Princess Brimstone

Trigger #109: "The Crown of Caging".
Object Class: An enchanted crown that compresses large magical creatures into a more manageable, mortal form.
Transformation Type: TG, Monster Girl.

Threat Level: Varies. Depends on who wields the crown for what purposes. Currently in the possession of the Dragon Queen Blaze Brimstone in the land of Myrcea.

Subject: Dragon Queen Blaze Brimsone, 30, F, Half-Dragon Half-Human, formerly King Brimstone, Red Dragon, 30, AMAB.

The following is a biographical account of events based on the subject's own testimonies and several eyewitness accounts.

Trigger Warning: Fantasy Depictions of Parental Abuse.

"Are you a MAN or a MONSTER?!"

Brimstone remembered when he was just 20 years of age, practically a hatchling in Dragon years, who had not even fully grown into his wings yet.

His father, King Ignatius, was an impossible task master. He was the king of the Dragons, by right of having eaten the previous king alive. Those were big shoes to fill, even if Brim wasn't quite sure he wanted to fill them. The DragonLands were a kind, peaceful place that lived in harmony with the humans before Ignatius rose to power. Before, dragons were seen as benevolent creatures, bringing luck, love, and life wherever their wings took them. Now, they were seen as harbingers of death. And now there were far, far fewer of them. Those who hadn't died by Ignatius's hand during his uprising were killed by the humans and their many allies. Even the Demon King himself, King of All Evil, drew a line in the sand and banned King Ignatius from stepping a foot on his continent, siding with the very humans who hated his people so fervently.

All of this did not make for a very happy childhood for young Brimstone.

"Are you a MAN or a MONSTER?!"

Ignatius had birthed Brimstone as his inevitable replacement, nothing more, nothing less. The King had decided upon himself to make a proper warrior out of the young, slick scaled wyrm. Ignatius taught his only son to fly by throwing him from the tallest mountain in all of Myrcea. His father's cruel face before he pushed him from the precipice into the dark, wind-whipped abyss was seared into his soul.

"You either fly, or you die. I can always make another."

He taught him how to breathe fire by stranding him in the frozen tundra in the dead of winter. Brimstone could still feel the ice biting his paws, and the tears turning to sharp glass in his eyes.

"You breathe fire, or you freeze. I can always make another."

He taught him to hunt by starving him for days, then throwing him to the dire wolves. A hail of claws. A storm of teeth. Biting. Scraping. Tearing flesh from bone.

"You hunt, or you be hunted. You eat, or you will be eaten.

I can always make another." 

Food never sat well in his stomach after that day.

Mercifully, one year, Brimstone's father had left the Prince to mind the castle while he strove to conquer more lands to the east.

The young hatchling now had more freedom than he'd known his entire life. He could fly the skies without fear, without worry. He could follow his more curious whims without incurring his father's wrath.

One day, he snuck out of the castle and flew west into the neighboring kingdom of Amanita. He'd heard whispers from his father's prisoners, of how they longed for the green hills and blue skies of home. Brimstone's home had long since turned to ashen skies and charred, barren lands.

Flying over Amanita was like seeing color for the first time. It was like the sunset made into land itself. It was breathtaking.

His bliss was far too short lived, however.

The Queen's army was more than ready for an attack by dragons.

From out of nowhere, a fine net wrapped Brimstone's wings until they clung uselessly to his sides. He fell into the forest, snapping trees and unearthing mounds upon mounds of dirt.

He was alone. Helpless. And the humans would no doubt find him very soon.

But, someone else found him, instead.

A rather funny looking human, clothed in strange garments.

When he looked upon Brimstone, it was not with fear, nor the triumph of a hunter catching its prey.

Nor was it with the pity one looks upon a weak, helpless animal.

It was a look of sheer, unmitigated awe.

Men had not looked upon dragons with wonder in their eyes for years.

"Please... help me..." Brimstone begged. He felt he could trust this man.

The man did not hesitate. He pulled a strange knife from a belt around his waist and set to work sawing the young dragon from his prison.

He did not have time to thank the man properly. All he could do was push the man out of the hunter's view with his wings before making his escape, taking quite a few arrows in his flank for the trouble.

When he finally returned home, his father was waiting for him, furious.

He'd abandoned his home, left his castle defenseless. Ignatius demanded to know why. Brimstone had no choice but to tell him the whole story. The hunter's net. The kind, strange human. The beauty of Amantia compared to the wasteland their home had become. The young, naive dragon pleaded desperately with his father, that perhaps if they ended this needless war, their lands could be bountiful once more.

Ignatius rewarded his earnest plea by cracking Brimstone's left horn clean in half. A broken horn was the greatest dishonor a dragon could bear. And the pain was excruciating, like a nerve exposed to the elements.

"Are you a MAN? Or a MONSTER?!" Ignatius bellowed into his writhing, whimpering son's ear, over and over again until it started to bleed, then mercifully, deafen.

"I'm a monster... I am a monster..." Brimstone finally admitted, ashamed for thinking he could be anything else.

Just to spite his son, King Ignatious turned his interest from the east, to Amanita in the west. Brimstone couldn't help but blame himself for the war and suffering that would ensue. He did all he could to stop his father, but every time he was caught, punished, and locked in his den. He was a prisoner in his own castle. And, despite all his power as a proud, pure dragon, helpless.

Mercifully, during one of his crusades, a brave knight named Sir Leo finally killed Ignatious's father. The Dragon Army screamed for blood. The newly crowned King Brimstone could only hide his relief from his new subjects, and his gratitude for the one who had saved him from his hell. His new royal advisor, Kyrekk the Kobold Wizard, advised the new king that a swift counter attack was their best option. Brimstone agreed, and decided he would go alone to avenge his father. He of course intended to do no such thing, and instead simply wanted to satiate the curiosity of who it was that gave him his new freedom. 

Under the cover of darkness, Brimstone flew to the kingdom of Amantia, and spied upon the castle with hawk-like eyes and bat-like ears. To his surprise, the brave knight that had saved him was none other than the strange man he'd met so many years ago. His name was Leo, and he was a humble carpenter who had been brought here by accident from another world. Brimstone watched with a twinge of envy as Sir Leo spoke candidly with Amantia's Princess, Pomegranite, on the castle balcony. It was clear to anyone, Brimstone thought, that the two should be together, but despite having slain the Dragon King, the Princess seemed reluctant to marry a peasant, despite his recent knighting.

On the flight back to his castle, Brimstone concocted a plan. He'd originally intended to covertly dismantle his father's army, sending the strongest, most loyal soldiers off to distant outposts where they could do no harm, and leaking information where he could to Amantian spies if someone stepped out of line. But now in addition to his original plan, Brimstone staffed his castle with only a skeleton crew, zombified remains of old soldiers that were too dumb and too weak to pose a real threat, but made for good, immortal cannon fodder.

And then, under the guise of wanting to hold the Kingdom of Amantia hostage, Dragon King Brimstone stormed the enemy's castle and kidnapped Princess Pomegranate, whisking her away to his lair.

His real plan, however, was to repay Sir Leo by allowing him to play the hero and win Princess Pomegranate's heart with his selfless heroics. Brimstone of course tried to treat the Princess as gently and as humanely as possible given the circumstances, but she acted quite the spoiled brat, regardless.

And all according to plan, Sir Leo stormed the castle, heaving a mighty sledgehammer in lieu of a sword. Their battle was legendary. Brimstone played the part of the villain well, all the while smiling on the inside. The small, funny man's blows barely registered on Brimstone's battle-scarred body. He began to wonder how he'd managed to kill his father in the first place. Maybe he was holding back now for some reason? But regardless, when Brim decided the act had gone on long enough to be convincing, he rolled with the punches and hurled himself into the ocean of lava below, swearing his vengeance upon the little blue carpenter. A little known fact to humans, but red dragons are quite immune to lava. It was nothing more than a nice warm bath to Brimstone. His reward for a job well done.

After emerging from the pool, the Dragon King was SURE he would hear wedding bells in the distance the very next day.

But the sound never came.

It seemed that this STILL wasn't enough to convince the Princess to marry Sir Leo.

And so, the act continued.

Over and over again, year after year, their "battles" grew more elaborate, more ridiculous, some taking them further and further from home. And the Dragon King grew more and more frustrated with the spoilt little princess, blind to the perfect suitor that was right under her nose, blind to all that she had been given just by virtue of being born. He grew jealous. He berated the Princess in his head while outwardly pretending to covet her just to keep up appearances.

What I wouldn't give to have what you have, to be what you are.

Soft skin instead of hard scales.

Kind eyes instead of piercing red crevices.

To be small, and unassuming, and beautiful instead of large, frightening, and monstrous.

I would give ANYTHING to be you.

ANYTHING.

The prince, however, was not the only one growing weary of this endless game.

The Royal Advisor Kyrekk had caught on to the Dragon King's game. He longed for the days of old, when dragons were feared and respected, instead of the complete joke they had long since become. Neither poison nor blades would do, so Kyrekk searched the globe for an artifact that would weaken the Dragon King enough for even a lowly Kobold like himself to usurp him and take control.

It was then he found the Crown of Cages.

It was said to shrink even the strongest of beasts into something more manageable, more fragile. It was PERFECT for his purposes.

After another failed attempt at playing matchmaker, Kyrekk snuck the crown onto Brimstone under the guise of some royal ceremony or another.

The effect was immediate.

The crown dug deep into his skin, and set to work molding his body, breaking bones and melting muscle. Scales turned to skin, and bone chest plating turned into supple breasts. Leathery wings ripped and shrank to wrap his body in a silken, ash colored dress.

When it was done, to everyone's surprise, the Dragon King more resembled Princess Pomegranate than the dreaded Brimstone of old, although some draconic elements still poked through.

Now sufficiently weakened, chaining the poor girl up and throwing her in a cage formerly meant for Pomegranate was child's play.

"We've had enough of your childish games, PRINCE Brimstone. Or should I say Prin-CESS?" Kyrekk taunted, "When your old playmate arrives, I'll be seeing to it personally that this little act ends here."

Brimstone could only growl and scream from behind the bars of her cage as Kyrekk glided out of the throne room. After trying and failing to summon the fires raging inside of her to melt the cage into molten slag, she could only slump down to the floor, defeated.

All she had now was time to herself. Time to pray that Sir Leo could still defeat the formidable soldiers Kyrekk had summoned back from afar.

And, as she was only slightly ashamed to admit, time to explore this new body she had been given.

Sure enough, as she admired her reflection in the stained glass, she looked the spitting image of Princess Pomegranate, minus her old horns, wings, and tail still jutting out of her like sore thumbs.

Something stirred inside her, though, as she gazed upon her impossibly beautiful new curves. A contentment. A soft, warm salve soaking her soul. Despite having no power like this, no brute force or intimidating facade, she felt... at home. Whole. A far cry from how cumbersome and crude her old body had felt for so many years.

She was just about to investigate her new "assets" when the door opened again.

A man in a weathered blue hat and battleworn armor walked through.

Sir Leo of Amantia.

Brimstone was elated to see her old rival, here, and unharmed.

Instinct took over. Years of playing a certain role will do that to you.

Brimstone cackled evilly like she used to, not noticing her voice was now much too feminine for it to be as intimidating as it used to be.

"MWAHAHAHA! Welcome, brave Sir Leo, to your DOOM! You will never save the Princess from m- ah... uhm..." as she spoke, her voice came out soft and sultry, instead of the deep and thundering roar she was used to.

She looked down at herself again. Firm, supple breasts and a frilly, silken ballgown greeted her. This wasn't going to work.

It was time to play a different role then.

"Er, I mean, Sir Leo! Thank the gods you've come! I am but a humble helpless princess held captive by the dreaded Dragon King, Brimstone! Thank you ever so much for coming to save me from his evil clutches! Truly I am in your debt!"

Beads of sweat dripped down her forehead as Leo's eyes scanned her up and down, his eyebrow raising higher and higher with skepticism.

"Uh, huh. And why exactly do you look like Brimstone, then?" Leo asked in his heavy, Earth-en accent.

Brimstone stammered as she cooked up another lie.

"An excellent question, my good sir! I, um, I wassssss CURSED! Yes! Cursed into this beastly form by King Brimstone's royal advisor!"

This was TECHNICALLY true, although it left out quite a few vital details. The new princess tried to sway the intrepid carpenter by mimicking the real Princess Pomegranate as best she could, batting her eyelashes, pleading and flouncing about as desperately as she could feign.

"Oh please, SAVE me, brave hero!!!"

Having to mimic that spoiled brat of a princess made something curdle inside Brimstone. The overly saccharine words coming from her mouth almost made her gag.

The carpenter's eyebrow stayed firmly raised with skepticism.

"I know it's you, Brimstone."

Brimstone deflated and slumped against her cage grumpily.

"Well... shit. What gave me away?" she grumbled, thoroughly humiliated.

Sir Leo chuckled to himself.

"As if I wouldn't recognize my old friend. C'mon, let's get you out of there."

As he set about freeing Brimstone in much the same way he had years before, her mind was reeling.

"Friend... you think I'm your friend...?" she asked, her voice almost a whisper.

Sir Leo paused, and looked up at her, confused.

"Well... yeah? Isn't it kind of obvious? We've been doing this same shtick for years. If we weren't some kind of friends, don't you think we'd have gotten sick of it, by now? Put an end to it? Killed each other?

Plus, because of you, I've been able to see things no one from my world could even DREAM of. We've been all across Myrcea. We've even been to SPACE! I'd have never had any of those adventures without you!

And besides, if we weren't friends, why would you keep trying to set me up with Pom even though she's clearly not into dudes..."

Brimstone was speechless as he unlatched the final chain. Her world was tilting underneath her. Her surprise caught Leo's eye.

"Oh... I... I thought you KNEW, Brim."

"I didn't... I just wanted to... I didn't think you..."

Suddenly, Leo's eyes grew dark, and he pushed the dragon princess away from him. Before she could even wonder why, she saw the blast of magic send Leo careening across the castle hall.

"There you are, you slippery little toad..." Kyrekk sneered as he telekinetically lifted Leo to his feet, choking him with invisible hands.

Brimstone shrieked in horror, her frail voice sharp and piercing.

"KYREKK! NO! STOP!!! PLEASE! DON'T HURT HIM!"

Brimstone lunged for the tiny Kobold. He snorted, and lazily waved his hand. Like a fly being swatted from the air, Brimstone was sent careening across the hall, crashing into her own throne. The pain was so much worse in this body... and yet, nothing she wasn't used to.

 "You need to make a decision right now, PRINCE. Us? Or THEM? It is only out of respect for your father I didn't snuff you out like the runt of the litter you are. Now CHOOSE.

Are you a MAN? Or are you a MONSTER?!"

Those words Brimstone had heard so many times over set something alight in her chest. An anger like a hoard of kindling, stored in a cold, dry place and left far too long abandoned, was finally set ablaze.

"Neither." she said matter of factly.

The Kobold tilted his head in confusion.

"Neither?"

She stood on unsteady legs at first. She was hurt, not to mention she had never walked in heels, but with each staggering step forward, they grew straighter, and steadier, until her walk was a confident, sensual stride.

"No, my dear little minion. I'm neither a man, nor a monster.

I am a woman."

Kyrekk's guard was down now as she swayed hypnotically towards him, the grace of a proper princess tinged with the terrifying aura of a dragon. She smirked, fluttering her full lashes and tossing her hair as she'd seen Pom do so many times. She playfully dragged a long, slender claw down Kyrekk's cheek. He was quickly smitten with her, and with his concentration broken, dropped the choking knight. 

"You're right, my dear, faithful Kyrekk. I am no longer Brimstone the Dragon King. I am that which births brimstone, that which turns kingdoms to ash and soldier to soot."

She could feel it. The fire crackling in her chest, tickling at the back of her throat. Her power was returning to her. Whatever the crown had done to her, she realized, it hadn't removed her powers. It had simply condensed them, squished them into the tiny, frail half human form she now inhabited.

She grinned. She could use this. A scorpion is far more dangerous the smaller its size, after all.

"I'm neither prince, nor king, my dearest Kyrekk..." she whispered into the kobold's trembling ear.

Then, she stepped away, eyes gleaming with rage.

"I am a BLAZE. Your QUEEN. And you?"

A cackle like molten honey rang from her throat as a fire roared behind it, crackling at the edges of her mouth.

"You're FIRED."

Before the hapless wizard could wake from his trance, the rage of a thousand suns had reduced him to a flat scorch of ash in the royal carpet.

The queen let out a haughty little huff, and a puff of black smoke trickled out from her nose.

Then, she whirled around and ran to Leo's side.

"A-Are you okay? Are you hurt, my knigh- I mean my foolish rival- I mean, uhm... fuck..." she stammered as she checked the iron clad carpenter for injuries.

He laughed, took her face into his hands, and then kissed her.

After a moment, he reeled back, his tongue sticking out past his lips.

"Ahh! Yur mouff ith thill HOTT!" he said, his lips clearly singed.

Blaze laughed apologetically.

"Sorry! I'm so sorry! I hadn't expected you to kiss me so soon, after all!"

She buried her tiny face into the man's burly, armored chest.

"I'm... I'm sorry for a lot of things... I should have told you so long ago how I felt about you, and I shouldn't have stolen that poor princess so many times... I really do owe her an apology..." she said, sullenly.

Leo chuckled as he wrapped his arms around her nice and tight.

"Eh, it's fine. We had fun. She had fun, too. Turns out she's into the whole 'damsel in distress' thing. She was just pissed it was always a guy being sent to save her..." Leo said softly.

Blaze laughed again. It was an intoxicating sound, far from the monstrous guffaws she was used to. She liked it.

"Well... maybe we could do something about that... set her up with a nice lady knight or something... think you'd be up for playing our parts just one more time, my 'greatest foe'?" she said, a glint of mischief in her ruby eyes.

The carpenter smiled, and then, threw her over his shoulder with very little effort.

"Sure thing, your majesty. But first, I think we should play a different game for once, if you're still up for it, that is?" he said over his shoulder.

The fearsome, terrible, ferocious dragon queen melted like a tiny kitten bathed in a beam of sunlight. Her lips curled with thoughts of both love and lust.

"Well... I DID say I was in your debt, didn't I...?"

From the desk of

Mira Alcott

Head-Mistress of Transformations

(Special thanks to Crown Cosmo for the suggestion, to my Test Readers, and to all of you for your support!)