"You know, Rob... I've been thinking."

"Hmmm?" Rob looked up from the book he was reading, glancing over at the crow sitting across from him. He sighed. "What do you mean?"

"Oh, just about this band of ours," replied the crow. "You, me, Jack, Mac.... something's been bothering me about it, and for the longest time, I was never able to figure out what it was... but I think I finally have!"

Rob rolled his eyes. "You're the one who put the band together in the first place, Martin. If something's not right with it, you've only got yourself to blame."

"Yes yes, I know!" said Martin. "And because I'm the one who caused the issue, it's only natural that I should be the one to fix it, right?"

Rob frowned. The white wolf had lived with Martin for close to a year now, long enough to know exactly where this was going. Whenever Martin had an idea like this, trouble of a certain sort was sure to follow, and Rob was certain that this scenario was no exception. Still, protesting would probably only lead to an argument, and Rob wasn't in the mood to deal with that right now. "All right then," he sighed. "What exactly is this issue that you need to fix so badly?"

"I'm glad you asked!" said Martin with a grin. "You see, I was thinking about the four of us, and I realized something: in terms of species, the band is rather mammal-heavy, isn't it? In fact, I think I'm the only non-mammal in the entire thing!"

"Your point being?" asked Rob. So far, this was turning out exactly like he expected it to.

"Diversity, Rob! Diversity!" said Martin. "You know how much I can't stand monotony! Things get boring when everything's the same, and when things are boring... well, I can't be expected to just set around and accept it, right? You know I have to do something about it!"

"Yes, of course," groaned Rob, shaking his head. "I know how much you hate it when everything is the same."

"Yes, exactly!" said Martin. "And that's the problem with this band right now! Lack of diversity in the species! Four members, and three of them are mammals! Two of them are canines, even!"

"Okay..." said Rob. "And you only just noticed this?"

"Well.... I guess so, yes," replied Martin sheepishly. "See, I was talking with Jack the other day, and he mentioned something about... wishing he knew more types of species, I think. And that's kind of when it occurred to me." He shook his head. "But that doesn't matter! The point is, there's an imbalance of species in this band, and it's up to me to fix it!"

"Lovely," said Rob, sighing again. "Not that I even need to ask, but how exactly do you plan on doing that?"

"Why, the only way I can, of course!" said Martin, grinning widely. "The two canines are the biggest problem here, so the best way to fix this is to transform one of them into something other than a mammal! Preferably something other than a bird, too. As nice as it would be to have some avian company, it's far more important to keep things as diverse as possible, right?"

"Yes, yes," said Rob. "Are you done yet?"

"Done with what? Talking? Hmmm..." Martin thought for a moment. "Well, I don't really have anything else to add, so... yes, I suppose I am."

"Alright, then," said Rob, standing up. Eyes narrowed, he looked over at Martin. "Let's get this over with."

"Oh? Offering yourself up willingly, are you?" asked Martin. "Learning to just sit back and enjoy the ride, huh?"

"I'm learning that there's no point in arguing with someone as stubborn as you, Martin," said Rob. "Just try to turn me into something I'll enjoy, okay? I don't want to be stuck as something I hate just because you decided that our band that YOU formed wasn't diverse enough."

"Okay, okay, no need to raise your voice at me," replied Martin. "And anyway, I think you'll be quite pleased with what I've chosen. Now, what's the best way to do this? Can't be something too elaborate... ah, I know just the thing! Now, hold still." Lifting one of his hands up, Martin pointed one of his taloned fingers at the top of Rob's head. "And... begin."

Immediately, Rob began to feel the effects, starting with a peculiar sensation running through his hair. Instead of laying flat against his head like it normally did, he could feel it raising up, shifting and seemingly sculpting itself into an entirely new shape. His curiosity overwhelming him, Rob reached up to feel what was happening, his fingers brushing across a pair of strange growths starting at his forehead and curling towards the back of his head. Horns, he realized: that's what they were. So Martin was turning him into something with horns? But what kind of non-mammalian creature had horns like these?

As he watched, Martin began lowering his hand until it was level with Rob's face. As he did, Rob could feel the fur on his face disappearing, sinking back into his skin. By contrast, his skin was beginning to harden, becoming tougher and more durable. At the same time, his canine muzzle began to widen, becoming less narrow and more broad. His nose sank into his face, becoming a mere pair of slits, and his teeth began to grow longer and sharper, taking up more room inside his mouth. His ears, meanwhile, seemed to be following Martin's hand as they moved down to the sides of his head, while retaining their pointy shape. As he ran his hand across his new muzzle and scaly forehead, it occurred to Rob that he must be turning into something reptilian. Reptilian with horns... already, he could guess what it was he was going to become.

Martin continued to lower his hand, Rob's fur sinking and hardening into more scales as it went. Before long, his neck was completely hairless and scale-covered, and his chest and back were quickly following suit. Lifting his shirt up, Rob watched as the fur covering his torso seemed to fold in upon itself before disappearing, the skin underneath hardening and changing color as it did. As he looked, he suddenly noticed that there were actually two colors forming: the sides of his torso remained the same shade of white as his fur had been, but down the middle the scales were turning a vibrant gold color. "Huh. That's interesting," he said, looking back up at Martin. "Can I hazard a guess as to what I'm turning into?"

"In a sec," said Martin, his finger pointed squarely at Rob's torso. "You may want to brace yourself for this next part."

"Why is tha-" Suddenly, Rob hunched over, an immense pressure forming against his back. Something was pushing out through his skin in two different areas, pressing against the back of his shirt before finally tearing right through it. He let out a cry of discomfort as his new appendages freed themselves, flapping against the air for a moment before furling themselves against his back. Tentatively he looked behind him, unfurling his new growths and running his hand across the leathery membrane that was spread between the bony protrusions. "Wings..." he said, fascinated.

"I hope that wasn't too unpleasant for you," said Martin, who had already resumed lowering his hand. "It's difficult for me to do bigger changes like creating new appendages without causing at least a little bit of discomfort. Especially when clothing is involved."

"So... you're turning me into a dragon, are you?" said Rob, looking down at his arms and watching the fur on them turn into scales. As the scales covered his hands and spread across his fingers, he noticed his nails sharpening and turning a golden color. "That seems a bit... obvious for you, doesn't it?"

Martin shrugged. "Perhaps. But hey, popular things tend to be popular for a reason, and I do want what's best for this band. Dragons are really popular and really cool, so I figured having one as our frontman might help to boost our popularity a bit. Makes sense, right?"

"Yeah, I guess," replied Rob, watching as Martin's hand continued to lower, until it was pointing at his waist. He felt a stretching feeling in his spine and quickly looked behind him, noticing his tail growing in length. He watched as it thickened at the base, the white fur across it shrinking and forming into more scales. At the same time, he noticed golden spines spreading across the top of his tail, going right from the base to the tip. Yet oddly enough, they didn't seem to stop at the tail either; they seemed to be continuing up his lower back as well. Confused, Rob reached behind him, surprised to feel even more spines running up his back right up to the base of his neck. Apparently, he'd been so preoccupied with his wings growing in that he hadn't even noticed them.

"Almost done now," said Martin, pointing at Rob's legs as he continued to lower his hand. Once again, Rob could feel the fur on his legs sinking away and turning into scales, matching the rest of his body perfectly. As Martin's hand lowered to Rob's feet, he began feeling some more changes occur there as well: more fur became scales as his paws widened and broadened, the claws growing sharper and turning golden like the ones on his hands had. 'And... done!" Martin's hand returned to his side as he looked up at Martin with a grin. "How does it feel?"

Rob looked down at himself. "Honestly, not too different," he said. "Well, except for the wings, of course." He raised a clawed hand, running it across his new reptilian muzzle. "Tail and snout feel a bit weird too, but other than those..."

Martin shrugged. "New appendages do take some getting used to, as I'm sure you know," he said. "But it's only natural that you wouldn't feel very different, since I left your body composition and general anatomy unchanged for the most part."

"Yeah yeah, sure," said Rob, waving him off. "So... am I ever going to turn back, or..."

"Really? That's all you're interested in?" Martin frowned. "Nothing about actually exploring this new body of yours? You can fly now, for crying out loud! And as someone who can also fly, I can assure you that it's pretty sweet."

Rob frowned. "Is that a no?"

"Well..." Martin sighed. "You won't be stuck in this form forever, let's just say. I figured I'd keep you like this for a few months, see how well you take to it, and if it goes well, I'll let you keep it as an alternate form."

"Okay," said Rob. "Meaning...?"

Martin rolled his eyes. "Meaning that you'll be able to switch between this form and your wolf form at will, of course! As cool as you look as a dragon, I just don't think I have the heart to force you to fully abandon your wolf form after you've spent so much time with it. And it would be weird for me too, permanently having you as a dragon and never being able to see you as a wolf again. Not to mention what the other band members would think..."

"And yet you still won't let me turn back into a human, huh?" said Rob, his arms folded across his chest. "Because doing something like that that would just make too much sense, wouldn't it?"

"Because humans are BORING, Rob!" yelled Martin. "Seriously, there's like... nothing visually interesting about them whatsoever! Trust me, you have no idea how dull things were in this world before you anthros showed up! Not to mention everything else that was going on..."

Rob blinked. "Um... what are you talking about? What's an anthro?"

"...Oh. Um..." A concerned look crossed Martin's face, but only for a moment. "...Nevermind. Just forget you heard me say that, okay? It's not important."

Rob opened his mouth to respond, but then stopped. He'd known Martin for a while, long enough to know that arguing with him over something like this was a pointless endeavor. "Okay, fine," he said. "So... I'm both a wolf and a dragon now, then? Or I will be, at least."

Martin nodded. "Trust me, I think you'll enjoy being able to switch between the two. As I always say, variety is the spice of life!"

Once again, Rob's eyes narrowed. "I've literally never heard you say that before," he said.

"Well, I guess I'll just have to say it more often then!" replied Martin. As he said it, there was suddenly a knock on the front door. "Oh! That must be Jack and Mac. I invited them over so that they could get acquainted with your new form as quickly as possible. Didn't seem like the kind of thing that we should wait around for to me."

"Wait, what?" said Rob as Martin waked towards the front door. "How long have you been planning to do this to me, exactly?"

"Oh, long enough," replied Martin, opening the door to reveal a short grey rabbit and a taller orange and black fox standing on the other side. "Hello, you two! Glad you could make it!"

"Thanks for inviting us over," said Mac, the fox, entering and walking towards the living room. "So what was it you wanted to show - oh." He stopped as soon as he noticed the dragon in the living room, blinking at it a few times. "Um... Rob?" he finally said. "Is... is that you? You look a lot like him, but-"

Rob sighed, rolling his eyes. "Yes, Mac. It's me. If you're wondering why exactly this happened to me, go ask Martin. I'm sure he'll be happy to tell you."

"Tell you what, Mac?" asked Jack, the rabbit, coming down the hall behind Mac. "What's going on with-" His words trailed off as he entered the living room, the sight of Rob causing him to stop short. But only for a moment. As he looked, his face suddenly broke out into a massive grin. "Whoa!" he said. "You're a dragon now, Rob? That's awesome!"

"I thought you might enjoy that, Jack," said Martin, re-entering the room. "You did recently mention to me that you were looking for new ways to... indulge, after all. So I figured, hey, this could be a good way to solve both of our problems, right?"

"Wait... indulge?" Feeling concerned, Rob swallowed, a bout of realization hitting him. "Do you mean..."

"Yep!" said Jack with a grin. "That's right!" But upon noticing Rob's concern, he frowned. "What? Look, I know you're not the biggest fan of this kind of thing..."

"Oh, I wouldn't be so sure about that," said Martin with a chuckle. "I seem to recall him being very into it when I brought that lovely lady dragon to him and-"

"Don't talk about that!" yelled Rob angrily. He looked over at Jack and sighed. "And can I assume that you'd like to get this done right now? You're not exactly the type who likes to wait around for things, as I recall."

Jack smiled. "If you wouldn't mind."

Rob groaned, shaking his head. "You know what? Fine." He reluctantly sat back down on his chair, propping his feet up so that the undersides were revealed. "Just make it quick, okay?"

"Yes! Thank you so much!" Immediately, Jack ran over to where Rob was sitting, kneeling down in front of him. As his hands closed around Rob's draconic paws, though, he paused and looked up at Rob. "So what exactly happened between you and that lady dragon that-"

"Do you want to do this or not?" said Rob, fixing Jack with an icy glare.

Jack gulped. "Er... sorry," he said. Turning his attention back to Rob's paws, he immediately pressed his face against their undersides and began rubbing it against them, his eyes closed in bliss. "Thank you so much for this, man," he said, his smile wider than ever. "I definitely owe you one for this."

"Yeah, yeah, sure. Whatever." Shaking his head, Rob turned back to Martin. "You proud of yourself, Martin?"

Martin grinned. "Very," he said, placing a clawed hand on Mac's shoulder. "Come on, Mac. Let's leave these two in peace." With that, the two of them left the room, leaving Jack to indulge to his heart's content... and Rob to oblige him, wondering how he came to end up in such a messed up situation in the first place.