The Red Dragon of Change

“You know you’re going to end up hurting yourself again, and your stitches have only just healed,” Cyril said as he looked up from the fire to scold me like a child.

I glared at him, hoping to tell him how foolish he was with only that. “I won’t. I’ve told you before that Angelus could modify her body to suit her surroundings,” I said as I lifted myself up on my hind legs. “Besides, these legs are fully grown and stronger than you.”

Six days ago I had noticed two lumps that were growing from my sides after I had gone to bed wishing I had four legs instead of just two. Obviously Cyril overreacted and thought he had done something wrong until I told him that it was natural for my character to change with her environment.

“How much practice do you have with those legs?” He asked as he eyed the new attractions with a bit of skepticism.

I gave him a half-hearted glare. “That’s why I’m testing them. After your little freak out when they first appeared, I thought it would be best to wait until they were fully formed before standing on them.”

I watched as he shook his head in embarrassment, his green cheeks lighting red for a moment. “Hey in my defense I’ve never seen someone grow new limbs without being exposed to radiation,” he replied before clearing his throat and straightening a bit. “So you sure you want to leave tomorrow?”

I lowered myself to where my new forelegs bent when they touched the ground, getting used to the muscles as I supported myself on my wings still. “If I didn’t need to learn how to use these legs, I’d leave today. These mountains are too cold and too sparsely populated to support a dragon for more than passing through to better places.”

He nodded his head as he turned back to the fire. I watched as a frown worked it’s way on his face, like he was disappointed that I was leaving. I didn’t understand why, maybe he liked babying me, but whatever the reason I needed to get out of here and stretch my wings. The need to fly and learn as much as I could about my new body and my abilities was making me restless. Already I had learned to breathe fire, although the results were disappointing as I had only managed a small sized fire.

“Yeah I guess that makes sense. Just remember, the ponies here are a little jumpy so try not to intentionally scare them otherwise you might find them chasing after you,” he offered.

I rolled my eyes as I set my weight fully onto my forelegs. “What is it with you and avoiding ponies? It’s like you want to live as an animal.”

He was chuckling lightly as he turned to face me again. “It’s nothing like that, though living like an animal here isn’t the same as living like an animal back home. I’m avoiding the ponies because I don’t want them to come after me.” he paused for a moment as he collected his thoughts. “There’s a race here called changelings. They’re nasty little shapeshifters who drain the love of ponies. Now look at me, a shapeshifter who eats meat, a practice I’m sure is frowned upon by a society of mostly herbivores, back home what’s the first assumption people would make about the two of us?”

“I’m sure as long as we kept the meat eating out of sight, and our attitudes in check, we’ll be able to gain their trust some.” I stamped the ground with each leg before testing to see if I could stand on them separately.

“Well it might also have something to do with the fact that I’ve already been a lab specimen…” He commented not bothering to look at me this time.

I snorted in amusement. “So you were poked and prodded while you were in a cage. I’ve played a VR or two where that happens. Always escaped in the most bloody and gore-filled way I could find.”

He sighed in mild frustration, it seemed I still had the power to get on his nerves and I intended to use that power as much as I could. “Firstly I wasn’t in a VR. Sure I wanted to bite that mare, but I didn’t want to seriously hurt her, second her teacher, the most powerful creature in this world was standing right there.”

I gave his back a glare. “I wasn’t saying you had been in a VR, I was trying to relate to you by saying I had been in the same situation, yet reacted differently.”

“Ah I see,” He said before standing up and stretching. “So how are those new legs then? They giving you any trouble?”

I yelp as I fall, my chin hitting the ground. “Not until you asked.”

“oh...well then this is awkward…” Cyril replied going quiet.

“Ya think?” I muttered as I stood up again. Feeling my forelegs shake a little I sighed and laid down. “So your powers are just like Beast Boy’s?”

I watched him turn to me a bit surprised. In all our time together we hadn’t spoken much about who we were supposed to be dressed as, of course judging by his outfit I thought he looked a little old fashioned and I wanted to see how his powers as an old incarnation of the character had changed based on what I had seen growing up as a kid.

“Uh, yeah pretty much. I mean I can change into any animal I’ve seen in real life or in books, and I can heal faster than a normal human. I’ve got increased strength and reflexes and a better sense of smell but...that’s about all.”

“So basically exactly like Beast Boy.” I pulled my right foreleg up and rested my chin on it. “Can you change into creatures such as unicorns or gryphons?”

He looked at me like I was crazy. “What you mean like the one’s that live here?”

“Yeah. It’ll be even better if you could turn into a dragon.” I glanced towards the cave mouth, looking back at Cyril when I didn’t notice anything.

He paused for a moment as he thought about that, a small frown working it’s way back onto his face. I had to smirk as I realized that the thought to transform into a pony or a Gryphon had never crossed his mind. “I’ve, actually never tried it no,” I watched as he face palmed. “That could have made things so much easier.”

“So you’re a bit too slow to realize that without someone helping you to think about it?” I chuckled and shook my head. “Maybe you should just stick to being an animal.”

“Hey I…!” he began before he cut himself off and sat back down, a sad frown spreading on his face. “I don’t use my powers except to hunt, fight or get away from danger. I’ve never used them for anything other than surviving.”

I rolled my eyes and gave him my best ‘friendly’ smile. “That’s the difference, then. I’m thinking up ways to use my fire and scales to try to get accepted into pony society, while you - not having been brought up to think long term - are trying to not ‘become corrupted’ by your powers.”

“I’m not trying to prevent being ‘corrupted’, I’m trying to prevent being dissected in someone’s lab.”

“Well how will they know if you look and act just like a pony, or a gryphon, or even a minotaur?”

“Well with a pony it would be harder for them to notice,” he admitted, “But as a gryphon or a minotaur, it would be easy to spot me. Green fur isn’t usually an inherited color of either species.”

I suddenly get a thought, one that I was surprised I hadn’t thought of it before. “Can you change your gender?”

“....”

“...”

“...I don’t know, and I don’t want to know.” Was his only response, his cheeks growing bright red.

I snorted in derision. “It’d make you easier to be around if you could. Plus it would make it even harder for those two mares... what were their names? Floyd and Gayness?”

“Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash.” he deadpanned. “In what incarnation of the character Beast boy was he ever able to change his gender? This is Beast boy not Gender bender!” he yelled his cheeks still burning bright red.

I shrugged. “I guess the producers never thought to bring it up except for one episode.”

He shook his head, why? My guess was to dislodge that idea from his head. “Your future’s messed up cartoons aside, no I highly doubt I can change genders, and if it were possible I would never change into a female. It’s just too weird.” Sighing and brushed his hair out of his face. “Now about transforming into a pony, that I can try.”

Closing his eyes, I watched as he sat in silence, a look of concentration on his face. I waited for several minutes hoping to see something happen however when nothing did I let out an aggravated sigh. “So this is all that’s going to happen? You’re going to stand there with your eyes closed?”

“I’m trying to find the right instincts so I can see if I can transform into a unicorn. Not every transformation is instantaneous, I have to use a form multiply times in order to use it at will.” he replied his tone sounding a bit harsh.

I huffed and set my head on my forelegs, waiting for him to find his ‘instincts’.

The room remained quiet for several more minutes before anything of note happened. Slowly I watched as his form began to change. It started out with his arms slowly lengthening as well as his legs, before his bone structure started to change. At first it looked like he was succeeding with the transformation, until it became apparent that he was growing too large to be considered a pony here. I watched as soon he became a full sized horse before a green horn slowly pushed it’s way out of his forehead.

Cyril give a whinny of annoyance and stomped one of his hooves before turning in a tight circle to try and examine himself. His nostrils gave a puff of steam as more neighing and whinneys escaped him.

“Heh, guess you found the wrong ones. You’re supposed to be half that tall and be able to talk.”

He gave me another snort of annoyance as he closed his eyes to try and focus again. This transformation took just as long as the last. Having managed to shrink his size, he now looked like a gryphon, though his features looked too realistic and his fur/feathers were still green. Opening his mouth he gave a hawks screech before he quickly closed it and looked down at himself. Another screech, this time in anger, left his beak as he stomped his taloned forelegs on the ground.

I smirk. “Guess you can’t talk while you’re transformed.”

Again he closed his eyes in concentration, and just as before it took much too long, but when he started to transform I took note that his body was shrinking at a fast rate, before his body was engulfed in green flames. Watching as the fire died down, and standing where Cyril had been was a green bird whose feathers seemed to radiate with heat. The bird gave a screech and flapped it’s wings a few times lifting itself into the air.It’s feathers moved in a way that made the bird appear as if it were on fire before it quickly landed and shook it’s whole body as if dislodging something from between its feathers.

“Well look at that, a green Phoenix. You have any copper in you?”

Returning to normal I noted the deep frown on his face, as he sat crossed legged and mumbled something about Equestria and it’s stupid magic.

“You aren’t going to try a dragon next?”

Cyril shook his head as he turned to me, his frown still firmly planted on his face. “Don’t need to. One of the incarnations of Beast boy allowed him to transform into mythical creatures. Already I’ve turned into a unicorn, a gryphon and a Phoenix.” he sighed lying back on the cold ground. “I think my powers only let me transform into non-sapient animals, trying to blend in with the ponies isn’t going to happen.”

“You haven’t tried a dragon yet, though. There’s a chance you’ll still be able to talk.”

“Not likely but I can always give it a shot, after all I know just about as much as you do about my powers.” he replied as he closed his eyes again.

As more time passed I began to wonder something about Cyril. Every time he transformed into a different animal, he never seemed to lose any energy. I found it odd as I figured transforming into larger creatures would expend more energy, while transforming into smaller creatures would expend less, but this didn’t seem to be the case in either situation.

Shaking my head to rouse myself from my thoughts I noticed that Cyril was only half done with his transformation. Already his arms and legs had grown bigger, and his head began to elongate, his skull resembling a more triangular shape, his tail was just starting to grow out and I could see two nubs growing out of his back where his wings would no doubt be. I watched in mild fascination as scales seemed to grow up out of his skin, and horns and spines pushed themselves out of his skull. The whole process looked painful but thankfully it was over in a matter of seconds.

Looking down at himself again to take in his new form, he opened his mouth to say something only for a small roar to take place of his words. I stood there and stared at him as my mind processes something I wasn’t yet aware of, but quickly I caught on to what it was I was missing.

“.... You’re shorter than me,” I said with a bit of amusement.

He gave a small snort and roared again in anger. I imagined he tried to defend himself but I couldn’t help but laugh at his utter confusion and annoyance.

“Seems like you can’t talk as a dragon either. I do like how strong you look, though.”

A quick tilt of his head, it reminded me of a dog, and a sudden red tint coming to his cheeks later and he was turning to walk out of the cave. His walking though was off and he nearly tripped and got a face full of snow.

Oh, so now he’s getting flustered be...cause.... I thought, my cheeks warming some. “Did I just....” I chuckled awkwardly. “No, that couldn’t be what I meant.”

I stood outside the cave, my wings spread and ready to take off. I was finally going to fly, to be among the clouds and escape gravity.... If Cyril would shut up about how to use thermal winds.

“...for the most part you can just use them to glide over long distances, which comes in handy since flapping your wings endlessly wears you out pretty quickly, they also have an added bonus of lifting you higher, but that only really happens if it’s a stronger thermal wind coming from some source like a volcano or a geyser,” He droned on as he started walking around the small snowed in valley.

I glowered at him as he walked. I’ve done so many different tutorials on flying and he thinks I need a refresher course? I thought, blowing a puff of smoke in his direction.

He coughed as he waved his hands in front of himself as he tried to blow the smoke away from himself. I had to giggle as his nose was covered in black soot, but he only glared back up at me. “Look, I’m trying to help you. The first time I flew I got distracted and nearly crashed headfirst into a tree.” he said as he grabbed some snow to wash his face with.

“And I know everything you’re telling me,” I said. “I’ll learn nothing new from you when it comes to flying.”

Grunting in annoyance, he threw his hands up. “So sorry, I was only trying to be helpful.” he said as he walked well out of my wing span. “So you’re going to leave today then? Any clue where you’re going or what you’ll do?” he asked calmly.

“Yes, I am.” I stretched my wings a bit. “Like I said yesterday, these mountains are too cold and too sparsely populated by animals to support a dragon. A better place would be a forest or some plains.”

He nodded for a second thinking about something for a moment before he snapped his fingers. “Just some friendly advice, if you head southeast, there’s a big city called Baltimare, right next to it, is a forest. As far as I know, there aren’t any dangerous animals that could get the jump on you.”

“Hah, as if something smaller than me could hurt me.” I sniffed in disdain. “I think I’ll head southwest, though.”

“There’s a place out there called Los Pegasus, I think Vanhoover is also in that general direction,” he said aloud more to himself than to me.

“So where are you going to head?” I asked, more to know where I should stay away from.

He paused for a minute. “I hadn’t really thought about it, before you showed up I was planning on heading to the Crystal Empire just a ways west of here, but I’m not planning to make my home there. It’s still cold and they’ve got a princess living there.”

I scoff and roll my eyes. “Really? Even more princesses? Why are there no kings or queens that I’ve heard of?”

“Because females outnumber males five to one plus as far as I know the four princesses are all alicorns so they’re pretty much immortal. Who better to run an entire country than the one who’s watched it grow through it’s good and bad spots?” Cyril said getting all scholarly on me all of a sudden.

“If that’s the case why not call themselves queens?”

“I don’t know, maybe they can’t be Queens until they get married or something” he replied before he stopped to think about something. “Although Cadence is married to Shining Armor and she still has the title princess…”

I shake my head and sigh, “I don’t get this world’s politics. Anyways, I might as well get going.”

Cyril nodded as something flashed across his face, but it was gone just as fast as it had appeared. Taking a deep breath Cyril gave me a smile before transforming into a hawk and taking off west leaving me to stand at the mouth of the cave alone.

I watched him fly off until I couldn’t see him anymore, a little sad to be parting ways. I paused and shook my head. Why am I sad to see him leave? I’ve always been alone, I thought as my expression hardened. “I’m alone and free, because no one likes the real me.”

As I took off somewhat ungracefully, I felt a pain in my chest. One I hadn’t felt for ten years.