The Dragon that came to Tea

by Wan-wanniche

1st cup: English Breakfast

No matter what some may lead you to believe, magic has rules too. They're just more...abstruse than the laws of physics. And, of course, the laws of physics are both simple and complex all at once. It therefore follows that the laws of magic are both fiendishly difficult and ridiculously uncomplicated.

Which is why I happen to be a dragon at the moment.

To start with, I suppose a small explanation is in order. My name Gustav, or Tavi, for short. And I was sitting, albeit in an unusually foul mood, in my hoa.... um, library while I was hosting the yearly meeting. An altercation occurred.

Considering the sheer amount of magic each of the members of the council holds on an individual basis, I suppose I'm surprised I was sent on a dimensional trip instead of being completely stripped down atom by atom, in what is supposed to be a rather painful process.

Long story short, I now find myself in a form both familiar and utterly alien. Perhaps I should explain that dichotomy, and the very much shortened magical law that allows my current predicament. Of course, magic and science hold almost equal sway in my dimension, which also complicates things.

I wasn't born as immensely magical as I now inherently am. Of course, the magic being inherent, something along the way obviously gifted me with strong (I am rivaled for sheer magical power and knowledge by only one other) magical talent that is perhaps one of the most intimate parts of my being.

To simplify my statement, I was born a human but I am also, quite equally, a full-blooded dragon. In short, dragons aren't so much birthed as made or discovered where I come from.

A clarifying statement would be that all dragons are birthed physically as humans, but their soul is, and always was, a dragon and it shows only in certain character traits until the dragon equivalent of puberty hits. Until that time, identifying a dragon is a subtle and painstaking process.

Once that point is reached, however, sneezing fire and coughing lightning bolts is a bit of a dead giveaway. Of course, complications abound, but all the usual dragon powers and traits apply. Intellectual, a touch (or a significant deal more) of arrogance, magical, strong, and very, very hard to kill. And all the smoke and mirrors, of course, the fire breathing and scales and whatnot.

Of course, given the... unusual nature of my dimension's dragons, we tend to have what we call our two 'Truths'. Of course, one of them is our purely human body, with all the genes we were born with and all that. The other is our... scaled form. Both are intrinsically us, and reflect the truth of our being.

This is where the magic law (I do eventually come to a point) comes in. You see, no other magic user, whether conscious or unconscious (besides Were's) can have two true forms. There has been some argument that dragon's are a type of were, which has been debunked and logically disprove so many times in our dimension's history that, of course, everyone sniggers and ignores the elegant scientific and magical proofs disproving the notion and calls us Were behind our back.

But I digress.

The magic law to which I have been referring to (and, inevitably, talking around) is the first law of transmutation. One thing may be changed to another, but unless the other form is also holds the intimate truth of the essence of the original thing in an equal amount to the original form, eventually it will come undone. At times with some...unpleasant side effects. Usually nothing fatal, I assure you. Usually.

Now, the transmutation will hold for more than enough time for any mischief you may choose, or time spent being threatened by the offending sorcerer. But ultimately, the original, True Form (aha, you think, the meat of it!) will triumph in drawing the essence back to the way it was meant to be.

I have two forms, and a great deal of power, so I can transmute myself into an amusing number of interesting hybrid versions of both. Ultimately, if I wait too long, I will snap back to one True Form or the other, but with little backlash.

Or that was the case before my unusual trip. There were other complications, of course. For one, my human form was completely unable to walk (Due to an accident in my early 20's before my... Draconian pubescence).

My dragon form, of course, was similarly unable to use its hind legs. As above, so below. It happened to me, both versions of me, before I really had an inkling about the other part of my true nature.

Having reached the relative end of that particular anecdote, you might understand why the form of a dragon would be familiar. However... I looked down at the somehow very different lush grass and shuffled my clawed feet. I was taller than I remembered, but thinner and not as... mature as I previously was in this form. And working legs. Which are definitely a plus! However... It made me wonder if that particular change had been... universal, as it were.

And, being both a dragon and an innately magical being, I had felt a slightly disturbing shift deep within me at the moment of the shift. I had my suspicions, of course, but nothing could be done at the moment. Soon hoard withdrawal and greed would kick in, and I had to head it off before all of this came to a messier conclusion than I would prefer.

I refrained from my human form. Having my legs was strange in this form, and a blessing. But there was no need to push my luck. Especially since I felt my human form might be strange here. Maybe it was the pastel colors and strange reality/unreality of this place.

I needed a holdover den, someplace with just enough hoard-worthy objects to prevent loss of control and discipline, but not enough to trigger my...more acquisitive instincts.

I raised my burnished chocolate brown snout and sniffed the wind. West. Yes, the west smelled promising. The magical signature near the source was a bit caution inducing, but I had a feeling a well-turned argument might just help me escape with a minimum amount of damage done all-around.

The last time I ignored that instinct I had lost the use of both my legs. I progressed steadily to the west, regaining familiarity with my own self-propulsion.

Walking was glorious.

- - - - - - - - -

Twilight was having A Day. All librarians had them from time to time, but most librarians didn't have fire-breathing little brothers, or five girlfriends vying for their time simultaneously on Those Days. They had to deal with, perhaps, mothers nagging for grandchildren, or delinquent books being returned after the replacement has already been purchased, or some-such.

Twilight sometimes wished her life was that simple. If she knew her life was about to get a great deal more complicated in approximately five minutes, perhaps she would feel differently. But at this juncture, I'm afraid Twilight is feeling very frazzled.

The poor dear.

Spike isn't having a very good day either. You see, he's been on edge for a unidentifiable reason for the past few hours, and he just accidentally burnt Twilight's new astronomical chart, the one with Luna's Old Constellation's and the New Lunar Constellation charted by season shown side by side. It also had a magical charm that allowed an overlay for comparison between the star-shifts over the thousand years of difference.

Obviously it had been hideously expensive. He didn't feel very good about the whole matter, and of course it had been an accident but he hadn't been careful enough either. He was very upset with himself, and he was afraid that Twilight was...disappointed with him. Secretly, that was one of his greatest fears and on top of being very upset he was also very scared.

And irritated for no reason he could identify. He was equally scared of saying something stupid while he was so... touchy. He wasn't shedding, so what could he be so, ahem... fired up about?

At this time, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Fluttershy, Rarity and Pinkie Pie were all patiently (sort of) waiting for their time to talk to Twilight. There were favors to be asked, parties to be thrown, time to be spent, coffee or tea to drink, and all of them felt they hadn't seen very much of Twilight recently.

Twilight was at the edge of falling apart completely. Everypony need a piece of her time today, up to and including the library itself. And Spike had done something that she had to scold him for, even if it had been an accident. “Spike...” she said with a tired voice, one with an exasperated edge in it. (okay, it was an exasperation that could slice through knives. It was one of Those Days, after all)

It was at this time, and with this atmosphere that there was a polite knock on the door. It was a firm knock, but with a nearly apologetic tone to it, a sort of could you please answer? So sorry to bother you, but... with much shuffling of feet as well.

Twilight visibly tried to pull herself together, and without saying a word trotted to the door and opened it.

At which point she promptly flew apart (figuratively, of course) upon seeing the figure at the door, who had one clawed fist held up furtively for one more knock.

Author's Note:

New project. The humor is supposed to be a bit...dry in this one. And, as I'm sure you've noticed, Tavi rambles a bit.
Which is a bit like saying parasprites are a little hungry, I suppose.

Don't worry, there will be action aplenty. Interspersed with time for tea, of course.

Of Course.

Comments

[MerlosTheMad]

I don't understand the need for the biology exposition at the very beginning of the story.

I like the way the main character/narrator speaks, seems like a stately sort of chap. Would he be free to nip at a spot of tea? Pity I don't drink tea.

[Jixstun]

I quite like this opening. In most stories we get a little bit of the main characters backstory before we head to Equestria & whatever change of form is in store, but this chap appears to be quite refined, already familiar with magic & already has a draconic form, so we're already starting out from a different & quite intriguing place.