//------------------------------// // Side Story 2- Well, This is Just Great! // Story: Schoolhouse Shenanigans! // by Dragonborne Fox //------------------------------// "Well, this is new. Alicorn magic versus human magic." Natalie sighed, brandishing her Crystal Staff for the first time in years. "Yeah. I never got the concept either. But one species sparring against another isn't really that uncommon." Twilight agreed, flaring out her wings. Natalie spread her legs apart, both hands on her staff as a runic circle flared out from underneath her. At the same time, a circle with three inverted triangles and a smaller circle in between their corners formed in front of her. A red force field surrounded her, greatly increasing her magic defense by a whopping 70%. Twilight's horn was flaring with offensive magic. It started in lavender and gradually changed to a pale yellow. Another runic symbol flared underneath her as lightning sparks began dancing to and fro around the alicorn. The sparks and circle turned into a sinister obsidian. 'An Abyssal Lightning spell?!' Natalie thought as panic tried taking over her mind. 'I have to disrupt it now!' The lightning was fired at the Barrier, which shattered immediately and was followed by a cloud of smoke that obscured the sight of all in the arena. The alicorn cleared the smoke and looked around. The human mage was nowhere in sight. "I have to say!" Natalie called out from nowhere, "I always wanted to see that and try this at the same time!" Twilight looked up and saw her adversary fly on wings of pure energy. Her staff was in front of her hands, which were meshing together to form another spell. Instinctively, she put up her own force field to deflect whatever was coming. Natalie let off an insane cackle before casting Debilitate. And she was still charging that other spell! The alicorn, refusing defeat, began firing magic blasts of energy. They homed in on the mage, who began dodging them whilst flying around the whole arena (built by Lance). That spell she had in between her hands was still charging...! "Gotcha." Natalie grinned as she fired a Thunderstorm, Firestorm, and Icestorm combination at the alicorn. The three spells danced around one another in a contorted spiral of energy before hail and lightning clashed in the sky while fire trapped Twilight. The homing missiles of magic were turned against their creator in favor of the red-haired wizard. 'Well, it looks like she does have me. Good thing I have a plan B.' Twilight thought before charging up another spell to counter Natalie's Demented Storm Overdrive. The spell needed utmost concentration, but then a missile caught her off and-- "What is happening!?" Natalie shrieked as the Overdrive stopped altogether, revealing an aura of clashing purple and vermillion encasing her flailing body. And the rest of the human/beast-person party in the arena (who were sparring against the rest of the Mane Six) had the same thing happen to them. Katie, quite simply, was cursing left and right. Matt was spinning like a top and Coryza was hung upside down. Fenrir was howling and Blake's demon form nearly exposed itself. Lance and Anna were screaming in pitch-perfect unison. 'What did I do to them this time?!' Twilight thought as the whole of everything became enveloped in a searing white light. The humans/beast-persons began screaming in sheer panic now, and when the light died down everypony gasped at what they saw. In place of the humans and beast-persons stood precisely eight ponies whose overall appearances were almost exactly like them. Fenrir was a wolf-like unicorn pony, a fuzzy horn at the base of his forehead. A full moon with a paw in its center could be seen on his thick layer of hair. Lance was an earth pony, a blazing red body accenting his mane. Mechanical pegasus wings--the joints that allowed movement, the bolts that held the wings to the body, and the base being made of iron and the actual feathers made of a bronze-colored alloy--adorned his sides. A nuclear bomb and a tank made themselves quite evident on his haunches. Anna was a unicorn herself, a leather brown coat complimenting her green mane. A bow and three arrows with a water drop, ice cube, and sparks sat on her flanks. Katie was a dusk-orange alicorn. A blazing series of fists was on her flanks. Matt was an earth pony, a stark white coat making his mane shine like the sun. Three swords crossed together were on his rear end. Coryza was a Pegasus, a stark black-purple was her coat color. A purple guitar and a loudspeaker were paired in a duet upon her rear end. Natalie was a light grey unicorn, a black orb of energy and white shimmers of light dancing around each other upon her haunches. And her horn was still glowing. Blake was a dark purple bat-pony unicorn, and a skeleton with a tombstone showed themselves to be his cutie mark. "Um, guys, I guess I messed up the spell. You'll have to be ponies for a day since my own missile hit me. I do apologize, but even I can make mistakes." Twilight sighed. "How do these metal wings move, much less make me able to fly?!" Lance demanded, noticing his wings were on par in fluency with those of Rainbow's. "Anna," Natalie, Coryza, Blake, and Matt complained in unison, "teach us how to walk on all fours." Anna's ears flattened and she gave a nervous chuckle. "Don't look at me, look at my in-law."