Ignis Crystal the Dragon Pony

Ignis is a pony of unusual origins. She was born deep in the Crystal Mountains, to a pony of a dragon tribe.
Her father was a fire-breathing winged reptile, while her mother was a young pony scientist. When she was born, she had the appearance of a normal pony, not counting the dragon wings.
As she got older and older, her mother began to notice more and more dragon features on her little girl. One of them being her ability to breathe fire. On her 16th birthday, she was given a golden hooflet. She was instructed to wear this for the rest of her life, as it allowed her to maintain her dragon half. The hooflet has one single sapphire in the middle, and the rest is pure gold. Just as dragons become weary around gold, her inner dragon subsides. She may control her abilities much easier while wearing this, and it prevents outbreaks. She earned her cutie mark in a fire-breathing contest, when she melted a deep cavern in a stone mountain. Her parents were surprised she even earned a cutie mark, having so much dragon in her blood. Her mother was 25% dragon, while her father was 100%. This left her with only about 37.5% pony in her blood. Some consider her a Longma, but not quite.

On her 20th birthday, her mother passed away. She was so grief-stricken, she ran from her home. As the sky darkened, she flew into an uninhabited cave. She then broke off her golden hooflet. By doing so, her inner dragon was released. All of her grief was released, and she transformed into a large dragon. Surprised by this transformation, she hid in the cave for a few days, scared that someone might see her. As her energy drained, she began to look more and more like a pony. At about her halfway mark, she appeared as a halfling. She was a little larger than a pony, with a dragon tail and four dragon claws. Her wings were larger, and her vision was better. This was her favorite form.

As the years went by, her father passed as well. She was left as an orphan, living with the dragon tribes of the Crystal Mountains. Her mane grew long and straight, and she was rarely seen happy. The elders of the tribe urge her to find a friend, but she has no will to. Whenever she becomes angry, her eyes redden, and she automatically changes into her favored form. The halfling. She is rarely seen in her dragon form. She regularly goes for swims at the Neighagra Falls, and occasionally visits Ponyville. She was named after the fire in her eyes, but the ice in her glare.

Ignis regularly makes trips to Las Pegasus, to visit her only friend's Blacksmith shop. Sahara and Ignis Crystal are close friends; with Sahara being Ignis's only one. They had both met when they were only fillies. After a few years of constant travel, Ignis decided to move closer to Sahara. So, she moved to the San Palomino Desert; so she can enjoy the heat on her scales every day. Ignis decided to help out in the Blacksmith's shop, so she would take over when Sahara was sick. Shortly after Sahara opened her Blacksmith's shop, she became very sick. The doctors diagnosed her with something called Ménière's Disease. Soon, Ignis started to become depressed again. She feared for her friend's life and happiness. 

I drew this by hand, then vectored it. No copying, stealing, or tracing. I did use one of Lauren Faust's sketches as a reference.

Dragon Form