The Red Dragon of Change

It had been about an hour since I had left the train tracks, leaving the two mares standing there without looking back when I rested. Even more proof that I’m not in a VR, I thought as a laid down in the snow, breathing heavily. The developers had always retained some tiny details to make sure gamers knew it wasn’t real, not getting tired from just walking one of them.

“Damn.... Where is that town he found?” I asked myself as I looked around, trying to find manmade structures or something that at least looked like it had been made by someone intelligent. I growled as I saw only the mountains and snow. “Great, if I can’t find that I’ll have to go crawling back to Cyril.” My tail lashed out at the snowbank behind me, wiping it away and producing a peculiar scraping noise.

I sighed and turned some so I could see what that was. I was on what looked to be a cobblestone road that led up the mountain, if the rectangular evenness of the stones I saw were any indication. “.... I was walking on a road this whole time?”

Well, it’ll be relatively easy to clear this snow away with fire, I thought, drawing in a huge breath... only for nothing to come out when I exhaled. Wat. I-I followed the tutorial from the VR. Why didn’t it work!?

“Grrr.... It’s not likely I’m doing something wrong, so maybe-” My stomach growled then, interrupting me and bringing a blush to my cheeks. “.... Yeah, that.”

I sighed and looked to my right wing. Maybe I could try blowing the snow out of the way? .... It might unbalance me though and if that happens, I’ll be on my back and sliding down the mountain before I can recover. I shook my head and said, “No, I’ve done riskier things than this. Why let some snow and a bit of ice deter me?”

Rising on my back legs I use my front legs, which also happened to be attached to my wings, I began to flap them like a little kid would do when imitating the act of flying. I...was to hasty in my excitement and ended up putting too much force into flapping my wings. I noticed my shift in weight too late as I began to lean backwards. I flailed in an attempt to regain my balance but that only served to put me on my ass.

I was on an inclined hill and when I had fallen I hit a patch of ice. I began to slide down the hill, the snow not helping to slow me down in the slightest. I scream as I seemed to pick up speed and the hill seemed to grow steeper and stee- whoa, that was a sudden stop. I felt a tickle on my nose and crossed my eyes to see what the white stuff on the tip was. All I had time to think was, shit. Before what felt to be an entire snow bank fell on me.

“Fucking great,” I grumbled as I pushed my head up and out of the snow. “Someone’s laughing at me, I just know it....” I shook the snow off of my face, only to be greeted by screams of terror coming from a group of foals. “Um.... Sorry about crashing into your school. Heh, I kinda lost my balance and slid down the mountain.”

The group ran off, shouting about the big dragon squishing their teacher. .... Wait, what? I thought as I felt something move under my right wing... and in my wing. “Shiiiiit....” Trying my best to roll off of whoever was under me, I felt what was in my wing slide out and snow fall into the wound. I shuddered from how cold it was and looked to the pony I had landed on. She didn’t seem to be hurt other than being knocked out, but her horn and face were covered in my steaming blood. “Great, now I have another injury to take care of!”

“Halt dragon!” I heard someone shout. My head snapped in the direction of the voice. I saw three ponies wearing golden armor running at me with spears held in the air next to them, while three pegasi flew overhead.

The ponies on the ground stopped a good distance away from me, while the three pegasi began to fly in circles around me. The pony who lead the other two unicorns stepped forward and pointed his spear at my face.

“You are currently in violation of the dragon/pony citizen treaty. By order of Princess Celestia, you are to leave Rainbow falls immediately or face the consequences,” The unicorn said as he inched closer to me.

I stared at the spear tip as it rested not even half an inch from my nose as I said, “So because a pretty pony princess says so, I can’t get my wounds looked after?”

The guard’s eyes moved to look at my bandages around my chest and neck before his eyes moved to my punctured wing. A moment later he spoke. “It looks like you have someone taking care of you already, I won’t ask again, leave Rainbow Falls or we will be forced to remove you.” I saw the determination in his eyes, he wasn’t playing around.

I stared at the guard and let my mask fall for a moment, showing him all the disgust and hatred I had for pigs like him. “Now listen here you little prick! I just walked through all that snow, almost got run over by a train, and got even more hurt from my fall.” I bit the head of the spear off crushing it in my teeth and swallowing it before leaning forward and putting my face in his. “Now, I’m tired, irritable, and you’re looking like a tasty morsel, so either make your move or go get me a doctor!”

The pony commander shuffled back a bit before he turned to the other two unicorns. They exchanged a look and a nod. A moment later the pony whose spear head I had eaten used his magic to pull a sword from his side. The other two unicorns pointed their spears at me, and I heard the sound of metal scraping metal above me.

“Guards!” The commander shouted. “Force the dragon to retreat!”

“So be it,” I growled, my tail lashing the ground behind me and sending the mare flying into a deep bank of snow. “You wish to fight an injured dragon, you’ll face its teeth and claws!”

The guards on the ground spread out, the commander facing me, while the other two moved to flank either side of me, however I quickly flapped my wings sending snow into the air and blinding the guards on the ground. Lashing out with my tail, I sent the guard on my left crashing into the snow next to the unconscious mare, but before I could take care of the guard on my right, one of the pegasi dove at me.

Pain lanced across my back but I didn’t feel any blood. Turning I tried to catch the pegasi with my teeth, but he got away. The snow quickly settled down again, as the guard on my right tried to stab me with his spear. I moved out of the way and and blew a cloud of smoke into his face making him fall over coughing, again a pegasi dived and more pain shoot through my back. They must have been using some kind of billy club or something because while it hurt when they hit me, I couldn’t feel any blood.

The process of the pegasi diving at me and flying away before I could catch them went on for awhile. it seemed they were alternating who would attack and when, but they always aimed for my back.

I smirked as I figured out their plan of attack. As one of the guards attacked from the ground I went to bite at his spear, but immediately whipped my head up and knocked the pegasus that was going to hit me off his course. “It’ll take more than an annoyance to get rid of me!” I said as I lunged forward and bit the sword that was heading for me off down to the hilt.

The other two pegasi dove to get my attention. My response was to quickly turn around and roar at them before baring my teeth. As expected the guards had never fought a dragon before and roaring in their face’s had scared them making them crash to the ground instead. Blowing smoke from my nostrils I ensured they would get back up and turned to face the commander. I lowered my head so that my eyes were level with his own. “Now about that doctor....”

Thud

“...Dammit he fainted.” I growled in annoyance. “Oh well, I guess I should just try to find the hospi-” My stomach growled, interrupting me.

Turning to face the two pegasi I had scared I found that they had fled. I cursed and looked around to find that the other guards as well as the school teacher had mysteriously disappeared. Turning left and right I saw them retreating back towards the center of town.

“.... Maybe I should’ve gotten something to eat before I came here,” I muttered, walking towards where the ponies had fled to.

I didn’t get far before a shadow passed over me. Thinking it was more pegasi, I readied myself to snap at them, only to stop as I saw a green hawk. I frowned at Cyril and said, “You were taking so long to get back I had thought you had become food for something.”

“Screech!” Was his response before he landed on my back. His talons touched down on where the guards had hit me, making me wince a little.

I raised an eyebrow. “What, time to get back to the cave?”

“Screech!” he replied and pointed towards the mountains with a wing.

“Fine then, don’t talk to me,” I snarked as I started towards where he had pointed.

I watched him take to the sky again before he started to circle me. Turning to look behind me I saw the guard trying to get organized, I’d be long gone by the time they actually got done.

“The hell were you thinking?” Cyril yelled at me, his voice bouncing off the walls making him sound louder than he actually was. He was currently working to make sure my wing was stitched and bandaged.

“Well excuse me, princess. All I was trying to do was get out of your hair when they attacked me,” I said, rolling my eyes. “It’s like you actually want to take care of a dragon that does nothing but cause you trouble.”

“Shut the hell up!” he growled at me. “You still think this is some kind of game? Because it’s not! It’s hard to like a dragon when they tend to eat you!” I watched him shake his head as he pulled the bandages tight around my wing.

I glared at Cyril. “I know this isn’t a game! Before I slid into that town I almost got ran over by a girly-looking train and two ponies helped me by bandaging my wounds, the pink one said I should give ponies a chance to be nice so I did.” I paused and held back a wince from him tightening a bandage too much. “I held back from killing those ponies because I knew it would lead to too much trouble.”

I heard him sigh before sitting back, his face looked tired and he seemed to be under stress. “You went about it wrong. Those ponies have a herd mentality. You want to make nice with them, you have to do it one at a time.” I watched him stand and move towards the fire, his back facing me. “As for why I’m helping you... When I first showed up here, I was confused and didn’t have anyone to tell me these things.”

I stared at him for a moment before snorting in amusement, a lick of flame coming from my nostrils and surprising me. “You actually think I care what you’ve gone through?”

There was his anger again as he turned to face me. His eyes burning not from the fire light but with rage. “I’ve come so close to dying so many times I’ve lost count, I’ve broken bones and had to reset them myself so they wouldn’t heal wrong. I’ve had to hunt and kill and hide just to stay alive!” He was practically screaming now. “If I hadn’t shown up when I did that dragon would have killed you and you know it! So stop being a snarky asshole and just accept my help before you get yourself killed!”

I kept up my glare as I spoke in a low tone, “I am accepting your help, whether I like it or not you are the only one that seems to want to help me. I’m being as nice as I can to a male like you so I don’t end up freezing to death out here!”

He turned to face the fire again seemingly trying to ignore me. The silence between the two of us lasted for what seemed like minutes. “Two mares helped you earlier? What did they look like?”

“One was completely pink, the other was a rainbitch called Dashie.”

His head snapped up but he didn’t turn to me this time. “Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash were around here? You didn’t tell them where we were did you?”

“Why, you scared of little mares like them?” I chuckled. “No, I didn’t, but they did ask about you.”

“What did you tell them?”

“Only your name.” I rolled my eyes and stepped over to the entrance of the cave. “Geez, it’s like you actually are afraid of them.”

“...They are two of the most powerful mares in this world. They’ve battled a corrupted king, a mad god, a warring Queen and a tyrannical centaur bent on world domination, and they once tried to catch me. I think being cautious is a more accurate word for how I feel right now.”

I chuckled as I laid down.“So I insulted what amounts to Goku, eh? They didn’t seem like they’d attack anything indiscriminately, so I think we’re okay for now.”

“If they’re not looking for me then why were they out here?” He whispered more to himself. “Did they say where they were headed or what they were doing out here?”

“No, they were on the train that almost ran me over. Seriously, didn’t you pay attention to what I was saying?”

A sigh left him and he seemed to calm down a bit. “So long as they aren’t near me I think I’ll be fine.” Again silence reigned in the cave as we both had nothing else to say.

Heh, he’s definitely afraid of them, I thought as I watched out the mouth of the cave. Now what was that with the fire earlier? The only thing I can think of is the metal from the spear and sword being the difference. Maybe that’s how dragons actually breathe fire? They eat different metals and what they eat determines how hot their flames are? Maybe part of their diet as well since I’m not as hungry as I was before.

“Glad to know I can just bring you any metal I find instead of hunting for enough rabbits for the two of us.”

I stiffened slightly and turned to look at Cyril, embarrassed that I had spoken my thoughts. “Not just any metal. I’m not going to eat anything that has rust on it or is brittle.”

He nodded poking one of the coals before he sighed and spoke up. “How did you get here?”

“.... You led me here...?”

“Equestria not this cave.” He deadpanned.

I shrugged and turned to look back outside the cave. “Dunno. I was in a tournament for a reboot of an extremely old game, like before the disappearances. I won the tournament and when I went to take the prize I was suddenly in that valley where you found me.”

“Disappearances?” He asked his ears perking up. “What disappearances?”

“Some gamers from over a hundred years ago disappeared from a ‘con. My dad thought it would be a good idea to host his first in the same building.”

“You happen to know any of the names of the people who disappeared?” he sounded fearful.

I looked up in thought, trying to remember the names from the wall in front of the convention hall. “Now that you mention it, I did see the name Cyril among the ones who had disappeared.”

“You said the disappearances happened a hundred years ago?”

“Yeah, a hundred thirty-two to be exact.”

“Oh....I see.” he said dejectedly.

I rolled my eyes and watched out the cave. Great, now I have to deal with him being depressed, I thought, making sure I wasn’t accidentally saying what was on my mind. Well, he must’ve had friends.... Maybe I shouldn’t be so hard on him.

Hearing movement behind me, I turned to watch Cyril retreat further into the cave. “Call me if you need something alright.” he said before he took the form of a large bear and curled up against the back wall.

.... I’ll stop treating him so badly for now, I thought as I turned my gaze back to the entrance. He might just leave me here like this if he gets too miserable. He really is my only hope of surviving right now, so I better not screw this up. I sighed and laid my head on the ground, looking at the case of coins near the fire. I wish I could be smaller and actually stand on two feet....