~The Altering Stone~

Cynder had woken not long after to find herself in the dragon city, and had been called into council with the guardians. She lapsed back into her memory.

Cynder had sighed after recounting to the guardians Ignitus' fate, and glanced sadly at her paws, waiting for their reaction.

For the next few minutes, grim silence reigned over the three guardians; they weren't sure what to say. Of the guardians, Ignitus had been a sort of loadstone. Now, without him, the others seemed lost and sad.

That was her impression of the matter, anyway. She hadn't really had that much time with the guardians; Spyro was the one who was closer to Ignitus. Cynder had become convinced a long time ago that the red guardian had been as good as the purple's father. Thinking of the relationship between the two sent a painful twinge of jealousy through Cynder's chest, but she quickly dismissed it.

Terrador was the first to speak, though his face certainly displayed the most pain of the three. "Ignitus was a true friend, but now is not the time for grief," he stated, gruffly, "Ignitus would not want us to focus on the past, but what is to come. When the time comes we will celebrate his memory with all the grace and dignity he deserves. But until then, we must carry on."

Cynder continued to study her obsidian paws as she finished the recollection. Terrador stopped the other two with glances whenever they tried to interrupt – for which she was grateful. Once she had informed them of all that had occurred – with the sole exceptions of her final words before the realm was healed, and her brief foray into darkness – she stared at her forepaws once more. She felt a bit awkward with the guardians; usually she had let Spyro talk.

The black dragoness still felt a lingering chill of unease around the three – relic of a past life. And occasionally, she still dreamed of a time when she was huge, when the poison of hate ran deep in her veins and she ruled under a master she didn't know, yet followed blindly in a haze of confusion and rage.

What scared her most was the savage pleasure of those memory-dreams – all the power rushing through her veins; it had been exhilarating. She didn't remember her past life except for those fleeting glimpses, for which she was grateful.

She nodded silently to Terrador and silence held reign for a while, until Cynder remembered, "Will Spyro be alright? What's wrong with him?"

"I believe that all the stress on Spyro's magical ability began to have an effect on his overall physical welfare, there as his body was put under an expediential amount of stress, therefore lowering the defense capabilities of his immune system. Also, since scales often reflect the current state of a dragon's magic, the bleaching affect may stem from him expending more magic than he should have, such as occurred after his initial battle with you. That is, to a copiously greater scale, of course."

"Of course," a snide voice echoed, and a golden form fluttered up, "How come no one bothered to tell me they were back? I'm Spyro's freakin' brother; I think I deserve to know what's going on! But noooooooooo; no need to tell the little guy what's going on!"

Terrador shot a questioning glance at Cyril, "Didn't I ask you to inform Sparx personally? What happened?"

Cyril fidgeted a bit, looking uncomfortable, "I did not have the time. I sent my new apprentice, Snowstorm; the message must not have gone through."

Terrador sighed, "Cyril, think. The girl's nice, but her memory isn't the best." Judging from his tone, Cynder deducted it was far from the best.

Cyril looked away, giving a half-hearted snort that made a small cloud of mist filter from his nostrils and sparkle in the air. His usual attempt at making himself appear above the world rather fell flat with the air of sorrow permeating the air around him like a thick fog, and the sparkle of unshed tears in his cerulean eyes. "I…was trying to find a way to track him at the time…"

"I suppose…we have other things to think of…" Volteer said, sensing Ignitus's name on the air. Without him the heart of the group seemed to have been torn out, leaving only a tattered and bloody hole in its wake.

Cynder shifted her weight from forepaw to forepaw, "What now?"

"Well, young dragoness," Cyril said after sighing heavily, "For one, there is you to think of. I'm regretful to say that you may be in danger here. Since Malefor's fall, dragons have been immigrating here from all over. Unfortunately, many of them refuse to trust you even now, so having you walk the streets may be problematic."

"Yes, and because of these situations I have created a device that will help to hide your identity," Volteer cut in. He pulled out a small chain with a clear crystal hanging on it, "When you wear this, your scales will shift to the natural appearance of a dragon that solely controls one of your elements. Your scales would be veiled in that color and only those who can recognize you by bodily attributes will know you. We trust many in this city, but you should wear this whenever going anywhere with a great deal of pedestrians."

Cynder took the stone and eyed it unhappily. It was cool and smooth in her grip, but the aura of the pendant sent a cold tingle up her spine. She didn't really have a choice though and nervously slipped it over her head, where it came to rest around the base of her neck. Warmth spread from the chain and her beautiful scales lightened, becoming a pastel green. Her stomach acquired more of a purple tinge and her horns became more tan than white. Even her body shape changed slightly, becoming sturdier, and her horns became a tad thicker. Only her eyes gave her away – the same fiery green they'd been since Spyro had freed her.

Far away, a blue dragoness leapt from a tree, spreading wings that had no blades, but thin silky amethyst-purple feathers in their place. Despite the feathers, her wings were still webbed. The lean dragoness glided for a moment on the air currents, before losing balance and crashing into the earth. She growled a curse-word and stood up, shaking grit out of the feathered Mohawk that stretched from her forehead to about halfway down her tail.

On either side of her two, stubby, gold goat-like horns, two feathered ear-like appendages grew from her head. Her scales were a pure shade of light sapphire and changed to a pale off-white color on her underbelly. Strange pink eyes contrasted against her blue face.

The dragoness grumbled, glaring at the ground, and released a blast of strange power from her maw. It was like a ball of grey mist, but when it hit the ground it exploded with such a force that her own attack knocked her back to the ground, sprawling. Muttering profanities – curses from multiple languages – she slunk back into the forest.

The fan of dark purple feathers at the end of her tail dragged in the dirt, creating shallow furrows in the earth. The blue dragoness glanced at her wings, like they were some sort of deformity. Perhaps she thought they were.

Aaaannnnndddd CUT! Hello mysterious dragoness, who's name isn't to be revealed yet. I'm not entirely pleased with this, but oh well. I am happy with introducing this mysterious dragoness though! Who might she be? =D Today reviews will get E-spirit gems, so hurry before I'm out! XD Oh, Cynder's green-ness has been explained. Happy? Tell me! IN A REVIEW! Please? *puppy eyes*

And this chap is dedicated to my friend Silverspiritowl, who helped with the creation of this strange dragoness.