How I Became a Dragon, by Zigzak

‘Tell us about it!’ I demanded excitedly.

Bertie shifted uncomfortably on the spot, trying awkwardly to find a comfortable sitting position that did not squash his thick tail.

‘Are you sure that you want to know?’ He teased.

All of the horses in the yard nodded as if to echo my anticipation for a good story.

‘If he finds out…’ Bertie spread his wings outwards; ominously blotting out the setting sun and darkening the stable courtyard. ‘This could happen to you.’

‘I’m pretty sure we can take that risk.’ Said I.

Bertie folded back his wings and made himself comfortable by laying on his side; his head resting on a stack of hay. He rested a dangerous looking paw on his ample paunch, flicked the end of his tail in a leisurely manner and began.

‘Well then, no interruptions!’ he cleared his throat, ‘This is the story of my gluttony whilst working on a farm not far from here, and how my greed and laziness got me turned into a dragon.’

*

‘It all started on a farm many miles from here. Back then I was a cart horse, or at least I was supposed to be one. I was perhaps a bit on the lazy side, and I must admit that I enjoyed my food a little bit too much. Perhaps I take life as a leisure, and perhaps I had gotten a little bit too portly for my master’s harness, but realistically I was never a good work horse in the to begin with.

‘On a lazy afternoon – it could have been a weekend, though every day seemed like a weekend to me then – me and my stable mate took on a bet. He always liked to complain that he was worked harder than me. Naturally I claimed that I worked less because my intellect made me more useful in areas that did not require manual labour. I was not amused at the suggestion that I was a glorified foliage harvester that had been forgotten about.

‘Keen to put my intellect (and food) where my mouth was, I came up with the brilliant idea of proving my superior intelligence in the most useful way possible. I would break into the storage barn for the fruit and vegetables that would be taken to the market the next day, and on top of this, nobody would ever know that I had been there. We decided that should I win the bet; he would never call me lazy again, but if I lost; I would have to go on a diet, imagine that!

‘We waited until the sun dipped below the hills and made for the barn in the fading light. As you are all aware, hooves are not the most dextrous of instruments for delicately breaking into structures – in fact, my new found claws were one of the unexpected bonuses of this whole ordeal – Needless to say, I got a bit impatient and forced the door open with my bulk. My friend argued that I had lost my end of the bed, but surely it didn’t matter if we weren’t caught? Besides, I never intended to even attempt a diet even if I had lost.

‘Now you must understand that I had quite an appetite, and the paunch to prove it, but this may have been one of those rare times when my eyes were truly bigger than my stomach. After some convincing, my friend had a bit of a snack on some apples, but I just kept on going – right through the night.

‘It must have been the very earliest hours of the morning when I finally gave out. I was in a state of pure ecstasy. My belly felt bloated and my hide felt taut under the pressure underneath; the left over taste of exotic fruits and fresh vegetables caressed my tongue lovingly, and despite some prodding from my friend I nodded off in the dry shelter of the barn.

‘I awoke to find light pouring in through the gaps of the woodwork. It was morning already and two human figures stood over me with scowls across their squashed, funny looking faces. I knew right away that I was in trouble, and it wasn’t just the door I had broken or the produce that I had glutted myself on.

‘Humans can be difficult to tell apart from one another, but here is something to be said for wizards. Perhaps it is the big pointy had, the long flowing robes or the straggly grey beards, but they certainly have a unique dress sense and aren’t difficult to spot.

‘That is what had me worried. Standing alongside my master was surly looking wizard, pointy hat and everything. He told me that I had eaten half of the produce that he had bought and paid for the previous day, and now his experiments were delayed for a whole week.

‘My punishment was certainly not an expected one. In exchange for the lost goods I had been gifted unceremoniously the wizard, apparently I had been written off as a lost cause, but that was not the worst of it. He wanted to test a new spell on me!

‘The door slammed shut behind my master as he left the barn without so much as a goodbye; I would have followed him and gotten out of there if I had not been so groggy and stuffed to the brim.
The wizard did not bother to let me in on the nature of his experiment, in fact he began muttering incantations under his breath without a moment’s notice.

‘At first nothing happened, the old man merely waved his hands about in a manner that may have well have caused a call for his involuntary removal, had this been a public setting. Humans are afraid of the abnormal and insane, don’t you know?

‘After a while I decided to voice my disapproval, only to be stopped by a strange stretching sensation across the full length of my body. I panicked and sprang (in the sprightliest manner that I could manage, given my bulk) onto all fours. I was growing in every direction. My midsection began to elongate, and new teeth began to grow through my gums, sharp teeth.

‘I tried to step forward, but my legs gave out as my joints began to change their orientation. I fell sideways, my sizeable paunch cushioning my fall as I landed heavily on the ground. The fur on my tail fell out as it lengthened and fattened considerably, I leant forward to have a glance, only to catch the end of it flick above the mound of my belly, a barb taking shape at the tip.

‘Something growing out of my shoulders forced me to roll on my front and a large pair of bat like wings quickly spread out to the sides to obscure the view of my rump. As the process finally began to slow down I spread out on my front, the soft pliable fat from my belly spreading out to either side of me, though that was about the only thing that felt familiar, and even then my mid-section felt strangely elongated.

‘Everything felt so alien. My joints were all back to front, and I my new found wings made two too many limbs – not to mention the tail, which I’m still not sure what to do with even now.

‘The wizard chuckled at me and congratulated me on being the first in what was to be a long line of experiments for him.

*

‘And that is my story.’ The dragon finished.

We all looked at each other in amazement as Bertie grinned toothily.

‘Do you miss your time at your old farm? It sounds like you had a great life there.’ A horse next to me asked.

‘I suppose I did live the good life, but I don’t exactly have to do much here, and my new owner has been more than reasonable with me food allowance.’ His belly rippled as he gave it a pat, ‘He says that I won’t be using my wings any time soon, I may have even gained a bit of weight.’

‘But wait a minute.’ I said quizzically, ‘What happened to the wizard, and what about his other experiments?’

Bertie’s gaze turned to me, his expression was playful and cheery. ‘Well you are all new here, so perhaps you haven’t met my master yet.’

There was a murmur through the group as he said this, was he saying what we thought he was saying?

‘The food I ate at the barn has been replaced tenfold and will be ready for you all soon. You will be exceptionally well fed and cared for over the next few months; my master assures me that the fatter you are, the easier the transformation process will be.’

I gulped, knowing fine well what this meant. ‘What is it like, being a dragon?’

The dragon hummed for a moment and replied, ‘That old wizard has a good eye for horses with a healthy appetite, looking at your paunch, it won’t be long until you can answer that for yourself.’