They gathered in a large room, the board carefully spread out across it in a life-sized version of the original game. It was a decadent display of nostalgia. Starlight was sitting on her haunches beside Spike, watching Twilight and Sunburst. "We're ready!" she declared confidently, only the faintest hint of worry in her voice.
Sunburst adjusted his glasses as his eyes wandered over the hovering scroll that held the spell they would be casting. "Who'll be initiating the harmony?"
Twilight pointed at him. "Go ahead." She nodded towards Starlight. "If you would move in closer to him. You two are the targets, and I don't want Spike getting turned from a dragon into a dragon. That would be confusing."
Spike crossed his arms with a skeptical expression. "Would that even do anything?"
Sunburst tapped at the floating scroll, watching Starlight approach out of the corner of his vision. "Likely not, Spike, but it could, so avoiding it is a good idea. Now, this may--"
Starlight held up a hoof. "I've felt transformative magic before, Sunburst. Go ahead." She smiled nervously as she sank down beside him. "Besides, now's your chance to surprise me with it."
Sunburst snort at that. "Let's surprise me first..." His eyes swept over the page fitfully, "I have to get this right." His horn glowed softly and Twilight's followed suit quickly. His light projected upwards and hers reached up to collide with it.
Though Starlight and Spike couldn't see, Sunburst and Twilight were touching on another level. Their magics brushed and danced, each feeling out the other. It took Sunburst a moment to get his flowing in harmony with Twilight, though she was doing the same, the two colors pooling together into one mass of eldritch power.
"Go ahead," prompted Twilight with a smile, looking like it hadn't been that big of a deal for her so far.
Sunburst smiled nervously. That had been tricky on his end, but he had come that far at least. He could feel Twilight's impressive magic power awaiting his mental command. It was a heady sensation, a warmth that ran down his own magic and seemed to spread over him. He didn't get to wield that power very often... ever... "Let us begin." He turned to Starlight, the scroll pivoting with him to remain in his sight.
Starlight leaned to the side, peering at Twilight around the scroll that occupied much of her field of view. She tried to calm the tremble in her breath, thinking happy thoughts, like how Sunburst wouldn't mess it up and turn her into a jellied mass of twitching unicorn parts. Besides, Twilight was there. She would step in if needed, right?
Spike plopped down on one of the stone playing steps, feet kicking slowly as his wings flapped at the same leisurely pace. The unsureness of the ponies was lost on him, just waiting for the game to begin.
Twilight kept her magic steady, her eyes on Sunburst. She had the spell ready to go, waiting for the slightest hint from Sunburst to begin playing her piece of it to fuel his section. She wouldn't be the driver, no, it was a chance for Sunburst to cast a spell of note. "Just like we practiced," she spoke gently with a smile, having confidence in her peer and student.
"Right." He gave the internal adjustment that began the spell and his horn warmed as magic began to flow as well as it could. He could imagine the boney blocks that littered his horn, impeding and muddying that power. The image made him grunt with redoubled effort, following the spell.
With a bright sparkle, Twilight's magic reacted, feeding into his power as she played her half of the duet they had begun. The warmth he had felt redoubled and his entire form began to tingle. Part of that was the shapeshifting involved, he knew, but part of that was raw power that Twilight was sharing with him. It was time to envision. He closed his eyes and held the vision of a dragon in his thoughts. Bigger, with claws, so sharp, but also clever digits. They would have horns, which was good. He had to keep the magic going, and if he could just keep his horn, that would be lovely.
They had to be different colors, as matched the game pieces. Spike had purple down, so that left...
"Very good," spoke Twilight, interrupting his thoughts. "Just like that."
Just like that... He continued through the spell, his eyes opening to review the scroll even as he cast. He was doing it. He could feel the magic growing stronger and stronger, descending on both Starlight and himself, his body throbbing with a growing desire, no, need to change as the magic commanded it. It was time to trigger the actual changes. He raised a shaking hoof to point at that part of the spell.
Twilight's eyes went wide as Sunburst collapsed. It had happened so suddenly, he had been about the finish the spell when his magic had just... stopped, and he went limp. There was no time to ponder the whys or the hows as she grabbed mentally for the abandoned spell. The choices were few but immediate. She could try to release the magic back into the air with hopefully no effect.
She could finish the spell he had brought that far.
She could dive for cover.
The spell was so close to completion that it almost buzzed angrily in her grip. It wanted to finish, so she decided that was the safest option. She dove for cover, just in case. There was no rule saying she couldn't take two of those options at the same time.
"What the?" was all Spike got out, noticing Sunburst collapsing and Twilight diving away from the event.
Brightness filled their eyes and Starlight's startled squeak echoed out. Twilight rubbed at her eyes as she sat up. "Is everypony alright?"
"No," replied Starlight. "But everydragon seems alright." She flexed her blue claws meaningfully, looking over her bipedal and reptilian form with a smile. She had spines that matched her old mane style in coloration and two spiraled horns that struck her as being cool.
It was then that the giddy rush of transformation faded and she remembered. "Sunburst!" She rushed to the collapsed dragon that was only a step away, half-tripping over his prone form. "Are you alright?"
He had been transformed into a lankier orange dragon, also seemingly in that teenaged stage of dragon development. His horn was entirely unchanged though, one unicorn horn protruding right from his forehead, its spirals intact and not very dragon-like. Still, the rest of him seemed to be proper. "Talk to us!" She shook him gently, trying to get a response.
A glow swept over Starlight, lifting her away a little. "Calm down. He's likely fine, but shaking him won't help in either event." Twilight approached at a purposeful stride, her eyes on him. "That was more magic than he's used to, maybe we strained something. Let's give him a moment."
Spike hopped to his feet and hurried over in a little jog. "Uh, is he, you know, alright?" He looked between each person in turn, pausing at Starlight. "Looking good," he said in a tone one might use for complimenting a friend's new haircut, giving a thumbs up before he crouched to get a better look at the downed Sunburst.
Starlight rolled her eyes, which is when she noticed that her vision was off. Oh, that was right. Dragons had slit eyes. She found herself distracted a moment, that little difference becoming overwhelmingly distracting.
Twilight gently pat him down, feeling him with her hooves. "My knowledge of dragon anatomy isn't as certain as my pony knowledge." She didn't reveal that she was no trained doctor, or even a nurse. "But he's breathing. Spike, get a glass of water."
"Water, right." He dashed off in a hurry, abandoning his staring at the new dragon-Sunburst.
Starlight's moment of distraction faded as she shook her head. "Being a new species never fails to throw me off balance at first. Is he alright?"
Twilight lifted her shoulders as she nudged him gently. "I think so. He appears to simply be unconscious."
"That can mean anything." Starlight tapped a new foot on the ground, crossing her arms across her front. "He could be taking a nap, or be seriously hurt in a coma. What did you two find that led you to... this anyway?"
Twilight looked at Starlight, which meant she was looking at her friend's belly. Bipeds got tall fast, it seemed. She craned her neck to meet her eyes. "We're researching what reason is behind some ponies, unicorns specifically of course, have a particularly hard time casting spells while others have no trouble at all."
Starlight rolled a clawhand lightly. "Yeah, got that, but what did you find and how does it relate into us being dragons and he being passed out on the floor?"
Spike came hurrying back, water splashing in random splatters in his hurry, a glass of water clutched between his hands. "Here!"
Twilight's magic wrapped around the glass, lifting it away from Spike. "Thank you." She upended it right over Sunburst without delay, splashing him with the cool fluid.
Sunburst sat up with a sudden sputtering cough. "Huh, wha? Ow..." He raised a clawhand to his head, rubbing at his head and horn before he stiffened, realizing that wasn't a hoof he was feeling with. "Oh, did it work?" He brought his hands in front of his eyes. "It worked! Yes! Ow..."
Starlight bopped him lightly on the head right beside his horn. "You scared us half to death! Are you alright?"
"Ow..." He rubbed at his sore head. "It feels like... It's sore, but I'm alright, I think." He rose to his new feet, shaking and wobbling dangerously. With one hand, he grabbed for Starlight, the other was on his glasses, adjusting them on his new snout. "Alright, alright, I'm steady."
Twilight hiked a suspicious brow. "Are you certain you want to proceed?" When he nodded, she took a step back. "Very well, but I'll be closeby. If you need me, call. If not, I still want to see you after this is over." She turned for a wide-bottomed chair set in the corner. "I'll do some reading while you all play. Good luck."
Starlight helped Sunburst steady himself. "Two legs are weird, huh? I had a little practice with it past the mirror."
"Mirror? Oh! Yes! You mentioned the mirror." He bobbed his head as he tried to stand on his own, taking a few slow steps. "A fascinating place, from the sound of it. Did you see another me there?"
Starlight shook her head as a hand toyed with one of her curved horns. "I'm not used to having two of these, and so curly... By the way, you managed it. I didn't think you could, but you did."
Sunburst's scales went red around his snout. "The spell?"
"Nah, not that, surprising me." She put a hand on her plated chest. "You really scared me, Sunburst. I don't want you to get hurt, so, you know, maybe take it easy?"
Spike snorted softly, drawing their eyes down towards him. "Hey, I mean, good luck and all that, but how often does Twilight listen to when I say the same thing?" He hiked a thumb at Sunburst. "You're cut out of the same cloth or however that saying goes. He won't stop until he gets what he wants or he's crushed by it."
Starlight ran a few scaled fingers over Spike's head-fins. "You're really insightful sometimes, Spike. So... shall we begin?" She gestured at the board they had set up across the room. "Seems a shame to let it go to waste. We're here, we're dragons, let's get to racing, right?"
Spike hiked a thumb at the great dice. "As fun as it looks to roll those, would you mind too much if we use these?" He drew out a smaller set. "I use these for O&O, these are the oversized ones." As normal dice went, they were large, but compared to the great stone dice, they were tiny. "A fair compromise, right?"
Sunburst accepted the dice, taking them as he went to the starting position. "May the best dragon win."
Starlight snickered softly, leaning in to whisper to Spike, "more like the luckiest. Good luck, Spike, may the dice be kind."
They had a game to play.