Canterlot High School was the biggest building for blocks around. It was a monument to learning, and the most recognizable feature was the horse statue at the front. Well, it had been a horse statue, before demonic beings that had possessed her friends had got a little too blasty-blasty. Pulling around behind the school, into the parking lot for teachers and students, Rainbow pulled the bike up at a reinforced pillar.
Jumping off her bike, Rainbow Dash pulled off her helmet and felt something odd. "Whoa!" The ears atop her head flicked a little in the morning breeze. "Cool. Seems like doing anything fun causes this now." She ran her hands up and over her head, feeling her ears and long ponytail trailing behind. Her wings—pinned down by her school bag—were definitely there, too. Rainbow Dash flexed the muscles of her folded extra limbs. "I really want to practice more with you…"
"Talking to yourself? Don't worry, we all do it." Sunset made Rainbow Dash nearly jump out of her shoes at the surprise. "Whoa. Calm down. I didn't mean it that way."
"You just surprised me is all." Rainbow had been lucky she hadn't tried to run, she knew what kind of craziness happened when she just moved without thinking. "And… yeah. Just surprising me how much I pony up lately. I guess the camp did something to all of us."
Sunset raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean? Mind if I look?" She reached out a hand, and was surprised when Rainbow jerked her own arm back from the touch. "Uh?"
"You probably… you really don't want to." Rainbow Dash blushed furiously. "You… well… it's made me a little stirred up in the morning."
Yellow skin turned crimson as Sunset's mind figured out what Rainbow Dash was talking about. "You… that…" Words failed to line up, and Sunset had to reboot her brain to get it to construct sentences again. "It gets you a bit worked up? Like, that way?"
"A bit. Hey, want to jam before home-room?" Pulling her guitar off her back, Rainbow Dash flashed her friend a challenging smile. "We should have a few minutes, and I totally want to get back into my groove after Camp Everfree."
"Sure." Sunset was extremely thankful for the change in the conversation's topic. Asking questions was how you got answers, and some answers Sunset didn't want, even if her mouth wouldn't stop asking the questions for them. But, Sunset noticed something about her friend. "You're not wearing your amulet?"
Rainbow Dash blinked for a moment. "Amu… Oh! I keep it in my bag. I don't mind wearin' it if there is some kind of evil shadow-demon around, but I just don't like too much stuff around my neck." Her hand jumped to her bag, and she touched the spot where the amulet resonated with magic. A pulse of energy shot through Rainbow, and she nearly jumped into the air with the force of it.
Losing sight of Rainbow Dash as the girl rushed into the school building, Sunset rolled her eyes at the display of speed, and followed after at a sedate pace.
Her shoes skidded as Rainbow Dash came to a halt in the music room. Her heart raced with excitement, and she realized she had never been this high on life before. Slinging her backpack off her shoulder, she pulled her guitar case around and opened it. Bright blue, with a red, wooden neck, Rainbow's guitar was perfect (to her) in every way.
Sunset walked in a moment later, just as Rainbow was plugging her guitar into one of the little amps they were allowed to use to practice. She chuckled, "So, are you ready?"
Enthusiasm poured from Rainbow and into Sunset. When Rainbow Dash got a guitar in her hands, you couldn't help but want to stand up beside her and play. Sunset wasn't immune to the completely non-magical effect, and walked over to where their instruments were kept when at school. "Of course, just give me a second to get wired up."
Strumming a few chords, Rainbow smiled when she saw Sunset recognize it. "I was thinking of some changes to it. I know the girls don't like it, but with a few more verses, and a tiny change, it could be awesome."
Plugging her guitar in, Sunset plucked the strings in a pattern, then tweaked the tuning pegs. "It is really catchy." She strummed the same intro Rainbow Dash did, and the pair looked at each other.
The tune started, and both girl's moved their hands in perfect synchronization. "Hey, hey, hey, hey!" Rainbow was leading in, and by the third "hey," Sunset was following along. "Awesome as we wanna be!"
Sunset stared at Rainbow, but her hands kept playing along. Excitement rippled through her, and she realized this song was now a masterpiece. "Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey!"
"Awesome as I wanna be. First you see me——" Rainbow Dash sang her heart out, the words literally pouring from her soul. The magic poured through her body, sparking more changes. The girl didn't notice, but her hair seemed to change, flowing more from the middle of her head in a line, and at her rear, a plume of rainbow hair shot out.
When the chorus finished, Sunset had her eyes closed, focusing on her own part. "When you—" She froze, the words dying on her tongue and the music faltered. Rainbow kept playing, but Sunset could only stare at her friend. "Rainbow!"
"What's wrong?" Rainbow Dash's hands kept strumming the rhythm, her foot kept tapping.
"You… you have a tail! Not a ponytail, a real tail!" Sunset unslung her guitar from around her neck and pointed at Rainbow Dash. "Look, and your hair it… it looks like a pony mane!"
Too caught up in checking herself over, Rainbow Dash didn't pay close attention to Sunset, or she would have seen that her friend was similarly endowed with new changes. Running one hand up and over her head, Rainbow Dash felt her ears, perked forward, but she also felt the odd pattern her hair was growing in. "Like a big mohawk?"
Sunset nodded. "And look at your tail!" Shooting her hand out, Sunset grabbed Rainbow's new appendage and pulled it around to show her. Unfortunately, at the same time, Rainbow Dash turned to look at her tail.
"Hey! Ouch!" Rainbow Dash threw both hands back to check where the pain was, and felt her stubby little dock at the base of her spine. "Wait, so what is all this? Are we going to turn into ponies or what?" No sooner did she ask, than Rainbow Dash felt the tail, mane, ears and even her wings pull back into her.
"Huh." Sunset, who still hadn't noticed her own changes, stood back. "This is new. I don't think we should mess—" As she was talking, however, Sunset was drowned out by Rainbow Dash's guitar.
"Step aside now, you're just getting' in my way!" Rainbow Jumped back into the moment, and then shot Sunset a hopeful look before continuing her lyrics.
Giving in, Sunset started to play, and this time she was acutely aware of her own body changing. No silly ponytail, she got a real tail and mane. Excitement poured through her, and she couldn't help picking up her pace and jumping into the chorus with Rainbow.
This time, when the song finished, their bodies were still changed. Panting, both girls stared at each other, but Rainbow was first to comment. "This is awesome!"
"Okay, no more songs." Sunset stalked over and unplugged Rainbow's guitar. "This is serious, Rainbow Dash. When things like this change, we need to work out what is happening and why."
"Ugh! It is cool! The tail thing is a little odd, but look at my hair!" Rainbow Dash tossed her head, her mane flicking with the motion.
Sunset suddenly realized what it was about Rainbow Dash that was odd—more odd than her having turned a little further into being a pony. "Are you wearing a low-cut—"
"Yes." rainbow Dash pushed her almost non-existent chest out. "Just felt like making a few changes. This,"—Rainbow gestured at her mane and tail, not forgetting to push her wings out as far as she could—"is even better!"
"I'm going to write a letter to Princess Twilight about it. The ponying up, I mean. There could be something significant about those geodes, too." Sunset leveled a focused glare at Rainbow Dash. "And no more playing until we have this worked out."
"Aww. But it's really cool!" Rainbow Dash tried to inject more enthusiasm into her argument, but she could see real worry etched on Sunset's face. "That bad?" The effect of her friend's I-mean-it stare sobered Rainbow Dash, and triggered the end of her ponying up. Her ears returned to normal, the tail behind her seemed to just fade away, and her wings were suddenly just gone.
"Sorry, Rainbow Dash, but we need to be especially careful. We are the only people in the world who can deal with this stuff. Imagine what would have happened if the Dazzlings had won?" Sunset shook her head and chuckled, lightening the moment. "I certainly won't dispute you being awesome, but be careful."
"Alright! Alright!" Rainbow Dash shrugged out of her guitar's shoulder strap, and put her instrument back in its case. "I won't try to pony up, but it seems to be happenin' a lot lately." She crouched down to retie her shoes. "What class do you have first up?"
"Psychology." Sunset sighed at Rainbow's eye-roll. "Come on, you know people interest me more than cars and numbers. Sometimes I think you are a bit of a nerd, Rainbow Dash."
"Pfft! As if!" The worst part about being accused of being a nerd, as far as Rainbow Dash was concerned, was that as far as mathematics was concerned it was probably right. "I have English first, then shop, and then we both have geography."
"I guess if I don't see you at lunch, I will see you in geography." Sunset lifted a fist to Rainbow, and got a solid bump back—with explosion, of course.
The bell rang just then, and both put their instruments away and headed to homeroom. Rainbow Dash's homeroom and first class passed by as normal, although she did notice a few glances at her outfit, which felt nice to her. The bell finally rang, and they handed in the homework they had been given the previous class. One thing that had come as a surprise, however, was a sore throat and blocked sinuses. Coughing into her hand, Rainbow got one step outside the classroom before she was confronted.
"Hi, Rainbow Dash." Fluttershy was all smiles for her friend. "You don't look so good…"
"Yeah…" Rainbow sneezed, interrupting her intended reply and proving she was as sick as she looked. "I think I must have caught something at camp, I passed out and slept away two days, and now this…"
"Will you be able to practice tonight?" Fluttershy wrung her hands. The band was a guilty pleasure of hers, and it terrified her sometimes just to think of being that popular, but it was a thing with her friends. "I had a new song I was working on…"
Considering that the first song of Fluttershy's that Rainbow Dash had played had slain three monsters with its awesomeness, Rainbow was immediately excited. "A new song? That would be great! I'll be there even if I have to drink a gallon of cough syrup."
Giggling at the enthusiasm, Fluttershy felt a little giddy for a moment. "You have shop after lunch, right?" When Rainbow nodded, she continued. "Then we have geography together. I will copy the lyrics for you and you can study them then." Walking into the cafeteria, Fluttershy noticed that Sunset Shimmer was missing.
It wasn't until lunch was over, and Rainbow Dash was walking to her shop class, that she remembered why Sunset would be missing, and why they wouldn't be able to practice. "Sunset was doing the whole book-writing thing!" She smacked her forehead with her hand, and proceeded to nearly cough up a lung.
Rainbow stumbled along, letting her feet carry her out the back door of the school. The parking lot where she had locked her bike up took up much of the rear of the school grounds, behind that, however, was the large shed where shop class was held.