Two and A Half Dragons

by RayneTheSkunk

Rating: teen
Tags: Ocellus, Spike, Smolder, Dragons, Slice of Life, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Length: 13318

Ocellus' spring break plan: disguise, improvise, and hope that nobody dies.

Spike and Smoulder want to hang out with Ocellus over spring break. That's good! But they're going to the dragon lands. That's bad! But Ocellus is a shapeshifter. That's good! But Ocellus has a thing for dragons, and oh no this just got complicated...

Big thanks to Salty Alty's editing for making this nice and readable

If you liked this story and would like to donate, check here https://ko-fi.com/raynetheskunk

Published 2019-12-26 19:50:01 UTC
Last updated 2019-12-26 19:50:01 UTC

The Spring Break In Which Absolutly Nothing Goes Wrong

“Hrm… what to pack??” I pondered over my suitcase, my wings buzzing in irritation. It's a bit of a bad habit, if I’m being honest with myself. My travel case laid on the bed, open, bare of anything except for my toothbrush. In the center of my room was an array of alphabetically organized and perfectly aligned books, bed sheets, measuring devices, survival equipment, and knicknacks, and all sorts of other things I thought I might need, but I could only bring so many things. Desperate for some sort of guidance, I had been scouring and re-scouring through the pages of ‘The Dragon Lands, and How To Survive Them’ for the last hour. “What sort of things do you even need in the dragonlands?” It was the closest thing I had to a book on dragon culture. Dragons, for obvious reasons, didn’t write much. The best insight I had were the few tidbits I could remember from the stories Smolder told me.

“Us Dragons love competition! I actually won first place in the lava swimming competition!”
“Young dragons form cliques around the toughest dragon. I remember before I came here...”
“Fighting is a form of dominance and fun! There was this one time where...”
“Never get between a dragon and their hoard. The last time I caught some twerp rooting around in my hoard...”
“Dragons love stories about abusing weaknesses. Did I ever tell you the story of Magma?”

Good stuff to know, but none of it helped me decide what I should pack. Should I bring a story book to memorize impressive stories to tell? Should I bring treasures to appease any angry dragons? Should I bring knee pads and helmet for lava surfing? I only have so much space!

I threw myself against the bed and wiped my hooves over my face. “Should I even bring anything? Maybe I should just ask?” I had meant to ask before, but Smolder jumped out of the conversation before I even had the chance. She had gotten me a smoothie at Sugarcube Corner, and, out of nowhere, asked if I’d come with her to the Dragonlands for spring break. In the moment, it only made sense to say yes. Spend more time with my cutest friend, experience a unique culture... seemed like a good deal to me. Then Smolder got fidgety and ran off before I could ask even a single follow up question. Now I’m committed, and I don’t know squat.

“She’s so... wishy-washy.” I huffed. She reminded me of the way kids with crushes act in books, but she doesn’t give off that sort of love. It would have been nice, crush love is really sweet and tart, like candy, but nope! She just gives up normal friendship love. I mean, It would’ve been flattering if it was a crush but instead she’s just being confusing.

If she just wants to hang out, why does she have to get all embarrassed?! It’s like, I’m your friend, I understand you. You don’t have to run the second you feel awkward. Groaning and rolling my head to the side, looking at my suitcase. It was still just as empty as it was thirty seconds ago, and three hours ago before that.

“Forget it, I’m just asking her.”
________________________________________________________

Knock knock knock.

Just wait patiently and I’ll get my answers.

So I waited, and waited, and waited. What was she doing in there? Smolder was obviously inside. I can hear all the shuffling, and— hold on, was that another voice I just heard?

“Smolder! Its Ocellus. I just want to talk about the trip.” I knocked again. ”I can hear you in there. Come on.” I made sure to chuckle. Be non threatening, don’t make her feel pressured. Don’t scare the insecure dragon girl. I stood there for a moment longer before the door opened.

“Hey, uh, sorry for the wait. What's up?” Smolder leaned on the doorframe with a smile on her face, though she was breathing pretty heavily. Obviously hiding something.

Don’t try to look behind her, Ocellus. You should respect her privacy. “Well I was just trying to pack for the trip, with spring break only being two days away and all. I just still don’t know what to pack.”

“What to pack? Well—”

Smolder was interrupted by a familiar voice. “Tell her already!” Spike waltzed over to the doorframe, giving Smolder an irritated look. My mind immediately went through at least a hundred questions and two hundred more hasty conclusions. Calm down there, brain. he’s what? Twelve? They’re not a thing. “We’ve got something to talk to you about.” At least one dragon could be straightforward.

“Right, we do. Come in! Just… don’t mind the mess.” Smolder said with a nervous chuckle. I heard the door snap shut the instant I was inside. Typical. I paused as I walked inside, noticing something a bit… peculiar.

Her room was covered in dresses. Dresses of all shapes and colors and sizes. Dresses draped over the closet, dresses on the bed, dresses hanging on the wall, dresses on the desk, dresses on the vanity. Wait, her room gets a vanity? No wonder why she took so long!

“Sorry for the wait. I had to fight with her about putting all this away.” Spike said, as he took a seat by the desk. “Now Smolder go on. Tell her.”

“Can it. I’m getting to it!” Smolder groaned as she sat on the bed, collecting her thoughts. “Ocellus, there's a reason I asked you to come with me.”

“I figured.”

“It's actually. Well, I don’t know how to ask this. I don’t know if its rude.”

“I promise not to be offended.” Come on. Just say the thing already!

“I want you… I want you to come with me as a dragon. It's not that there's anything wrong with changelings! I-It's just there's something I’m trying to do...”

“You want me to go as an entirely different identity?”

“Yeah, that isn’t a problem is it?” She squeezed out with a struggle, flinching like I would shout at her. She was trying super hard to not offend me. It was sweet, in her own awkward, adorable, dragon way. I felt sooo tempted to pretend to be upset just to see her get flustered.

“It sounds fun.” I smiled at her, giving her a reassuring look. you can calm down tough girl. “So what is it you’re trying to do that needs three dragons?”

“Three? How’d you know?”

“I can put two and two together pretty easily. You’re bringing Spike too, aren't you? You, Spike, and me-but-not-me... that makes three.” Spike nodded curtly, proving my assumption correct. “And I’m guessing it involves all these dresses. I can put two, two, and two together too.”

“Okay, okay, so it's like this. Starlight said I might feel better if I try to not hide my interests anymore. So I was going to just start being more open about it. Just in Ponyville, ya know. Then she said”—she gave her best, though still incredibly awful impression of Starlight— “Well what about when you go home. You don’t want to be scared in your own home, right?”

“Well, that does make a lot of sense. There's not a lot of point in getting over it if you aren't really over it.” I struggled to talk through my giggles. Whenever she does one of she does that silly high pitched voices to mock our professors I can’t help myself! Especially because she makes these weird faces when she does it!

“I mean, yeah, but they’d kill me back home for that. I can’t be a laughing stock, and that's what I told Spike.” She gestured toward him, and the little guy waved at me with the proudest grin. “And he got this stupid idea to try to make it cool.”

“If it’s a stupid idea, then why are you doing it?”

“Cause the little runt just won’t leave me alone about it!” she barked out. “He’s completely ponified and full of friendship juice!”

“Yep, I sip friendship juice all day, and I won’t stop till my friends overcome their problems.” Spike said as he compared some dresses, giving them a critical look. He’s got an eye for that sort of thing. I’ve seen him wear the frilliest apron I’ve ever seen in my entire life. I’ve heard he gets a manicure every week. Hay, I wouldn’t be surprised if he gets his claws painted! Though, now that I think of it, it makes a lot of sense that she’d tell him first.

“So anyway” Smolder said, raising her voice a bit. “Spike thinks that if I’m not the only dragon there in a dress I’ll I—” she trailed off into mumbles and excuses and everything in between. That's my Smolder, even when everyone around knows and accepts her secrets she still turns into a mumbling mess.

“I’m sorry, what was that?” It's hard not to laugh at her! I know what she said, but she’s too fun to tease.

“I said, if I’m not the only one in a dress I won’t be scared!”

“Oh, okay. So that's the plan? You, me, Spike and a couple dresses?” Now to hit her with some assurance. “I’ll do it. That won’t be a problem at all! As long as we’re with you, you’ll be the coolest dragon around!”

“I won’t… but thanks.” She said, mouth said curling into a smile despite her best attempts stay aloof .

You stupid adorable tomboy, I’d be anything you want me to be. We chatted for a bit before I went back to my room. In the end, I never got an answer to my packing question, but I was daydreaming too much to care.

I j-just… I want to make one thing clear, okay?

I didn’t agree because I like Smolder. I’d do something like this for any of my friends! Thorax says using other forms is rude, but… I like becoming other creatures. It's like a vacation from yourself. I’m not just gonna say no to spending a whole week as a dragon! They're so wild and reckless, and apparently, if Smolder is anything to go by, full of constant insecurities. But who doesn’t have that last bit?

The next morning Spike took me over to Carousel Boutique to get a dress for me. It was a weird thought. A dress tailor made to a body I tailor made. You could give me any dress and I could change to fit it perfectly. I told Rarity as much, but she insisted that in order to make me look my best, I had to choose the body I liked the best first. And, oh boy, did I go through a lot of dragon forms. Do you have any idea how varied dragons are? Snouts, ears, tails, bodies. Dragons are the single most physically diverse creatures in Equestria. Its true. There were so many options, It was almost nauseating.

In the end, I chose my form in a way that was laughably simple. I just turned into my idea of a hot dragon. Tall, silvery blue, slender, long tail, sharp beak. That's normal right? To want to be hot? My normal form is cute and all, but it’s not exactly hot. I could have stared at myself in the mirror for another hour.

“Hold on? Do I have a thing for dragons? Dragon Lord Ember is pretty cute too, I guess... Oh jeez, that's my thing isn’t it? I’m about to spend an entire week surrounded by my crush and hot dragons, while being a hot dragon. Oh gosh, What am I doing?!”

______________________________________________________________________

I left school as a changeling, I boarded the train as a changeling, and for the time being I was still a changeling. We disembarked somewhere near the base of Griffonstone. It's the closest trains get to the Dragonlands. I asked Gallus if he’d be riding the train with us, but his words were pretty distinct.

“I’d sooner be forced to eat rotten, year old food sprayed by a sickly skunk than spend spring break in Griffonstone!”

He certainly has a particular way with words. He said that he’s spending the break with Sandbar and Silverstream instead.

I bet they’re gonna kiss. All three of them.

“We’re flying the rest of the way, you should probably transform.” Smolder snapped me out of my kissing based day dream.

“Oh, of course” Prepare to feast your eyes Smolder. My body lit ablaze and from the fire emerges the stunning, beautiful new me! “What do you think?” I did my best pose. I had a lot of time to practice posing at Rarity’s. I became pretty fond of any pose that showed off my tail.

“Whoa!”

“Mmhm, I’m hot I know it”

“It's pretty cute.”

“Thanks, I know.”

“Cute!? I’m the hottest thing alive! Shut up! You’re the cute one!”

“You can call me Thrash now, by the way. Can’t let it slip that I’m a changeling, y’know!” I thought a violent name would help me sound more exciting. We’re trying to be, cool after all. I’m a wild and aggressive dragon, but no, according to some creatures I’m just “cute!”

“By the way, are you sure you’re gonna be okay this long in the dragon lands? You’ll be fine eating gems right?” Spike asked, giving me an inquisitive look and a raised eyebrow. Somehow, the little guy ended up carrying Smolder’s stuff, despite Smolder being much bigger than him. I don’t know if she tricked him, or if he’s just that used to doing things for others.

“Changeling transformations are a complete physiological change through and through. As far as any creature should be concerned, I’m one hundred percent a dragon… except for one thing. I can eat gems, but they won’t actually do anything for me. I still need love to survive, but as long as I have you two, that shouldn’t be a problem.” Spike and Smolder’s friendship alone isn’t exactly going to fill me up, but I’ll survive.

We took to the skies. I decided to carry my own luggage, I couldn’t put everything on poor little Spike, after all. I bet he would have said yes if I asked though. We passed a few griffons on the way up. Smolder decided test if the things Gallus said were true, and gave them the friendliest greeting I’ve ever seen her give. We all waved at the group of greedy birds, and they promptly told us to “Flock off you scaled rats!”

I had a measured response.

I puffed up my chest and the flames of transformation engulfed me. Fur covered my form as the griffons shrunk. All the strength, power and ferociousness of a bugbear filled my being as every muscle in me tensed. I beared my teeth out a pounding, throat ripping roar loud enough to give them tinnitus for days.

A perfectly measured response.

The griffons screeched with terror shrill enough to crack glass. Their wings whipped outward and the two flew with such speed they left a trail of feathers that were still stiff with fear.

I changed back into Thrash, and suddenly, my world was spinning from a firm slap on the back. ”Nice one Thrash! You sure sent those losers crying for their mommies!” Smolder said with a big grin on her face, and stopped laughing long enough to put me back on balance.

“Don’t you think that was a bit too mean?”Spike said, his eyes still trailing the fleeing griffons. “Griffonstone is near bugbear territory ya know? That's a pretty real threat to them.”

“A little bit, but they totally deserved it.” Smolder and I were both cackling like like a bunch of hyenas. “I mean, did you hear how they screamed?” I knew Spike was right. I didn’t really have to do anything just cause some griffs were jerks. A part of me hoped I didn’t scare them too bad, but the rest of me was far too satisfied with myself.

“They were totally gonna pee themselves!” Smolder and I were tripping over each other in laughter. Metaphorically, that is. Spike really wasn’t having any of it, and it only made us laugh harder. He probably wants us to be role models because we represent the School of Friendship, and I know he’s right, but I just can’t help myself!

Soon enough, our laughing fits had ended. I was pretty sure if I kept going that my lungs would seize up, and we’ve got a lot of flying to do. “Griffonstone looks kinda pretty from up here.”

“It's… not the greatest place ever." Spike said

“I know but it's so distinct. Look at that tree! You’d think the bulk of the town is on the mountain base, but sixty percent of Griffonstone is built on that tree. If that's not cool, I don’t know what is.” Even as a dump, it had its own sort of charm to it. Even old shambling things have their own story. I had a model of old Griffonstone back in my room, and seeing it for myself in the state it was in was a shame. That area still had a distinct beauty to it, and it lets you imagine it returning to its former glory or daydream about how it got to this point.

“I guess that's kinda neat, nothing like that in Ponyville that's for sure.” Smolder gave Griffon stone another glance. ”I’d be more impressed if the tree didn’t look like it was dieing.”

“Ponyville may be pretty normal, but there's still some neat buildings. Like Fluttershy’s house, or the school being built into waterfall! And Equestria has all sorts of cool cities! Cloudsdale is probably the most impressive place I’ve ever been. Have you read History of Cloud Structure?” I knew the answer was no. I'm the only one who just reads stuff like that, but they’re missing out I promise. “Making buildings out of clouds came directly out of pegasus jealousy towards Earth pony sculpting. So they started sculpting with clouds, until the military decided to put that into good use. To this day, cloud structures are blueprinted by artisans rather than architects.”

“Artisans, huh? So you like the art of making buildings? Like… like my sculptures?” Smolder words dragged out, like she was trying to be extra sure each one was correct.

“Your sculptures are great, but I’m more into cities than sculptures usually. I guess it is about art in a way. I just like really unique ways of building things like the Crystal Empire!”

“So normal cities don’t do it for you, but if we built a city inside a volcano you’d lose your mind?”

“I’d make a model out of that! Wait, dragons don’t get hurt by lava! You really could make a city in a volcano!”

“It might not be a city, but I think Lord Ember’s sanctum will get you pretty excited.”

The thought kept me excited long enough to not realise how tired I was getting. I think I’d started rambling about the techniques used to build Canterlot at some point. Then I tried to explain how the changeling hive constantly shifts, and how that affects our construction style, but I think the physics involved fried their brains. I don’t think I’d ever flown this long before. Gushing over weird architecture only keeps you distracted from the pain in your wings for so long, and I was starting to regret not finding some way to make Spike carry my case too.

I grimaced in pain, resisting the temptation to ask how much longer. No one wants to be that annoying kid on a trip, but I wasn’t sure how much longer my wings would keep me up. I squinted my eyes, seeing something in the distance. Was that…

Land?!

The second I laid eyes on the landmass, I dove straight for the coast. Wherever they planned on landing? Forget it! I was landing right then and there before my wings fell off. Spike and Smolder touched ground just behind me. As for me, I was on the ground. Sweet, sweet, body-supporting ground.

Click. A suit case popped open and Spike was already pulling out dresses. “Great idea Oc—I mean Thrash.” He winked at me. “We can get dressed here before any other dragon has a chance to see us.”

“It does make it easier with no one around,” Smolder commented, double and triple checking if anyone was around.

We retrieved our dresses from our bags, and it was at this point I realised that something was off. I suppose Spike didn’t tell Rarity exactly what we were doing because my dresses were in a completely different style than theirs. I mean I wasn’t given the exact details either, so I guess I’m not surprised. Smolder’s dresses were like a filly’s princess fairytale. Frilled, puffed shoulders, long and laced. Spike’s was like a step up from a Prench maid’s uniform. Mine, however, were much more modern. Simple, sleek, black, and an open back. We were on two whole different genres of dress. The princess, and femme fatale.

On one claw, I felt kinda bad. I was definitely messing something up here. Smolder’s whole deal is liking frilly things and tea parties. Of course I should have told Rarity to go for something like that. On the other claw, I have a mirror, and Rarity sure does wonders at making you love yourself. It couldn’t be too bad right? The goal is to make dresses cool, right? I was in the coolest dress. She said she wanted other dragons to wear dresses with her and here I am in a dress. Mission followed to the T, right?

“Thrash.”

I could get used to this look. Just a bit of eyeshadow will pull it all together. Is it too much black? Is this goth? Who cares? it's perfect!

“Thrash!”

Maybe I should let one strap hang a bit to the left like this? Perfect. Now what if I did my claws to go with this eyeshadow?

“Ocellus!”

How long had Smolder been calling me? “I’m sorry! Is something wrong?” I turned around, and I could swear I got a blush out of her. I’d like to think was a blush. I might have imagined it, it’s not like I’m cool enough to make her blush. Smolder’s blushes were for her insecurities not for cute girls. At least I haven’t seen a girl who could make her blush. Yeah, I must have imagined it. “I know my dress isn’t quite like yours, bu—”

“What? No, that's fine. It looks good on you. Spike’s just been trying to get us to take a ‘team photo,’” she said, making air quotes—a social tool only those gifted with digits can use. “By the way, I like your make-up! You’re pretty good at it for a creature that can make their face look however they want.”
________________________________________________________________________

Smolder found us a way to fly to her place without anyone seeing us. She told us that she needed more time to get her heart ready. I wouldn’t be surprised if she lost her nerve and tore her dress off the second we approached another dragon, but I had faith in her nonetheless. Her parents weren’t around. I really wanted to see what they were like, but apparently them never being around is normal. With that, we dropped off our luggage and left to ‘The Lava Reef’, and it sure lived up to the name.

Lava has a certain way of painting everything around it in a shimmering crimson. The Lava Reef was series of plateaus along a mountain side, arranged like steps made for giants. Each of those steps had bubbling pools of lava that the dragons had taken to using like hot tubs. The mountain side was divided by streams of lava that flowed all the way to the base of the Reef.

So there we were, hiding behind a rock like a bunch of grubs. While every other dragon was out there living it up and having fun, we were stuck behind a lump of stone as Smolder tried to amp herself up. The other dragons were out there surfing the lava waves, lounging on gem piles, and generally having an absolute blast .

“I can do this.” Smolder repeated, for what felt like the hundredth time in the past ten minutes.

“Of course you can. You’re strong! You’ve got this!” Spike had been telling herfor the last ten minutes.. My wings were—well not buzzing in this form, but they were beating fiercely in irritation. Encouraging words were getting us nowhere. I was getting bored.

There had to be a better way.

“Screw it, I’m going out there.” I huffed out, ignoring their shocked looks. Starlight taught me the best way to solve problems is to force the issue. She never ever said that. Not even once. But I pay attention. It's how she solves most things, like when November Rain was too nervous to read his poetry, so Starlight arranged a stage for him to recite at and only gave him a week. Forceful, questionable, but it worked. Starlight’s a no-nonsense kind of pony.

I leapt out from behind the rock, and despite how it may have looked, this was a calculated decision, not some risky move I did on a whim. Well it was, but only a teensy little bit. Ninety percent calculations, ten percent whims. Maybe fifteen percent whims.

I dove straight toward a group of dragons, and cracked the ground with my impact. Step one: Make an impactful entrance—complete. Step two: think of a cool introduction—in progress. “Sup, nerdlets!” That probably wasn’t a great execution of step two.

A dragon stepped up. His round, grey body was wide enough to block three of me, and taller than Celestia and Luna if they stood on each other's backs. I found myself wishing I chose to be a bit taller. “No one calls me a nerdlet! Just who the heck are you!”

Intimidated or not, I’ve been well trained in maintaining character. It was drilled deep in my head. You break character, and they hit you with the dead-changeling-rock. “Name’s Thrash!“

Smolder and Spike rushed to my side before I managed to talk myself into a fight. She stood in front of all those dragons in her frilly pink dress and was focused enough to not think twice about it—yet.

I was so proud of her.

“Hold on, Backbreaker! No need to pick a fight with her. She’s new. She’s with me, and him too.” She gestured to Spike, giving the large, round dragon a nervous grin.

One of the dragons groaned “Oh great, she brought the Dragon Lord’s pony-loving friend.” Spike waved, an innocent-and-totally-not-cocky smile on his face. For a moment, I thought Backbreaker was going to back off, but then he cocked a brow, and I knew what he was going to say next. “Wait...” He squinted his eyes, as if he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. “What are you losers wearing?”

“We’re uh, we’re…” Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Smolder clutch her dress as if she was going to tear it right off. I reached out to stop her, but before I knew it, Spike was between us, his claws already keeping hers in place.

“They’re dresses!” Spike posed like a superhero with a finger high in the air. He glanced toward me, and I took that as my cue to do something. My cue to be a hero, or at the very least, a really good friend.

“We’re the dress gang!”

“The what?!” I think that was the voice of quite literally every other dragon around me. Even Smolder and Spike looked at me with total disbelief. Its occurred to me, yet again, that we really should have made something that at least resembled an actual plan.

Oh well, too late for that now!

“Dress gang!” I roped my arms around Spike and Smolder. Spike was mostly confused, but I could feel Smolder trembling.

Don’t worry. I’ve got this.

“Smolder here’s our boss!”

I’m pretty sure I’ve got this.

“Thrash,” Smolder whispered in my ear through gritted teeth, “what are you doing?” I didn’t really have the time to answer and I really hoped she didn’t expect one. We were a little bit busy getting the stink eye from about eighteen dragons. Maybe nineteen, I think one of them had two heads.

“I don’t care how tough Smolder thinks she is. Any dragon showing up like THAT is totally ponified.” Backbreaker scooped Smolder of the ground by her feet. Normally I would have transformed in some terrifying dragon crushing monster, but I could feel Dead-Changeling-Rock about to hit me on the head. He dangled her upside down “Can you even still consider yourself a dragon? You just look like a scaley pony to me!”

“Hey! Put her down.” Spike flew up into Backbreakers face before getting flung away by a mere flick of the finger.

“Or what? None of you could ever hope to beat me!”

“I bet that I could beat you in lava surfing!” I have never been anywhere near lava in my life. “Race me to the bottom! We are ‘totally ponified losers’ after all. A big dragon’s dragon like you shouldn’t be afraid to race a scaley pony like me, right? If you were that would make you more wimpy than a pony, you’d be something soft and cowardly, like a changeling.”

“Did you just call him out?” Smolder’s expression looked like she just saw a ghost.

“Bro, she’s calling you out.” One dragon shouted,

“She’s calling you out super hard.” echoed some others from across the lava.

“I can recognize a call-out! Shut up!” Backbreaker’s spit flew everywhere as he shouted, covering me in his spittle. I wiped my hand across my face, shaking his saliva off. Disgusting. “Fine, lil twerp. I’ll race ya, and when you lose you’ll see just how pathetic you lot are!”

“Fine, but I won’t lose.” The difficulty of staying in character is making promises you have absolutely no way to keep. Sometimes you impersonate a chef pony, and then you have to bake an amazing cake. Then you realise that, as a changeling, you have never cooked a thing. It's the inevitability of being an infiltrator. If you had enough planning time for a mission then you got to do research and practice. Whatever we couldn’t learn we approached with a very simple philosophy. Just believe in your character and hope no one dies.

Backbreaker turned his back to us and flew away, dropping Smolder to the ground head first. I nearly leapt off my feet to catch her. Before she could fall in my arms, she unfurled her wings and shifted her momentum into a tuck and roll. Her dress was amazingly pristine for rolling on all this dirt and despite how embarrassed she was a moment ago, she looked so unphased now. I suppose the roughhousing shook her back to her normal.

Maybe if I kept tapping into Thrash I could become as cool and unphased as her.

The chilled look in her eyes changed when her head snapped to look at me. “Just what in the world were you thinking?!”

“I was thinking that I needed to get you out from behind that rock.”

”By painting targets on our backs!?”

“Aren't we already wearing targets?” I grinned as I tugged at my dress straps. She blushed. In her anger, she must have forgotten what she was wearing. Her head snapped around and all the dragons were still staring at us and murmuring to each other—about us, no doubt. Though this time she didn’t reach to tear her dress off. Progress already.I’m good at this!
“Feeling better?”

“I guess. I’m doing it anyway.” A small smile crept on her face. I was just getting reward after reward today, wasn’t I?. “But what are you going to do about the race? He’s expecting us to be ready any second.”

“I’m just going to believe in Thrash. Not like anyone’s dying.”

She groaned. Smolder rubbed her knuckles against her head in thought. “If you lose, we might never live this down! I might as well never come back! You don’t know these guys like I do, they don’t hold back when it comes to bullying. The only reason they aren’t saying anything right now is cause they’re waiting to rub it in later!”

“It’s fine. You’re Smolder; the coolest and toughest dragon I know, and the one I just met is a pretty big specimen. You told me that the dragons respect whoever’s on top, right?” She nodded. “Then we’ll come out on top. If they don’t respect your dresses now, we’ll make them respect it.”

“When did you think of that?”

“Thrash thought of it. If all the dragons think we’re cool, which we are, then they’ll have to start thinking dresses are cool. If dresses and tea parties become cool, then you don’t have to be embarrassed.”

“I’m not sure if that's the sort of thing Starlight had in mind, but being top drake sounds pretty nice. If only I was the one racing instead.”

“Smolder.”

“Don’t ‘Smolder’ me. If I was racing, I’d wipe the floor with that oversized goon! Have you ever even lava surfed before?”
__________________________________________________________________

Good news. We found Spike, his dress was fine. He said he hit a ‘surprisingly comfy rock’.
Bad news? I’m standing on board shaped stone floating on lava next to a dragon three times my size. I turned to look at my friends, the only two people I could make out in this massive crowd of rowdy cheering dragons. Or were they jeering dragons? I couldn’t quite tell. They’re all shouting over each other. It was really distracting me from my own thoughts but it's probably for the best. Smolder and Spike were definitely cheering for me at least. I had to stay cool, Thrash wouldn’t be worried right now. I gave them my best thumbs up and a winning grin.

Above us, a magenta dragon hung onto a beam with her tail. I was told that when she drops into the lava, the race starts. It's a bit impressive they’d set that up just for races, of all things. I’d really like to talk to whoever is making constructions out pure rock.

“Hey! You’re dead meat, princess pansy!”

“Call me princess all you want, but after you lose you’ll be calling me ‘your highness’!”

here was a splash, and Backbreaker sped off, pushing himself forward with his tail. My first instinct was to try to protect my dress from the lava, a factor I forgot to consider in my “become the coolest kids on the block” plan. Desperate, I hiked up my dress and used my tail to kick off.

So I may not have lava surfed before, or even surfed, but I had at least some frame of reference for going at a high velocity on a downward slope on a piece of entirely unsafe stone. Back in the old days, when my troupe and I would get a break from training, We’d find a piece of the hive wall that had broken off the wall big enough for us to sit on. Then, we’d find a chasm, which the hive had plenty of, and we’d ride down the walls till a floor decided to show up beneath us. It was more like... eighty degree sledding than surfing, but it was the experience I had to work with.

_____________
I held onto my lava board like my life depended on it, which it kinda did all four of my my claws were dug into the stoney slab, carving into it. The whole, did this count as a river? I’ll go ahead and call it a river. Anyway, continuing on. The whole river was littered Stones pierced the lava’s surface. Rocks sharp as steel and jagged as monster teeth rushed past me with a horrifying sound like an arrow that came too close for comfort. I shifted my weight left and right, but just like in my childhood it didn’t provide much fine control. I launched myself one way only to come nearly face to face with a rock shaped like a jagged stone spear near my skull, forcing me to throw myself the other way, scaring me within an inch of my life. Maybe a dragon could’ve taken that hit, but I wasn’t trying to test that particular theory.

Despite my total lack of fine control, intent, or any skill whatsoever, my more aerodynamic form gave me the speed to catch up with Backbreaker, his huge body pushing most of the wind out of my way. I watched his posture. Not on all fours like a coward, parallel to the board, arms out, wings spread. My legs were like jello, but I managed to imitate it. I copied the way he used his tail to push of stones, and I mimicked the way he tilted his wings like sails to shift direction.The control, the speed, the electric spark of adrenaline pulsing through my veins, filling my body with enormous amounts of energy...

It was incredible.

I pulled up to his side, and he gave me a look of utter disgust. “Hi nerdlet,” I sang “Oh right you don’t like that? Would you prefer giga-nerd?”

He turned his back to me. I guess he couldn’t even handle a bit of hecklin’— his tail struck at my board, sending me careening towards the banks. I flared out my wings in an attempt to slow down, just barely avoiding crashing my way out of the race.

“That sure does explain how a big guy like him manages to win races!”

Duck! Jump! Swerve! It was like trying to get past a wall. Every attempt to overtake him was a battle, and one that I wasn’t winning. The only thing keeping me in this race was all the training I was forced to go through in the old hive. Otherwise, I would have gotten decked at the start.

“I hope you’re ready to get steamed, runt!”

“What?!” Before I could figure out what that meant, his tail slammed down next to my board, smacking the lava with an audible THWACK, sending hot magma into the air around me. The splash launched me into the air, and from what I could see of the track ahead, the river was full of steam spewing geysers! Tumbling around in the air, I managed to catch myself, using my wings to glide out the way of the jets of steam, I landed roughly behind him, a look of fierce determination on my face as I glared at Backbreaker.Dodging my way between the geysers I caught back up to him and found myself back in the same spot as before. The whoosh of a geyser went off right next to my head. It scared the bejeebers out of me, but it also hit me with a stroke of genius. I swerved towards the nearest geyer, if I couldn’t pass him at his level I’d take the air. I hit the edge of a geyser and spread my wings for lift off.

Yes, yes, ye— Noooo, no, no! I hit the geyser right as it erupted, just as planned, but I was a smidge off about just how much force was behind these eruptions. My board shot into the sky. flipping me off my feet, flinging me right into Backbreaker. I had to hold onto something, anything! My claws latched onto Backbreaker’s chest, digging into his scales, the two of us on our tip-toes struggling to stay balanced on one board.

“What are you doing!?”

“I have no idea!”

We pushed against each other, but he was much stronger than I was. In desperation, I wrapped my tail around his ankle, ruining his footing. He fell on top of me, forcing me to beat my wings as hard as I could to keep the dress from hitting the lava. I kicked against his belly, and he flipped over me into the mouth of one of the geysers. As I regained my balance on the board that was now purely my own, a manly screeched filled my ears. I looked to the sky to see Backbreaker fly over the horizon, catapulted into the air by a large eruption of steam. The rest of the way would have been easy sailing. Would have been! His board was far too big for me to control at my size and there was nothing but rocks between me and the bottom. There's a skull shaped dent in every single one of them now.

____________

My ears were ringing. As I picked myself up off of the dirt, the sound of cheering began to assault my eardrums like a drum. I never realised cheering could hurt before now. I rubbed my ears, and as I turned around to see a small crowd of dragons congratulating me, my heart swelled with pride. It wasn’t even half of the dragons that where there at the start of the race, but a crowd is a crowd. Spike burst out through my mini-fanclub, and leapt into a hug that nearly spun me back to the ground.

“You did it, Thrash!” He cheered, and I couldn’t help but let out a holler as we spun each other around. Though by that point, it was mostly me spinning him. Once I got over my own jubilation, I saw Smolder waiting next to me, flashing me a victorious smile.

“Hey” she offered a fist-bump and I put Spike under my arm like a football to return it. “You did pretty good. I didn’t think you’d be willing to play dirty like that.”

“I didn’t exactly plan on it.” I felt a chuckle come on, but it came out as a hearty laugh. He deserved that didn’t he, getting knocked right on his butt. Who did he think he was talking to us like that. I imagined the embarrassment on his face, that would be worth a laugh “Where is Backbreaker anyway?”

I felt a cold tap on my shoulder. An icy blue dragon loomed behind me. I turned to face her and whoa, was she stunning. She had darker scales than most other dragons I’d seen, and I had to lift my head up to meet her gaze, her ice cold stare sending chills down my spine from the dominating aura that rolled off of her like a thick fog.
“You. Me. Crystal cavern. Two hours!” Her speech was flat, but her words carried the harshness of tundra winds. A meeting with her wasn’t a meeting I wanted to turn down. Further behind her, two dragons were carrying Backbreaker off somewhere. Not that I cared.

It didn’t matter anymore.

Smolder stepped up, “We just got finished with one contest. She’s new, give her a break!”

“Yeah we didn’t come here to pick a fight with every dragon that comes our way,” Spike added.

“Then you concede. This is Cicle’s turf now!”

Something inside me stirred, like a fire in my chest had just been sprayed with gasoline. I didn’t even realise I had turf, but no one was taking mine away from me. My heart thumped in my chest. My fans from the race cheered for me and each pounding of their voices stoked the flame in my heart. The voice of the crowd roared louder and louder, and my emotions gushed harder and harder.

“Dress Gang! Dress Gang! Dress Gang!”

I had a choice to make. As I looked up at this new challenger, a look of fierce determination crossed my face, and I flashed my opponent a cocky grin.

“You’re on! Whatever it is, we won’t back down!”

Smolder grasped my arm “Thrash?”

I looked at her, giving her a confident smirk. “Becoming top drake, remember?”

A spark of desire flickered in Smolder's eye and it lit the jaw on my heart ablaze. "Right, but she's not doing this one by herself make this one two on two."

Cicle shrugged "deal."

"Three on three!" Spike shouted.

"No." Her tone stung like hail, and in that instant, Cicle and her crew lifted off. We watched as the flew off to the east. My fans wished us good luck before going to do… whatever they do, but none of them went too far off. I guess that meant they were my crew now?

Now that it was just the three of us again, Spike spoke up, concern written all over his face. “Are you two sure you wanna do this? I can see where this is going, and if you win, then you’re just gonna be challenged by one clique after another.”

“That's just how things go in the dragonlands.” Smolder shrugged her shoulders. “Dragons play games, start challenging each other, and next thing you know there’s a mini gang war of competitions. We call that a fun weekend.”

Spike scratched his head, letting her words sink in. “I thought we were just going to hang out and be your morale support, Not fight every dragon with something to prove.”

“We are hanging out,” I sang, “We’re playing games, having fun, kicking butt and taking names! It’ll be fun, we even got dragons chanting for us. This is going fine!”

He sighed. “I suppose you’re right.” An uncertain smile made its way onto his face, “I just hope we get some time to relax together afterwards.”

“We have the whole spring break. How about we have a tea party this evening? That sound good?”

They both nodded, and so began the planning phase for our next contest. Smolder found a sizeable boulder and sculpted it into a table for us to talk strategy at. She didn’t sculpt too often, but I liked watching when she did. Normally, I watched her compete with Gallus or Yona. Races, sports, fighting, but every once in a blue moon I’d catch her sculpting. She used her fire and claws, rather than any conventional tools. Watching her sculpt was just as much about strength, as it was about precision and artistic vision. I’d watch her powerful claws hack at the stone in equal parts awe and envy. The combination of raw power and an artistic heart radiates a unique brand of love Too bad she was just making a table. For a moment, I wished we were simply relaxing, then I’d get to lie down and let the world fade away as I enthralled myself with the way her claws carved beauty into the earth.

The three of us sat down at our newly-carved war table. Smolder slammed her fist down and started growling out a game plan before I even knew what the game was.

From context, I gathered that it was called the mirror game. Two teams of dragons would wander through a hall of mirror crystals, and they'd use the reflections to fool each other until they could strike a member of the other team in the back of the head with a rock.

What a clever game.
__________________________________________________________________

Everything about the Crystal Caverns screamed “cold”. The crystalline walls, the ceiling, the floor... it all looked like glacial ice, and it was just as frigid. The floor was like a glacier against my claws. It felt as if I was walking through a cave in the frozen north. Even though I knew was still wrapped in the heat of the dragonlands, on the inside, my bones were freezing over one by one. I was fairly sure it was just psychosomatic, but I kept breathing fire on myself to feel warmer.

The only thing that kept the caverns from being eaten millenia ago was that every inch of the place tasted absolutely terrible. According to Smolder, crystals here tasted like a mouthful of salt. After my own tests, carefully done while no one was looking, I have to say that I agreed.

“The Mirror Arena is just around the corner.” Smolder said, giving me a reassuring smile.

“Arena?”

“Yeah, it's kinda new-ish. A couple years back, Cicle realised using enough fire on the crystals made them all mirror-like. So she gathered up a bunch of dragons and built a place for games.”

Whatever chills I had went away as I imagined Cicle looking over meticulously planned blueprints, and hardworking dragons getting together to create a marvel of sports architecture. If only I didn't have to compete, I’d have had more time to look over the place in detail.

The familiar sound of raucous cheering filled my ears as we turned the corner, and my heart yet again ached with a fiery yearning for victory. The dragons from the lava race were here, and another crew of ragtag dragons that I wasn’t familiar with.

“Those guys,” Smolder pointed towards the latter group. “are my guys.” She gave them a wave and wore the proud, confident smile she always had when she was ready to put Gallus in the dirt. There was a bit of snickering about her dress, but she only grumbled in response. I was proud to have done my job. No second guessing about wardrobe here, Smolder.

“Do they show up whenever you compete in anything?” Spike asked.

“Well yeah. Any competition, no matter how small, shifts the balance of ‘in-chargeness,’” Smolder said, mimicking a sliding scale with her claws. “So any game needs a witness. Plus, it's like... the only entertainment we got around here. We either compete, or lay around doing nothing. You see the walls they’re standing in front of? Those mirrors angle just right so they can see reflections deep into the arena. They can spectate almost everything from h—” Smolder had to cover her ears to shield herself from my shriek. I couldn’t help it, that's just too cool.

We stood in the starting area. My tail thrashed around like crazy. Everyone probably just thought I was real excited to win, but honestly, I just couldn’t wait to see what this arena was like.

Spike hovered between us. “So when do you two know when to start? I don’t see Cicle anywhere.”

“She’s on the other side.” Smolder said pointing towards the arena entrance, “We’re east team, she’s on west team. She always plays west team. We start when we get the signal.”

“And what's the signal?”

Every reflection filled with flame, and the dragons all around us cheered. Smolder darted off to the left and I marched to the right, the chants of 'dress gang' roaring behind me.

I clutched the tagging rock in my claws. It was just about the size of my head. Rocky was lovingly decorated with a painting of dragon with X's for eyes, and a cartoon dent in his skull. It felt familiar, but to hold.

I stalked the mirrored halls, only accompanied by Thrash's reflection and my thoughts. Every two minutes or so Smolder would call Thrash’s name. Calling each other's name was a typical way for team mates to track each other’s locations. However, whenever I heard Smolder, I walked further away. We moved parallel to each other yet further and further apart. She’d call, and I’d grow more distant. It was my strategy to cover more ground, but also to make sure only one of our locations were known.

The game was obviously rigged. Cicle must have built in some sort of cheat, one subtle enough other dragons didn't notice when they play from the west side. But that was fine. Unfair games were fun.

Ten minutes in, and I've seen reflections of Smolder and Cicles' teammate, Glas, flash past me, but I ignored both of them. Smolder would call my name, and I'd turn away from her voice. Glas would call Cicle's and I'd hear no response. If I wasn't sure that she was cheating, I'd have assumed they were using the same strategy.

A blue flame flashed around me followed by the sound of distant echoing cheers. Yes! However it happened, Smolder had taken out a member of west team. Leave it to her to carry this game for me!”

An orange flame followed immediately after.

“Ah crap.”

I forgot just how long I had been playing after the orange flame, but I found myself standing still, gazing at my only companion, the dragon-killing-rock. In most cultures, the games children played represent important virtues of their home. What this rock told me is that deceitful dragons prosper, and dim ones die. It sounded awful, but it was comforting knowledge. I watched Thrash’s reflection watching the rock.

She looked so... at home with the rock, her and the hundreds of other Thrashes reflecting upon each other. I had paid close attention in my meandering. I had drawn a mental map of the halls I’d been through. I could tell exactly what wall each Thrash had came from. Alone with the rock, and her hundreds of selves, each one looked so vulnerable.

And then one shattered.

Thrash’s ears flicked up. One of the reflections within reflections had been struck. One was dead, and I knew exactly where she was.

Thrash darted to the cracked mirror. Her silver form zipped through the mirrors like a flash of white. Cicle stood where the shattered Thrash lay. Her eyes darted mirrors. She was surrounded by rushing blurs with no clue on where to look. Thrash lifted the rock high, and I crushed it over Cicle’s head. I stood victorious over my not-so-dead opponent. The hall echoed with cheers as the hall’s filled with purple flamed fan-fare.

“How?”

“I never saw your reflection, so I just had to use my own.”

“You noticed? I guess dress wearing dragons aren't so bad if you’re smart enough to catch on to that. Just don’t tell anyone.”

She offered her hand for a handshake, which I took. “Deal, I won’t let anyone know you’re a vampire.” She stood there stunned just long enough for the handshake to count as hand holding. Another score for me. “It’s a joke. I figured you made a path that ensures your reflection never shows up.”

We emerged from the caverns, and before I could get the satisfaction of putting my feet on hot dragonland stone again, I was swept in the arms of countless dragons.

“THRASH! THRASH! THRASH! THRASH!”
“Smolder! Smolder! Smolder!”

A legion of hands lifted me off the ground. Smolder and I were riding on a wave of adoration. She blew out fierce pillars of flame in celebration, and the instant I saw it, every fiber of my draconic being drove me to do the same. I spewed a spear of fire to match hers. When I saw them match in height, something snapped within me. My chest swelled with righteous fire, and like an erupting volcano, I let out the most fearsome, most victorious roar of my life. My fire reached the stars, and if any dragon said otherwise, I’d be sure to prove them wrong.

The day spiraled into a blur of adrenaline, the rush of victory, and drowning in praise. With every challenge, we crushed another leader who would come set themselves up for destruction. Boulder throwing, flame javelines, sheep raiding, tail smashing. I stomped them all, with Smolder’s help of course. Each one absorbed themselves into our gang, and looked up to me as a queen among beasts. I certainly wasn’t complaining about having the attention of every pretty and handsome dragon at my beck and call.

Oooh yes, the attention was glorious. The slender and cold Cicle to my left, the rambunctious Ballista to my right, and the oh so pretty Fizzle hanging off my shoulder. I could live like this forever... if something wasn’t tugging at my tail!

I snap towards them, ready to give whoever it is a piece of my mind— “Oh. Spike. Whats up?”

“I’m pretty sure one of us promised alone time for a tea party?” He said, tapping his foot into the dirt.

“Tea party?” My entourage said in unison. Crap I did promise one of those didn’t I? Against every desire in my heart, I peeled Fizzle off of me, and gave Cicle a gentle push aside.

“It's a Dress Gang thing. Dresses, tea, it’s all very civilized. It's how we make sure others understand we’re better. Classier,” I said as I tore myself away from their sweet, sweet attention. Spike, for all the good it was doing, was trying to drag me away, but any movement I made was entirely my own. I respected the determination though.

We returned to Smolder’s cave, her family still nowhere to be seen. Not like she needed them, I guess. We were too busy becoming the queens of northside Dragonlands. She sat at the end a table, presumably another she carved just for the occasion. She was in an even frillier dress than before. So many layers and frills. Its cute, sure, but overdone, she should really get with the times and embrace a stronger, more elegant look. Still, she looked happy with her tea and I’d be just as happy to entertain her, and Spike.

I kicked back in my seat and swiveled the tea in my cup.“How’re things going, boss?”

“Excellent,” she said, in her terrible impersonation of a Canterlot accent. She did it nearly every tea party like a kid who’s idea of fancy came from story books. “I don’t think I’ve ever been this respected in my life!”

“What are friends for?”

“What have you two fine ladies been up to between games? We haven’t had a second to just relax and converse together.” Spike’s refined accent was pristine. Still childish, but pristine.

“I don’t know about you, but I feel plenty relaxed. I’ve spent my time between games entertaining our new members.”

“Having a great time huh?” Spike grumbled.

“The best!”

“Well I’ve been stuck making new dresses for all these dragons. I have to finish thirty of them by tonight! My heads full of nothing but measurements. So, so many numbers... ” He said with a wistful sigh, an exhausted look on his face.

“All part of making dresses more acceptable. What about you, Smolder?”

“Oh me?” she draped her hand over her chest in faux shock. “Well. I’ve spent the last hour getting this party ready… by myself. It's no problem though, this is the best being here’s felt in my entire life.”

“To living like queens,” I raised my tea cup for a toast, and Smolder raised hers as well, but one certain tiny dragon sure had a downer look on his face.

“I do say, Miss Smolder. That's not what you told me.” He said, keeping his teacup firmly to himself.

“What,” I scoffed, giving him an incredulous look, “ You don’t have to make stuff up. Smolder’s loving this, look at her! She’s been in the dragon lands all day wearing stuff like that, thriving like that! She’s finally getting everything she deserves. How could she not be doing great?”

Smolder sipped her tea. “Right, no one’s laughed in awhile,” she muttered.

“Simple.” Spike gave me the most rotten know-it-all look.“She’s not happy. You think you’re happy just because you get what you want?”

“Pfft, like, yeah! Kinda how happiness works. Get what you want, tell people things they want to hear. Woo happiness. You want to be strong? You get strong, you get happier. You want to be confident, you become someone confident and get happier. Happiness is all about getting what you want, Spike! We’re doing great.”

“I guess thats not… too wrong.” Smolder mumbled, stirring her tea.

“It's definitely not that simple,” Spike huffed, “The hows are just as important as the whats. I’m sure you know that.”

The clatter of my teacup echoed through the cave. I had only come just shy of completely shattering it. "And just what's wrong with the hows? Smolder loves winning!"

Spike’s eyes fixed into a glare. "You're talking like she's not even at the table. Ask her yourself."

“Fine! Smolder!” She nearly dropped her cup. “Is there anything wrong with how we’ve been totally taking over this place?”

“No. Of course not! I’ve finally got everyone who’s ever laughed at me eating out of my palm.”

“See!”

“Well, mostly your palm.”

“What?”

“No, no. I shouldn’t have said that!” Smolder beat her palm against her head, her other claw scratching at her scales “Ugh, I made it sound like a jealousy thing!”

“Is that it—”

“No—”

“Well I’m the one winning most of our games! Maybe you have some more experience, but I’m the one out here making all these game winning plays! I outsmarted the mirror game, I made the winning throw in fireball, and I’m the one that stole the idol! I’ve been carrying you this far, so it's only fair that I get attention.”

“You wouldn’t even know how these games are played without me you idio— No!” She slammed her claws on the table before chugging straight from the teapot. “That’s... not the problem. I mean. It’s kinda the problem. It's part of the problem!” She tried to sound calm, but her tongue was still frantic. A stuttering mess who couldn’t even speak straight.

Spike laid a hand on her shoulder “You got this Smolder.We won’t be mad at you for just speaking your mind!”

“Yeah Smolder. You got it, so spit it the heck out!”

“It’s you.” I could see her mouth the words, but her voice was as weak as a mouse’s.

“Excuse me?”

“It's not them paying attention to you! It’s you! You’ve… you’ve... you’ve turned into such a dragon!” Her every sentence was punctuated by the stiff flailing of her arms. “Maybe it was different when we started, but this isn’t fun, Ocellus! I thought I was having fun with you, but you aren't even you! We’ve just been playing to win, not playing together! And it doesn’t feel right! None of it does!”

“What doesn’t feel right? That I’m embodying everything about being a dragon. Winning? I feel more right than I have ever felt.”

“This!” She shunted her arms downwards, her dress billowing in the ensuing downdraft. “My hobby doesn’t even feel right now! This dress feels disgusting! I wanted to feel confident in this, but now it just feels like a uniform for all the dragon nonsense I used it to escape from! I wanted my friends to help me feel confident, not force everyone to respect it!”

“Then why the heck did you agree to do it? I did all of this for you! I came here for you, I beat all those other dragons for you! Do you realise how much I do for you all the time?”

“You did it for yourself! I was just convenient! You haven’t paid a bit of attention to me since beating Cicle. I see you and the groupies you keep hanging off your arms! I bet it feels real nice to have your own little harem doesn’t it?” Her nostrils flared as she swallowed her frustration, releasing it as one petered out puff of flame. “I asked you to come here, because I do recognize how much you do for me. You’re always the first one to help anyone, that's why all this feels so wrong.”

“Well if me being happy makes you feel so wrong maybe I should just leave? I’ll be the boss of the Dress Gang now. When Thrash is the queen of the whole northside, maybe then you’ll be sorry!”

“There is no dress gang, you idiot! I was never a boss! Just... just get out of my cave!” She shouted, tears leaking out of her eyes.

“Fine.” I bit right through my tea cup. Crunching porcelain was the only thing keeping me from throwing fists. “Have fun being back on the bottom.”

“I don’t like you, Thrash.”

I could feel the fire burning at the back of my throat. I wanted to get my claws on her, but instead, I turned around flew as far as I could.

____________________________________________________________________

The next two days were one victory after another. Dragons weren’t challenging me any more, so I marched my horde down along the rest of the northside. Cicle identified the local leaders, their games, their weaknesses. Each one became a target in my crosshairs. Sure, they saw an army of dragons wearing dresses and laughed, but once they fell by my heel, Spike had their measurements in seconds. The dress became my symbol. The mark of power, elegance, and allure.

After my last victory, I decided to lay down by the lava. With a bit of eye-batting, and some slow, inviting tail moves, I had convinced two nice boys to build me a hammock.

Living the good life.

Spike hung around nearby taking the measurements of our newest indoctrinees. Cicle poked me in the side, and I opened an eye to look at her.

“Thrash. Problem.”

“Yes, Cicle?”

“You have no horde. Others are questioning your power. Dissent is inevitable."

“Hm? I knew there was something I was forgetting.” I forced myself to my feet, and let out a yawn that showed off my sheer sharpness of my teeth.

Can’t let any of these potential upstarts think I won’t bite.

"So I just have to get a good stash of gold and treasures, right? Easy. Just need to find out where to look."

"Steal it."

"What?"

"Steal it. Making a horde will take too long. I know a cave that will be unguarded." Cicle whispered the time and place in my ear. We shared a chuckle at the expense of the poor welp who was about to lose everything.

Just then, I felt a tugging at my tail. Wasn't too hard to guess which little dragon it was. "Are you really sure you can trust her, Thrash? She seems pretty clever, to put it nicely." Spike’s concerned look was cute, if nothing else.

He had a point. We haven't known each other long and-- That cold touch on my chin. My wings sprang and ears shot up. She just kissed me! On the neck sure, but wow! If Spike had any more points, I didn’t hear them and If I heard them, I forgot them in a heartbeat. “I’m sure Cicle’s just being helpful.” Spike was none to impressed with my smile, or just how red my face must have been, turning on his heel and wandering off. “Oh come on little guy, where are you going? Eh, he’ll be back. Cicle, you mind taking me out to this cave?”

_____________________________________________________________________________

No wonder everyone liked having hoards so much. It was heaven! I had no idea a pile of gold and gems could feel so soft! It just cradled my body as I sank into the coins, goblets and— ow! That’s a crown ow, ow! I scrunched my face in annoyance and dug the offending piece of regalia out, placing it on my head. It looked good hanging around my horns, it fit me just as well as this pile of treasure. I could have lived like this forever. Everything was perfect… except for the weird hunger that was gnawing at me. I had my underlings bring me meat and gems and whatever else I could shove down, but none of it did anything for me. Whatever it was would pass eventually.

“Hey, you!”

I tilted my head just enough to look down. Some red dragon with a bone to pick.

“Get down here punk!”

I let out a sigh and slumped back into the gold “Cicle, who’s this joker?” Cicle, my right hand dragon had been sitting quietly beside me counting every coin.

“Garble. The dragon you stole from.”

I supposed that meant it was something that I had to see to. With a groan, I slid down the hoard until the pushed coins made a seat for me at the bottom. “Sup, thanks for the donation.”

“I didn’t donate nothing!”

“True, you donated all of it. How generous of you.” He chuckled too, until his hand wrapped itself around my throat.

It was a lot less funny after that.

“I’m going to give you one chance. Fight me in the crater by nightfall, or give everything back.” Coins were flung everywhere as he tossed me onto my back and onto the pile. I grasped my neck on instinct, the sting of his grip staying behind even as he left.

“Quite the ultimatum.” I’m not quite sure when she came down, but Cicle’s voice sounded as distant as ever, despite being right next to me. “What are you going to do, boss?”

“Win of course. A fight is just another game isn't it?” That was easy to tell myself, but my hands were trembling. The emptiness in my stomach felt like it was tearing through my insides, and my throat felt crushed. None of that mattered though. “Thrash doesn’t lose!”

From then till sunset, I spent the day filling myself with anything I could. Whatever I could make the gang bring me. I even hunted meals down with my own claws. Every bit of it to fill my body with fervor and blood lust for a fight. The night over the dragonlands was tinted red, just like the day. The deep darkness expected anywhere else was replaced with an eerie violet when the moon hung in the clear sky.

_____________________________________________________________________________

I stood my ground in the center of The Crater, a massive impact in the ground left by some ancient battle. The ring was lined with dragons. Their snouts were moving. They were definitely a shouting… something. I couldn't really hear any of it, just the sound of noise, not even what kind. Whether they were shouting cheers, insults, it was all nothing. I was too focused on powering my body. Being as tough, strong, indomitable as possible. Being the fearsome and beautiful Thrash. Every bit of my energy was devoted to this one moment.

“So, you showed up! I figured you’d just run away and I’d take the gold back myself. Glad I’ll be able to take my anger out on the dragon that deserves it!” I didn’t know when Garble had shown up. It was like he just popped up in front of me.

“Just start it.” I assumed a fighting stance. I couldn’t remember how, or where, I learned it, but it just came naturally to me. One leg forward, one palm outstretched with the back to my opponent, one held close.

He struck, I moved to counter, and my gut exploded with pain. I couldn’t move. I could barely stand. I couldn’t even move my arm. It felt so weak, so frail. Why didn’t I have any energy? Another bolt of pain to my side. Another to my chest. I couldn’t avoid the strikes at all, and the next time I could think, I was on the ground. I must have looked dead to everyone else. I know I felt dead. My arms, my legs, my tail... they all lay limp where they were.

“You’re lucky you’re my sister’s friend. Otherwise I—” a solid wack rang in my ears, and Garble fell to the ground right in front of me, unconscious. I had enough strength left to turn my head. Cicle stood there flipping a coin.

“Hmph. Neither won. I guess the treasures for the taking. So I took the liberty of taking it for myself.” I tried to open my mouth, to ask her why, but even then I knew it was a pointless question. As she called to the others and established everything I ever owned as hers I remembered deceptive dragons lived, and the others got hit with a rock.

As the world started to feel black, and the warmth of my bruises provided me with some strange comfort. All I could whisper was “Why am I so hungry…”

I felt warmer than before. Not the warmth of blood rushing to a bruise, but real, comforting warmth. I felt just a bit stronger than before I went out in the first place. With a bit of force, I opened my eyes, and even managed to lift myself just a bit off the ground.

“What is this place?” I saw my reflection in the floor, and below that, a constant flow of running magma on the other side. The floor was translucent, like glass. As I raised my eyes, I saw I was in an open room. In place of walls there were pillars covered in crystals. Beyond them, lava pools that dripped from below, and other ‘rooms’ connected to each other by long paths with the same transparent floors. All of it coloured in an amber tone by the light of magma.

“This! Is! Incredible! How did they construct the floors like this. Lava resistant but perfectly transparent! It's like nothing else I’ve seen!”

“Hah, I knew you’d like Ember’s place.” I turned behind me to see Smolder sitting over the edge of the room. “You feeling better Ocellus?”

I didn’t respond, I had to think. That name made me upset for some reason. “Who’s Ocellus?”

“Is she serious?” Spike mumbled.

“She forgot to eat. Of course she’s serious.” Smolder stretched before making her way next to me. Her touch felt warm. The heat I felt from her hand on my shoulder. It was familiar, it made me feel stronger. “You’re Ocellus. When you asked me all that stuff about dragon culture before. I asked if there was anything I need to know about changelings, and there was only one thing you really wanted me to know.”

I wasn’t really understanding, but I felt that Smolder would never lie to me. “What was that?”

“That changelings can forget themselves in a role. Especially when they turn into someone they want to be. Look at this, place. Those pillars and arches and all that crap! Does Thrash care about architecture?”

“Uh…. I don’t. I... no?”

“Who cares about architecture?”

“... Ocellus does?”

“Right, and your body’s been feeling weird, right?”

“I’ve been feeling… like, really weak, but I think having you around is making it better.”

“That's ‘cause you’re a changeling you dope!”

“I’m a dragon!”

“You’re. A. Changeling!” She said it nice and slow, like I was a kid.”You got rocked ‘cause you had no love in your belly, or wherever the heck it goes, you didn’t tell me that yet. None of them loved you, Ocellus, at all. That’s what it’s like here.”

Rocked, rocked, rocked.

“Dead! That’s what you are!” A shrill, elderly voice shouted at me. I was on the floor, and this long, black figure with piercing eyes stood over me. I remembered a split rock on the floor, and a terrible headache in my skull. “If you break character, you’re dead. If you can’t deceive everypony around you, you’re as good as dead!” The dead changeling rock, I hate it!

I snapped out of Ocellus’ memory? My memory? Thrashes memory? No… why would a dragon have that memory. “Food... doesn’t help me does it? Because I ate a lot.”

“That's what I’ve been saying dummy!” She pulled me into a hug, and I can’t remember ever feeling so much heat. Was Smolder always hot? Like, literally hot? Is this the love I was missing? I feel so much better. I could move my tail now! Stand up now! Pick her up in my arms now! “See that love’s kicking in already. You remember your favourite place in the world?”

“The … the ...The school! Twilight’s school! Oh jeez, I’m an idiot!” I transformed back to my own form and my head fell into my hooves. “I’m such an idiot!”

“Hey, only I get to call you an idiot! You don’t get to say that about yourself.”

I turned back to changeling form, thrown over her shoulders. Whatever instinct Thrash had to hold back her tears must have completely vanished, because I just couldn’t stop the waterfall coming from my eyes.

“I’m sorry! I’m so sorry. I yelled at you, and didn’t listen to you! I’m an awful friend!”

She patted my back, cradling me close. “Ocellus chill. I’m tough, I can take a friend yelling at me now and again. It was just really weird to see you like that. If I had picked up on it sooner, I would have helped you.”

“But I was supposed to be here to help you! That's what makes it awful! I made this whole trip about me, and all it did was make things worse for you.”

“You can make it up to me later. Don’t be such a baby about it.” She set me back down and I slumped right onto my hind legs. I couldn’t stand, not because I was still weak. Well, I was weak. But it was because I just felt so useless that I didn’t want to stand.
Spike walked over to us. It must have been the right time for our moment to be done with.
“Ocellus. What Smolder said earlier. What did you like about being Thrash?”

“She was strong. Dragons are so strong, powerful, beautiful. Not all shy and timid like I get.” I stroked my foreleg as if friction was going to give me the strength to get this off my chest. “I wanted to be someone Smolder would like.”

“Whaaaat?” Smolder laughed. “I already like you, we’re best friends.”

…

“Oh. Oh! Ooohh! Oh man, you think that’s my type?! Thrash is your type you dummy!” She had to pull her claws over her snout to stifle her laughter. As stupid as I felt I started chuckling too, it was infectious, I just couldn’t stop it. “No wonder you let Cicle hang all over you, She’s totally your type! She’s not even gay you doof! Spike told me about that kiss!”

“She’s not! That’s a shaaaaame!”

“I know right!” The two of us fell over each other laughing. Spike snickered his way bath out situation.”Ha! If I was there, I could’ve told you she was lying right then! I can’t believe you fell for it!”

“What can I say? I was pretty desperate. I guess I have a sort of thing for dragons. It’s so embarrassing.”

“Oh c’mon, it’s cute, and besides, now I can tease you about it for the rest of your life..”

I wrestled against the laughter in my through as another memory came back. “You know what really sucks?”

“What?”

“I could totally beat your brother!” I beat my hooves against the floor. “He throws a punch with no training at all, I don’t need any other forms to beat that! Ugh! I don’t even like fighting, and I’m mad!”

“Getting a rematch is as simple as stealing his stuff again. I’d love to see him get decked by a changeling.” She started to snicker, and I started to chuckle, and in seconds we were both exploding with laughter.

“I’m sorry.” I forced out between my throat straining roar of laughter. “I’m sorry I didn’t just tell you I liked you before, but you know it’s not just being strong and dragon that makes me like you. As hot as all of them were, you have something none of them did.”

“And what’s that?”

“You’re just so… wishy-washy, Smolder. You’ve got that vulnerability to you. You get shy and timid to sometimes and I like it.” And at that moment, a blush lit up on Smolder’s face like a bonfire. I finally felt a different love, from her. One that was just a little bit more than friends.