When Kamina got out of the hospital the next day, he found himself unwelcome at the library.

While Trixie, Zecora and Spike totally understood that it wasn't intentional, and it wasn't even actually HIS filly, he just returned her to Luna, Twilight was furious at the thought that he would even do something like this. So, Kamina found himself in exile. Thankfully, his other friends, who were still in the dark about the situation, were more than happy to put him up until Twilight let him back in.

Of course; Blitz was the first to offer to let him crash at his place, but Gilda told him that since Kamina wasn't a pegasus, he couldn't even touch clouds. Thankfully, Kamina wasn't a pegasus, but an alicorn in disguise. He could stand on clouds. So, he said he knew the cloud walking spell, but only well enough to use on himself. A bit of magical light, saying it was done, and woosh! Up to the cloud house via Air Gilda.

Blitz had a fairly huge house, so he had a spare room. Honestly though, Kamina found every single surface so comfortable he could have slept on the floor without a care. How Fluttershy or other ground-bound pegasi could live without a cloud bed at the least was baffling to him.

So, Kamina was casually crashed on the couch, not bothering with the room Blitz offered since he still felt terrible about Twilight kicking him out for something outside his control, so he tried to squeeze onto the too-small couch in a sort of self-punishment. Didn't work. He fell dead asleep in the cozy incomplete cocoon of cloud within minutes.

“Hey, wake up ya lug!” Kamina snorted as he was jolted awake by a talon shaking him, and he cracked his eyes open to see Gilda as his alarm clock. “Time to get up K.” Gilda turned and walked into the kitchen as Kamina roused himself with a huge stretch. “Want some bacon and eggs?”

“Hm? Sounds great.” Kamina suddenly perked up, his mouth watering a bit. “Did you say...bacon?”

Gilda leaned her head out of the doorway into the kitchen. “Oh, right, pony. Sorry, but we're out of hay bacon. Only have the actual thing from wild hogs imported from Griffonia. Stuff's so expensive out here.”

“REAL bacon? PLEASE tell me you're not pulling a leg.” Kamina asked as his drool became obvious, getting a surprised look from Gilda, who smirked.

“Oh? The herbivore has a taste for flesh hm? How'd that happen?” Gilda turned back into the kitchen, and the sounds associated with food preparation began.

“I was literally raised eating pig-moles my whole life. Bacon is a staple of my childhood.” Kamina commented, getting the activity in the kitchen to pause, and Gilda to lean out and look at him like he was crazy, and Kamina blushed. “Oh shit...right, only Twilight and my other family members know about my past.... Look, to simplify things; I am Celestia's son, but through being reborn from death from another world.”

Gilda blinked, and shrugged. “Meh, past lives aren't all that uncommon.” Gilda went back into the kitchen, and the signature sizzle of frying bacon could be heard, the smell driving Kamina wild as his mouth became a small waterfall. “Actually, my grandpa told me stories of his memories of a previous life when he was a minotaur, it was hella cool.”

“Meh, I wasn't anything as interesting as a minotaur. I was basically a hairless evolved ape that was omnivorous.” Kamina replied as he slurped his saliva back in, and got a laugh out of the griffin.

“Sounds ridiculous! I'd pay to see that.” Gilda then turned off the stove, and came out with a plate covered in greasy, succulent bacon, and a plate covered in scrambled eggs. “Come and get it.” Gilda set the plates on the small coffee table, and Kamina nearly pounced on the bacon plate, but managed to not instantly tackle it.

“Thank you so much!” Kamina levitated a strip of bacon up, and sniffed it, before taking a deep whiff. “Ah...the smell of cooked death.” He put it in his mouth, and began to chew, finding difficulty with his flat teeth, but he was able to masticate it after a little liberal grinding, and swallowed, sighing in satisfaction. “So good....” He opened his eyes, and was surprised to see Gilda eying him, her wings fully extended. “What?”

“That was incredibly hot. A pony that eats meat. I can't get Blitz to try it at all.” Gilda took a talonful of strips, and Kamina quickly put a few more pieces in his mouth. “Anyway, today's kinda special, in case ya didn't know.”

“Hm?” Kamina gulped his protein-heavy meal down. “What's today?”

“The Best Young Flier Competition in Cloudsdale. Blitz is competing.” Gilda informed him calmly as she ate some eggs. “But only me and Shy can go, since nopony else in our group of friends can fly.”

'Damn...of all times for me to have to hide my wings.' “Well, could you carry me? I'm sitting here just fine, as you can see.” Kamina bounced on the luxurious cloud floor, making Gilda chuckle.

“Well...no, I'm afraid not. You're too heavy for me to carry that far.” Gilda admitted, making Kamina wilt. “Hey, it's not your fault. Besides, you'll have free reign of the house while we're gone.”

“Yeah....” 'Hiding my wings sucks.' {With your cousin now in the mix, it should be safe to expose yourself now. Beings your mother and aunt will have had to quickly ensure her and their safety.} 'No, geez, give me a break.' {Very well.} Kamina gasped as he felt it; his wings were trying to come out of his sides. “G-Gilda! When are you leaving?”

She blinked and looked at the time, before she squawked in surprise. “I'm late! Gotta go!” Gilda flew out the front door, just in the nick of time.

“No! NO!” Kamina grunted as he tried to keep them in, but his wings reappeared from his sides as they extended out fully. “Damn you, damn it!” {Relax.} Kamina's horn began shrinking into his skull, he tried to keep it out, but it hurt to resist. {Relax!} “I won't let you control me!” {Fool, you are controlling yourself, you cannot deny what you are.} Kamina hissed as his horn finished vanishing. {Now for the final touches.} *CRACK* “AH~!” Kamina screeched in pain as it felt like every bone in his body was breaking. {Go limp.}

He gave up, Kamina let himself go limp as his Will demanded. He hissed, and grunted in agony with every jolt as his body changed further. His snout shortened until it was nearly gone, and then changed into a brown-tipped golden hooked beak. His head became covered in tan/brown feathers, his ears sunken into his skull. His body drastically altered, his forelegs becoming the golden talons of a hawk, while his body became the striped body of a tiger, the black stripes instead being blue to match his former mane, tail and tattoos. His flank mark hidden. {It is done, you may move now.}

Kamina hissed through his teeth inside his hooked beak, and slowly dragged himself to his feet. “What you done to me?” His voice was slightly deeper, and had a bit of a rasp to it. {I have given us a form that will allow us to move about more anonymously. None will expect this griffin to be you.} 'I don't expect this griffin to be me! Change me back!' {Not until your needs are fulfilled.} 'What does that mean?!' {Fly.} Kamina blinked, and looked at his broad, massive wings. They were unchanged aside from the tan being turned more golden orange to match his body's new fur coat, and looked like Gilda's wings now that he thought of it. 'But I don't know how.' {Then I will show you.}

===//////>

“THIS IS AWESOME!” Kamina screamed in joy on his way to Cloudsdale. He was flying! Really flying! “WOO~!” He did some aileron rolls, and dove before coming up in a loop-the-loop. {See? You needed this.} 'Yeah! You're right! I definitely needed this.' {Don't forget, we must also keep an eye on our friends, but not let them know it is us.} 'Yeah, yeah, I got it the last five times.' {Do you remember our alias for this form?}

Kamina paused, and then sighed. “Animak.” It was just his name backwards, and Twilight was more than certain to realize that instantly, but she couldn't possibly know it was him either way. He continued flying towards Cloudsdale, which was over the Unicorn Mountain Range west of Canterlot. The only reason he could fly, and so well, was his Will somehow just knew, it seemed to give him the skills he needed for a given situation. 'How do you know all this stuff?' {I am you, and you are awesome, simple.} 'You know what? Aside from conflicting with me all the time, I like you.' {Good.}

Animak focused back on his flying, and noticed the city of clouds up ahead. 'That must be Cloudsdale.' {Astute assumption.} 'Fuck you.' Animak flew up towards the edge of the city, and landed on the clouds to marvel at the incredible architecture as he walked through what streets there were. Ponies gave him a wide berth, instinctively terrified of the massive flying predator in their midst. 'This place is amazing! Why would Blitz move to...oh...right.' Kamina remembered why, and seethed. 'The Gala can't come soon enough.' {And then everything will be settled between mother and everyone.}

“E-e-excuse me s-s-sir!” Animak turned towards the voice to see a shivering pegasus Royal Guard shaking so much his armor was rattling, and behind him Animak could see a couple other guards who, while retaining more decorum, were still failing to hid their fear. “I-I must ask what your visit to our f-fair city is for.”

Animak blinked, and leered at the guard. “Am I being racially profiled?” {I believe so.}

“N-no sir! It is just that your presence is...causing a d-disturbance, a-and we've been asked to ensure you're not planning anything untoward to c-calm the citizens.” The guard tried to explain, only for Animak to growl and poke his peytral with a sharp index talon.

“Listen here bub! I'm just here to enjoy the show alright? I don't appreciate being discriminated against for just landing in your streets.” {Show them.} Animak took a deep breath, and screeched/roared so loud in the guard's face, his ears started bleeding, and he flew off in terror. The other guards looked conflicted between pouncing and running too, until he glared at them, and they took off as well. The citizens nearby were all terrified, and he growled. “What're ya lookin' at huh?! Go about your business!”

The ponies all quickly fled, heading for safety from the clearly dangerous griffin that had intruded on their daily lives. Animak seethed, before blinking, and widening his eyes in horror. 'What did I just do?!' {You proved your superiority, they had no right to inhibit you.} 'They were guards! They were just doing their job!' {By being racist?} 'No, but-.' {By challenging your rights, by using the excuse that lesser beings were scared of you?} 'L-look, I-!' {You are a Prince! You have every right to come here!} 'They don't know who I-!' {Excuses! Even if you weren't, they had no right to stop you!} '….' {Now then, we have a stadium to get a seat in.} 'R-right...seat....'

Animak trudged listlessly through the empty streets. He felt awful about himself as he saw the scared faces of ponies hiding from him inside buildings, or around corners. 'What am I becoming?' Animak paused at a fountain, and looked at his unfamiliar face reflecting in the water. 'This isn't me....' {It is you.} 'No...this is YOU. A beast, a predator that marches onward, trampling all those in your way underhoof.' {Underpaw, underclaw, underfoot, by wing, fang, tooth, beak. All will bend before you.} 'This isn't what I want!' {So you think.}

This scared Animak so much, he was suddenly having a hard time thinking that he didn't want these things. It felt natural. Didn't he have the right to take what he wanted from the world? Did he? “Hey! Bozo!” Animak blinked and snapped himself out of his confusion to turn to the voice and see an irate Rainbow Blitz and Gilda landed in front of him. “Why're you terrorizing the citizens?!”

Animak glared at them. “I was just trying to get to the stadium to watch the show. They were they ones being racist little prey animals and had some guards racially profile me. Little equines need to know their place.” {Yes, they do.}

“Wow, a traditionalist. I can't believe one of YOU even left the borders of Griffonia.” Gilda sneered at him with disdain, which for some reason hurt him, for what reason Animak couldn't tell.

“Look, just calm down okay? The show's going to be starting in a short bit, so just go buy a ticket and take a seat already.” Blitz saw that things could get ugly, and against a griffin easily three times their size; he wasn't willing to chance it.

“Fine, I'm tired of being looked at like a rabid beast in an attraction anyway.” Animak took off into the air, and flew to the stadium, where he got in line, and took the bits for the ticket from his hammer space. While he was fishing out the gold bits, he also grabbed a pair of visor shades that seemed oddly familiar to him. He paid the clerk and flew to his seat as he looked at the glasses. 'Why do these seem familiar?' {They are yours.} Animak put them on, and suddenly felt so cool, so much cooler in fact, he felt like it was worthy of background music.

“Hey, nice shades.” Animak turned at the voice to look down at a purple baby dragon that was walking up towards him, holding a huge bucket of popcorn and a giant cup of soda. “My big bro Kamina has a pair exactly like those.”

Kamina.

Kamina's eyes snapped wide. 'What? What've I been doing? Why am I here?' {You have been here in disguise for nearly an hour now. Don't blow it.} “Is that so? Well, they've got great taste. Name's Animak.” He held out a talon to Spike, and shook his right claw gently after the dragon had set his treats down.

“Animak? Odd, that's the exact reverse spelling of Kamina's name.” Twilight noted as she sat next to Spike while the rest of the group all sat around them. “What kind of griffin are you? The only griffin I know is Gilda, and she's an eagle-lion griffin.” Said griffin soon took her seat amongst them, trying not to acknowledge the huge griffin that unfortunately got a seat next to theirs.

“I'm a tiger-hawk griffin.” Animak responded simply, as the show was starting, and they turned their attention to it.

===///////>

It was great so far! All the contestants had something to offer, but finally, after all the others came Blitz and...Rarity? “What's with the butterfly wings?”

“Oh, I tried to cast a spell that would give her wings, but it was pretty unstable, and ended up making those wings out of gossamer and dew. I settled on casting the cloud-walking spell on us so we could come up here by balloon.” Twilight explained, making Animak blink.

“That is incredibly stupid!” He declared to their surprise. “Do you have any idea how fragile those things are? And she's going to PERFORM in them? Under a hot noonday sun?”

This made them all think, and then start calling out to Rarity for her to stop showboating and come to safety. But, before she could hear them, she'd flown up, high, higher into the air until her wings cast the whole stadium in a rainbow of colors. However, the moment was short-lived, because almost immediately after, her wings burst into ash, and she began to fall. “No!” {Catch her!} Animak leaped into the stadium, and tried to catch her, but he was too slow and missed. “NO!”

He dove after her, the Wonderbolts shooting past him, but even though they reached her, her flailing knocked them all out. “STOP FLAILING!” She couldn't hear him, they were approaching terminal velocity and the ground was fast approaching. And he was too slow. 'No! I won't fail! NO!' {I'm sorry.} Animak was sure he'd failed, despite his Will to save them, but suddenly, he was blasted off-course by an explosion of speed and light so intense it blinded him momentarily. “What the flock was that?!”

Animak's answer was easy to see once he looked at the trailing zigzag rainbow contrail that remained for an extended time after the producer of it had gone, and the saw-toothed rainbow shockwave that spread out across the sky just overhead was a pretty big indicator too. He grinned and felt immense relief upon noticing no splattered ponies on the ground. “Blitz...you awesome dude.” Animak flew up back to the stadium, and landed on the edge, only to freeze at the sight of Celestia, Luna...and little Nyx.

'What are THEY doing here?!' {They were supposed to be here, remember? It is impressive that they were able to ensure little Nyx's safety so quickly.} 'Then that means I can reveal myself soon.' {But not now.} 'Agreed.'

He stayed back from the proceeding scene, wanting to see it through but trying not to be noticed, which was obviously impossible considering his form and that everyone kept occasionally looking at him. Blitz won the competition, and so won the prize of hanging out with the Wonderbolts, who were more than happy to hang out with somepony fast enough to save them all in one literal swoop. However, that wasn't the end of it, as Celestia approached him. 'Oh gosh, oh gosh, keep cool Animak, keep cool.' {We're so fucked.}

“Greetings young griffin. I am glad to make your acquaintance. It has been centuries since I've seen a tiger-hawk leave the highlands.” Animak bashfully shifted around, and avoided eye contact, making Celestia smirk. “Oh, a shy one?”

“N-no...just...wasn't prepared to speak with royalty so suddenly.” 'Please don't see through me, please don't see through me....' {So. Fucked.}

“Well I am happy to see you leap into action to try and save a total stranger. If more beings such as you existed in the world, it would be a better place.” Celestia praised, making Animak blush.

“I-it was nothing, really. Anyone with a good heart would've done the same, at least if they were prepared for it like I was.” After a polite dismissal, Celestia, Luna and Nyx all left. When they did, Animak looked around until he saw Rarity alone in Twilight's private balloon, and he walked up to her. “Have you learned something today?”

Rarity looked suitably ashamed, and sank into the balloon's basket a bit. “I should have been more considerate of my friend's feelings, and also focused more on them than myself. Some Element of Generosity I am....” Animak breathed out a light sigh, and looked at her in understanding.

“I know that lesson all too well.” He extended is left wing, and scanned it, before preening a bit and removing a single large feather, and gave it to her. “Here, to remember the lesson by.”

Gilda groaned. “Ugh...so old-fashioned.”

“Traditions have purpose young queen. You'd best remember that.” Animak shot back with a glare. He'd learned of griffin customs from his studies, and the giving of a feather could mean anything from a sign of affection, to a token of achievement. In this case; he rewarded Rarity with a feather as a reminder of this harsh lesson, to hope that she would not forget it soon. “It was a wonderful show, but now I must go.” Zecora perked up at the rhyme while the others all waved as he took off and flew away.

“Odd...I feel as if he is familiar....” Zecora pondered to herself, feeling like she'd met Animak before.

===//////>

Animak flew back into Blitz's house, and landed, soaking in the fact he'd been blanking out on for the past hour on the flight back. 'We pulled it off!' {We're awesome.} Animak totally wanted to high-five himself, but that would be lame as hell, so he clapped to applaud his success instead. 'Okay, turn me back.' He waited a few moments, but nothing happened. 'Um...kinda need to return to normal here.' {But we are normal.} 'What?! Bullshit! You said you'd change me back after “my needs were fulfilled”!' {And they have not been fulfilled.} 'Look, I don't have time for this! Gilda and Blitz could show up any second!' {Blitz is spending the rest of the day with the Wonderbolts.} 'And Gilda might not want to wait for him! Change me back!' {No.}

Animak hissed as he sat on the couch and buried his face in his talons. He was so furious, he wanted to lash out, so he flew back out of the front door, and out into the Everfree. He scoured the canopy for only a few minutes before he spotted a suitable victim. “WRYYYYYYYYYY~!” He screeched in primal fury as he dove, and pounced with his fully body weight and speed into the back of a manticore.

The beast roared and tried to stab him with it's scorpion tail, but Animak dodged the jab, and grabbed the tail, before liberally ripping it clean off, pouring blood everywhere in a fountain. Ignoring the wails of agony of the beast beneath him, Animak then went for the kill, grabbing the beast's head, he twisted it so fast an audible snap was heard, and it fell, laying still. Animak stood on his kill, panting from the adrenaline rush, and then sat, and cried. 'What am I becoming?' {A god among mortals.}

Author's Notes:

Dark turn, huh? Especially at the end there. That gore tag isn't just for show. Be glad I didn't have him rip it's still beating heart out, and eat it as it watched while the light left it's eyes. You can thanks SimGretina's song "You Are Now In Space" and the hilarious space tiger picture that came with it for Kamina becoming Animak; the tiger-hawk griffin.