From the Journal of Leon the Dragon

Waking up meant another round of grogginess while strange fragments left over from my dream flitted through my head. I was a bit embarrassed to note how several of the flashes seemed to include one of the mane 6 posing nude. Which, considering where I was now, was only strange because they were posing. And the tingling feeling was back. That was great. I had a suspicion that a pattern might have started and quickly pulled out my arms to look at them. To my mild surprise, the only thing I saw were my newly acquired claws.

Then I tried getting out of bed and found what I was expecting. “And there it is! Guess this is going to be a thing now,” I mumbled to myself.

My feet were no longer recognizable. With an off-white color that made me think of cream, they now sported their own set of claws with an almost digitigrade shape. I puzzled over the look for a bit, since I couldn’t immediately place the shape which had notable difference up to just above my ankles. They definitely weren’t paws, like a cat or dog would have. But the only other thing I could think of with claws right then was a bird’s feet… and they weren’t anything like that.

At the same time I felt like I’d seen feet -very- similar to these, but the lingering fuzziness of waking up… without any hope of coffee, I might add… meant that trying to chase down my thoughts just gave me a headache. I let it slide for the time being and worked on coming up with a plan for the day instead.

An audible gurgle from my stomach informed me that the first part of the plan would be breakfast. With only a couple of wobbles on my new feet, I made myself as presentable as I could before heading into the main room. Twilight was standing over by the stairs, yelling up at Spike to get out of bed. She spared a quick smile for me which I returned, though mine might have been a bit off due to my headache. I quietly made my way into the kitchen to help start on some breakfast. I’ve always been taught to try to be useful when being a guest, and I was kinda worried that I might end up being served flowers or something if I didn’t make my own inputs at the beginning.

Lucky for me there were plenty of eggs, so that didn’t seem to be against pony eating conventions. Plus I already knew from yesterday that Twilight and Spike were both fond of pancakes. It wasn’t my favorite breakfast item, and felt weird not having sausage or something with it (also not a fan of bacon, so at least I wasn’t pining for that) but it beat having a bowl of oats.

I’d just finished finding everything needed to start cooking when Spike padded in. He covered a yawn while waving at me as he came over to the stove. “Morning Leon.” He started to turn towards the cupboard I had recently discovered had the pots and pans when he seemed to do a double-take and looked back at me, specifically at my feet. “Huh. Cool feet you got now.”

That seemed like a really casual way to comment on my continuing change into something else, but I figured it was better than constantly freaking out over it. It also prompted me to look down at his feet, just for the symmetry...

…

Oh. THAT’S where I’d seen feet like these before. Right.

Spike seemed oblivious to my staring as he went back to pulling out pans and even started working on the pancake mix, but when Twilight poked her head in to see what we were talking about she instantly noticed what my numb brain had finally figured out. “Oh! You have feet like a dragon!”

Breakfast was a quick affair. For some reason my brain kept trying to call it dinner and I had to correct myself mid-sentence several times. Currently, I was sitting in a chair, staring down at my feet. Twilight and I had spent a decent chunk of time yesterday theorizing about what I was turning into, going over everything that had claws on their hands. I think she might have actually mentioned dragons once during that, but we really went over a whole bunch of possibilities including griffins, manticores, harpies, and even a cat-like race by Twilight’s description. (Apparently they mainly live on another continent.) But now it looked to be pretty firm that I was turning into a dragon.

I wasn’t totally sure what to think of that. Part of me thought it was freak’n awesome, to be honest. Another part was still pretty weirded out about transforming into -anything-. But I got dragged out of my thoughts by Twilight gently shaking my shoulder. “Did you hear me, Leon?”

I looked up into her concerned face and gave her the best smile I could come up with. “Sorry about that Twilight. I was just lost in my own thoughts. What were you saying?”

She shook her head at that, but didn’t seem to actually be upset with me. Moving to sit in a chair that was facing mine, she repeated herself. “I was telling you that I just got a letter back from Princess Celestia. She’s interested in you, obviously, and also worried about what Discord appears to have done. Specifically, something that Discord explained to her seems to be important and she’s planning to come meet you tomorrow so she and Discord can explain it to you.”

It took my brain a few moments to actually catch on to the implications of that. I was chewing over the fact that there was important stuff to learn from Discord, but I was happy to know I’d soon get a chance to ask him more questions. And the fan-boy in me was kind of squealing at the thought of actually meeting the royalty of this worl… “Wait. Tomorrow? Celestia is coming here tomorrow?!?”

Twilight sat back a little and blinked several times at my sudden tone of panic. “Um, yes. That’s what I just said.” She leaned forward again as I went to put my head in my hands. “What’s wrong with that, Leon?”

Internally, my body was trying to decide whether to simply shut down or to freak out. In this case, freaking out won. “I’m meeting a princess tomorrow! -Another- princess!! I don’t have anything appropriate to wear for this! Fuck!!” I realized I was standing and desperately trying to go somewhere, only I didn’t have any idea where I could go right now. “I should be in my best Dress Blues for this, dammit! At the very least I gotta get this outfit properly cleaned, but how do I do that without going around naked the whole time?!”

The ruckus I was starting to make got Spike’s attention. “Hey, what’s the problem in here?”

I tried to hold back on the glare that I wanted to give Spike right then as some part of me realized he didn’t deserve it. “What’s the problem?! The problem is that I’m about to meet an important leader from another world and I currently look like a disgrace to the whole human race! Not to mention the US Air Force.” I actually threw my hands up in the air as I all but screamed at the purple drake.

Spike was making a braking motion at me with his hands. “Whoa, whoa…” he started in a soothing tone. “Calm down there Leon. Whatever you think is wrong with you right now, I’m sure Twilight and I can help you fix it before you have to meet Princess Celestia.” As he attempted to calm me I couldn’t help noticing that Twilight was trying to hide a grin behind her hand.

When she saw me staring at her with a questioning look she lowered her hand and gently shook her head. “I’m sorry. It’s just a little amusing to me to see Spike doing this to somepony else. Usually -I’m- the one he needs to help calm down.” That statement earned a short chuckle and nod from Spike.

“Okay, fine, it’s funny,” I huffed. “But I really need help. I already feel like I’ve made a bad first impression for being the first person from my world. What is Princess Celestia gonna think of me looking like this?” I said as I waved an arm over my outfit.

She’d probably think humans were a horrible, dirty, smelly lot that could be potentially dangerous. She might even decide I need to be locked up for the safety of her subjects. Hell, I would in her place! It didn’t occur to me that I was already deciding what the opinions would be of another person. One I had until recently thought was only a fictional character.

My internal worrying must have shown on my face since Twilight came over to put a friendly hand on my shoulder. Looking me straight in the eyes (still felt weird needing to look UP to her) she confidently told me, “I’m sure the Princess won’t think poorly of you just from your appearance.”

Spike, who had also moved closer in what looked like an attempt to be comforting, tried to add his own two cents. “Yeah, if anything she’ll probably think you’re just overdressed.” A sharp look from Twilight made him shrug with a, “What?” However my own expression was simply one of confusion.

“Overdressed?” I parroted.

“Um, yeah,” Spike replied. “I mean, you’ve had on a shirt and pants every time I’ve seen you. It’s not like Twilight here or anyone else is acting formal, and this isn’t exactly the royal palace either, even if Twilight is technically a princess now.”

Twilight was nodding in agreement. “That’s right. This is still just the ponyville library. There’s no reason to get all dressed up while you’re staying here.”

I stood there, staring at them staring at me, for what felt like an hour but was probably only a few minutes. Finally I let out a sigh and beckoned them back over to the chairs. “Okay, I don’t want to, but now I have to explain this.”

It was surprising how easy that conversation went. Maybe it was because there were only two people I was talking to now, instead of a whole room full. Maybe having something else I was freaking out about was helping me put it in perspective. Whatever the reason, explaining humanity’s nudity taboos went quickly and easily. It definitely helped that Twilight was an intellectual and seemed to find this to be fascinating instead of being weirded out. And I really appreciated her offer to talk to all of her friends about it for me, instead of making me re-explain this to everyone I met.

Less than two hours later, I was standing inside Carousel Boutique. The walk over had some… ups and downs to it. One major plus was that having dragon feet meant that walking outside didn’t hurt at all. This was really good, since my boots no longer fit me. On the down side, every pony walking around was completely nude, with the exception of an occasional accessory like a hat or necklace. For the women, this just meant that I had to work really hard at not staring inappropriately. For the guys, though… well, it could be worse. At least they seemed to have a sheath that kept most of the more disturbing parts out of sight.

Come to think of it, where was Spike’s junk? Not that I was about to ask him.

Letting Twilight do most of the talking, while putting in my own inputs when needed or asked for, Rarity was eventually convinced to set me up with a basic tuxedo-style outfit. Of course, she wanted to make it from scratch and personally fitted to me. I was concerned that this would take too much time and effort, but these arguments got me nowhere with Rarity. Perhaps seeing my desperation, Twilight came to my aid by pointing out that my body seemed to still be changing and that it would be a shameful waste to put so much work into something that wouldn’t fit me in the near future.

While this got Rarity’s grudging agreement, it didn’t save me from being stripped down to my skivvies (the most I would allow, despite Rarity’s repeated attempts to get me completely nude) for the ‘required’ measuring. It would seem that while there was an existing set of clothes I would be using, they still needed to be adjusted to fit properly. I really would have been fine with something that simply fit well enough, but having now seen first-hand what was made obvious in the show, I knew I’d never convince Rarity. She promised to have the alterations done and delivered to Twilight’s home before dinner, so I didn’t have any real complaints.

The problem was that while I managed to keep the one piece of clothing, Rarity had none. While we were just talking, I’d done a good job of avoiding thinking about that fact too much, but Rarity’s idea of taking measurements seemed to include a lot of body contact. Feeling her breasts rubbing against my arms, back, and chest was too much for me. The boner was inevitable, and just as embarrassing as I figured it would be. Rarity laughed when she noticed it, coming around to begin the lower measurements. “Oh darling, it’s fine! Really! It’s a normal enough reaction. Honestly, even if you didn’t insist on this silly piece of cloth… it isn’t anything I haven’t seen before!” She stopped for a second, finger on her lip while she thought over that last sentence. “At least, I’ve seen what a stallion would have, but maybe yours is different….?”

She looked up at me, kneeling down in front of me, and bat her eyelashes at me. It was obvious from her face that she was curious and trying to get me to let her see what I was hiding. I returned her look with the best glare I could muster out of all the awkwardness I was feeling. She gave out a huff before going back to taking measurements. “Well, you can’t blame a lady for trying.”

As for the laundry problem, I was given a solution from an unexpected source. Spike mentioned that until I was settled into my new form, it would probably be easiest to use sweatshirts and pants. As he pointed out, they were typically worn baggy and had a lot of stretch to them, so I could get some that were pretty loose and keep using them even if I ended up becoming much larger. He also noted that he found them to be very comfortable when he wanted to wear something casual, although he seemed a bit embarrassed to admit it. Thankfully, Rarity didn’t have any arguments with this idea and even she couldn’t see a reason to alter sweat-clothes, so I was able to leave with a small pile of casual wear and a promise for a formal suit later that day.

Considering how much I don’t like dealing with clothes shopping, I felt like I got off pretty easy with that.

Twilight and I went back to library, leaving Spike behind since he volunteered to help Rarity out. Twilight had given him a friendly nudge and a wink after his offer, which I didn’t really understand. Nor did it make sense to me when she pointedly reminded him that the clothes were expected by dinner time. I let it go by without commenting. I didn’t really need to understand, and I wanted to get out of the dirty clothes I was wearing and into the new sweat-clothes I was carrying.

Taking a shower was a little more exciting with claws instead of my usual hands. I was very slow and cautious about how I touched my own skin. I also decided that I was going to have to owe Twilight a new bar of soap when I was done. The current one had sustained critical damage and would likely break up in the next attempted use or so. Still, it felt pretty good to finally get clean again.

It wasn’t until I was dried off and ready to get dressed again that I realized what was missing. Underwear never got brought up. I decided not to get worked up over it. Honestly, it wasn’t the first time I had to go commando, and at least this would be in some comfortable sweats instead of a scratchy uniform.

I was very thankful to find out Twilight had a washing machine and dryer to use. Even better, this discovery finally gave me the opportunity to ask a question that had been bothering me since yesterday.

“Twilight, do these machines…? What do they run on? Electricity? Magic?”

She gave me a thoughtful look, tilting her head to the side for a moment before answering. “I guess you could kind of say it’s both, but mostly it’s the electricity.”

That wasn’t the clearest answer, but it still let me get to my real question. “So where does the electricity come from? I don’t see any plugs. For that matter, I don’t see any outlets on the walls.” This discrepancy had been bothering me ever since I watched Twilight turn on a table lamp in the main room which I could clearly see had no plug coming from it.

Again, Twilight had a look of concentration, staring at me for a bit before answering. “Um… what’s an ‘outlet’ and how does it use a plug? Wouldn’t a plug stop the electricity?” It seemed odd to me how she seemed to have trouble saying “outlet,” like it was a foreign word.

“Well, in my world, the outlet is where you plug in the wire to get electricity from the wall…” I let my reply trail off as I only saw continuing confusion on Twilight’s face. Spending a moment to come up with a different track, I tried again. “Humans use wires to give the electricity a path to follow to the machine from its source, which is usually a generator of some kind.”

Twilight still looked confused, but also a bit surprised. “Really? Wouldn’t that use up an awful lot of wire? We just send the electricity through the air using the *******.”

I blinked several times. Her last word didn’t sound like anything I’d ever heard before, in any language on Earth. To be totally honest, it sounded kind of horse-like. But that wasn’t even the weird part. No, the weird thing was that when she said it, I got this mental picture of … crystals… with waves coming out?... in my head from out of nowhere.

My best bet was to relate what just happened to me, and hope Twilight could explain it. The good news? Yes, she could. So what’s the bad news? The explanation still gives me a headache whenever I try to wrap my head around it. In the short form, there really is a ‘magic of harmony’ that surrounds all life (still makes me think of the Force from Star Wars) and one of its many uses is the ability to automatically translate what anyone… no matter the species… says into the native language for whoever is listening to them. The problem with the word Twilight used is that English doesn’t have any term that’s close. The vague impressions I got was the best the magic could do. This actually helped explain some things from earlier conversations I’d had, since anytime I was a little confused on word choices I would suddenly get a clearer idea of what the speaker had meant.

Oh, the other bad news though? The magic doesn’t work on writing. I realised that I couldn’t read a single damn book in Twilight’s library. I had everything from chicken scratch to moon letters to something that looked vaguely Egyptian to me. None of it made sense. So there went one of my main hobbies.

Damnit! I can’t even read any of these Daring Do books! Which there are apparently already 23 of, and she’s still going.

I guess it could have been worse. Being with Twilight at least gave me someone interesting to talk to. Oh, and the whole electricity thing gives me a headache, too. Using crystals to send electricity wirelessly through the air? Mind-boggling.

By the time we’d settled my newest issue, it was past time to get some lunch. Twilight suggested going out to get a “large snack” instead of a full meal to try and keep a normal eating schedule, which I was happy to agree to. Much to my amusement, though not to my surprise, we ended up heading to Sugarcube Corner. Pinkie was nowhere in evidence, but Mr. Cake was happy to serve us the sweet bread and chocolate milk that Twilight ordered for us. I was just happy that he wore an apron while working, so I didn’t have to deal with seeing things I didn’t want to.

I’d never really had anything like this ‘sweet bread’ before, and I’m not sure what I was expecting, but what I got was fairly tasty without being all that sugary. I was enjoying my snack and our conversation on Equestrian technology when I received a shock. The first part was when I noticed a dark, chocolate-colored unicorn mare come out of the back area. I didn’t recognize her from the show, but I was ready to assume she was just some pony who worked here. Then she walked right up to Mr. Cake and pulled him into a loving embrace!

Now it wasn’t like they were making out in the store, but the full-on kiss and hug were obviously of a type only used between loved ones. While my brain scrambled to come up with some explanation for this, Mrs. Cake came out from the back area as well. Then the chocolate-colored mare turned and pulled HER into another loving embrace!

My mind was still in the process of trying to reboot as this mystery mare walked out. I only caught the fringe of what was said between them, basically some ‘Love you!’ type things and something about bringing the kids over soon. I finally got myself somewhat back together when Twilight’s elbow dug into my side.

“Hey!” She said. “Everything alright? You’re spacing out pretty bad there.”

I gave my head a slight shake before turning my attention back to her. “Um.. I just… thought I knew something, and now…” I found myself scratching the back of my head and made myself quit. “Um, question: Who was the lady that just walked out?”

Twilight still didn’t look like she got what was going on. “Oh, her? That was Fudge Brownie. Why, do you know her? Is she from that ‘show’ you talked about?”

I shook my head, in negation this time. “Actually, no. I don’t know her from anything. That’s what surprised me. Wasn’t she just… kissing Mr. Cake? And Mrs. Cake?” I could hear my voice getting squeeky despite myself.

Twilight’s expression grew a bit thoughtful, while she seemed to be studying my face. “Yes, she was, but why is that surprising? They are all part of the same herd, after all.”

“Herd?” I parroted back in confusion.

“Yeah,” Twilight replied before taking another sip of her chocolate milk. “I know they aren’t nearly as common as they used to be, but you can still find several ponies in herds in any city.” She seemed to consider what she just said for a moment before absently nodding, apparently to herself. “I’ll admit, it’s a bit hard when the rest of your herd lives in another town, but the Cake’s herd seems to do pretty well. It’s not like Fudge or Electric could really leave Canterlot, after all.” After a quick look at me, with my face probably still showing nothing but confusion, she explained further. “You see, Electric Cotton is one of the royal guard, and Fudge Brownie still runs the bakery she’s owned since before meeting the rest of her herd.”

Twilight’s expression started to show some concern, probably because my jaw kept dropping farther. I gave my head a quick shake to try to get my brain started again. “I’m sorry, that’s going to take a bit to process. Um… It does raise a question though. Who do the kids belong to?”

Twilight gave me a huff and a look. “Well obviously, the kids belong to the whole herd!” Her expression softened a bit before she added, “But if you mean who are the biological parents, Pumpkin Cake was born to Fudge Brownie and Pound Cake was from Electric Cotton.”

I really needed to stop staring at her. I gave my head a brief yet sharp shake, then looked back at Twilight in an apologetic way. “I’m sorry, really. I didn’t mean to sound rude or anything. This… just kind of came as a shock.” Then, after Twilight didn’t look upset anymore, I went on to explain how in the ‘show’ I’d told her about there weren’t any herds, and how Mr. and Mrs. Cake were seen as an exclusive couple that managed to have twins that were somehow a unicorn and a pegasus. I also went on to mention how the majority of human civilizations practiced a strict philosophy of monogamy.

I was afraid that some of what I was revealing would upset Twilight again, but she stayed calm throughout. Once again, I found myself thankful that Twilight was such an intellectual. As long as we were talking about things in an almost scientific way, she seemed to be able to handle anything without taking offense.

Still, -I- was a bit boggled by this recent revelation. “Wait a minute, so by what you said, that’s one more thing that’s different. The babies can’t actually be twins then, right?” I asked.

Twilight gave a quick nod. “That’s right. Although, it isn’t hard to think of them as being twins, I suppose, since they were born less than two days apart, I think.” She looked up towards the ceiling in thought while scratching at her chin. “It’s not surprising, really, since they were probably both conceived on the same…” She suddenly broke off, suddenly lowering her head with an obvious blush on her cheeks. “Um.. ah-heh!... heh…”

When my brain finally finished processing what she’d just almost said, I was a bit taken aback. With a quick clearing of my throat, I asked the question I now needed to. “Um… not wanting to be rude, but… you seem to know a lot about the Cakes’.... Um… personal… stuff…?”

Twilight blew out a gust of air, then looked me straight in the eye with a resigned look. “If you’re a friend of Pinkie’s, then you end up finding out about everything that happens at Sugarcube Corner. And I mean, -everything!-”

After a moment’s consideration, I just had to shrug. “From what I know of Pinkie Pie…? Yeah, sounds like par for the course.”

“Par for the … what?” Came Twilight’s response.

I gave a brief laugh. “Sorry. Just an expression. Uh, do you guys have golf as a sport here?” After a quick nod from Twilight, I continued. “Yeah, so it’s from that. Guess not all expressions are equal here.” Twilight grinned and shook her head in agreement, before turning back to the remains of her snack.

Without any other pressing matters, we decided to just head back to Twilight’s tree. We arrived to the sight of Spike unlocking the door with a clothes bag slung over his shoulder. “Hey guys! One tailored suit, delivered as promised!”

Twilight and I thanked him, then we all headed inside. Small talk led to dinner, one where we all ended up making our own food. Once again, I found myself growing sleepy well before what I considered normal, but I figured it would be better to be well rested for Princess Celestia’s visit tomorrow anyways. The strange part was a quiet conversation I overheard parts of between Twilight and Spike as I made my way to the bedroom.

“... be heading back now” Twilight was saying.

“Well, I ... be here ...” Spike replied. “... in case… anything happens.”

“... I don’t think … go wrong, but … get upset, will she?”

“She understands. Besides, I promised I’d make it up to her later.”

“Okay, as long as you’re both okay with it. Thanks Spike.”

I wasn’t sure what they were talking about, but I was basically too tired to care… even if I -did- suspect that anything “going wrong” was probably in relation to me. Still, even if that’s what he meant, I wouldn’t blame him. It’s good to be protective of your friends.

With that thought, which was almost a comforting one, I went to bed.