I looked at Sweetie Belle in shock. Ever since this cultural exchange crap had started, I'd gotten dumped on. My parents had jumped on this whole Spend a Year in Equestria thing, and had immediately and totally gone full pony (never go full pony). I'd been shoved in a school, then another, and finally I wound up here—the School Of Friendship.
Well, I hated it here. The classes were literally team-building exercises on crack, and I wanted none of it. I just wanted to finish school and graduate so I would never have to sit through this kinda shit again. Well, that's not exactly true. I wanted to be back home with my friends.
"Why should I?" I asked. "It's not going to fix anything. I still hate it here."
"So I've gathered. Your parents dumped you into this, and from what I understand of human norms, you're a perfectly well-adjusted, but just not for pony civilization." Her words surprised me. Of the senior teachers at the school, she seemed the most woke. "Which is why I've applied to the headmare and gotten approval for this new treatment."
"New what?" I shortened the what appropriately.
"It'll let you coast, mostly. You won't have to worry about your classes—even the boring ones—because you'll have a way to just do them." After a pause where she probably expected me to jump up and down for joy, Sweetie continued. "And I think you'll like it. So, willing to give this one weird trick a try?"
That caught my attention. I couldn't help but snort at a pony using a meme. "Sure. Whatever," I sarcastically said—only realizing as the bright-green glow started filling the room that most ponies were particularly tone-deaf to sarcasm. "Wa—"
The feeling of having magic shot into you like some kind of horn-shaped ranged-needle-attack is something I'd gotten used to—mostly because ponies tended to freak out about strange-looking things, and there was about a 1 in 3 chance of the pony freaking out being a unicorn.
"I didn't mean to do it!" I could feel the magic buzzing around inside me like I was full of bees. "I meant it sarcas—"
I stopped talking because I felt my mouth change. It was like my face was clay and some big hand had grabbed it and pulled. What it pulled was kinda orange and—I'd seen this before, but not quite so close-range. It was the snout of a dragon.
"Err, I thought you were agreeing. You should probably just relax and let the magic go now. I don't think stopping this spell would be a good idea." She at least sounded a little apologetic.
Me? I was too busy freaking out and trying to learn how to scream with the tongue, teeth, and mouth of a dragon. I eventually worked it out as I felt the magic start bubbling up through my skin elsewhere.
My left hand seemed to tremble before my pinkie finger just retracted into my hand. I stopped screaming as each remaining finger and my thumb turned into claw-tipped talons. "Waff if doofif?"
"The bridge between teenage human and pony, I believe, is adolescent dragon. They're generally pretty annoyed at everything all the time, but they're open to friendship lessons."
I stared at her as I felt something shoving down at my pants—then shoving through my pants. Dragon? Okay, they were kinda cool and about the only people here I could stand to hang out with, but I didn't want to be one!
Looking down as I heard more fabric tear, I saw my tail had shoved through not just my underwear, but also my jeans. How the hell did it get through my jeans?!
Another rip, this time behind me, heralded a new crazy sensation—a fifth limb. As I moved my right arm, my new right wing seemed to move too, and wiggling my fingers made the "fingers" of the wing twitch.
It was all kinds of messed up. My arms and wing (never thought I'd have one of those) were all asymmetrical and I hated it. Glaring at Sweetie, I let out a roar that felt good. Of course, the gout of flame that chased after the noise was a surprise.
My right hand changed next, as did my right leg. A rush of orange scales seemed to push free of my skin and coat my arm as far up as I could see, all the way down to the tips of my talons. New sensations blossomed on the sides of my head, and I felt as the horns most dragons sported slowly pushed their way free of my flesh.
Curling up into a ball on the floor, I realized how my tail had ripped free—the end was literally a spade-shaped (like the cards) blade. I felt as my other wing ripped out of my shirt, and tried to ignore the feeling of my legs and feet changing, though when my new toe-talons ripped through my shoes, I got some idea of how much had happened.
I glared up at Sweetie as she approached, but any anger I might have had was cut short at a startling realization—I wasn't a guy anymore. It was freaky to just know I didn't have the bits to be a male anymore, but I was as certain of it as I was my hands now had only three fingers. "Whaft'd you do fo me?"
"Well, the body changes look complete. There's only the mental adjustment now."
Mental adjustment? I felt more anger boiling up. I'd never been so angry before in my life, and as I squirmed and thrashed on the floor, I heard more ripping of my clothes—but didn't care. Getting to my feet, I glared at Sweetie and was about to swear up a storm when I realized she was way taller than she used to be.
It was like a bucket of cold water being dumped on my head. I stared at her—at eye level—and gulped. "W-What mental chan—"
The first, I realized, was the anger. All the dragons I knew got angry really easily. But something new smacked me right in the depths of my head. My emotions welled up and, without giving me any warning, I had to hug her.
Wrapping my arms around Sweetie's neck, I started crying. When she lifted her forelegs and put them around me, I couldn't stop from crying harder. "Why do I feel so terrible?"
"Because I turned you into one of my best friends, and she cares about me a lot?" Sweetie's words made sense, but it still freaked me out. "Also one of the nicest dragons I know. Isn't that right, Smolder?"
The word echoed in my head and shook a dozen little changes into effect. The classes, the study, it all made more sense now, but what hit me a lot harder than all that was the need for friendship. "How was I such a dork?" The voice was higher than mine, but it felt right to me now. Was I still me? "Ugh. How much Smolder did you put in my head?"
"Uh, a lot? You should be okay, but if you relax, you'll just act more like her. Oh, or if you get too emotional. Anger, happiness, friendship…"
The worst bit was she did it to help me. I knew it because Smolder could read Sweetie Belle like a book. She was a genius when it came to magic, but where Sweetie really shined was how ready she was to help people. Even dragons. Even humans. "Thanks."
Author's Note
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