prettygirldragon then I just think that maybe Grimlock and those other dragons don’t want to change you back into a pony when they could instead have another girl dragon around to uh...” he trailed off into mumbling.
“Really? Is that what the councils are all about?” she said thoughtfully.
Spike twisted his tail in his claws. “Well no. The council talks about alotta stuff. It’s not just that. Usually Celestia is there talking about things too. I mean I’m never really awake for them...”
“Oh,” she replied. Twilight scratched her chin. “How long does the council take to make final decisions on topics anyway?”
“Depends on lots of things,” he sat on the floor. “What they’re arguing about. How many of them aren’t agreeing. Whether they get hungry or not and break for snacks,” Spike licked his lips. “I wake up for those!”
Twilight tapped her foot a bit, miffed that she had to wait even longer. After ten minutes of waiting she scooped up Spike and walked down the hallway. Standing outside in the sunshine was much more preferable then waiting in the musky cave.
“You don’t suppose that...when they decide what happens. I still get a say in all this right?” she asked Spike nervously as she lumbered outside.
“Probably,” he shrugged, clambering off her hand onto the grass. “It’s not like they take too long on purpose. The longest I had to stay here was for two whole days straight! Over some island they wanted to roost or something I don’t know.”
Twilight yawned, sitting on the ground next to the wide open door. The mountainside dug into her back as she leaned against it. She didn’t mind though. Her scales pressed into the hard rock, bending slightly to allow her comfort.
She turned to look at him. “Hey Spike?”
“Yeah?” he replied.
“Am I...pretty for a female dragon?” she said nonchalantly.
“UH!” Spike fiddled with his hands again. “Maybe? I don’t think I’ve seen many other, you know, girl dragons to say so.”
“Now I know you’re not being honest,” she batted his eyes at him. “Come on! I don’t care if I’m ugly. I can take being called ugly when I’m like,” she motioned to all of her, “this.”
“Like I said I dunno. Maybe? I mean, I already told you about my secret crush,” his eyes sparkled, Spike sighing deeply, “the most beautiful unicorn in all of Equestria.”
Twilight couldn’t help but laugh, a loud rumbling from her chest. “Oh Spike. I’ll never figure out your obsession over Rarity.”
“She’s so dreamy,” he gushed, a silly smile etched into his face.
Using the tip of her claw Twilight gently poked Spikes head. It wasn’t gentle enough and he fell backwards onto the ground.
“OOPS! Didn’t mean that!” she blurted out.
“I’m fine,” he said dusting himself off. “It’s not a big deal.”
“That’s good to hear” she said. “Anyway when I’m all fixed we’ll go to Pinkie’s party I’m sure she’s planning for me. Afterwards we’re going to pay Canterlot’s library a little visit. Perhaps they have a section on dragon culture I can peruse before we return home.”
“Still can’t believe you did that to yourself for me,” he prodded her foot absently.
Twilight sighed, sending a hot gust of breath down below. “It was the only thing I had. I was desperate. I felt bad about throwing aside your moulting problems because I don’t know about it. For all I knew it was a big deal...”
“It’s alright. Not like I’m mad. It’s actually really funny,” he grinned. “So what do you have in mind then?”
“TWILIGHT SPARKLE! RETURN TO THE CHAMBERS AT ONCE. A DECISION HAS BEEN REACHED!” roared Grimlock from deep within the caverns.
Rushing back into the council chambers Twilight saw that all the other dragons present had flown the coop. It was only Grimlock sitting on the ground before her, towering above her in the she had been doing to everything else for the past two days.
“BY MAJORITY VOTE, IT HAS BEEN RULED…”he paused, looking directly at her.
“TO DENY TWILIGHT SPARKLE THE APPROPRIATE SPELL OF REVERSE TRANSMOGRIFICATION!”
“NO! NONONONO! YOU CAN’T JUST MAKE THAT DECISION!” she roared back. “IT’S MY LIFE!”
“IT IS ALSO YOUR MISTAKE! THIS DECISION HAS COLLECTIVELY REACHED APPROVAL FROM EVERY DRAGON PRESENT! TWILIGHT SPARKLE! BY CUMULATIVE DECREE, YOU SHALL REMAIN A DRAGONESS!” he snarled right back.
“I-I…” Twilight shrank against the finality of his words, finding no rebuttal to strike back with. The decision had never been hers. Everything had been her fault for the very beginning. Her own lack of foresight in her eagerness to try a fancy new spell had sabotaged any hope for living a normal pony life ever again. No other options arriving for her to speak Twilight just stood there, rigid, trying to choke back tears of defeat.
Grimlock took his claw and pulled her chin up with one massive black talon.
“A decree…I am over-ruling,” he said softly.
Twilight felt dumbstruck. “W-What?”
“The draconic council before you had ruled you remain a dragon. As the head of this group, I am over-turning this decision. A decision like this, my little dragon, is not for other’s to decide. It’s your own choice,” he turned his back to her, great gray wings folded against his sides.
Her heart was a wild thumping jackhammer in her chest. Twilight clutched it, trying to calm down. She just didn’t understand what was going on.
“The solution to the spell was always magic. Back when I was a lad I had a skill for such a thing. I could spend hours taking, say, a rock and doing things like turning it into glass jars, bowler hats, paper bags, cotton candy-” Grimlock began rambling a list of meaningless objects. Twilights mind was swarming with questions.
“-and even small animals if I really concentrated. Why I even wrote a book and had it published! Granted there were only fifty copies run off the press before the recall went out and had all the copies destroyed save for a few.”
Shaking her head of all her questions Twilight immediately jumped to one. “You…wrote a book?”
“A very good one! Well-received at first. Excellent formatting, clear as crystal instruction! Of course one marginal ‘error’ left my text unfit for mass circulation,” he snorted, small jets of orange flame curling at his snout.
“Then! You!” she pointed an accusatory claw at him. “The last page was left blank wasn’t it? You wrote that book! You were Starswirl the Bearded!”
The giant gray dragon curled his lips in a smile. “Pleasure to meet you.”
***
Twilight Sparkle spoke with the former unicorn for hours on end afterwards. He was very affable, his words filled with whimsy. When Twilight had spoken of how she had dressed up as him for Nightmare Night, and then even later as his own pupil, he had roared with laughter at her sheepish admittance of the admiration she held for both of the unicorns.
Several centuries ago Starswirl was an extremely talented colt with a knack for transformation magic. One day he had completed a textbook detailing every transformation trick he had learned. The dragon transformation spell was his opus, a streamlined spell to turn any pony into a fully fledged dragon if they so choose. Not including the counter made it a very conclusive spell. But as Starswirl put it:
“If you’re going to do something drastic like that to yourself it requires a very high amount of forethought. The lack of the spell’s reversal was intended to suggest the permanence of such a spell without the need of a disclaimer or warning,” he furrowed his brow. “of course sometimes in rare cases that context clue, or lack thereof, tends to fly right over a pony.”
“So when ponies started turning themselves into dragons the Princess must have contacted you,” said Twilight carefully.
Starswirl whistled. “Celestia was in such a foul mood. As if the omission was some nasty trick I was pulling on all the good magicians of fair Canterlot. Of course I HAD prepared a counter despite dragon scales not working. I devised a way for the spell to work despite their natural resilience to magic.”
He presented to her a large beach ball sized diamond, the face of the stone inscribed with runes.
“In order for magic to affect a dragon, it has to work on their insides. Bypassing their enchanted scales.”
“Gemstones…are magical?” said Twilight, taking the crystal.
“Of course, of course! You already know dragons are attracted to magical things. Gemstones are the true, magical fruit of the Earth. We eat them to grow. It’s why no doubt that you yourself have grown so quickly on a gemstone rich diet. Had you avoided them entirely the spell wouldn’t have worked as well. You would be a much smaller dragon right now,” he chuckled. “Taste plenty good, don’t they?”
"Dragons grow with a hoard don't they? I thought with all my books that's what happened at first. One time with Spike-"
"Greed to growth is a known maturation trigger for dragons. This was not the case. See, had you somehow managed to cast this spell on yourself as a filly you would very well be closer to the size of a baby dragon. Being that you are a young adult mare naturally you would be a young adult dragon. Understand?"
"I...do," she squeezed the surface of the gem. "That's why I'm so big?"
"More or less." Starswirl smiled, scratching his beard. "Females are often larger than males and your accelerated growth, despite being hastened by your diet, was as well slowed by your scales. Now...your choice."
Twilight turned the diamond over in her hands. All it would take was her to swallow this rock whole and the spell would activate inside her. She would be her old self in no time.
“I can eat this…diamond whenever and turn back into a pony just fine?” she asked, flicking the smooth surface with her forked tongue.
“Well no, not with transformation magic. You’re quite lucky that you’re here now. As we speak the final spark of your original spell are still faintly buzzing about under your scales. With that minute lingering magic anchoring the bodies memory of your old self still there you shall need to ingest that quite soon before the magic settles,” his voice became very hard, “or not.”
“This…is a very tough situation I’m in,” said Twilight softly, weighing her options.
“You’re a smart lass. That’s why the choice to make isn’t simple. You know of the dwindling females I assume. You know of the fate of our species. That final egg in Celestia’s keep that nobody wants to see hatched, for fear of the dragon inside being male and sealing our fate,” he sighed, hot air blowing across Twilight’s face. “I can do nothing but apologize about this current state of affairs. I’ve already explained the benefits of life as a dragon…and why I took it. My collected works on dragonkind will be revolutionary…but my fear is that upon its completion…it will be just a memoir.”
Starswirl stopped talking. Twilight just stared at her face reflected in the cut surface of the diamond. Such a strange face it was, not being the one she’d seen all her life - yet she was comfortable with it. Her hair still there, same purple highlights, same lavender eyes, her ears sandwiched between a pair of curled horns.
She gripped the gem tightly, staring intensely at the diamond for what seemed like ages. Concentrating, she could feel the remaining binds of her original spell slowly diminishing within her.
“Having all that time…to learn new things. Travel the world…read all those books,” she laughed weakly, her purple eyes glued to the diamond. “It’s like a dream come true. Something just for me.”
Twilight tossed the gemstone in her mouth. She swallowed it whole, feeling the warming diamond traveling down her esophagus and into her stomach. The effects were instant, light tracing its way over every scale on her hide and illuminating it from within like a light within a paper lantern. Her entire figure froze in crystallizing white light, softening to a purple hue and then shattering like glass throughout the room.
Twilight Sparkle stood shakily on all four hooves, a little pony once again. “It’s a dream I just don’t think I can live out like this.”
“I see,” he gently picked Twilight up by the nape of her neck, tiny as a baby mouse compared to him now. “I shouldn’t be surprised of your decision, but nonetheless I am. Your teacher speaks very highly of your intelligence and talent. Even she suspected you would take the very road I picked.”
“My friends…my family. I know it would be so much for the dragons. I still want to learn more,” she croaked, “to read your book. Hear more of your stories…everything.”
“One day you shall. Now go home Twilight Sparkle. I’m sure you’re friend miss this little purple pony very much so,” said Starswirl setting her down. He spread his great wings wide. “If you’ll excuse me, I have some dragons to upset.”
He took off, sending great plumes of dust into the air and extinguishing the fires in the room. “Goodbye! Good luck with your book!”
“FAREWELL! REMEMBER IF YOU SHALL EVER CHANGE YOUR MIND YOU KNOW WHERE TO LOOK!” he roared, ascending the cone of the mountain and disappearing into the sky.
***
Twilight ran over to Spike standing by the doorway, so glad to see him at this level again. She pounced him in a big hug, pushing him to the ground.
“That’s the Twilight I know!” he jumped up on her back, Twilight galloping out the massive open doorway. “Are we going home now?”
“Yes Spike. This pony is going straight home to Ponyville,” she giggled, breaking into a trot. "After a stop at the library of course.
"Thought so."
"One thing Spike?”
“Yeah?” he asked.
“You called me pretty before didn’t you? In the cave,” she said.
“No I uh…was defining what the uh, what the other dragons thought of you,” mumbled Spike.
“So I’m ugly then?” she pouted at him.
“Nonononono! Stop doing that Twilight,” he scratched the back of his head, trying to think of a change in conversation as they continued down the sunny mountain road. “So uh, you gonna miss anything about being a dragon?”
“Just one thing,” she said with a sly smile.
Spike leaned forwards. “What’s than?”
Twilight turned her head and licked his check.
“Aw yuck! Twilight you’re super gross!”
“Only for you Spike,” she smiled at him. “Only for you.”
Fin