> Strictly Draconic
>  by Cosmonaut
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Slipping into Scales
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

        “Spike! Come out of there!"
        “NO!” yelled Spike behind the basement door. “I’m not leaving! You can’t make me!”
        “Oh yes I can! I just don’t want to. If you don’t come out on your own then you’ll leave me no choice but to pull apart the door,” replied Twilight, leaning her head against it.
        He groaned behind the wood paneling. Usually Spike would have no qualm or quarter about leaving the library for a day in Canterlot. It meant less actual work for him to do on his break. Had he not been going through an embarrassing stage of growing up at the moment, Spike would have been sitting comfortably in his Pegasi pulled carriage well on his way to the dragon council.
        “One,” began Twilight.
        “Twiliiiiiiight! C’mon! Can’t I just write a letter saying I got a bad cold or something?” he offered.
        “Not in summer Spike,” she giggled. “Two.”
        Spike groaned behind the door. “Pretty please?”
        “Two and a half...”
        “With sugar on top?” he added.
        “Two and three quarters,” Twilight continued, stretching the count.
        “FINE! You win!” he shouted through the door. Twilight stepped backwards, the door opening with a bang.
        Spike folded his arms and huffed. It was obvious by the sight of him why he was so indignant about not wanting to leave. His usual light purple scales had darkened, most of his body a patchwork collection of light and dark purple scales where the fresher set showed through underneath. By all means he did look kind of ridiculous.
        Twilight fought back a giggle, smiling instead. “You don’t look so bad…”
        “No, I look like a total wreck,” Spike said glumly, scratching his belly. “I’m itchy all over and every three seconds I’m dropping scales everywhere. Gross doesn’t even begin to cover how I feel. Sheesh I’m a walking mess!”
        “Oh Spike, you know shedding is a natural part of growing up for a young dragon. I’m sure all the other dragons know exactly what you’re going through!” she said.
        “They’re still gonna make fun of me. Plus you didn’t even know about my whole shedding thing until it happened. What do you know anyway?!” he snapped.
        Twilight gasped. Instantly Spike’s claws flew to his mouth. “I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to say that!”
        He bolted past her and out the door, leaping into the gilded carriage being pulled by the two armoured Pegasus guard. With a snort they opened their wings and took off into the sky.
        Running out the door Twilight yelled. “Spike, it’s okay! Wait!”
        The carriage was already pulling into the distance by the time she made it out the front door. She squinted at the golden carriage shrinking into the distance. With a drawn out sigh, she trotted back into the library.
        Of course he was right. It was only this morning when she’d discovered herself that his scales color seemed an odd muted purple, and found a small pile of them in his bed. He’d been irritable about the whole situation the entire day. She herself got grumpy when she was all dirty or muddy. With his parting remark being followed immediately by an apology she realized it wasn’t much to fret about. After all there was some truth ringing there. The one thing she had never bothered to look through in all her time knowing Spike was more about the little dragon’s physiology and culture. With the library to herself for the rest of the evening Twilight decided to go ahead and broaden her knowledge about dragons.
        Or she would have, had there been a single relevant text in the Ponyville library.
        “UGH, what is wrong with this town!? Why is there so much fiction? I haven’t checked out a single book to these ponies since I moved here!” fumed Twilight, tossing aside another bland romance novel penned by Madame Primrose Parsparilla. It was alarming how little reading material there was lying around that actually suited her tastes, despite the healthy portion of astronomical literature in stock. The previous owner had a not so subtle hobby for stargazing if the fair amount of telescopes weren’t evidence enough.
        It was nearly dusk now, and she had literally torn the shelves apart trying to find something, anything in this library pertaining to dragons. 
        If I were still in Canterlots library I wouldn’t be having this problem, she thought bitterly,  magically flipping through another useless copy of Ghosts, Goblins and other Ghoulish Figures.
        Twilight’s stomach grumbled; she hadn’t eaten in hours she was so absorbed in her search –though, it wasn’t as though she hadn’t staved off bodily hunger to feed her mind before. At the end of her rope, she was about to call it a night and resolve herself to Canterlot’s library in the morning when a particularly fat tome caught her eye.
        “Tricky Transformations…a terrific treatise on matter transformations by Starswirl the Bearded,” she read aloud, scanning the title of the beaten up book. Had there not been an outline of a dragon etched into the cover she would have passed over it immediately. The worn book was brown and dog-eared, and when she opened it the volume coughed a plethora of dust in her face, making her sneeze. She flipped through it hungrily, barely noting the texts concerning the simple stuff at the beginning (who would want to turn an onion into an artichoke anyway?) before skipping farther ahead right to the high level material.
        “Huh, so there is a spell for turning a hydra into a field mouse,” Twilight chewed her lip. Had Spike flipped through this book before?
        On the very last page was the spell the book’s cover had promised. Victorious in her findings she let out a little squeal of delight.
        “Perfect perfect perfect!” she exclaimed, her purple eyes immediately gobbling up the instructions on the page. It was as difficult as expected, being such a high level spell, but nothing she couldn’t handle. 
        One quick spell and I’ll be a dragon just like Spike. This should cheer him up. He’ll be in for such a surprise tomorrow morning! Maybe we can even go visit his home country, she thought happily, already imagining herself and Spike casually strolling through some lava flows to the massive citadels that might have littered the dragon kingdom. After all, what would be a better way to learn about dragons than slipping into their scales for a day?
        Twilight read over the spell instructions, piecing together where she’d have to put the most effort for the magic to work, and took a step backwards, casting the spell.
        Her horn shimmered to life. A purple cocoon of magic immediately began enveloping her, wrapping her and floating her off the floor. Energy pulsed through her horn, channeling through her body. The effects were immediate. Parts of her started flexing, growing larger and outwards. Bones began to painlessly crack. Her skin rippled, burning all over. Twilight grunted when her insides started flopping around, trying to ignore the spells effects until it was complete. She could hear whistling in her ears, her hooves vibrating intensely as she focused ever harder on the spell. It was so demanding! The whistling in her ears reached a screaming crescendo…
        Then everything stopped.
        Twilight let out the breath she was holding in.
        “Whoa!” she immediately tilted backwards, woozy from the spell. Flailing her arms (arms!)  in the air she fell anyway, some books falling off the shelves when her rump hit the floor.
        “Oh wow,” she stuck her arms out in front of her, admiring them. They were both long, ending in a clawed hand with fingers, just like Spike’s. She wiggled them, balling them into fists. Then with similar interest looked down at her hindlegs (feet!) and wiggled her toes too. It was such a weird sensation! Not as weird as the tingling, buzzing feeling that was still coursing through her, but that was probably the magic just settling. Automatically her hand flew to her face. 
        “Mirror,” she said, suddenly feeling frantic about her new appearance. She stood back up, still unsteady being on two legs. Swivelling her neck she eyed her new tail, which was now helping keep her balance. It had a sort of pink fin at the end of it, almost like a fish. Twilight toddled over to the bathroom in just six steps, being as tall as she was now. Casting the spell, she had expected to be as big as Spike, but now she was possibly fifteen feet long!
        “There we go,” Twilight reached into the bathroom, trying to tilt the mirror towards her. 
        CLUNK
        “Oops!” she murmured, accidently ripping it off the wall instead. Making a mental note to fix it later she pulled the mirror out, getting a look at her face.
        Well I definitely look like a dragon now she thought idly to herself. Her mouth and nose were now beaklike in nature. She bared her teeth, counting an awful lot of sharp pointy ones in her mouth. Running a single finger through her hair she sighed, content that she still had it; deep purple with magenta stripes falling over her forehead and down her neck, though the horn parting her hair was larger now. She had two more light purple horns growing where her ears used to be along with a smaller pair of horns curling around her cheeks, giving her face a rounded, almost cherubic quality.
        Twilight smacked her lips. As if on cue her stomach started growling again. The spell had vanquished her remaining energy reserves and she silently cursed her decision to not have a snack beforehand.
        In two steps she was at the (now relatively small) refrigerator. Using the tip of her claw she pulled the door open. 
        The shelves of the fridge were stocked with a depressing selection of fresh fruit and leafy vegetables. It was only yesterday when they had gone shopping at the town market. The ingredients for a mouth watering salad sat in front of her, but the idea of cold crisp lettuce with dressing made her stomach groan in complaint instead of anticipation. 
        “Whatever, I guess…” she mumbled, pulling some celery stalks out and tossing them in her mouth. Twilight winced as she chewed and swallowed. It certainly didn’t taste as good as it used to. She sat in front of the fridge, grabbing leafy greens of the shelf and gulping them down. At this point she was just muscling through the taste in her quest to get a full belly. It was a failed endeavour, not only five minutes later she had emptied her fridge.
        “Great,” she said glumly, scratching the scales on her belly. That was barely enough to dent her hunger. Twilight was still ravenous, and she was not keen on the idea of trawling around the outskirts of Ponyville this time at night the way she was now. Instead she began searching through the cupboards for something else to stave off her gnawing hunger. After three cabinets yielded nothing but pots and pans she was just about ready to give up before the final one flew open to reveal a verifiable banquet hidden inside.
        “This looks…delicious,” Twilight grabbed a handful of Spike’s gems that he had kept squirreled away for himself. It was his own mish-mash of multi-colored gemstones he had set aside just for himself. There were bright purple amethyst, brilliant red rubies, pearlescent cut diamond, shiny green emeralds, and a whole rose gallery of other assorted precious minerals.
        Her mouth watering made an excuse to go pick up some more gemstones for him tomorrow. Not even taking a moment’s pause to reflect that she would be officially eating what amounted to colored rocks, Twilight began wolfing down the vibrant crystals.
        These taste so good! Have these things always been so flavorful? She pondered while crunching through a mouthful of garnets. I should grind these up into my own food
        Twilight gobbled up the entire contents of the drawer (save for some turquoise that Spike had saved from his trip to Appaloosa) in only five minutes. With a final gulp she polished off the last of the gemstones in the cabinet and shut the door, feeling slightly full for the first time in hours.
        “Ahh,” she sighed happily, leaving the kitchen back to the main floor of the library. It was still a total mess but after having something to eat the only thing she wanted now was to go to sleep for the night. Wrapping her long tail around the length of her body she curled up on the floor, eyelids growing heavy. Sleep overtaking her she scratched at herself with a free claw, the tingling sensation from earlier not diminishing since the spell was cast.
        Twilight yawned, the least bit concerned. Wait until Spike gets a sight of me in the morning…


***




        “ALL YOU ALL RIGHT IN THERE!?”
        A worried voice called out to her, shaking her awake. Twilight groaned, eyes still shut tight.
        Of course I’m alright what are you talking about?
        “MISS SPARKLE ARE YOU HURT?” said the voice again, followed by frantic knocking.
        Is that the mayor’s voice? Nah. Why is the mayor outside my house asking if I’m hurt?
        “We are moving several rainclouds over your library! Remain calm!” rang out a different voice. 
        Rainclouds? She thought uneasily.
        Twilight’s eyes snapped open as she gasped, immediately realizing two things, the first and most obvious being that during her sleep she had been snoring, and horribly thick clouds of acrid smoke had filled the library which had caught the town’s attention sometime early this morning.
        This is bad
        The second, more startling development was that she was twice the size since falling asleep the previous night.
        This is so bad
        “SHOOT!” she said very loudly. Twilight jerked her head upwards, the horn on her head burying itself into the ceiling. The volume of her voice startled her. It was like she had been speaking through a megaphone.
        “…Is everything alright in there Twilight?” Rainbow Dash’s raspy voice called through the door. 
        No. everything is worse than possible!
        “FINE! Fine, everything’s fine!” she struggled to respond while trying (and failing) to control the loudness of her voice. At least the smoke in the library obscured the windows enough to prevent any Pegasi from peeping in. Pulling her horn from the ceiling she noticed her big tail was pressing against the front door. No wonder her rescuers hadn’t just walked in.
        “Listen, we’re gonna start drenching the tree to keep the fire from spreading. I know you love your literature Twi, but I’m not gonna let you roast over a buncha books!” her friend said through the door.
        “ALRIGHT! I’m…alright,” responded Twilight loudly, rubbing her head. She looked around to try to get her bearings. Now that she practically filled the room itself the option of using a door was not a consideration.
        Rain began drizzling through the ceiling. Twilight cringed; it wasn’t much but it only took a little water to destroy the delicate pages of her books. Luckily for her she’d had the presence of mind to magically waterproof the ones she used often. Leaning her bulky side against one wall of the library she lifted her clawed foot off the floor. The books crushed underneath were an unfortunate casualty of her new size. This was ridiculous! Why had she suddenly gotten so huge?!
        Twilight shifted herself around to face the farthest section of the library with the least amount of books. Smoke billowed around her as she gingerly crawled over to the other side of the room. Ice cold water continued rushing inside, some of it cascading down the staircase leading to her bedroom. It wasn’t as though she could fit up there now anyway. Instead she turned her attention to the largest round window on the opposite side of her library. At this point it was her only way out of the building.
        SMASH
        Balling up her fist she punched through the thin glass of the window. It shattered completely, her thick scales allowing no penetration from the razor sharp glass. Twilight shoved her arm through, then another before pulling her head through. 
        Twilight was about halfway through when she got stuck.
        “OW!” she yelped, trying to wiggle free. Her stomach wasn’t quite that large; craning her head she saw the row of pink spines running down her back mashing into the lip of the window. With a free claw she pressed them down flat and wiggled free. Twilight turned around with a triumphant grin, and then froze.
        Rainbow Dash was staring right at her.
        “Ehehe…” Twilight chuckled nervously, the blue Pegasus studying her face with frightened rosy pinpricks.
        “DRAAAAGON!” she screamed, dropping the raincloud she was clutching and zipping out of sight.
        “DASH WAIT!” called Twilight extending her arm after her. In one fluid motion she lost her balance, somersaulting forwards out of the window and landing on the ground with a resounding thud.
        She groaned, feeling achy (and still mildly tingly) all over. Pulling her face off the ground she managed to adjust herself into a sitting position. There were a multitude of ponies on the ground looking up at her. Twilight flinched, seeing so many of them all at once.
        They’re all so tiny she thought to herself.
        “Uh…hi?” she offered with a little wave.
        “That dragon ate Twilight Sparkle!” cried Blues, pointing an accusatory hoof.
        “She’s not in the library, I just checked,” shouted Dasiy from the front door.
        “W-w-what do we do?” Rose began backing away, voice stricken with panic.
        This isn’t turning out good, better clear this up now Twilight thought, opening her mouth to speak.
        “EVERYPONY RUN!” Lily turned tail and bolted. “IT’S GOING TO EAT US TOOO!”
        Everything abruptly went to manure. The dozen or so ponies scattered from her presence, yelling their heads off. The Pegasus of the weather team shot to the skies. The flower shop girls banded together to make for their store. Lyra jumped behind the park bench she was sitting on to hide. Cheerilee and Berry ran side by side, making for the nearby Quill & Sofa shop. Pinkie Pie munched on some popcorn. Caramel ran off to the-
        Wait hold on!
        “Wowee Twilight, what did you do? You’re all super huge now! Is this a surprise for Spike?” she said cheerfully, somehow knowing exactly what was going on.
        “PINKIE!” she boomed, forgetting her voice again. Twilight lowered it best as she could. “You…you recognize me just fine?”
        The pink pony giggled into her snack. “Silly! Even though you’re a super sooty dragon right now I’d still spot my friend anywhere!”
        “Sooty?” Twilight reached a claw upwards and rubbed her head, bringing back a black palm. “I guess the thick smoke I was snoring settled on my scales overnight.”
        “Looks like it!” Pinkie Pie dove her head into the last of her popcorn. “So why’d you magic yourself a big ol’ dragon for, Twilight?”
        Twilight brushed some more soot out of her coarser hair. It was all weird now, stiff even, like the baleen of a whale, despite remaining the same shape and form. She stood up on her hind legs, stretching herself out in the open. The difference in size was so unnerving, especially with tiny little Pinkie Pie sitting in front of her looking just like a children’s toy. The tree she had just crawled out of was practically the same size as her! At least she got out okay.
        “Well...” she began, “it all started-“
        “THERE IT IS!” came a yell from above. Pinkie and Twilight looked up to see Rainbow Dash hovering next to Fluttershy.
        “Oh my…you um, weren’t pulling a prank this time,” said Fluttershy to Dash, looking embarrassed.
        “Told ya I wasn’t pulling your hoof! I think it ate Twi or something’!” she pointed at her.
        Fluttershy frowned. “Are you sure?”
        “Well…no,” Dash rubbed the back of her head. “But where else could she be then huh?”
        “What um, what do you want me to do?” she asked softly.
        “I uh,” Dash blinked. “Help me make it leave! Or throw up Twilight!”
        “GIRLS!” said Twilight loudly, both Pegasi flinched. “CALM DOWN!”
        Fluttershy’s mouth hung open. “Twili…”
        “How about you calm down!” retorted Dash, she launched herself downwards. “Tell us what you did with Twilight!”
        The fuming Pegasus spiralled at Twilight, who managed to dodge her with a quick lean to the left. Dash pulled a quick turn. She aimed for Twilight’s cheek. 
        “HEY! OUCH!” her right hand instinctively flew where Dash had bucked her. The kick didn’t register any actual pain.
        Rainbow Dash sped back high in the sky. Twilight noticed some of the ponies that had fled were sticking their heads out of their hiding places. Ignoring them she focused on Dash zooming back at her. At the very last minute she calculated exactly where she was going to be and dodged to the left, snatching the Pegasus by the tail with her claw.
        “Lemme go!” demanded Dash when Twilight moved her claws to pin Dash’s wings. It was so unreal to be easily holding her friend in one hand like this, especially with the speedster’s reputation as one of the top athletes in Ponyville. 
        “NO!” replied Twilight trying to get a better grip on her friend. “BE QUIET AND LISTEN!”
        “Not until you tell us what you did with Twilight!” snarled Dash trying to break free.
        Twilight sighed, sitting back down “Rainbow Dash,” she said softly.
        “Yeah what? That’s not an answ-“
        “Raaaainbow Dash,” Twilight brought the squirming pony up, so she was face to face with her.
        “What!? What are you…you,” Dash was staring into Twilights eyes now, the anger on her face giving away to realization. “You!?”
        The large purple dragon smiled. “It’s me, Twilight!”


***




        “So lemme get this straight sugar, ya’ll just up and turned yourself into a big ol’ lizard just’ ‘cause you felt bad about Spike?!”
        Twilight nodded, sitting on the ground in front of Sugarcube corner with all her friends (and some wary onlookers) to try explaining herself. The sun was high in the sky and she was using the wide sail like fin at the end of it to shade her friends with as they chatted; she had to be careful with it though, it had become stiff and serrated overnight.
        “That’s right. He started moulting this morning and he’s been all mopey. I originally wanted to just read up on dragons, history and stuff because I never really took the time to look into the subject,” she sighed, blowing hot breath over her friends and knocking Applejacks hat off. “Sometimes I feel like I just don’t connect with him, you know?”
        “I getcha jus’ fine Twi, but don’tcha think ya might have gone overboard this time?” said Applejack grabbing her hat. “Ya’ll couldn’t think of anythin’ else less drastic?”
        “Yeah Twilight,” Dash flew up and poked her in the nose, “I thought you were like, on fire or something horrible.”
        “Sorry,” she winced, “when I fell asleep I forgot about how dragons snore smoke. Well, big dragons. Originally I was a much more manageable size. I got like…this,” Twilight motioned to her backside, “overnight.”
        Rarity tilted her head, face puzzled. “Darling, don’t tell me that you let this spell get out of control! Shouldn’t you have been Spike’s size at your age? You are only two years younger than I!”
        “That’s another thing Rarity,” she lowered her head. “I just made an assumption that at my age a female dragon’s size would be completely similar to males. As you can see…it’s apparent that the girls grow faster than boys.”
        “I’ll say,” Applejack whistled. “Girl, ya’ll gotta be about thirty feet long now!”
        “I know, I know. It’s really awkward being like this. Although,” she pulled out her hand to flex her claws, “it’s also kind of neat.”
        “Shall I go check up on Fluttershy?” proposed Rarity getting up from her seat.
        “You can if you’d like Rarity, although I’m sure she’ll find the book,” said Twilight waving her hand dismissively. After the chaos of exiting the library the meek Pegasus had offered to explore the library and find the spell book for her. Since Twilight wasn’t planning on returning there herself she had agreed to it.
        “I’m only offering because, messy as your library must be at the moment, she’s been missing for nearly fifteen minutes,” Rarity put a hoof to her chin, “although she could be tidying up the place for you.”
        “That’s pretty believable,” mumbled Twilight, recalling Fluttershy’s impromptu housekeeping last year for a way to get a hold of a certain golden ticket.
        “Let me just pop off to the Boutique for a spell, would you darling?” Rarity got up, trotting towards her store. “I’ll be right back with some choice gemstones for you.”
        Twilight’s stomach rumbled in anticipation, sounding like distant thunder. “Oh thank you so much for this Rarity! You have no idea how starving I am right now.”
        “I believe I do,” laughed Rarity, hearing that hungry growl. “Sit tight! I’ll be back soon!”
        Rainbow Dash peered through the bakery window. “Think Pinkie Pie may be baking too big of a cake? I haven’t seen her since you brought up lunch.”
        “She’ll whip up somethin’ mighty tasty I reckon,” Applejack said brightly. “I know she started out rough but that girl can bake one mean cake!”
        “Although I got one lil’ question for ya Twi,” said the orange pony real quick.
        “Oh?” Twilight leaned forwards to reach eye level with her.
        “Ya’ll didn’t even ask me if I could help ya out with your hunger pangs,” Applejack looked away, sounding a little hurt. “My apples ain’t good enough for ya now or somethin?
        “Oh nonononono,” she replied shaking her head. “AJ, last night I emptied my fridge! After all that I didn’t feel any less hungry until I snacked on Spike’s gems afterwards. I’m afraid that as tasty as your apples are, I’d end up eating through your entire orchard only to end up still hungry.”
        “Well, if ya’ll say so. Then why didja ask Pinkie to bake a cake then?”
        “Nopony asked Pinkie to start baking,” Dash scoffed. “She just did it when Twilight said she was hungry.”
        “That is right. Originally I just asked Rarity for help then Pinkie jumped in and I didn’t want to say no to her…” Twilight peered at the white unicorn shrinking in the distance. “Cakes and sweets are foods Spike eats after all. It should be-“
        “ALL DONE!” Pinkie Pie burst out of the bakery with an enormous cake in tow. “Who’s ready for some eats!”
        “Woooow,” they gaped at the towering confectionary treat Pinkie had whipped up. There were five layers completely drizzled with pink icing, a whole mess of bright green sprinkles covered the top of the cake. Each layer had a circle of cupcakes around it topped off by one big yellow cupcake at the very top.
        “Aw gross! Consarnit Twi!” yelled Applejack.
        “Huh?” Twilight looked down, seeing her friend tearing her hat off and removing what looked like a wet glob of…
        “Oops!” she apologized, grabbing the tablecloth and handing to Applejack. She couldn’t believe she just drooled on her like that. The cowboy hat was already soaked with saliva.
        “S’alright Twi, I know ya’ll didn’t mean to,” Applejack said wringing her hat. She wiped her hooves clean of spit and set it on the table.
        “Pinkie Pie this is the biggest cake I’ve ever seen in my life!” Dash hovered around the cake, taking in every angle. “You did all this so fast too!”
        “I used every single oven in the store! Even the one in the back that Mr. Cake said was on the fritz and to never use that I fixed last night! Looks good, right Twilight?”
        Twilight continued to gawk at the cake. “Yes! It’s amazing! Thank you so much!”
        “Welllll no problem-o! It was my pleasure! So dig in!” she beamed.
        “All of it?” asked Twilight, a little shocked.
        “Yup!” said Pinkie.
        “Aww…shucks, it looks so good,” lamented Dash.
        “I can share Pinkie Pie. It’s not big dea-“
        “Nuh-uh! This one’s allllll for you Twilight,” Pinkie pushed the cart towards her.
        “Don’t worry girls, I’ve got another cake in the oven for us to share!” she added, motioning to the bakery door. “The big ones just gotta go to Twilight. See, I figured if she’s gotten bigger, then her stomachs gotten bigger too. So the bigger the stomach, the bigger the appetite, right?”
        “I suppose…since you’re making more it’s okay. Thanks Pinkie,” repeated Twilight. Reaching out she picked up the tray holding the cake and set it in front of her. Pinkie Pie watched intently, hoping that she did a good job with the cake.
        Twilight licked her lips, then opened her mouth to take a bite.
        “My my, aren’t we hasty?” said Rarity, pulling up to the table with a mining cart full of gems. “I assumed Pinkie Pie would be finished by now, but to just dive in without proper dragon vittles seems so impetuous.”
        Dash snorted. “You took your sweet time picking out those gems. Did you organize them by color or something? They’re all ending up in the same place ya know,” she pointed a hoof to Twilights stomach.
        Rarity scowled at Dash, horn flaring to life. “For your information, I was attempting to pick out the jewels that were inherently flawed or scratched. Completely useless for proper application to my clothing but,” the colored stones magically lifted in the air, catching the light brilliantly, before embedding into the cake, “perfect for any hungry dragon.”
        In ten seconds the cake was a glowing mushy stone monument of what Twilight could only imagine as the most delicious thing on the planet. Her stomach roared impatiently, eyes locked to the growing feast before her. A final trio of dark topaz enshrined the crest of the cake and Rarity cut off her magic.
        “That’s all of them Twilight,” she looked up at her scaly friend, “well…’dig in’ I suppose?”
        Her mouth watering meal fully prepared Twilight did just that, taking a big chomp of the top half of the cake. The crystals crunched easily under her sharp teeth mixing with the gooey cake and creating the most luscious indescribable flavor she’d ever enjoyed. It was like chewing on a cake, rock candy smoothie. In only two more hurried bites she had eaten the entire thing.
        “Tarnation! Ya full now?” asked Applejack in awe at how quickly the massive cake had disappeared down Twilights gullet.
        “No,” answered Twilight truthfully, “Although it definitely helped a lot.”
        She decided to lie out on her side, stretching her legs and tail behind her. Absentmindedly she scratched at her scales again. Even now that tingling feeling was running through her body still. It wasn’t as strong as before, but still present. The sensation bugged her though. Of all things for the spells possible after effects why this? Turning her head she saw Fluttershy flying towards her. A familiar fat book was clutched in her teeth.
        Being cautious not to step too close to her massive friend Fluttershy landed on the ground, handing Twilight the book. Using the tips of her sharp claws she took it from her.
        “Thanks Fluttershy!” she said with a smile.
        “Oh, it was no trouble really,” replied Fluttershy looking away. “While I was there I, um, took the liberty of tidying up your books. If that’s okay with you…”
        Twilight beamed at her. Had she not been so big she would have hugged her right then and there. The idea of making Spike come home to clean up a mess she made was agonizing. Using the tip of one finger she flipped through the book to the last page where, squinting, she prepared to memorize the incantation.
        “It’s blank!” she gasped.
        “What?!” everyone crowded around her feet as Twilight bolted upright, frantically flipping the page back and forth as if it would show up if she did it enough times. The page remained blank of course.
        “I don’t know! Every other page in the entire book has a reversal spell on the opposite page but the last one, it…IT DOESN’T HAVE ANYTHING!” she exclaimed, her voice climbing in volume.
        “Calm down sugar!” Twilight felt Applejacks hoof pressing against her foot. “Ya gotta think maybe that books jus’ an old copy that never got the last sheet printed or something”
        THAT’S IMPOSSIBLE! NO EDITOR WOULD ALLOW A BOOK TO PASS WITH OUT FOLLOWING PROTOCOL!” she boomed, feeling very angry all of a sudden. Her breathing quickened, face getting very hot. What kind of book on transformation magic doesn’t put in a counterspell?! It was unbelievable! Completely absurd! Twilights arms started to shake. 
        SHHHNK
        “Twilight please do control yourself!” cried Rarity as Twilights tail whipped into one of the outdoor tables, slicing it in half. 
        Twilight dropped the book. She took a deep breath.
        One, two, three, four
        “N-no reason to fly off the handle okay Twi? Jus’, uh, jus’ don’t worry we’ll get this all sorted out,” said Applejack, backing away from her.
        Five six seven eight
        Fluttershy eeped, flitting away but then deciding against it, returning to Twilight’s side. “Don’t worry about it Twilight. You know better than anyone that there’s, um, you know, always a way to explain something.”
        Nine ten
        Twilight exhaled, feeling the heat of her anger deflating away.
        “IT’S ALRIGHT, I’M OKAY,” Twilight breathed, remembering to lower her powerful voice. “Just…got a little mad there for no reason,” she looked at the damage her tail had caused. “Pinkie Pie I’m sorry about the table…”
        “Oh don’t worry Twi! I’ll fix it in a jiffy!” Pinkie Pie called up to her, bouncing into the bakery.
        “Ya’ll gotta keep your temper in control missy,” scolded Applejack, the intensity in her green eyes actually making her shrink in guilt. “That thang at the end of your tail is sharper than a grinded knife an’ it’ll do nopony any good if ya jus’ start swingin’ it ‘round like that ‘cause ya’ll got into a hissy fit.”
        Twilight sighed, understanding completely and laying back down, resisting the urge to look back into the book. Even thinking about the omission was starting to get her annoyed again. Burying her head into her arms she closed her eyes, trying not to think about it as Applejack and Rarity bickered about the advantages of fixing up an old table to buying a brand new one. There was a tickling sensation on her snout. She opened her eyes to see Rainbow Dash standing on her face, her rosy eyes reflecting her own purple slitted ones.
        “Hey,” she said casually.
        “Hey Dash,” replied Twilight softly.
        Rainbow Dash pointed a blue hoof skyward. “There’s a carriage coming from Canterlot.”
        “Spike? Oh boy,” she groaned, lifting her head up.
        Just what are you upset about when this whole spell was a surprise for him? Just because it got out of hand doesn’t make it reason to worry.
        The carriage wheeled around the far side of the tree, banking left before grounding to a halt. Descending from the sky it was apparent the guards had noticed her but otherwise kept silent. Craning her neck Twilight watched Spike hop out of the carriage and rush into the library.
        “I guess I’ll go say hello,” she rumbled, getting to her feet. Rarity and Applejack were still bickering over the split table, Pinkie hadn’t returned from the bakery and Fluttershy politely excused herself to go feed her animals dinner. Twilight looked at Dash, who shrugged and started to coast towards the library.
        In ten steps she was there, Rainbow Dash already pounding at the door with her hoof.
        “Who’s there!?” questioned Spike through the door.
        “It’s me Spike,” replied Dash. “Also, come out here an-“
        “I’m not coming out. Did you fly through the window today Rainbow? There’s glass all over the floor!” he said, followed by crunching sounds.
        “No I didn’t break the window,” Rainbow Dash frowned, scrunching up her face “On the flip side, it was Twilight who broke the window.”
        Twilight winced at his silence. “Really?” he finally said “Why?”
        “Open the door and ask her yourself,” said Dash, shooting Twilight a mischievous smirk. She took off into the air, looped around Twilight’s head and hovered back above the doorway.
        The door slowly opened.
        Spike toddled outside. He looked up at the giant purple dragon before him. His eyes widened, jaw hanging wide open.
        “Hehe, hiya Spike,” waved Twilight.
        “Guh,” he squeaked, blinking, and fainting flat on his face.

> Road to Revitalization
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

        “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