Beautiful Scales

by Obsidian Ink

Chapter 8: Picking up the Pieces

This is a Non-profit Work of Fan Fiction. My little pony: Friendship is Magic is owned by Hasbro, and created by Lauren Faust, M.A. Larson, etc. Please Support the Official Release.

* * * * *

Mayor Mare had -over the past several years- gotten used to the fact that her town had become a magnet for disasters both large and small. Being close to the Everfree forest the town had always had a reputation for unusual phenomena, but ever since Princess Celestia had sent her protege to oversee that one summer sun celebration things had become more and more... 'interesting' to say the least.

Now, she was standing on the front step of town hall, and before her was the now ascended alicorn, Twilight Sparkle. Behind Twilight were four other mares she'd come to know very well, three young fillies she had regretfully come to know very well for completely different reasons, and behind them were two dragons. One she was very familiar with, the little purple and green baby dragon Spike. He was standing next to a full grown adult dragon of snowy white, pale blue, and rich purple.

“Let me get this straight,” she said, trying to absorb what she'd just been told. “What you're telling me is that-” Mayor Mare indicated the dragoness with a wave of a hoof. “is Rarity?”

“Yes Mayor.” Twilight confirmed.

“And you don't know how it happened?”

“No, Mayor. Not yet.”

“And you couldn't fix it?”

Twilight awkwardly rubbed her hoof behind her head. “Uh... no. Not with any stock spells, anyway. I need to research this transformation more completely to figure it out.”

Mayor Mare hesitated. “Is it contagious?”

Twilight blinked. “Mayor Mare, this is a magical affliction, not a biological one. Spells don't spread like that.”

“Twilight, when you enchanted that doll, it had every pony in Ponyville going berserk.”

Twilight glanced back at Rarity, who was looking extremely nervous and agitated. Normally when discussing technical things, Twilight's tact was -notably- lacking. But the look on her friend's face, even as a giant dragon, pulled at her heart. In a blink, she searched through her vast, encyclopedic knowledge of magical phenomena to pull up a plausible explanation that would sooth rattled nerves on both sides.

“Rarity transformed into a dragon suddenly, within hours of whatever it was that affected her. There have been ponies crawling through the wreckage of her home-” There was a decidedly draconic whimper as she said this, from a few yards behind and almost five yards up. “for nearly two days now and none of them have any detectable magical phenomena about them that should not be there. I'm confident that this enchantment will not spread.”

Mayor Mare nodded. “Well, if you're sure princess.”

Twilight blushed at that. “Right, thank you Mayor. Now, if you wouldn't mind, I need your permission to start setting up a research lab so I can figure this out properly.”

Mayor Mare sighed. “Princess... Twilight, you outrank me. By several leagues. You don't need my permission to do anything. If you need to build a laboratory, or a castle, or anything within ponyville, you have the authority to do so, and to take whatever resources you need for it.”

All of her friends blinked at this. And Twilight blushed. “Oh! Uh, well, I... I wouldn't just go over your head on that, Mayor. You're still important in this town, I wouldn't do that.”

Mayor Mare gave a tired smile at that. “I appreciate that, Twilight. I really do.”

“Of course, the first thing ya need ta do is let everypony in town know what's goin' on.” Applejack pointed out.

“Huh?” Twilight said, turning to her friend.

Applejack gestured behind them to mainstreet Ponyville... and its obvious lack of activity. The town looked like it once had whenever Zecora came around.

“Oh...” Twilight said.

* * * * *

There was one upside to being a princess, Twilight had to admit. When she needed things to get done, all she had to do was say so, and they happened. Taking advantage of the guards that had yet to finish packing up and return to Canterlot, she had a squad go around town and announce both an all clear, and a mandatory meeting in the town square.

In record time, the entirety of the town was gathered before town hall. It was a decidedly nervous crowd, but Twilight couldn't exactly blame them. Considering there was a giant dragon sitting right next to town hall. Twilight had hoped that the sight of guards nearby, unconcerned about the dragon's presence, would clue the civilians in, but the whole prey instinct thing was apparently still strong in these ponies.

She wondered for a second why she'd thought it would be any different.

“This is everypony, right?” she asked the sergeant as they stood just off the center of the front steps.

“We co-ordinated with the local constabulary, Princess. This is every pony, cow, sheep, donkey and mule, according to them.”

Twilight nodded. “Thank you sir.”

Twilight walked up to the podium and tapped her hoof to it's surface, the knocking sound quieting the already subdued murmuring from the crowd.

“Citizens of Ponyville, I apologize for dragging you all out here like this. The past few days have been highly unusual, and for this town, that's saying a lot.” There was a brief stint of chuckling from the crowd at this self deprecating joke.

“Two days ago, as I'm sure you're all familiar with at this point, a dragon appeared inside Carousel boutique and destroyed it. The pony who lived there, an icon of this town, went missing. We now know the truth behind those events. Rarity, knight of harmony, and former bearer of the element of generosity, was not abducted, eaten, or anything else. She was in fact transformed into the very dragon you see to my left.”

The crowd's mass shout of “WHAT!?” nearly blasted her off her hooves.

* * * * *

“Well, that was awkward.” Rainbow Dash said, keeping level with Rarity's head as the dragoness padded towards the ruin of her boutique.

“Well, at least everypony ain't hidin' in their houses no more.” Applejack observed as she trotted briskly along beside said dragon, Rarity's steps were at what would have been a comfortable walking pace for a pony but with her size she took one step to every ten or so of an equestrian.

Rarity looked around, and noticed that, while some ponies were going about their business again, most of them were constantly glancing at her, and she could tell they were nervous. And those were the better cases. Others were hurriedly getting out of the road if it looked like she was coming anywhere near, and parents were ushering their foals indoors with haste.

“Mostly everypony...” she mumbled.

“Aw, don't worry Rarity, I used to get some odd looks when I first moved to ponyville, they warmed up to me. And they already know you. They'll come around.” Spike said from where he sat atop rarity's head, holding onto the foremost purple spine.

Rarity glanced up. “Thank you Spike... you're a very observant little baby dragon, you know that?”

“Eh, I like to think I'm smarter than the average dragon.” Spike said, polishing his knuckle scales on his chest.

A train whistle sounded in the distance. Most of those present didn't pay it any mind, but Applejack paused.

“Hey Twilight?” she said.

“Yes Applejack?” Twilight said, pausing.

“Wasn't yer brother supposed to be arriving on a train?”

Everyone else glanced at each other, then up at the sky as a magenta colored dome rose up to cover the entirety of the town.

“Oh ponyfeathers...” Twilight groaned.

Rarity let out a startled roar as several bands of magenta light snapped around her fore and hindlegs, just above the paw, and then drew in, essentially hogtying her, and dropping her with a ground shaking crash. All the citizens of ponyville, still shaken and nervous by everything form the past twenty four hours, bolted into their homes yet again as a mass of armored crystal ponies charged into the square and surrounded Rarity and the others, Shining armor was in the lead, but he was straining mightily to keep the magical bond on Rarity while she tried to free herself.

“Citizens, get away from that dragon! Hurry! Our prince cannot hold it forever!” one of the ones at the front barked.

“He doesn't have to hold her at all!” Twilight snapped, then stepped forward. “SHINING! Shining let her go this instant!”

“The beast has them charmed! Sir, don't let up, we'll get them clear!” The crystal guard said, before charging forward, several of his fellows following.

Twilight rolled her eyes. Then, with a flash of magic of her own, stopped every crystal pony in the square in their tracks. Their hooves rooted to the ground. With the second one, she disrupted her brother's spellcasting, freeing Rarity, and knocking her brother on his haunches with a startled whinny.

Rarity's limbs freed, she flipped over onto her opposite side, then got her legs under her and stood on all fours.

“Rarity, are you alright?” Twilight asked.

“I'm fine Darling. Feeling a bit ill used at the moment, but nothing a real lady cannot handle.”

“Good.” Twilight said, then walked, calmly, through the throng of visibly panicking crystal guardponies, and up to her stunned brother.

“T-Twiley?” Shining said, rubbing his head, then looked past her at the placid white dragon. “What's going on?”

“I'll explain that in a minute, just promise me you'll call off your guards and not start casting spells again, alright?”

Shining blinked owlishly, then glanced around at his men, taking in the glow of his sister's magic sealing their hooves to the ground. “Uhm... well, first you'll have to let them go...”

“Give the order first, then I’ll let them go. I don't want anyone getting hurt, pony or dragon.”

Shining stared at her blankly, then sighed. “Stallions, stand down and return to ranks once my sister has released you.”

Twilight glanced around at the crystal ponies, making sure they'd heard the order, and noted how they were now standing still instead of straining against their magical bonds. Satisfied, she nullified her previous casting, and suddenly all the guards stumbled as they were let go. After briefly shaking themselves off, and casting glances at the alicorn of magic, and the massive white dragon, they backed off warily and returned to ranks behind Shining Armor.

“Now will you please explain what's going on?” The Unicorn prince asked.

* * * * *

“So... she just... spontaneously transformed.” Shining said, more statement than question.

“Yes.” Twilight replied.

“Into a dragon.” Shining continued.

“Plain as day.” Applejack confirmed.

“And Discord himself couldn't turn her back to normal.”

“Noperoonie! And he tried REALLY hard!” Pinkie confirmed.

“And you have absolutely no idea how it happened?” Shining asked this time.

Twilight sighed. “No, I don't. But I promise I’m going to get to the bottom of this.”

Shining glanced at the dragoness, who was laying curled up on the ground a few dragon sized paces away. Spike was standing next to her head, smaller than one of her eyes. Ponyfeathers she was huge...

“And you're absolutely sure that this isn't a contagious magic?”

Twilight gave a brief, chuckling snort. “That's the one thing I'm certain of. She's not emanating any form of magic I haven't seen in any other dragon I've ever met, and neither is anything left at her... well, where her boutique used to be. And trust me, I scanned everything within two hundred meters of the place. Nothing unusual at all.”

“That's... bizzare.” Shining said, then shook his head. “So... do you have a plan?”

“For the moment... nothing beyond getting some more advanced equipment set up here in town so I can start doing some tests.”

“Anything I can do to help?” Shining asked.

“Sorry big bro, I don't think so. This is something I have to solve scientifically.”

Shining nodded. “Well... I guess this'll just be a little sleepover then. I'm gonna have to get my men camped and fed, and we'll be heading back on the train... the day after tomorrow maybe.”

“Two days?” Twilight asked.

“Twily, we just made an emergency overnight train trip with full kit, on full alert and preparation for fighting dragons. We've been running on adrenaline and now that there's no emergency, I'd like to give my men a proper rest before carting them all back to the empire. Besides, I'd like to give them a chance to see heartland Equestria for a little while. Goodness knows I've missed it, and the ponies here.” he said with a smile, and gave his little sister's mane a tussle with a hoof.

Twilight flinched, laughing, then smiled at him. “I missed you too, BBBFF.”

* * * * *

Rarity sighed as she looked over what was once her home and business. The Carousel boutique was now a collection of smashed and shattered wooden beams, crushed furniture and haphazardly strewn cloth. There were a few more orderly piles of pieces arrayed on folding tables that the guard and the local police ponies had set up to do field examinations in their investigation. But still, for the most part the place was a pile of wreckage.

She saw some raw bolts she hadn't yet used, laying strewn across the grass or piles of snapped timber, some dust covered and crumpled dresses she'd had out on her showroom floor., and snapped ponyquins with ripped segments of dresses still on them.

Rarity was sitting up on her haunches so she could raise her head up higher to get a proper look over the piles of wreckage. Most of the other former bearers of harmony were now sifting through the wreckage, along with quite a few crystal pony volunteers, most of whom seemed to be working at the direction of, of all creatures, spike. Shining had given his guard stallions leave to explore the town and experience what it had to offer. Two whole squads had decided to turn their freedom to service to the little dragon, and everypony around had looked quite puzzled, while Spike looked bemused, but accepted their aid with a little smug grin.

When Twilight asked Shining why they were doing this, he grinned and said “I'll tell you at the Equestria games.”

Sweeite Belle and her friends had wanted to help, but Twilight had told them not to for fear of the little ones getting hurt. There were a few crystal guards there too. When Spike had offered to assist as well, they'd pushed themselves forward, and despite spike telling them it was ok, they politely refused and stayed by his side, apparently looking out for his safety as well as assisting him in the cleanup.

“Well, ah ain't so sure it's as bad as rebuildin' a whole barn... ah mean, ya got whole chunks of the place still intact... mostly.” Applebloom said, looking over a section of the lower wall that was laying flat on the floor of what had been the main level. Two windows were in it, one had the glass totally shattered while the other one only had a few panels cracked.

“'T'aint as easy as all that, Bloom.” Applejack called over to her younger sister as she piled individual lengths of broken timber onto the wagon she'd appropriated.

“Why not?” Scootaloo asked.

“You can't tell if the impact rattled nails loose inside the structure when it came down. Just putting the pieces back together like a jigsaw puzzle and connecting the seams wouldn't give you a house any-pony would be safe going into. It could easily fall apart from weaknesses you didn’t see.” Twilight said, levitating up Rarity's smashed fainting couch, and a number of her ponyquins, some of them beyond repair, others still reasonably serviceable. “So we have to tear everything apart, check all the boards and nails, get rid what can't be used again and get a bunch of replacement parts to fill in the gaps.”

“Huh, guess we got lucky when the barn came down last year huh?” Applebloom said.

Applejack gave her a look. “What we were lucky about was the fact that Big Mac had a whole pile of spare lumber we turned into planks to replace the broken ones from the old barn. Otherwise we would'a had to spend a bunch on new ones.”

“Oh...” Applebloom said, looking down, while a few of the others chortled a little.

Applejack chuckled. “Ya'll really thought nothin' broke when that barn fell down sugarcube?”

Applebloom blushed. “Guess ah was bein' silly...”

Applejack smiled. “No worries Applebloom.”

“Grrr... c'mon you stupid...” Rainbowdash growled with a bolt of cloth in her teeth, straining as she heaved backwards. The distal end of the cloth pinned under the edge of a full quarter of the first floor outer wall of the boutique.

Rarity's eyes darted to the disturbance and she snorted in alarm. “Rainbow Dash! Be careful, it's going to-!”

SHRRRRRRIP!

“Tear...” Rarity said as the cyan and prismatic mare got most of her prize loose from the debris.

“Eheh... sorry Rares.” Dash said, rubbing the back of her head in embarrassment, the bolt of cloth at her feet showing the roughly torn end..

“Really Rainbow, don't just grab and tug, if you need help lifting something I can manage that I think.” Rarity said, before reflexively reaching out with her magic to lift an object that looked to her to be no bigger than her old fainting couch to lift it up into the air.

In the next instant, her horn flared brighter than twilight's had when she'd long ago dealt with the Ursa minor, and the glow that surrounded the chunk of building debris glowed to match. With an intense high pitched noise and a snap of magic not unlike a crack of lightning, the shattered segment of building was sent rocketing into the sky. Everypony leapt backwards away from the blast of noise, and ponies all throughout the town let out a yelp. Even Rarity herself flinched backwards in surprise.

“What the hay!?” Rainbow Dash exclaimed.

“Rarity?” Twilight said, looking at the startled dragoness' face.

“I... I didn't... that was... I don't know! I just wanted to lift it a little bit and then...!” she babbled.

“It's coming back down!” Sweetiebelle yelped..

“Hit the deck!” Scootaloo shouted.

“Wait, I got this!” Shining Armor said, leaping forward and pointing his horn at the sky. His horn blazed with magenta light before a beam was sent rocketing towards the plummeting debris. Just before it got there, it seemed to stop, then flared out into an upturned dome, into which the debris crashed, square in the center of the depression. As it did so, however, the top half of the dome formed, sealing in any dust, wooden splinters, nails, or other detritus from the impact.

“Excellent work, prince Armor!” one of the crystal guard said.

“Yeah wow, nice work Shiny...” she paused as she looked at her bother's face, contorted with exertion. “Shining, are you ok?” Twilight said.

“Yeah... just... this thing's really heavy...” he grunted.

“Hang on, let me help.” she said, sending her own magic stream up to the bubble he was slowly lowering. Once she connected Shining relaxed visibly. Everyone backed off as they lowered the glowing sphere down to the ground.

“Leave the shield up, there's still a lot of dust rolling around in there.” Shining said.

“Good point.” Twilight said as she closed her power feed. The bubble stayed intact, flattening into a dome as it came to rest on the ground, still full of roiling brown dust.

“Ok, that's cool and all, but... what the hay just happened?” Rainbow Dash asked nopony in particular.

“I just... I just tried to lift that piece of wall... it looked... small to me and...” Rarity said, still somewhat in shock.

“So you grabbed it and used about as much force as you normally would for an object that big, compared to how large you are?” Twilight asked.

Rarity looked down at Twilight with a blank expression. “What?” she said, not quite understanding.

Twilight thought for a moment. “I mean... uhm... well... oh! That hunk of wall looked about as big to you as your fainting couch usually did, when you were a mare.”

Rarity nodded. “Well it looked about as big as my couch usually does...”

Twilight nodded as well, glancing at the shield bubble. “Well that confirms what Discord said earlier, I just wasn't sure it would manifest this way.”

“What would do what way?” Rainbow asked, confused.

Twilight looked at rainbow. “Discord said that Rarity's soul was as large and powerful as a dragon's.”

“Yeah, so?” Rainbow said.

“A unicorn's power is rooted in the soul. The stronger our souls, the stronger our magic.”

“Like... he said that was how she resisted his spell, I got that part, but this?”

Twilight sighed. “Rainbow, It didn't just make her resistant, it made her magic stronger.”

Everyone present had a look of mild alarm pass over their faces. Somewht nervously, Applejack cleared her throat. “Uh, so, how much stronger we talkin', sugarcube?”

“I'd have to run some tests... but considering how easily she shot a few thousand pounds of lumber and drywall and assorted other materials into the sky like that... I’d give a rough estimate of at least a hundred times more powerful than she used to be.”

“A hundred times!?” everyone shouted, while Rarity's jaw dropped.

“Concidering what Rarity's abilities were before this, and what it usually takes to perform a spell like that? I'd say so.” Twilight said before turning to face the dragoness. “In any event, Rarity, I think you should hold off on any spellcasting for the time being.”

“I... um... I suppose that would be... prudent...” Rarity said, staring at the shield dome that contained the chunk of building she'd launched.

* * * * *

The rest of the group went back to their salvage attempts, and things proceeded relatively quietly for several hours while the sun slowly dipped towards the horison. The collection of salvageables slowly grew, in particularly the raw cloth from Rarity's workshop which were relatively undamaged despite the ruin of the building. Her furniture and most of her personal belongings were far worse off, however.

“Well, this looks like it was a four-poster bed.” Pinkie said as Twilight levitated the next chunk of roof off of a section of the rubble pile.

Rarity whimpered. “I had that imported all the way from Prance...”

Twilight sighed. It seemed every time they uncovered something else broken, it about set Rarity off again.

“Ohh! Ohh! Lookit this Twilight!” Pinkie said, fishing something out from the silken sheets.

“What is it pinkie?”

“Rarity's necklace!” she said, pulling out a gleaming piece of golden jewelery. “Oooh! That IS a pretty gem!”

“Necklace? The element necklace?” Twilight asked.

“Uh-huh! And it's in pretty good shape... oooh, no, wait, the clasp's busted.” Pinkie said, fumbling with the clasp and finding it had snapped in two.”

“Huh, that's kinda strange. I wouldn't expect that kind of damage from being smashed by a roof in a bed.”

“Oh, that's just great. The universe couldn't just let me have my most sentimental possession still be intact.” Rarity said, her huge head snaked around to peer at the necklace from above her friends.

“It's just a clasp, I'm sure it could be fixed in no time.” Twilight said.

Rarity nodded. “I know, it's just... well, it still feels like a kick in the rear from the universe after all this.” she said.

“Prince Armor! Princess Twilight! There's a pack of diggers approaching the town!” A crystal guard called, running towards them.

“That and things just seem to not want to stop happening today...” Rarity groaned, her left forepaw coming up over her eyes and her dextrous digits massaging her temples.

“Diggers, private?” Shining said, turning to the approaching crystal soldier.

“They look like dogs sir, used to be a problem in the crystal empire before the curse. There's about ten of them, hauling large carts, towards the town.”

“Dogs?” Shining blinked.

“Diamond dogs.” Rarity said, rising to all fours. “Don't worry, I'll go talk to them.” she said, padding off towards where the runner had come from.

* * * * *

Bella strode alongside the first of the gem laden carts, heading to the ponyville meeting place. The white furred horn pony, rarity, had given them such needed things in exchange for their gems. Food, medicine, blankets, supplies for tools. Things that only female dogs seemed to truly understand the value of. Stupid males would whine and complain if they weren't comfortable, but all they ever wanted were more gems. Females liked gems too, but she, and all the other den mothers in the pack had instantly seen the value of trading the gems for these needful supplies, while the males had all whined about giving up any of their precious gems.

Worse, the three former joint pack leaders had whimpered about having anything more to do with the 'whiny pony'. Bella had endured hours of them whining and whimpering at her over this, but after their humiliation over the whole kidnapping and the following visit by the sun and moon ponies had demoted them to betas and put her in the alpha position, they had dealt with rarity when she'd come to them, and now they were far better off than they had been before. Now, she was hoping to get some more things to make their lives easier. A double load of gemstones would go a long way towards that.

The first thing they had to do was get to the village, which strangely seemed to have a bunch of ponies that sparkled like gems around it. They were rather pretty.

Oh, and they'd probably have to take a slight turn to avoid the huge dragon that was walking out of the village towards them.

Wait... dragon?

* * * * *

Rarity gazed down at the approaching gem laden caravan and instantly recognized Bella at the head of it with her new draconic vision, bringing a smile to her face. The diamond dog alpha was always a pleasure to speak to, despite her lack of culturing and formal education.

“Bella, darling, it's so good to see you!” she called out to her friend.

That was when, as a whole, the dogs started yelping in terror and started to turn and run, the dogs attached to the carts shucking their yokes and abandoning their cargo.

“What the...? Bella!” Rarity called out, but the dogs paid her no heed, pelting back the way they came in terror.

“Oh not again... Bella, come back here!” Rarity shouted, which carried like a roar as she broke into a draconic gallop, eating up the distance between her and the fleeing pack in seconds.

Even if she had never been in a true athletic mindset, rarity had always been physically fit, even as a pony. This translated into her new body, and her run had a fluid, effortless grace to it. She caught up to the pack in only ten rapid strides. Mid stride, she bunched herself up, then sprang forward, launching with her heavily clawed hindlegs and sprang through the air almost double her massive bodylegnth, and with a twist in mid air, landed in front of the dogs, her body directly over their path.

The dogs came to a screeching halt, their claws digging furrows into the grassy field.

“Bella, there's nothing to be afraid of-” Rarity started to say, before the pack scrambled to turn and run in another direction. Rarity rolled her eyes, and with another powerful leap, cut that direction off as well.

For a span of seconds, the dogs kept trying to bolt, and Rarity kept leaping into their path, keeping them corralled to an area a few dozen meters wide. But each time she had to jump, Rarity got more and more frustrated at the flighty dog's behavior, and it showed on her face, and in her voice every time she tried to tell the dogs to stop running every time she landed.

Untill, finally, with a snap of anger she roared straight in the dog's faces, the thunderous sound echoing faintly off the mountains around the town.

The dogs froze in terror, cowering before her.

Snorting, Rarity took one step towards them, and sat down on her haunches.

Whereupon Bella fell on her face in a kowtow as she whimpered. “Please mighty dragon beast, do not harm my pack, we will serve, just don't hurt us!” she whimpered.

Rarity's eyes went wide, then her memory flashed to the conversation she'd had earlier that day with Vaeron, and his mention of a dragon that had a rather unpleasant arrangement with another diamond dog pack.

“Oh for goodness sake Bella, I'm not going to put you in shackles. Stand up.”

Bella slowly raised her head, then shakily got to her paws.

Then froze, as a look of confusion came over her face.

“Uhm... how great dragon know Bella's name?” she asked.

Rarity snorted. “Because you told me it weeks ago when we sat down to discuss the terms of our deal.”

Bella looked up at rarity, this time actualy getting a proper look at the huge white dragoness. “Bella pretty sure she not make deal with dragon...”

Rarity pinched her temples with two of her draconian digits, again. “Oh for the love of... Bella, it's me. Rarity.”

Bella tilted her head. “But... Rarity white pony, not white dragon.”

Rarity sighed, lowering her paw and looking at Bella again. “Yes, well, I had a little accident a few days ago, and now I'm a dragon. Temporarily at least.”

The entire pack started murmuring amongst themselves.

“Ponies can be dragons?” Bella asked, sounding quite lost.

“Not normally. But then, nothing about this is normal.” she said.

Bella tilted her head again. “So... Dragon pony rarity... not making slaves of Bella and packmates?”

Rarity rolled her eyes. “I just told you I wasn't going to do that Bella. As if I'd do something so atrocious.”

Bella let out her breath in a relieved sigh. “Oh, good! Very good.” she said, then looked behind them in the direction of their abandoned gem carts. “Does dragon pony Rarity still want trade for gems?”

At this, Rarity smiled. Doing business, normal business, sounded absolutely wonderful right now.

“I most certainly would.” she said.

* * * * *

The next morning, on Equestria's eastern coast...

* * * * *

Coco Pommel sat in a cafe in lower Manehattan, looking out through the rain that pattered against the window. Scheduled rain, so she'd not been caught unawares, but she still saw the occasional pony rush by trying to find shelter from the storm. It was a late morning for her, to be honest. The run of the latest production she'd worked on was over and she was considering which of the offers she'd gotten from other stage companies. That favor Rarity had done her had opened up her world in ways she never would have imagined. Costuming departments all across the entertainment sector wanted her on their teams. But now, with one job done and quite a few promising job offers, she was taking an easy day to concider them, and starting with a leisurely breakfast in her favorite cafe.

The waitress, a pegasus mare, came up with a tray in her wings. “Here ya go Coco! Prench toast, scrambled eggs, and coffee. Two lumps of sugar, one cream. Anything else?”

“Oh, no. This looks wonderful.” she said, then began spreading butter and syrup across her Prench toast.

She was nearly finished cleaning her plate when the waitress came by again, a newspaper rolled up under her wing.

“Hey Coco, you know them 'knights of harmony' right?” The mare asked.

“Hmm?” Coco mumbled, looking up from her mug of coffee.

“Well... saw this on the frontpage just now and thought you should see.” she said, placing it down on the table.

The headline read; 'Dragon of Generosity?' Below it was a aerial shot of a full grown, albeit wingless, dragon standing next to and dwarfing a large building in a rural neighborhood, and a crowd of ponies. On the steps of said building was a podium and several ponies speaking to the crowd.

Coco blinked. “What?”

“Open it 'n read, hon.” the waitress said.

Confused, Coco opened to page two and began to read. Her eyes grew wide and her pupils shrunk in shock as she absorbed what was printed.

Dragon of Generosity?

Rarity, Knight of harmony, and former bearer of the element of Generosity, dissappeared late friday when her home and business was destroyed, seemly by an invading dragon. After an altercation with Rainbow Dash -the Lady of Loyalty- which injured the dragon that destroyed the home of Lady Rarity, a dragon that resided in the nearby Everfree Forest and fled with the first dragon.

“A giant white dragon burst out of the Carousel boutique! Like it was hatching from an egg! Then Rainbowdash tried to stop it, but another dragon came and took the first one away after it blew Rainbow down the street with a roar. It was horrible!” One eyewitness Recounted.

Her royal Highness, Princess Celestia and the newly crowned Princess Twilight Sparkle, were quick on the scene with a legion of royal guard, intent on investigating the disappearance and the attack, assisting the local peacekeepers with the investigation into the disappearance and putting the border of the everfree on lock down in record time. Her royal highness, Princess Celestia, even called in Discord, the spirit of Chaos, to ensure that any aggression from the dragons would be dealt with, without damage to the town, or loss of pony life.

But the following morning, before a search party could be dispatched to brave the primeval forest, both dragons emerged and engaged in dialogue with Princess Celestia, revealing that the dragon that had emerged from the Carousel boutique was not an invader, but, in a bizzare twist, The lady of Generosity herself, inexplicably transformed into a dragon.

Despite repeated attempts at transforming the knight of harmony back into a unicorn, both Princess Twilight Sparkle and Discord were unable to reverse the effect of whatever spell caused the transformation.

When questioned, Princess Sparkle had this to say: “We don't have a lot of information to go on at this time. I will however repeat that I am confidant that whatever happened to Rarity is not contagious, and is extremely unlikely to repeat itself.”

The silence stretched on for a few minutes as Coco re-read the article, the waitress stood there, growing more concerned by the minute at the look on coco's face stretch more and more in shock.

“Uh, coco, darlin'? You ok there?” She finally asked.

“I gotta go!” Coco blurted out, tossing a hooffull of bits at the cash register as she galloped out... then back in to grab her saddle bags, and back out again.

Comments

[Demented_Brony]

If your stuck on how to end it, Spike facing and rejecting his greed ended his transformation into a big dragon sooooo

[Obsidian Ink]

6657743 oh, i've got PLANS for this one. things just are a little hectic right now, making it hard to write. Don't worry though, there's gonna be a LOT more chapters.

[Chrome Masquerade]

I can just imagine...

"say, Raridragon. Are you still wearing the necklace?"
"Actually, yes."
"take that off."
"What?"
"Take. it. off."
(removes necklace) *poof!*
"Oh."

[The Great Derpsby]

I'm getting some serious "Dragons=Master Race, Everything else Worthless" vibes from this.

[Adin]

It may have been over a year, but I still think of this story from time to time. I hope it updates someday!

[Pia-chan]

It sucks this one never got another update again...