//------------------------------// // Start of Something New // Story: Make a Swap // by PonyPixel //------------------------------// The next morning, the students all got up to head to the cafeteria. Smolder, however, was heading to the exit of the school. “Smolder, aren’t you going to get breakfast?” Ocellus asked. “I will. But I’m going to check on my brother and his friends,” Smolder responded quickly. She ran off before her friends could ask anything else. “Should we follow her?” Silverstream asked. “I think the other dragons aren’t settling too well in Ponyville,” Sandbar commented. “We should leave this to her. She knows more about them better than us.” The five creatures carried on without their friend to get their breakfast. Smolder meanwhile made a beeline for the castle doors. She barged in and flew to the guest room. Garble was just getting up when she saw her sister. “Morning, Smo...” “How are you feeling?” Smolder interrupted. “Do you feel like you’re going to change back?” Garble simply held her sister’s claws and shook her head. The younger sister felt disappointed. “Oh, why should you be sad?” Baff questioned. “You didn’t change into a dude.” “Baff, would you shut up?” “Oh, I’m sorry, maybe it’s the fact we’re chicks!” “Yeah,” Spear agreed. “Boys are going to be trying to date us.” “Did you not see those two dragons fighting over that drake we saw?” Clump questioned. “We’re going to be in that problem!” “Okay, can you all just shut up?!” Smolder cried. “It’s way too early for this.” “She’s got a point,” Vex admitted. “Can we at least eat something first?” “Yeah,” Garble agreed, “I’m pretty hungry.” “I’ll ask Spike if she could help fix something,” Smolder said. She was about to leave the room but turned around to make one thing clear. “And before you ask, no. You can’t eat the castle.” This of course made the dragons more annoyed. Spike was just walking out of her room. She looked like she was still trying to explore her body before seeing her friend walking over to her. "Oh, morning Smolder," Spike spoke. "Hi, Spike. What were you doing?" "...Okay, don't judge me for this, but do I look... Rounder?" "...Excuse me?" "Well, I think I lost some of my fat, but I feel like I've curvier. I've seen some dragons of various shapes so I don't know what a basic. "Anyways, why aren't you at the cafeteria?" "Oh, yeah, the other dragons are hungry and...” “Say no more.” The two shared a fist bump before they walked away to the kitchen. Spike was soon checking the cookbook in the kitchen to see what she could fix. “Let’s see. I wonder if I could mix some gemstones into this.” While she looked through the book, Starlight walked in. She looked towards Spike, who was wearing her now ill-fitting apron. “Morning... Spike,” the mare said awkwardly. “Good morning.” “Listen, I’m going to get right to work on figuring out how that diamond here turned you into this.” “You want anything to eat?” “I’ll just get a muffin later.” Starlight walked off, leaving Spike and Smolder on their own. “So, do you think I could use a new name?” “What?” Smolder questioned. “I mean... I don’t know how long I’m going to be like this and I don’t think Spike is a fitting name for a girl dragon. Don’t you think so?” “Well... Yeah. This just seems so sudden. Plus, do the others know? Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy...” “I doubt it. Starlight only found out last night. Still, it feels like a natural idea.” “True. Don’t expect the others to agree to it.” “I wasn’t.” Spike soon found something to cook and got to work. “So, what do you think would sound good?” “How does Spines sound?” “...I get the idea for that but... It doesn’t sound right to me.” “What does then?” “Let’s... Let’s just talk about it after we eat.” “Kay.” “You should head back to the cafeteria. Your friends are going to be curious where you are and we probably don’t want any more creatures to know about this.” “Got it.” Smolder left the kitchen and hurried back to the school. This felt pretty hard as she hadn’t had anything to eat at this point. When she slowly walked into the cafeteria where her friends were waiting. "Where were you?" Silverstream asked. "Checking on my brother and the other dragons." "How are they doing?" Sandbar asked. "Rough start." The dragoness got her tray and got her breakfast so she could sit down with her friends. Though, she wasn’t in a talkative mood. Her friends tried to make her talk, but the only thing they could get out of her mouth was a blast of fire. That was a sign that they should keep quiet. Back in the castle, Spike was doing pretty well with breakfast. Garble slowly walked in and sniffed. She could smell the food that Spike was preparing. “What are you cooking?” the red dragoness questioned. “Just some simple pancakes,” Spike explained. “I’m planning on putting some chocolate chips in some of them.” “What about gemstones?” “Please don’t tell me...” “Don’t worry, I managed to get this away from them.” Garble placed some gem shards on the counter. Spike brought her claw to her face and sighed. “Just keep an eye on them until I finish making breakfast.” “Can do.” Garble was about to walk out of the room but she had to ask Spike something. “Hey, you wouldn’t happen to feel... Different. I mean like, you’re more into makeup, dresses, and all things about girls.” “No. The others made you ask me that.” “Yep.” Spike rubbed the brim of her nose. “Just make sure they don’t eat the rest of the castle or do anything else stupid.” Garble just gave a thumbs up before walking away. Flipping the pancake that was on her pan, thankful it wasn’t burnt, Spike looked at the gems that Garble left behind. Garble returned to the map room, where the rest of the dragons were sitting and talking about their current predicament. “I’m just saying,” Baff spoke, “If we just got that diamond we could probably figure it out faster than that pony.” “Yeah,” Spear agreed. “What do we have to do, just rub on it?” “Maybe you need another gem to get it to work,” Clump commented. “So how did it work the first time?” Vex asked. “Uh, guys,” Fizzle said. “...Garble’s back.” The white dragoness’s voice was so quiet it was practically a whisper. Nobody noticed Garble until she slammed her claws on the table. “Girls, can you just quiet down?” Garble questioned. “Nobody has a clue what’s going on, so if we just keep complaining about it, we’re going to make the ponies hate us and they probably won’t help us through this.” “She’s right,” Vex comment. Fizzle also nodded in agreement. The others were still being sticks in the mud, however. They kept grumbling until Spike walked in pushing a cart carrying four stacks of pancakes. Plain, chocolate, blueberry, and even some with purple bits. “Nice,” Clump commented. “About time we go some grub.” “Hope you guys like pancakes,” Spike said. “Since you couldn’t help yourself to the castle...” She paused while she gave an angry look at her guests. “...I thought I might as well as add the shards you broke off into some of the pancakes.” “Is that what those purple bits are?” Garble questioned. Spike just nodded in response. “Alright, I’ll take one.” Spike helped pass out some plates before giving the dragon guests their breakfast. Though, they didn’t exactly have the best table manners. Some of them would just pick their pancakes up with their claws chomp them off. Others, like Spear and Clump, would stack up their breakfast pastries and chomp right through it. “I probably should’ve seen this coming.” Spike got herself some chocolate pancakes for herself as well as some syrup. Vex noticed the bottle that the purple dragoness was pouring on her breakfast. “What’s that stuff?” the guest questioned. “This? This is syrup. Ponies put this stuff on pancakes to give it more of a sweet taste. Wanna try it?” “Yeah, just pass it over.” Spike slid the bottle across the table over to Vex, who quickly poured it all over her pancake. Due to her lack of utensils, the syrup also got on her claws, making them quite sticky. “Ugh... Great.” “I’ll be right back.” Spike took her cart back to the kitchen to get some napkins as well as some forks. While she was gone, this gave the guests a minute to talk. “This is pretty great stuff!” Clump commented. “Yeah, probably one of the few good things ponies are good for,” Spear said. “It kind of sounds like you want them to ditch us,” Garble commented. “I mean, she’s got a point,” Fizzle said quietly. “Garble, let us have this,” Baff said. “We’ll take anything to have some enjoyment while we’re... Like this.” The red guest didn’t say anything else and just took a bite out of one of her pancakes. Spike was just getting some drinks to go along with the utensils and napkins when a certain alicorn princess teleported in. “Man, it’s been a while since is... Yep, this is the kitchen,” Twilight commented. She turned around and gasped at what she saw. “Spike?” “Hi, Twilight,” the new dragoness said glumly. “Starlight told me about this but... I just find it too hard to believe.” “Well, you can see it’s real.” “And the others?” “Them too.” “Oh no. Ember is going to freak when she finds out we changed the dragons with magic.” “It wasn’t anything that Starlight did.” “I know, it was that weird diamond. Where is she anyway?” “I think she’s in the teacher’s lounge.” Twilight couldn’t help but stare at her assistant. “Twilight?” “I’m... Sorry. It’s just... You were so little. Now you’re like Garble and the other dragons. I can’t process all of this.” “Yeah, Garble’s ‘friends’ really aren’t taking it that well. How would you?” “Probably not better. Just keep their spirits up, we’re going to fix it.” “Thanks, Twilight.” They shared a hug before the princess teleported to the teacher’s lounge. This left Spike to take the cart of supplies back to the map room. When she got there, she found that the dragons were nearly done with the pancakes she back-baked. The ones containing bits of the castle were completely gone. “Did you guys like them?” “Sure did,” Garble answered. “Yeah, they’re pretty good,” Vex agreed. “Though, the syrup is kind of annoying.” “The idea is to use a fork,” Spike said. She showed them what she was talking about before she gave a couple of napkins to Vex to wipe the syrup off her claws. “Hey, you use a fork, but we’ve gotten our meal faster,” Spear spoke. She then let out a burp. “Thank you for that. Anyways, if you guys want the rest of the ponies to help you, you’re going to need to learn a couple of our meals. Like tables manners that would’ve been useful five minutes ago.” Spike took a look at the crumbs that were all over the map and on the floor. “Maybe bringing something to drink would be a bad idea.” “What drinks?” Garble asked. “Uh, just regular things ponies have for breakfast. Milk, OJ, even some tea.” “I’ll take whatever,” Clump said. “Could I have some water?” Vex asked. “I’ve still got some syrup on my claws.” “Yeah, I brought that too,” Spike said. “Though, I think the bathroom will be much better for cleaning you up.” The guest gave a nervous chuckle. “Maybe we should learn some of those rules and... Table manners.” “Smart idea. Anybody else wants something to drink?” “I’ll handle it,” Garble spoke. “You sure.” “Don’t worry, I’ll keep them in order.” “Great. We won’t be gone long.” Spike walked away with a sticky Vex, leaving all the girls by themselves. “Thanks for helping me, Spike,” Vex said. “I kind of wish I wasn’t so rude to you back then.” “You mean with the dragon migration? That’s in the past, let’s just get you cleaned up.” When Spike showed Vex the bathroom, to which the guest was amazed. “How does this stuff work?” “Well, let’s just start with the sink.” Spike turned the faucet on and water started pouring out. “Whoa. How does that work?” “It’s a little complicated. The simple answer is there are pipes filled with water and it’s looking for any way to get out. These handles are kind of like opening a door for them.” “Neat. What’s that thing?” She was pointing to the bar of soap that was sitting next to the faucet. “That’s a bar of soap. I’ll show you how it works.” After some explanation and demonstration, Spike helped her guest was her claws getting all of the sticky syrup off of her. “Finally. That stuff was driving me nuts.” “Yeah, I found out about that stuff when I was a toddler.” Vex blushed with embarrassment. “I was raised by ponies though.” “There’s a lot we’re going to have to learn.” “Yeah, we should probably get back and make sure they’re not doing anything stupid.” The two dragonesses walked back down the hall and could hear various voices talking over each other. The two picked up the pace and ran into the map room, where Garble was having a hard time keeping them under control. “Oh, for crying out loud.” “Can you blame me for trying?” Garble questioned. “No, I can’t.” Thankfully, two mares were just walking into the room and were appalled at what was happening. “Okay, everyone quiet!” Twilight cried. Using her magic, she stopped all of the complaining dragons in place. She at all of the guests with half of them giving the princess dirty looks. “Put us down,” Baff demanded. Twilight did so, but instead of slowly putting them down, she dropped them like rocks. “Hey!” Spear cried. “She’s just treating you how you’re treating her,” Starlight commented. Twilight pulled out the diamond that was responsible for this predicament and looked towards Starlight. “So, you think we should try it now?” Twilight asked. “I don’t see what else we can do with it. Spike, care to volunteer?” “Sure,” the dragoness answered. She walked in front of her friends, who both started working their magic. The pink diamond and dragoness floated into the air. Some sparks could be seen as some light was starting to come out of the gemstone and swirl around Spike. Suddenly, both object and creature just dropped to the ground. The dragons all looked at what they saw with mixed reactions. “...Was that it?” Spear questioned. “Seems like it,” Twilight sighed. She took another look at the diamond as Spike stood up. “Shouldn’t this work like Silverstream’s pearl?” Spike questioned. “It changes ponies and hippogriffs into seaponies, so...” “We just tried that. I should’ve worked.” The alicorn brought the diamond closer to her eye and could see the edge on the top looked like something broke off. “Maybe it’s missing a piece.” She showed what she was talking about to Starlight. “That could be possible,” the unicorn commented. “Maybe we need both pieces to make this thing work.” “We just need to figure out where you found this diamond. The other half should be nearby.” Spike walked into the closet to get the map of Equestria. She tried to remember where she and the guests had stopped and found the diamond. “Hmm, okay,” the dragoness said, “My best guess is that we stopped around here.” She circled the location she thought was the right one. “That’s only judging by the locations we passed.” “I’ll have Rainbow Dash fly over there with two of the dragoness for help.” “Wait, she knows about this?” Garble questioned. “I had to tell her and the rest of our friends,” Starlight explained. “Now don’t worry, we only told five of them, including Dash.” “Okay,” Vex commented, “What were you saying about two of us volunteering?” “We think that the search could be much faster if more creatures were looking for it.” “Couldn’t you get any other ponies to do this?” Spear questioned. “Our friends are the only ones who know about this,” Twilight stated. “Plus, if you help out you can go back to normal faster and we’ll let you go home.” “Can’t argue with that,” Baff said. “Let’s roll.” Spear stood up with her friend, but the others weren’t so keen. “Guys, I don’t think I can just leave Smolder like this,” Garble said. “I think I’ll stay here too,” Vex said. “I kind of want to know more about ponies.” Fizzle simply nodded in agreement. “Seriously?” Spear and Baff questioned. “Clump, please don’t tell us you don’t want to change,” Spear said. “No, I’m wanting to go back to normal too,” Clump said. “You know I don’t like flying long distances.” Baff groaned. “Right. Yeah, we’re not going to make you go because you’re going to complain about it.” “You know me too well.” “So it’s just you two and Rainbow Dash,” Twilight commented. Later, Sunburst helped fill in for Rainbow Dash’s classes so the mare could go with Spear and Baff to the location of the missing diamond. “Okay, so I just looked around this spot for a diamond?” Dash questioned. She was holding the map and pointing to the location that Spike circled. “It’s my best guess,” Spike admitted. “Well, I’ll take a look around.” “You know we’re coming with you,” Baff noted. “...Right. Sorry if ponies and dragons don’t have the best relationship.” “Dash, please don’t engage in an argument,” Twilight begged. “No promises.” “Can we go already?” Spear questioned. “I want to change back.” “Okay, just follow me.” Dash took off to the sky with the map in the hoof. Spear and Baff followed her closely behind, leaving everyone else at the castle. “So, now what?” Garble asked. “I guess we just wait here until they get back,” Spike guessed. “Maybe thinking of new names?” Vex suggested. “Excuse me?” Twilight questioned confused. Spike held her claws together as she started feeling a little embarrassed. “Well, I originally thought that since we’re girls now, we should... Probably have new names. I told Smolder about it.” “It does sound like a good idea. Have you girls got anything in mind?” The dragons didn’t know how to answer this, not even Vex or Spike. “How about I give you some time alone so you can talk about it?” “Sure,” the dragons all replied. Twilight walked off to check with Starlight, leaving Spike and the guests by themselves. “So... New names,” Garble said. “Yeah, this is going to be awkward,” Spike admitted. “Let’s try one at a time.” While they did that, Dash, Spear, and Baff flew to where they found the diamond. “Can we go any faster?” Spear groaned. “If get lost then we’ll have a harder time finding the right place,” Baff noted. She looked towards Rainbow Dash, who was reading the map. “Are we going the right way?” “I think so,” Dash responded. She had been given a compass to help with direction and it looked like they were going North-South. “Okay, if we keep going that way would be there in no time.” “Well, what are we waiting for?” Spear questioned. She quickly picked up the pace leaving Dash and Baff behind. The pony quickly sped up determined to stay ahead as Baff tried to keep up. “Hey, don’t forget who’s leading.” “You’re going too slow.” “Slow?!” Dash placed the map and compass in her saddlebag before speeding ahead. “Keep up if you can!” Spear accepted the challenge and picked up speed. “This is going to take forever,” Baff groaned. She rubbed her eyes before trying to keep up. Dash smirked as she flew through the sky but was surprised when Spear started catching up with her. “You think that you can outfly a dragon?” Spear questioned snarkily. “I’m the fastest pony in Ponyville,” Dash stated. “Oh yeah, you splattered palette? I’ve outflown dragons the size of your friend’s castle.” With that, Spear took the lead with the mare couldn’t accept. Forgetting the whole reason why they took off, the pony and dragon were now in a race to figure out how who was the fastest. Baff didn't care who won, she just wanted them to stay on track. Dash couldn't believe that she was starting to fall behind and tried starting to ram into the side of the dragoness. "Hey!" Spear cried. In retaliation, she smacked the pony back. "Say, uncle!" "You should know, I'm out of your league." "Says the pony that's stuck in second place." The rainbow pony soon darted ahead when she had let her guard done. With her teeth gritting against each other and smoke billowing out of her nose, Spear did what she could to keep ahead. Baff was getting tired of this, both emotionally and physically. "Okay, hand on. We should have a finish line." "Yeah, you're right." The two quickly slowed down to a stop and Baff finally caught up with them. "You know what I think would be a good idea for a finish line?" she asked. "What?" both racers asked. The response came from Baff knocking both of their heads together. "We've probably passed where we were going to find the diamond. Do you know? The piece that can turn us back to normal!" "Okay, calm down," Dash spoke. She took out the map to figure out where they were. "This might take a while." Baff groaned. "I just hope the others are doing better." Back at the castle, Spike had gotten some papers and a pencil. She and the rest of the dragons had thought up a few ideas for their new names. It took a while, but they finally agreed on their new names. "Are you sure we shouldn't waiting for Spear and Baff to get back?" Vex asked. "I don't think it'll matter if they come back with the diamond," Garble noted. "So, shall we tell Twilight?" Spike asked. The three guests agreed to this and they walked off to find the alicorn princess. Twilight was in Starlight's room, where she had a chalkboard. It looked like she had a few theories written down on it about the diamond that caused this mess. Spike knocked on the door to grab her attention. "Oh, hey girls," Twilight responded. "You've got you're new names?" "Sure do." Spike held up her list and read the names that weren't crossed out. "I'm not Barb, Garble's now Garnette, Clump's now being called Pat, Vex is going to be Vixen, and Fizzle is now Flicker." She looked back at the girls, who were all approving of their new names, except for Clump, or Pat, as she was being called now. "Good for all of you." Twilight then took out some flashcards and started looking concerned. "Um, Twilight, what do you have there?" "Just... Some other theories. It'll probably bore you." "Probably," Pat muttered. "Um, what do we do now?" Garble, now Garnette asked. "I'm not entirely sure. Our whole plan has been derailed because of this." "We only just swapped genders," Vixen commented. "Maybe we could just continue with what you planned from the start." "That sounds good to me," Flicker agreed quietly. "Well, I'll have a chat with my friends at lunch." "It's only ten o'clock," Barb noted. "I can't interrupt their classes. If I do, the students might find out about all of this." "It just turned boys into girls," Pat stated, "What else is there?" "We have no clue how it works," Garnette said. "I'm pretty sure it can do crud like effecting age, species, I wouldn't be surprised if it brought this whole castle to life." "Settle down Garnette," Twilight requested. "Once Dash, Baff, and Spear get back, we should get more answers." "Okay. You sure we have to stay in the castle?" "In a town of ponies, dragons stick out like a sore claw," Barb commented. "So dragons that just swap genders overnight is going to turn a few heads." "So we're stuck in here?" Pat questioned. "Great." "Barb, you know any good way to pass the time?" Vex asked. "A few ideas come to mind," Barb responded. She took her guests to her room where she took out a box and pulled out some game pieces. "What's this?" Garnette asked. "Ogres and Oubliettes. It's a game that some of my friends and I play. It's a little complex, but..." Barb picked up the character piece of Carbuncle. She had drawn it after herself, that was pretty obvious, but something didn't feel right about her playing as a wizard. “Barb?” The red dragoness clapped her claws grabbing her friend’s attention. “You were staying at that bearded dragon for about a minute saying nothing.” “I was... Just thinking. This change is harder to take in than I thought.” “Oh, really?” “Yeah. Just help me get this into the map room.” Barb picked up some of the game pieces and her guests did the same thing. It took the young dragoness a few minutes to set up the game but when she was done the dragons were amazed at the size of the board. "Jeez, you and your friends play this game?" Vixen questioned. "I did say it was pretty complex. I'll try and keep it simple. The aim of the game tends to vary depending on what you want to happen. Sometimes you’ll try and retrieve a hidden MacGuffin, protecting a castle, rescuing a princess, defeating an evil squid, stuff like that.” “Still sounds hard to understand,” Garnette said. “Let’s just start with your characters. Mine is Carbuncle, who’s a level thirty-one enchantress. Ter! Enchanter.” “Is something wrong?” “No, just...” Barb looked at some empty character pages and some cards that would attach to stand for what the player’s character would look like. “How about I tell you about the other classes there are. There’s the druid, the cleric, paladin, bard, and a lot of others. What would you like your character to have?” “What does the bard do?” "Oh, the bard's main trait is music. The best for their versatility as they mostly just stick to the sidelines and use their magic from the distance.” “That sounds good to me.” “Great. Girls, what about you?” “Are there any types that you can get up close?” Vixen asked. “Well, there’s the barbarian, the rouge, monk...” “What’s the rouge do?” “It’s mostly about stealth and stealing. They aren’t really that well with the law.” “What about the monk and the barbarian.” “Bored now,” Pat declared. Vixen and Garnette just decided to ignore their friend as Barb answered the question. “Well, monks specialize in martial arts while the barbarian use brute force for their strength.” “I guess barbarians are close to dragons. I’ll pick that one.” “Good choice. Flicker, how about you?” The white dragoness muttered to herself as she began thinking before she spoke up. “Could I... Um... See a sheet of the type of fighter?” she asked. Her voice was just a whisper. “Um... Sure. Here.” Barb handed the nervous dragoness a book containing various classes with their stats and bios. “Man, it’s like Fluttershy when we first met,” she muttered to herself. Flicker looked at all of the classes until she saw the cleric. Many of their abilities were magic and healing. “What about this one?” She showed it to Barb who smiled. “Good choice. With a party this bigger we’re probably going to need a healer. And now... Pat.” She looked over the brown tubby dragoness. “Give me the fighter,” Pat scoffed. “Were you even listening?” Garnette asked. “Actually, there is a class called Fighter,” Barb noted. “What’s the difference from the Monk?” Vixen asked. “Fighter’s are better with weapons.” “Makes sense.” Barb soon found some colored pencils in the box and quickly started drawing the guests’ characters on some cards. It took about a minute while Flicker passed the book around so her friends could learn about their new classes. “Hey, how do you think Baff and Spear are doing?” Garnette asked. The two dragons in question, as well as Rainbow Dash, were looking around where the pink diamond had been found. They were trying to see if there was a piece missing, but nothing had come up yet, much to their frustration. “Come on,” Baff growled. “Where’s that stupid diamond piece?!” “We don’t even know what exactly we’re looking for,” Spear spoke. “What does it even look like.” “Yeah, good point,” Dash agreed. “I mean, is it another diamond in a similar shape and color? It is some sort of base? What if it isn’t just part of a diamond?” “Who cares?!” Baff responded. “Just find something that doesn’t belong here.” Spear and Dash looked at each other as they didn’t seem to like the anger coming from the dragoness. “Is she always like this?” “Usually when someone’s getting on her nerves,” Spear explained. “She’s the smart one of our group and mostly the reason how we still have our heads. If you grew up in the Dragons Land, you’d be dead. Trust me.” “Well, you bathe in lava. So I think that speaks for how tough you are.” “We’ve got our scales to thank for that. If it wasn’t for these things, we wouldn’t survive the things in our home.” Dash chuckled. “What kind of things do you do in the Dragon Lands.” “We love competition. If there anything to test which one of us is the best, we’ll do it. My friends and I have done tons of them. Wrestling, gem hunting, lava diving, you name it.” “How about racing?” “Oh yeah. I’ve been one or two but I don’t remember liking them that much.” “You seemed into the race we had a few minutes ago.” “True.” The blonde and purple dragoness began digging through some bushes to try and find something that could help them, but they kept coming up dry. “Gah! Did Spike even send us to the right place?” Baff questioned. “Look, she just had to guess,” Dash said. “I mean, there isn’t anything like a landmark.” Dash took a look at the map and pointed out some details to the dragons. “Look, this tree is the same as this tree. There aren’t any mountains or villagers around here, so there’s nothing to tell where exactly we are.” “So, we just wasted our time coming here?” Spear questioned. "Probably." "Great," Baff groaned. "Welp, I guess we better head back. The others aren't going to like it." Baff took off back to Ponyville with Dash and Spear flying behind her. "Welp, if we have to go back to Ponyville," Spear said, "Might as well get there as possible." "Now you're talking my language," Dash chuckled. The two started picking up speed and quickly passed Baff. The black and green dragoness sighed before speeding up to make sure she wouldn't be left behind and lost. Back at the castle, Barb and her guests were soon into their game of Ogres and Oubliettes. It was going a little slow though. "Okay," Barb said. "You activate a trap made for catching timberwolves. You must roll a seven or higher to avoid them." The dragons did so and most of them got higher than a seven, except for Vixen, who only got four. "Oh, crud," she muttered. "Your leg gets caught in the trap. You lose..." Barb paused as she rolled her die, which landed on a twelve. "Twelve life points." "Man." "Trust me, you should see what creatures you go up against at level twenty." "I kind of don't want to," Flicker said to herself. Pat let out an annoyed groan. "How long do these games last?" she questioned. Barb brought her claw to her chin and pondered. "Hmm, I remember Mac and I play one for eight hours straight," she responded. "Eight hours?!" Garnette questioned amazed. "Yeah, we can kind of lose ourselves in this game." "Well, I've lost interest," Pat declared. She stood up and walked towards the door just as Smolder opened it. "Where are you going?" the younger dragon asked. "Getting something to eat. I'm hungry." "Well, it is lunchtime." "I can try and get us something to eat," Barb said. She got up and was about to walk to the kitchen when she remembered the game." "We'll pack this up," Garnette said. "Great. Thanks." Barb carried on towards the kitchen as Smolder decided to follow her. "So, were you trying to get them into Ogres and Oubliettes?" the orange dragoness questioned. "Yeah. Only some of them seemed to be enjoying it though." "Well, it's probably their nature. If they don't have something challenging or something they enjoy, they're going to hate it." "If only I found out something they enjoy that doesn't bother any of the ponies. It doesn't help that we have to stay in the castle." "Yeah, I don't know how my friends would react to this. I'm guessing since you're still girls you haven't found a way to fix this problem." Barb just shook her head as they entered the kitchen. "On the other hand, we have made some new names for ourselves." As Barb looked for some ingredients to prepare some lunch, she explained the new names to her friend. “Huh, didn’t think they would except this so fast. It’s going to take me a while to get used to calling Garble Garnette now.” “Hopefully it isn’t forever. As soon as Dash gets back with something that could help us.” Barb started the stove to cook lunch. “Your friends don’t know about this, right?” “I haven’t said a thing to them about Garbl... Garnette and her friends becoming girls. Though, I think some of the professors nearly spilled the beans.” This got Barb worried. “Relax, everyone else thought it was just Professor Pinkie Pie just being her regular self.” “That’s reassuring.” Barb looked at the ingredients she had and started cooking them. After a while, the two dragonesses could hear some talking and footsteps in the hall. “How did you get so fast?” asked one voice. “Don’t know,” replied another, “I guess dragons’ competitive nature helps them adapt.” “That must be Dash,” Barb guessed. “Smolder, could you go get them for me?” Smolder gave a thumbs up before walking out of the kitchen. The dragon student found Dash, Baff, and Spear walking down the hall talking. “Smolder, what are you doing here?” the rainbow maned pony asked. “I was just checking on Garble. Or now Garnette.” “Garnette?” the dragons questioned. “Yeah, they decided to have new names.” “Oh just great,” Baff groaned. “As if not finding the other part of the diamond wasn’t bad enough,” Spear sighed. “So... You’re stuck like this?” Smolder questioned. Baff just gave an upset nod. “The others aren’t going to like this.” “Where are they? I want to be the ones to tell them.” Smolder just pointed in the direction of the map room. Baff slowly walked off, feeling disappointed. Spear rubbed her arm as she was unhappy about how things were going. “If it makes you feel better,” Dash said, “You did up a good race there and back.” “Ah, thanks,” the dragoness responded. Feeling a little better, Spear followed her friend to the map room. “You know, they may be a little rough, but they’re great at a competition.” “Right,” Smolder said. She scratched her head as she had to admit something. “You know, when I saw Spear, she usually just tried to get out of work. When I see her she usually just sleeps wherever she can.” “Really? She seemed to enjoy racing me.” “Maybe her competitive nature finally got some time to shine. Most dragons can’t help it sometimes.” Barb had overheard what the returning dragons had said. She felt quite down. She still worked on the stew she began work on. “I’m stuck like this,” Barb muttered. She held her head up while resting her arm on the stove. Being a dragon, Barb didn’t mind the heat but she didn’t like to be stuck as a girl. She could only imagine how the others would react. “You’re kidding me,” Pat gasped, hoping she misheard her friend. “I wish,” Baff sighed. “As much as I want to be wrong, there wasn’t anything we could find to fix this, there wasn’t anything there. Like it or not, we’re girls forever.” The rest of the dragons now felt down in the dumps about their situation. “So, I guess we’re going to have to go home like this,” Vixen commented. “Yeah.” “Barb said she was getting us lunch,” Garnette said, “I think she’d feel worse if we just ditched her.” “Garnette’s right,” Vixen said. “She’s been trying to help us, she at least has to know about the situation.” “Okay, fine,” Baff said. “Once she knows and when we’ve eaten what she made, we’re going home.” “Sounds good to me,” Pat said. She sat back and waited for her meal while Spear looked over at the game pieces that were in the box next to the table. “What’s in the box?” she asked. “This is Ogres and Oubliettes,” Garnette explained. “Barb thought it would be a good game we could play while were stuck in here. Twilight thought it would be best if as few ponies knew about what’s happening.” “You could imagine how much fun we’ve had being stuck in here,” Pat said. “Can’t wait to get home.” “By the way, have you seen Smolder?” Garnette’s sister was in the kitchen giving Barb some help with the stew. “Okay, I’ve got the onions...” Smolder paused as she saw her friend’s downcast expression. “What’s wrong?” “It’s hard to believe it I’m going to be stuck like this,” Barb sighed. “It just... Doesn’t feel right.” “It’ll probably take a while to get used to, but you only just turned into a girl. It’s not like you turned into a baby or a different species. You’ll get over it.” Barb managed to smile. “Thanks, Smolder. I’m glad I’ve got other girls to help me cope.” Barb gave the stew a bit of a stir with a more positive attitude. “I wonder how my friends would react to this.” “I think Rarity would take full advantage to make new dresses.” Smolder let out a chuckle in which Barb giggled. Soon the stew was finished and after grabbing some bowls and spoons, they took them to the map room. “Lunch is served, girls!” “Oh finally,” Pat sighed. Smolder helped give each dragon a bowl before Barb poured each dragon some of the stew. “Hope you guys enjoy it.” Barb sat down beside Garnette who was about to speak up if it wasn’t for her sister speaking first. “She already knows about the situation,” Smolder spoke. “Oh,” Garnette gasped, “So...” “I’ll be fine with time,” Barb said. “Lucky you,” some of the dragons groaned. Barb didn’t respond to either one of the dragons that were being negative and instead focus on Garnette and Vixen. “Anyways, sorry my friends weren’t able to help fix this?” “It’s okay,” Vixen said. “We’re sure they tried.” “Yeah. I’m always here if you need help getting used to this.” “We might take you up on that,” Garnette said. “There’s no doubt some of the boys will try and date us.” “How bad is that?” “I remember Spear caught the eyes of one girl,” Vixen explained. “He didn’t notice her at first until he started getting to know. Eventually, they all started fighting over him until they found someone who wasn’t as lazy as him. Not to mention stronger.” “It’s how dragons work,” Smolder shrugged. “If you’re not the best in someone’s eyes, you’re not there at all.” “Eh, I didn’t know them,” Spear shrugged before consuming more of her stew. “She seems to be taking it pretty well,” Barb commented. “Would you believe us if those girls fought over him last week?” Garnette asked. “Not with a straight face.” They carried on with lunch until they heard “Smolder!” a voice called. Nobody recognized who the voice belonged it except for Smolder. Though everyone was in a panic now. “It’s Silverstream!” Smolder cried. “Who?” Baff questioned. “One of my friends.” “Does it matter?” Garnette questioned. “Barb, where do we hide.” Trying to remain calm, Barb led the dragons out of the room just before Silverstream flew into the room. She could only see Smolder standing by the door and the bowls of stew sitting on the table. “Who were you talking with?” the hippogriff asked. “Um... Princess Twilight,” Smolder fibbed. “It sounded like a lot more than one pony.” The dragon then saw the rest of her friends walking in, Ocellus, Sandbar, Yona, and Gallus. “Wh... What are you guys doing here?” “Yona smelt something in the castle,” Yona explained. “We weren’t feeling cafeteria food, so we wanted to see what was in here,” Gallus added. “Plus we were curious about what you were doing in,” Sandbar spoke. “Why do you need so many bowls?” Ocellus questioned. Smolder started to worry as she tried to think of an excuse. “Plus, wasn’t your brother visiting with some of his friends. Where are they?” “Uuuuuh... Around town,” Smolder said. “...Yona did you change your hair?” Gallus looked towards the door that his dragon friend was standing next to. It was partly opened. He began piecing things together. He began to walk towards the door but Smolder stopped him. “Hey!” the griffon cried. “Sorry, I thought I saw... Something. ...Did you get new... Feathers?” “Move out of the way.” Gallus pushed his friend to the side and walked through the door. Smolder and the rest of the group followed behind. Gallus soon found the dragons and couldn’t believe his eyes. He and his friends were shocked to find the newly made female dragons. “Yona thought Smolder had brother,” Yona said confused. “I did,” Smolder said. Her friends looked at her with their minds not knowing how to process this. Seeing that hiding didn’t work, Barb walked over to them. “You may want to sit down,” she said. “We’ll explain it over lunch.”