Spike stared. "Discord? What're you doing here?

"I'm doing fine. Thanks for asking." Discord scanned up and down Spike's enormous frame, one elegantly-curved eyebrow hovering above his forehead. "You're looking different—did you lose weight? Do something new with your scales?"

"Weren't you supposed to be in Gryphonia?" Rarity asked. "Something to do with a weather problem, I believe?"

"Rarity, Rarity," Discord said. "That's old news by now."

"And how, if I might ask, did the Gryphon Emperor react to a custard pie to the beak?"

"Better than expected," Discord replied dryly.

"In any case, that doesn't answer the question of why you're here," Spike pointed out.

Discord paused, putting a claw to his lip. "...It doesn't? I suppose you're right."

He shrugged. "Well, what can I say? I just happened to be in the neighborhood, really. After my time abroad, I suppose I wanted to stop by to see some of Ponyville's rustic charm."

"I asked him here."

Twilight stepped forward, all eyes turning toward her.

"Twilight?" Spike asked, eyes widening. "You did?"

There was a playful, knowing smile on her face. "Yup. Remember that letter I wrote last week?" she asked. "That was for the Princess. I told her about the situation, asked if she knew anypony who could help, and she recommended Mr. Chaos over here."

"Twilight!" A claw went to Discord's forehead. "You wound me—I'm reformed! Fluttershy will vouch for me."

"That doesn't mean that you like chaos any less," Twilight replied. "As I'm sure the Gryphon Ambassador would be more than happy to tell us."

Discord pouted. A white flag popped into existence between his claws, and he waved it back and forth with a weary sigh. "Oh, fine. Be that way."

"Anyway," Twilight said, "Celestia and Luna were too busy to make the trip, but Discord's already generously offered to lend us a hoof—er, hand—in fixing things."

"What things?" Spike asked.

Discord gave him a toothy grin; Spike shifted uncomfortably as those slitted eyes roamed up and down his body. "Why, your 'little' problem, of course. I'd heard that you were...less than satisfied with your latest growth spurt."

Spike's eyes widened. He was suddenly reminded of just how little the ponies at his feet really were. His claws drew up into fists at his sides, and he held his wings in a little tighter. "I—you can fix this?" he blurted. "Make it go back to normal?"

"Perhaps."

"None of your games," Rarity said. She took a step in front of Spike and glared up at Discord's taller, more wiry frame. "Either you're going to help Spike or you're not, so speak up instead of dancing around the issue."

Discord's eyes darted over to Twilight, who nodded in return. "Very well."

He snapped his fingers and vanished, reappearing around Spike's neck like some kind of bizarre necklace. Spike nearly leapt in surprise at the sudden weight; as it was, several of the ponies nearby noticed his shift in weight and quickly edged away to avoid becoming pony-pancakes.

"Allow me to put things simply, then," Discord said, tapping his claws on Spike's scales. "You're a dragon. Dragons grow big. Hence, you're big."

"Discord—"

"Oh, hush. I'm getting there." Discord waggled a claw in Twilight's direction. "Didn't your mother ever tell you that it was rude to be impatient?"

Twilight twitched. Discord gave her a wink.

"As I'm sure you've noticed," he went on, "this growth of yours hasn't been exactly what you expected."

Spike nodded. "Twilight's never heard of dragons growing this quickly, and even the doctor thought that I was done after the first growth spurt."

"As well she should," Discord said dryly. He paused. "For a normal dragon, anyway."

"What do you mean 'normal'?" Spike asked, narrowing his eyes. "I'm completely normal."

"Of course you are," Discord purred. "Well, dear Princess? Do tell your young charge exactly what's normal about him."

Twilight's cheeks flared a bright red, and Spike frowned.

"Well," Twilight coughed, "Most dragons aren't hatched in the midst of a magical meltdown caused by a unicorn ranked an eight-point-four on the Cadabra scale."

Discord tapped his chin. "Not to mention undergoing a forced growth spell mere seconds after hatching. Tsk, tsk, Ms. Sparkle. Quite irresponsible." Twilight blushed even further.

"Hey!" Spike shouted. It came out as more of a deep rumble; windows shook up and down the street by the sheer force of his voice.

Below his knees, he could hear Rainbow Dash yelp, "Hey! Watch it, bucko!"

Discord gave him a meaningful look. A sheepish grin crossed Spike's face, but soon faded into a scowl once more.

"None of that was Twilight's fault!" Spike crossed his arms over his impressively-sized chest. "She was just a filly! She didn't know what she was doing!"

"Ah, ah, ah," Discord said. "But that doesn't change the fact that it happened in the first place."

A devilish grin crossed his face, and he snapped his fingers again, this time reappearing on top of Spike's head. "So tell me, Mr. Big Bad Dragon: What happens when a wyrmling is hatched through the use of explosive magic, exposed to a growth spell before his draconic energy has even had the chance to stabilize, and then left alone  with that very same magic source for all sixteen years of his young dragon life?" He waggled his eyebrows for emphasis. "Not to mention whatever impact living with the Element of Magic might have had. Even alone, the Elements' auras are quite potent."

Spike's mouth moved dumbly. "I—what," he stammered. "But—"

Discord smirked.

"I'm eighteen," Spike finally managed to mumble out. "Not sixteen."

"Yes, yes. As they say in the rolling suburbs of Los Pegasus, whatever." Discord waved a hand dismissively. "Regardless, this is how all of the pieces come together."

He snapped his fingers. "First, there's a spark."

The image of a chubby-looking baby dragon flickered into the air beside Spike's head.

"Then energy builds up."

The baby dragon glowed purple, its image seeming to pulsate for a few moments.

"And then?" Discord smirked. "Ka-boom."

The image suddenly swelled outward, expanding with wild abandon until Discord clapped his hands together. It stopped, hung in there air for a second, and then vanished with a pop.

Spike swallowed. "So wait—this is because of magic? Because of Twilight?"

"Only halfway." Discord vanished, this time appearing on the ground with his hands clasped behind his back and a monocle over one eye. "Dragons have their own inner magic, you see. It's what keeps them growing, which for most of them is a slow and steady race, usually ending at around one hundred feet or so after a few centuries." He paused. "Give or take."

"But for me?"

"But for you!" Discord rubbed his hands together, cackling. "That's the fun bit! With your circumstances, you've got enough pony magic and draconic magic to keep you going forever!"

Spike blanched. "Forever?"

Discord winked. "And with your growth refreshing and increasing the amount of ambient magic in your body, the draconic side has more to feed on."

"It's a feedback loop," Twilight cut in. She was chewing on her lip, her eyes averted toward the ground. "It'll keep going, increasing exponentially. It might not ever end."

"You think this is big?" Discord asked gleefully. In the blink of an eye, he was Spike's height, looking him right in the eye as he towered over the nearby houses...but then he was swelling, expanding, growing upward and outward until he filled the sky, two yellow eyes glaring down at the Earth below—

And then he was Discord once more, leaning up against Spike's leg. "Big," he snorted. "This isn't big. This is piddly."

Spike hadn't noticed it, but he was sweating. A dawning look of horror was in his friends' eyes: Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and Applejack. His heart felt like it was beating out of control as images flashed across his mind: flattening Ponyville in a single step, destroying Canterlot like an ant beneath his foot, growing and growing and growing until Equestria itself was like dust—

"Enough!" Rarity took a step toward Discord and glared. "You said that you would help him. If you're here to do no more than terrify the poor dragon, then you're welcome to leave!"

"Go on," Twilight said. "Tell them what Princess Celestia told me."

"As you likely already know," Discord said loudly, shaking his head, "while your Princesses control things like the sun, moon, and love—" he snorted under his breath "—Chaos magic is my forté."

He snapped his fingers, and a cloud of cotton candy appeared overhead. Little kernels of popcorn began raining down, hitting everypony's heads with little thunk-thunks. Some ponies tried to shield themselves, squatting with their hooves over their heads and squinting through the sudden nutty downpour. Others, like Pinkie Pie, opened their mouths wide and began to feast.

"If you had to describe chaos in one word," Discord asked Spike, "what would it be? Come on, now—don't be shy."

"Um...bizarre?"

Discord shook his head.

"Strange? Weird?" Spike offered. "Out of control?"

"Getting closer."

"Uncontrolled? Unrestrained?" he asked. "Wild?"

A grin spread across Discord's face. "Bingo. And do you know what pony scientists call dragon magic?"

"Wild magic."

"You're on fire tonight!" Pieces of paper began to rain down alongside the popcorn, with the letters B-I-N-G-O proudly emblazoned across their surfaces. A fang poked over Discord's lip as his smile spread from ear to ear—literally cutting through his cheeks until his dimples had vanished completely. "And can you guess what that means?"

Spike's eyes drifted over Discord's much smaller form until he noticed something: his tail. Namely, his red-scaled, pointed, draconic tail.

"You're a dragon," he blurted.

Twilight smacked her forehead.

"I guess that's the best they could come up with in the ol' University, eh?" Discord vanished, reappearing by Applejack's side. He elbowed her in the side; a checkered beanie was one his head, and a white beard covered his face. "Eh, ol' chap? Eh? Eh?"

Spike rolled his eyes.

"But I suppose there is a reason why they call me a draco—nequus," Discord finally said. "I have a certain...connection to your little brand of magic that your pretty pony princesses lack."

"So that means—"

"Yes." Discord buffed his claws against his chest and inspected them with a critical eye. "I can shrink you back down to size. Any size, really. I can even cut off any future growth, if that's what you want."

Spike felt the world go silent.

Cut off...any future growth...

Just stop right here, he realized. Never get as big as the other dragons. Never feel that surge of power or strength as it pulsed through his veins, swelling like the fire in his chest—

Rarity's face flickered across his mind's eye. Twilight's followed it, then Rainbow Dash's, Pinkie Pie's—even Celestia's! A normal life! Was it worth it?

He narrowed his eyes. Absolutel—

"Discord! Stop joking around and cut to the chase already!"

He blinked.

"Oh, poo." Discord rolled his eyes, putting a hand to his hip. "Can't a spirit of chaos have a little fun once in a while?" He glanced over at Twilight. "No? Very well then."

He gave a long, drawn-out sigh. "What Ms. Princess Formerly Known As The Librarian wants me to tell you is that I can give you more than an on/off switch. I can give you a knob."

"You can what?" Spike asked.

Discord smirked. "Oh, Spike, my boy. You never thought that your magic was completely uncontrollable, did you? A pity it isn't," he added, tutting quietly. "Lost restraint is always more fun.

"But yes," he went on. "Your developed 'pony' magic has given you a certain degree of...control, shall we say?" He shrugged. "So, I do a little switcheroo with your body—let you control your size and power—and we're all off to the races!"

He held his arms out wide and waggled his eyebrows. "So, Spikey-Wikey—what do you think?Do we have a deal?"

Rarity trotted up, beaming from ear to ear. "Discord, if what you're saying is true—"

Discord leaned against one of Spike's tree-trunk-like legs, looking very pleased with himself. "Have I ever given you reason to doubt me?"

She gave him a meaningful look, and his cheeks flushed a light pink.

"Well," he muttered under his breath, "maybe once or twice."

"—If this is true," Rarity continued, "then Spike—this could be the perfect solution! You wouldn't have to worry about outgrowing Ponyville anymore!"

For some reason, those last words gave him a pang of sadness, but that was quickly replaced by a grin that slowly spread across his face. "That'd definitely be pretty cool."

Twilight edged over to Discord and elbowed him in the side. "See? I told you it'd work out."

"I never doubted you, Twilight."

She rolled her eyes. "So, Spike: Are you ready for this?"

Spike took a deep breath. He could feel something in his lungs, jittering like a butterfly hyped up on caffeine. Was it fear? Tension? Concern?

He closed his eyes. No.  It was excitement.

His eyes snapped open. He looked down at Discord, a thin smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. "Let's do it."

Discord clapped his hands; the sound echoed like a thunderclap in the enclosed space. "Excellent! Just hold still, and it'll all be over in a jiffy." Holding up his claw to Spike's leg, he paused for a moment—

—something sparking on the end of his claw—

—and then gave him a poke right between two scales.

For a moment, Spike didn't feel anything; in fact, he'd barely felt Discord's touch. "Are you sure that worked?" he asked, his voice rumbling out.

Discord buffed his claws against his chest. "Oh, you'll see."

And then Spike felt it: a sudden tension running up and down his spine, as if he'd been lying still for a very long time. Then the tightness began: it felt like his skin was shriveling up, curling into itself with each passing second. He looked up and gaped; the sky was getting further away! He peered down at his legs and gasped: his limbs were getting shorter, his oversized muscles deflating a little bit more with every inch of height that he lost.

He groaned; it felt like someone had taken hold of his tail and pulled, hard. He felt the scales shrinking across his skin, his  spines flopping down over his head. He'd lost about five feet in height by this point; where once he had towered over the nearest house, he was now only big enough to look through the third-story windows.

Down below, the ponies by his feet were milling about nervously, watching the whole process with something between awe and fear. Watching him getting bigger was one thing, but this backward kind of growth was something else entirely.

"Whoa—whoa!" Spike yelped. His arms jerked wildly, wobbling as he struggled for balance.

The shrinking redoubled, and Spike felt himself drop a few more feet in height. He couldn't be larger than thirteen feet now—about the same height he'd been before he'd wrecked Rarity's house. It felt tight, his scales crawling across his skin as they receded, both in size and in bulk. His chest and arms, which before had been godlike in proportion, were now much more manageable in size and weight.

And then the world dropped out from beneath him.

"Ack!"

Twelve feet became seven in a fraction of a second, his legs compacting beneath his torso before he could react. He collapsed in an unwieldy pile on the ground, moaning in time with the throbbing of his head and arms.

"Ugh..."

"There." Discord smirked and crossed his arms over his chest. "Much better."

Spike groaned again, his eyes flickering. The world seemed blurry, the suddenly towering buildings swaying before his unfocused eyes. "Twilight?" he murmured, watching a vaguely purple shape moving toward him. "Is that you?"

He felt warm fur push around his chest. "Yes, Spike," Twilight whispered back to him. "It's me. And everything is going to be okay."

"Spike!"

He let out another oof as another weight crashed onto his stomach. "R-rarity?"

"Oh, it's lovely to see you down here again, Spike!" She smiled at him, her eyes glittering; his vision cleared a little, and he smiled in return. "I can't tell you how worried I was!"

"I can imagine," he chuckled. He wrapped an arm around her—and Twilight, who let out a little "eep" at the sudden pressure—wondering at the feeling of something in his arms that wasn't tiny. "It's just good to be back on the ground, again."

"So—is the customer satisfied? Does the waiter get a tip?"

Twilight snorted and rolled off of Spike's chest. "Thank you, Discord."

"Thanks," Spike echoed. He looked up at Discord, a fang poking out over his lip—and gaped.

"You're tall," he said stupidly.

"Oh? I hadn't noticed."

Twilight giggled. "Yup. Everything's going to be just fine."

"Ah-ah-ah," Discord cut in. "Let's just do a quick checkup first." In a flash, he was back by Spike's side, holding a clipboard in his hands and wearing a clean white coat around his shoulders. A stethoscope hung around his neck.

"Any nausea?" he asked.

Spike blinked. "Just some dizziness."

"Any violent contortions? Seizures?"

"Um—"

"Boils, moles, or sentient acne of any kind? Pus, blisters, or genital warts?"

"I—blegh!" Spike stuck out his tongue. "Okay; I did not need that last one."

Discord peered over the edge of his spectacles at Spike; evidently satisfied, he clapped his hands and the whole doctor's ensemble disappeared. "Excellent. I'll give you a clean bill of health for now."

He bent down to look Spike in the eye. "So," he asked, drawing out the first letter of the word and giving it a lazily flick at the end, "Can you feel it?"

"Feel what?"

"Your size, of course. It had to go somewhere, didn't it?"

Spike closed his eyes. Nothing "I—wait."

There. He could feel it, like a knot at the back of his mind. He could feel it, swelling and pulsing with each heartbeat. Curiously, he poked at it with a thought, loosening it ever so slightly—

"Whoa!" Dash exclaimed.

He opened his eyes. "Whoa," he echoed, a bit more happily. He'd grown again, going from about six and a half feet to a nice, round eight feet. His muscles had bulked back up a bit, too, and he felt a familiar surge of power in the wings that fluttered behind his back.

Discord chuckled. "Now try to put it back."

Spike nodded. Probing around that point in his mind, he found that knot again. This time, though, instead of loosening it, he tightened it, drawing it back in on itself until it was back to its original size. He could see himself shrinking as he did it, his body growing smaller with each tightening of the knot.

"That," he said slowly, "is cool."

"It's pretty awesome," Dash put in.

Discord grinned. "Excellent! Now, any questions?"

"Don't think so."

"Just lovely!" Discord chirped. He snapped his claws, a bright-colored shirt decorated with flowers appearing on his shoulders. "I'll be off, then—got beaches to see, theme parks to litter—"

He stopped midstep. "Unless, of course, you'd like to give yourself one last run."

Spike stared after him. He could feel Twilight at his side, a comforting weight against his leg. "What do you mean?"

Discord looked over his shoulder, peering over his sunglasses. "Why, your growth, of course."

A sly smirk crossed his face. "After all, don't tell me that you didn't enjoy it a little bit. That sense of strength—of sheer size?" A dark chuckle rumbled through his chest. "Come now, my boy. Everyone likes a little taste of power."

Spike stared at his feet. He was suddenly aware of everypony's eyes on him. "Maybe a little," he mumbled.

"And why not cut loose for once?" Discord purred. Spike was suddenly aware of Discord's claw laying across his shoulder, the draconequus giving him a tight grin from barely a foot away. "Let's see what that draconic magic is capable of."

Spike swallowed. "I—"

He glanced at Twilight, who offered him a tentative smile.

He turned back to face Discord and grinned. "Let's do it."

"Excellent!"

Spike's eyes widened as he felt a sudden force pulling at his arm. "Wait, what—"

"Farewell, my little ponies!" Discord said, beaming out over the crowd. He gave a little wave. "Don't worry about us; I'll take along two of your friends for supervision. Not that you'll need any eyewitnesses, that is," he added, tapping a claw on his chest.

A mischievous smile flickered across his face. "You'll be able to see the whole thing live. Just keep your eyes on that horizon! Now ta-ta!"

He waggled his claws, a white light building up around his feet—as well as Spike's, Twilight's, and Rarity's.

"Discord!" Rainbow Dash hollered. "What're you—"

"Arrivederci!"

The four vanished.