Beautiful Scales

by Obsidian Ink

Chapter 2: A Special Jewel

The next week and a half for Rarity were some of the busiest days she'd ever had. Negotiations with the diamond dogs only took a few hours, at most, but she then spent the next three days down in their tunnels using her gemfinder spell to lead them to the richest deposits of gems in the dog's territories. Not the small packets she'd pinpointed last time, those were all over the place, and that would take forever to dig up everything in the caves. No, she needed bulk gems she could sift through to find what would and what wouldn't work if she was going to fill this order, so she led them to where she sensed large seams of gems, and told them to simply 'start digging' into the dirt and rock, in the process expanding the dog's cavern home considerably.

They were, admittedly, very large gemstone deposits.

Their payment was interesting, to say the least. The diamond dog alpha female, who's name was Bella, was oddly more interested in clothing, medicine, tools, and weapons.

“Spears? Swords? Sheilds? Darling, whatever do you need these things for? I mean, you've got those huge paws, and those claws and teeth...” Rarity had asked Bella.

“Dogs fight creatures in deep caves.” Bella answered simply.

Dreading the answer she'd get, Rarity's morbid curiosity forced her to ask: “What creatures?”

“Lizards with many legs, hard hides, eyes that turn to stone when look in them unless lizard dead. Bugs that claw through rock, and eat dogs whole. Little things on two legs with wings of bat, that throw fire at us. Many others too.”

“These... creatures... do they ever come to the surface?”

“No, they stay close to fires deep in earth. They stay deep, far away from sun and moon.”

Rarity was never so glad that she lived in a house on the surface, like a sensible creature. Not that she'd ever insult the diamond dog's choice, they seemed quite suited to a life with conflict in it.

Odd that they caved so quickly to her whining, a couple of years ago.

In any event, she'd sent a letter to twilight promptly after finishing negotiations.

Dear Princess Twilight,

I hate to be a pest, darling, but I find myself in need of a number of bulk goods, here's a list of the kind of things I need, if you could put me in contact with some provisioners of these things, I’d be most appreciative.

-3 tons dry dog kibble.

-1.5 tons canned dog food.

-50 can openers.

-1 pictographic can opener instruction manual for species with prehensile paws.

-Approximately 900 doses of Flea and Tick Medication, canine, and a similar number of doses for G.I. Parasites.

-600 bottles herbal cold and fever remedies.

-1 ton iron ingots.

-1 ton steel ingots.

-three cartloads of seasoned oak logs, ready for carving.

-5 woodcutting axes.

-1 two-creature handled saw

-5 woodcarving sets

-4 anvils.

-4 sets assorted smithing hammers, tongs, and other metalworking accoutrements.

-4 metalworking grindstones

-2 smelting furnaces.

~Rarity

She'd sent the letter off via pegasus mail the day after she'd finished the negotiations. Unlike living with a baby dragon who had a magical connection to the princesses and who could receive teleported scrolls, she had to wait a whole two days for a response.

However, the very next morning, sometime just after breakfast, rather than a dragonflame delivery, a scroll appeared in the middle of rarity's bedroom via a standard teleportation spell.

“Oh, goodness!” Rarity started, the pulse of magenta colored spellcasting resonating in her own horn. Alicorn magic, orders of magnitude more powerful than a standard unicorn's, always made an impression on mere mortal unicorns when they were in the presence of it's use.

Rarity levitated the scroll over, and noted that the wax seal had the imprint of twilight's cutie mark in it.

Dear Rarity,

What's up with this list? It sounds like you're outfitting a group of mercenary verterinarians! Please, please tell me the stress of the fashion industry hasn't gotten to you. Reply by inserting your letter into this one and charging the seal with magic, it'll teleport back to me.

~Twilight Sparkle.

Dear Princess Twilight Sparkle,

Oh goodness, mercenary veterinarians! There's a mental image! Nono, I’m doing business with the Diamond dogs, and this is what they wanted in exchange for their services and gemstones.

~Rarity

Dear Rarity,

The diamond dogs? The ones that kidnapped you, made you find gems for them in a dark, dank cave, haul a rusty minecart, etcetera?

~Twilight Sparkle

P.S.: I may have to sign everything 'Princess' now for all my official letters, but I really wish you, one of my best friends, wouldn't keep doing this royal deference thing to me. We went over this during the whole tree of harmony escapade. I thought you understood.

Dear Twilight.

I'm terribly sorry dear, I'm just caught up in the whole new title thing. If you prefer I just call you Twilight in private, than so be it.

And yes, the very same diamond dogs, though I've been mostly dealing with a female named Bella. She's got a good head on her shoulders, even if she talks like the others we met. I told her I needed a lot of gems, and that I was willing to pay her for it, only she wasn't interested so much in bits, but in other goods she could immediately use. It seems they have a hard time getting certain things down in their caves, as they don't seem to be... generally accepted in pony towns.

In any case, those are the things they needed most. There was some talk about weapons and armor they needed to fight some nasty things in the deepest tunnels that they have to deal with, but I insisted I wasn't able to procure such things for them.

~Rarity

Dear Rarity,

I'm really glad you didn't try to put weapons on that list, I know they might be dealing straight with you now, but they did kidnap you before, I wouldn't want to add anything dangerous into the mix with them. Though, it seems they'd know how to make their own, considering a bunch of the ones we encountered were wearing iron armor and carrying spears, rusty though it all was.

I'll talk to Celestia though, see what she thinks. I'll have the answer for you shortly.

~Twilight Sparkle.

The answer came a day later, in the form of a number of pegasus shipping sky wagons arriving in front of the boutique, filled to bursting with the supplies she'd requested. The iron and steel ingots, and the blacksmithing equipment was causing the shippers no deal of strain. Rarity paid them promptly, and just in time, the diamond dogs picked exactly then to come marching into ponyville, pulling eight big, rusty carts, heaped full of glittering gemstones. The shipping ponies were backing away enrvously as the huge, armor clad brutes came up, save for Fido, who was in his typical vest and collar, then looked over in confusion as rarity called out to them.

“Bella! Darling, wonderful to see you, and earlier than I expected!” Rarity said in all friendliness as the dogs approached.

“Miss Rarity have things for us?”

“Oh yes dear, Your food, medicine, materials and smithing equipment, as agreed.” Rarity said, gesturing at the sky wagons.

Bella hopped down off the cart and went over to the wagons, not even bothering to look at the pegasi as they backed off at her approach. She inspected the contents briefly, nodding in approval, then turned to the other dogs with her, and waved them over, then turned to rarity as they unhitched themselves from the carts.

“Pony good as word, everything here. You want more gems, bring us more food, medicine, wood, metal.”

“Oh, most definitely darling, infact, I'm going to be needing another shipment before the month is out, how does another delivery a week from now sound? I'll even throw in some cloth and sewing supplies if you're interested.”

Bella nodded with a grunt. “Could use more blankets. Pups get cold at night.”

Rarity looked horrified. “Darling, why didn't you say something earlier! I'd have included blankets with this trade.

“Needed medicine and metal more. Not want ask too much.” Bella admitted.

“You silly thing, wait here.” Rarity said, then turned to the gathering crowd, who were still keeping a wary distance. She looked about till she found who she was looking for.

“Thunderlane, could you be a dear and head over to barnyard bargains, and tell Mr. Rich I need...” Rarity turned back to Bella for a moment. “How many pups are in your pack dear?”

“Hundred twenty.” Bella said, a stunned look on her face.

“A hundred and twenty comforters, and he can charge it to my account.”

Thunderlane blinked, nodding rather dumbly, before he took off and flew across ponyville to the store.

“Hold on here for a few minutes dear, we'll get you those blankets to take back with you, allright?”

Bella looked like she was about to start crying. “We not even bring more gems.... why miss Rarity...?”

“Because it's the right thing to do, dear. I wasn't the bearer of the element of generosity for nothing.”

* * * * *

“Wow, out of your own pocket, just like that?” Twilight asked, sitting across from the white unicorn, steam from two cups of freshly brewed tea rising between them.

“Well what else was I going to do dear? Leave their poor pups shivering in those cold, damp caves? Good heavens, no wonder she wanted medicine. Turns out Bella's a mother herself. She introduced me to her litter when I visited a few days ago.”

Rarity smiled at the memory. Three rambuctious diamond dog puppies playing like... well, what else, puppies? Rolling around on the floor, chasing a ball, playing tug of war with a length of rope. They raised a ruckus, lots of play growls that sounded so vicious they sent chills up Rarity's herbivorous spine, but in the end the pups were sweet and affectionate little things, and she found herself being nuzzled and licked affectionately by the little trio that growled as ferociously as a manticore mere moments before.

“As always, that was very generous of you Rarity.” Twilight said, smiling back. “Just as it was to make me a new dress for the gala.”

“Oh don't be silly dear, you're one of my best friends, and this is your first as a princess, of course I'm going to make sure you look good for it. I'm just glad I managed to make something work for the old element tiara.” Rarity said, gesturing at the piece of jewelery on the table before them with a hoof.

Twilight, looked down at the tiara that once held the element of magic. The 6 pointed star shaped socket was once again filled, but this time by a gem that was a true purple, rather than the magenta stone of the actual element.

“It's really nice, but I'm a little surprised you didn't go for something matching the element of magic.” Twilight admitted.

“Twilight, darling, times change, these aren't the elements of harmony, and shouldn't try to be. As our friendships grow and change, so do we. This,” she said, tapping the simple jewelery on the table, “Is nothing more than a symbol of our friendship, a reminder of what brought us together. It's not a weapon for defeating great evil, and it's certainly not some kind of chain that holds us together, like Applejack thought.”

Twilight chuckled. “Of course not.” she said, then levitated the 5 pointed tiara of gold filigree and small spinel chips off her head, and replaced it with the tiara of Aurum and Amethyst.

“I still have to wonder where you found a gem the right shape though.” Twilight admitted, glancing in a mirror.

Rarity sighed. “I'm afraid I had to admit defeat on that one, dear. The shape, as distinctive as it is, is basically impossible to find naturally. I had to pick a particularly large, flawless amethyst stone and... well... cut it.” Rarity said, almost as if confessing a sin. “And sadly, this past week, it wasn't the only one.

“Really? I didn't know you knew how to do that Rarity.” Twilight said.

“Honestly? I don't. And for the record? It's really hard to find anypony in equestria who is, either. I actually had to ship this stone all the way to a gryphon jeweler in manehattan to have it custom cut. I was worried that the stone might be damaged, but they did a wonderful job with it, not a single crack or chip in the whole thing.” Rarity said, before levitating her teacup of the saucer and taking a sip. “Most of the others though, it's been a fun treasure hunt, sifting through the piles for gems and gemstone chips in just the right shapes to fit the sockets.” rarity glanced at the ceiling and put a hoof to her chin as she recounted. “I took a misshapen fire-ruby and a couple of emerald chips for Applejack's necklace. Then there were the three different jagged chips of ruby, yellow topaz, and sapphire for Rainbow Dash's, a teardrop yellow topaz and a pair of smaller diamond chips for Pinkie's. And for Fluttershy-”

“Twilight! I'm done sorting scrolls and- oh!” A rather juvenile male voice said, catching the attention of both mares sitting at the table, and the quartet of white pelted, blonde maned hoofmaidens. Standing in the open door to Twilight's chambers was the diminutive, rich purple and green form of Spike, the baby dragon.

“Uh... hey Rarity!” Spike said, slightly confused. “I uh... I didn't know you were visiting today.... I would've been here sooner.”

Rarity smiled. “Oh it's alright, the trip was a bit unexpected, but I’ve done what needed to be done and now My time is my own.”

“Y-you can stay for a while?” Spike asked, walking over to her side.

“Of course. I wouldn't head back to Ponyville without seeing how my little Spikey-wikey is doing, now would I?”

Spike smiled brightly, and toddled over. “So uh... what brings you up here?” he asked. It'd only been two weeks since he'd last seen Rarity, they were still technically living in the golden oaks library, but time to time, Twilight's new duties could not simply be relayed from Ponyville, and the two of them had to come to Canterlot, sometimes for a few days, sometimes for a week or more. This had been one of the long stays.

“Oh, just finishing up my dress deliveries, dear.” Rarity gestured to the dress mounted on the ponyquinn in the corner. Made from rarity's new line of patented magic weave fabrics (Twilight had exercised her royal connections to get legal action taken against Suri for what she'd done with the cloth, which had been patent pending at the time) the dress draped off the alicorn shaped ponyquin in a wave of dark blues, pinks, and golds, in the colors of the sunset sky.

“Fantastic work as always, Rarity.” Spike said, smiling up at her.

“Well, I hope you'll appreciate my other effort as much.” Rarity said, grinning a little.

“You made something else?” Spike said, looking expectant. If it was Rarity's, it was sure to be lovely.

“Why certainly. Just look at Twilight.” Rarity said.

Spike turned and looked at his caretaker, and blinked, then his jaw dropped. “That's the...!”

“Element of magic? No, but as good a copy as a poor mortal can make. It's just an amethyst Spike.”

“A cut gem?” Spike asked.

“Sadly, yes. The element of magic is simply too unusual a shape to find naturally.” Rarity said, giving a dramatic sigh.

Twilight Sparkle's eye's widened slightly. “Oh! All this talk reminds me, Spike, I got another sack of gemstones from Cadence.”

“From the crystal empire?” Rarity asked, her curiosity piqued.

“Of course! For a while, Cadence foalsat for both me and Spike, and she still likes to indulge him.” Twilight said, levitating out a canvas sack that rattled with the sound of gemstones clacking against each other within.

Spike accepted the small pouch, as big as his paunchy little baby gut, and opened the drawstring to reveal a plethora of shining stones in all colors of the rainbow. “Homnia...” he muttered as he licked his scaly chops.

Rarity cringed internally. She knew Spike enjoyed his gems, but all those flawless specimens were just going to go down his gullet. Not that she'd ever say anything, of course, she wouldn't deny the little fellow his natural diet...

“What do you think Spike, eating, or hoarding?” Twilight asked.

Rarity blinked. “Huh?”

“Oh, I think I'll hoard these a little while. Some ripening and they'll go perfectly on my next cake... and yes, I'll have miss Cream help me with this one to make sure I don't eat the gems before they're actually IN the cake.” Spike said.

“Ripening?” Rarity asked.

Twilight looked back over at Rarity. “Oh, that's right. I never explained it to you. I'm not entirely sure how, since it doesn't make sense to me, but apparently Spike can taste a difference when a gemstone's been 'aged' a few months.”

“Yeah, it just keeps getting better and better, till it just... stops getting better. Then it's ripe.”

“Do they ever go bad?” Rarity asked, curious despite herself.

“Oh, no, not at all! I once had a gem for over a year, and I thought it'd surely gone bad, but I took one tiny nibble, and it was just aged to 'perfection'. Nothing different than any other emerald I'd aged for three months or longer.” Spike said, walking over to a small chest near his little basket bed and opening it, it was just barely big enough that, had it been empty, the little dragon could've curled up inside. As it was... the thing was already starting to overflow. So when he tried dumping the contents in, not only did all the gems he was pouring out spill over the side, they took some of the contents with them.

“Aw darnit!” Spike said.

“Language, master Spike.” one of the maids said, stepping over and immediately starting to pluck up the spilled gems with her wings.

“Oh dear, let me help.” Rarity said, instantly on her hooves and at their side, levitating up the spilled gems, when her eye passed over one of the exposed gemstones that had been buried deeper within the chest.

She froze.

Then immediately pushed the maid aside as she tried to put the gems she's picked up with her wing back into the chest, threatening to obscure what she'd seen.

“Rarity? Are you ok?” Spike asked.

“That's exactly what I’ve been looking for.” she said, her telekinetic grip reaching out and hefting a small, pure, and absolutely flawless diamond out of the chest.

A stone that looked almost exactly like one of the trio on her cutie mark.

Rarity levitated her saddlebags over, and out of it, she fished the still empty necklace of the element of generosity, and experimentally laid the stone against the socket.

It fit. Flawlessly.

“Oh my stars, it's perfect!”

“I thought you said all the necklaces were re-socketed?” Twilight asked.

“Everypony's but mine, dear. It may be a common shape, but for some reason nothing I got in any of my shipments from the diamond dogs worked.”

“Wait, diamond dogs?” Spike asked.

“It's a long story dear, I’ll tell you later, right now, I hate to do this to you, but could you possibly see to letting me have this gem?” Rarity asked.

Twilight sighed and muttered “Here we go again...” under her breath.

“Aw, but that one just got ripe!” Spike whined.

Rarity's lower lip started to quiver, and her eyes started to shine. “But... but I’ve been looking all over for a stone like this... Not many stones come in the shape of the element of generosity except...” Rarity stopped short, blinking, her face going blank, then looked back at the freshly socketed stone. “Good gracious, is this an arctic diamond?”

“A what?” Twilight asked.

“An arctic diamond. It's what my cutie marks show. They're an incredibly rare stone that you sometimes find in ancient, heirloom jewelery. Infact, the last time anything was made with them was a little over a thousand... years... ago...” Rarity blinked. “Spike, where did this stone come from?”

“Cadence sent it to me, so... the crystal empire?” he answered.

Rarity nodded. “I thought so. The crystal empire were where the arctic diamond mines were located. When the empire vanished, so did access to those mines.”

“Which Sombra had the citizens work in.” Twilight said, then realized what she sounded like she was saying. “Oh, but that doesn't mean this diamond was mined by enslaved ponies! The mines were re-opened, and the workers are given fair wages, and healthy working conditions!”

“Oh, well, that's good to hear.” Rarity said, then sighed, lifting the diamond out of the socket. “I suppose I'll just have to find a fresh stone down in the international gem market while I’m in Canterlot today.” Rarity said.

“You don't have to.” Spike said firmly.

“Why not?” Rarity asked, looking back at the little dragon, who reached up and pushed the hoof holding the gemstone back against the necklace, and popping the stone back into place.

“Because I want you to have this one. I mean... the necklace is from an element of harmony... the stone in it should be a gift from a friend, right?”

Twilight blinked. Rarity smiled.

“That's very sweet of you Spike. I accept.” she said, then leaned in and gave him a peck on the cheek.

Twilight furrowed her brows, then put on a placid expression. “Ah, Spike? Could you do me a big favor and go down to the kitchens and tell the cooks we need some fresh scones up here?” she said.

One of the hoofmaidens was about to open her mouth to say something when Twilight used her magic to hold her lips shut and fix her with a look.

“Oh, uh... okay Twilight! I'll be right back!” Spike said, jumping up and sprinting off down to the palace kitchens.

As soon as she was sure Spike was out of earshot, Twilight looked at the hoofmaidens. “Leave us please.”

The four mares bowed briefly, then made their way out the door, and closed it behind them.

“Twilight, is something wrong?” Rarity asked, confused.

“Rarity, seriously, I can't believe you sometimes. What is wrong with you?”

“Wrong with me!?” Rarity exclaimed. “Twilight, I have no idea what you're talk-”

“I mean you taking advantage of Spike like that!” Twilight snapped. “Oh my Spikey Wikey, that's a terribly lovely gemstone you have there, can I have it pleeease? I don't care that you spent months getting it just right for eating, I NEED it!”

“Oh, please twilight, I did not do anything like that-”

“Rarity, that's the SECOND time you've taken advantage of how Spike feels about you to wangle a rare gem out of him for free. Admittedly, the last time that gem was the one thing that prevented him from going full greed monster on us, but still...” Twilight sighed, rubbing her temples with a hoof. “You're one of the most generous ponies I’ve ever met, but when it comes to Spike, you just make more and more demands of him all the time.”

Rarity frowned. “how so?”

“When we went to manehattan, you had him doing ALL your heavy lifting. All your baggage, on his shoulders.”

“Well the little darling did insist-”

“Rarity, Applejack was right there, she's one of the strongest mares I've ever met, she could've taken at least half that load easily, and you know she'd be more than eager to help if only you asked. But since Spike was there, he ended up carrying EVERYTHING.”

“Well...” Rarity said, looking a bit sheepish.

“And then there's you using him as a living pincushion all those times.”

“He said he didn't feel anything...”

“And then you paid him to look after opal and only gave him a tiny ruby chip-”

“Now hold on, that was a fire ruby chip, and it was extremely valuable!”

Twilight blinked. “Seriously?”

“Of course. The way those stones amplify natural light into a radiant glow, it's impossible to miss. Why, I could easily purchase some large industrial equipment with the amount of bits that chip was worth.”

Twilight stared for a moment, then shook her head. “Ok, fine, but did you even tell that to Spike?”

“Twilight, I love the dear, but I don't think he has a care for bits. He was going to eat that gem, wasn't he?”

Twilight sighed. “Probably.”

“I do see your point though.” Rarity said, “I have been rather... greedy when it comes to him. Taking him for granted. Oh, why is it we always hurt the ones we love?” Rarity said, then giving a dramatic sigh.

Twilight rolled her eyes. “Well, now that I've brought it to your attention, please try to think of Spike the way you think of other ponies.”

“Twilight Sparkle, you have my word.” Rarity said, putting her left forehoof over her chest.

Twilight smiled. “Good enough for me.”

* * * * *

The rest of the visit continued in quiet, idle conversation. Rarity bounced a few ideas off Twilight for the flight suits for the Ponyville Aerial relay race team, and had them shot down immediately by Twilight's logic.

“These outfits are loose, flowing dresses Rarity. They loose points if they or their clothes touch the rings. That's why the Wonderbolts wear skintight suits, besides also reducing aerodynamic drag and letting them fly faster.”

So much for the uniform dress idea.

Eventually though, the day began to draw to a close, and Rarity had to bid a fond farewell to her friends, both the alicorn and the dragon, and return to the train, and thence to ponyville, wearing the newly re-socketed necklace of generosity with its beautiful diamond glittering with a faint, internal luminescence.

The train ride was so uneventful that Rarity found that, for the first time in nearly two weeks, she had nothing to think about. She kept nodding off during the ride, only getting jostled awake every few minutes made it a considerably un-restful sleep so that when she arrived back at the ponyville platform, she stumbled off the train in a daze.

“Ugh... Come on Rarity, just get back to your Boutique... you can have a nice long sleep, then spend the day at the Spa tomorrow with Fluttershy like you planned... just have to get home first...” she muttered to herself in the darkened streets of ponyville.

Thankfully, in such a quiet town, nothing happened to her on her way home, and before she knew it, she was locking the door behind her as she dropped her saddlebags in the closet, and smiling as Opal came up to nuzzle on her mistress' foreleg. Unusualy affectionate for the normally grouchy feline.

Until Rarity realized that she hadn't left out any cat food for the pampered feline's dinner.

“Oh, right... sorry darling, mama will feed you now.” she said, trudging into her kitchen.

A few minutes later, with the cat munching away happily on meat chunks in gravy in her little food bowl, Rarity finally dragged herself up the stairs and into her bedroom. So tired that she didn't even remember to take off her necklace as she flopped into bed.

The hours crept by, and all seemed normal in the carousel boutique, until somewhere around 3:00 in the morning, when a creaking noise followed by a loud crack, which awoke the cat sleeping in the showroom floor, and made her look up, then sneeze as dust fell onto her nose.

If not for the cat's natural reflexes and speed, what happened next would've been... unsavory. An even louder crack and a crash preceded a humungous, thick, scale covered tail falling through a freshly made hole in the ceiling, followed by an even larger set of clawed, scaly hind-legs and hindquarters that fell into the showroom.

With a yowl of terror, Opal careened out of the boutique via the pet door, and ran straight up the nearest tree, where she remained, quaking with fear, for hours.

* * * * *

The next day, Rainbow dash was flying her usual circuit around town, doing weather maintenance. She was mentally laying out her plans for training Fluttershy and Bulk Biceps, her partners for the aerial relay, while she did the mind numbing work of arranging the weather clouds as per the weather team's protocol, when she noticed Fluttershy out for a walk.

Only, the yellow and pink pegasus was moving at a brisk, nervous trot.

Something wasn't right.

“Yo Fluttershy, where's the fire?” Rainbowdash called, swooping in towards her friend.

“Oh! Uh, hello Rainbow Dash. Uhm... there's no fire, but I was going to see Rarity.”

“Rarity? Why you looking so hassled then?”

“Oh, it's nothing... just we made an appointment at Aloe and Lotus' spa yesterday after she dropped off my dress and necklace, and she never showed up.”

Dash nodded. Rarity had brought her gala dress and necklace yesterday as well. “Fluttershy, Rarity's late for lots of stuff, don't let it worry you.”

“Dash, we made the appointment for ten o'clock this morning. It's almost one in the afternoon now. She's never this late, and I'm worried.” Fluttershy explained.

“Hmmm... you’re right, that is weird.” Rainbow said rubbing her chin with a forehoof. "Tell you what, I’ll come with and we'll both check on her, kay?”

“Oh! Thank you Rainbow, I’d appreciate that.” Fluttershy said, smiling.

Fluttershy took to wing to follow rainbow, but even her fastest couldn't keep up with what to rainbow was a casual pace, still, she didn't arrive at the boutique that far behind her friend.

It was there, though, that the two of them found the door locked.

“Maybe she's out?” Fluttershy ventured.

“Hmm... I can't tell... there's some kind of cloth over the window.” Dash said, trying to peer in through the glass panes on the door. “Gah, I’m gonna go check the upstairs window.”

“Oh! What if she's still asleep? She has been working awful Hard lately.”

“Working hard or not, sleeping till mid afternoon's still not cool, especially if you have plans with friends.” Dash said, then flapped up to the second story window and tried to peer in. “Darnit, more of this weird, scale pattern cloth, can't see a thing...” she groaned, then started rapping on it with her hoof. “Hey Rarity! You in there? Wake up already!”

* * * * *

An interminable racket, pounding away at her head, that was the first thing Rarity sensed upon regaining consciousness. Or, to be more specific, that was the thing that forced her back into consciousness in the first place.

The second thing she realized, was she could hear Rainbowdash's voice, albiet faintly, berating her to wake up. Oh dear, did she oversleep? Well, she'd better get a move on then.

It was then that she found she couldn't move, she was penned in on all sides by something hard and solid. Her limbs were pressed to her body in a strange fashion, and her whole body felt strange. Oh dear Princesses, had some uncouth pony of ill intent invaded her home?

She tried opening her eyes, to see what on earth was going on, but when she did, even though her eyes were open, she found she couldn't see a thing. It was too dark. Yet there was nothing she could feel pressed over her face, other than the surface of whatever it was that was holding her immobile.

It was at that point, that panic truly set in, and Rarity began to thrash in the tight confines of wherever she found herself. She tried to scream, but there was hardly any air... yet, the thing holding her... was it beginning to give? Oh thank heavens! She just had to push... a little... harder...

* * * * *

“Rarity, I swear if you don't come out of there I’m going to...” Rainbow was yelling when suddenly a crack formed in the window infront of her... and not from one of her hoof taps. Startled, she backed off a few feet in the air.

Before any pony could say anything else, cracks started forming in all the windows of the boutique, as well as some of the walls... then the walls started bowing outwards in seemingly random places, and the whole structure started to groan in complaint.

“R-r-rainbow Dash... what's happening...!?” Fluttershy called up, fearfully. Nearby, ponies just going about their day heard the ruckus and came to investigate.

Before Rainbow could respond, up in the tree next to the boutique, a feline scream sounded,loudly, before Opal leapt from her perch and hit the ground running, sprinting off into ponyville, but neither Fluttershy nor Rainbow Dash gave her any mind.

Because just then, With a resounding crack and crash, Carousel boutique split into several large, gilded pieces, and fell apart, like a hatching, gigantic Faberge egg...

To reveal a full grown dragon, white, with crest spines of rich purple and an underbelly of pale blue, that let out a roar as it threw off the roof and a good chunk of the wall of the upper floor of the building, coming down to land on all fours once it had room, the walls of the structure that had contained it now all knocked down. The dragon swung its tail through the air once before coming down to hit the ground with a resounding thud that left a long impression in the grass.

Fluttershy's pupils narrowed to pinholes, and he face drained of all color while Rainbow Dash's jaw went slack.

After panting for a moment from the exertion, the dragon looked around in apparent confusion, then down at the roof of the building it had just thrown off itself in shock, then confusion. “What in-OH!” it started to say, the dragon's voice a distinctly feminine and pretty one, though deep as one would expect from having a pair of lungs the size of a shed. However, she cut herself off, her paw going to her mouth.

Then it raised said paw into her view and looked at it. Then turned its head to look at the rest of its body.

For the span of several heartbeats she stared at first confused, then horrified.

Before the massive dragoness let out a horrified roar, that got every pony there screaming in terror.

Comments

[BetaHammer]

Its good, but seriously consider changing the title man, there's already two Spilights with the same title.

[Obsidian Ink]

3826272 *sigh* Figured something like that might be the case. I'll see what i can come up with.

[DARKPHANTOM13]

So Rarity is a dragon? How the heck did that happen? Wait...it had something to do with the gem Spike gave to Rarity and the old holder for the elements she put the gem in isn't.

[Path_of_cloud]

Ponyville, Canterlot, Rainbow Dash, Rainbow when referring to Dash, Rarity, Twilight, and those are really just the proper names I remember. Always capitalize proper names. Also, she'd not shed'.

Moving on, find a proofreader because this is excellent looking so far and quite interesting, but I'd hate to keep seeing it riddled with simple errors that are going to turn readers away.

Onward.

[Obsidian Ink]

3830586

I try to catch those myself whenever possible, but it's not easy the first time through.

And yes, i do need to find a proofreader...

[The Fields of Ice]

Is this a Spilight or Sparity? I don't want to start reading and find out it's the wrong one.

[Obsidian Ink]

3850413

Do you have a preference?

[The Fields of Ice]

3851749 I have quite a fondness for TwiSpike.

[DX-1118 C]

Did I not call this? Did I not call this? I didn't even read the story when I called this. I knew rarity would become a dragon. Dude, you need to rewrite your description, especially if people can call out plot points like this. Unless that dragon isn't rarity.

[Chrome Masquerade]

Lizards with many legs, hard hides, eyes that turn to stone when look in them unless lizard dead. Bugs that claw through rock, and eat dogs whole. Little things on two legs with wings of bat, that throw fire at us. Many others too.”

Soooo..... Basilisks, Changelings and Succubi. Fantastic.