Classroom Changeling

by Someguy458

Chapter 24: Good L_ck (I'm F_cked)

Lily ducked behind a corner just outside of the school. Her breathing was quick from running, and her eyes darted around, trying to find a better place to hide. There was a large dumpster nearby, but it'd take too long to reach it.

Suddenly, a gruff voice piped up from somewhere around the corner: "Come out, little missy! We know you're somewhere around here."

Another voice chimed in, "We ain't gonna hurt ya; we only wanna chat."

"She can't have gotten far," she heard the first one mutter to the other one.

Lily struggled to keep her breathing quiet. Once again, she was being harassed by bullies — she'd tripped into a tough student and made him spill the contents of his drink on his shirt. Now, he and his Hippogriff lackey were in pursuit, and from the sound of it, they weren't going to give up any time soon.

Then she had an idea: she had magic, right? Quietly, she reached into her half-opened backpack and pulled out a text book. Concentrating on a destination, she blew a steady stream of fire onto it, whisking it away in a trail of smoke.

A few moments later, a loud thud was heard some distance in the opposite direction of her. The footsteps of the bullies stopped for a moment, then trailed off as they searched in the direction of the noise.

Lily waited for a moment in case they were tricking her, then quickly ducked behind the dumpster and sighed in relief. She'd have to wait here in order to retrieve her textbook once the bullies gave up, but she could always take the next bus back home.

At that moment, Os and Rove appeared from around the corner. Lily wanted to call out to them, but she also didn't want to risk being found by her pursuers.

"Did you figure out why he wants to fight?" Os was asking Rove.

"He thinks that I 'infected' him with Equestrian Magic, making him transform."

"Is it at all possible that that's what happened?"

Rove shook his head, "I don't think so. I didn't go anywhere near Lily after she'd changed, and yet I still changed!"

"But it's still a possibility?"

Rove shrugged. "I suppose there's a miniscule chance that it could've happened. Whose side are you on, anyway?"

"Yours, of course," Os clarified.

They talked for a bit longer, before heading off in the direction of the school's football field. Lily peeked out from her hiding spot, concern written on her face.

"Quite a predicament, if I do say so," Mr. Adler's nearby voice startled Lily. "About their situation, I know."

Lily turned to see Mr. Adler covertly approaching her hiding spot. "Oh, Mr. Adler! Thank goodness; can you do something about that bully?"

"I'm afraid I cannot allay your fear; if I stop them from fighting here, they'll only resume when we can't be near. But with your bullies, I can gladly interfere."

Lily glanced back and forth between Mr. Adler and the direction that Rove and Os had gone. "Then what're we supposed to do?"

"I cannot do much with neither magic nor skill," Mr. Adler began, "but you, my dear, simply need your will."

She blinked. "W-what do you mean?"

"I have seen the way you act; you're quite strong when you need. While confidence is something you've lacked, you always heal after you bleed. You're friends with them, too; would they not assist you?"

Lily thought back to how she met the two.

"Give it back, please!" 10-year-old Lily pleaded to the three bullies that were holding her leaf collection hostage. The main bully Ashley (an 11-year-old transfer student from Norway who Lily could only describe as a 'Nordic Valley Girl') was standing atop a rock a distance from the school playground, while her entourage kept Lily from climbing up after her.

"What're you going to do about it, plantejente?" Ashley jeered back from atop the rock. "Throw worms at me?"

Lily was starting to cry now. "Please, my Mom will be so mad if she finds out I lost our leaves!"

The bullies all laughed at that. One of Ashley's entourage pulled out the drink from their lunch and handed it to Ashley, who threatened to soak the binder containing the collection.

Suddenly, a voice called out, "Leave her alone!" The four of them turned to see 10-year-old Rove and Os standing some distance away, trying their best to look heroic.

Ashley rolled her eyes. "This doesn't concern you, whoever you are."

"Maybe not, but it, uh..." Rove paused for a moment, trying to think of what to say.

Luckily, Os jumped in. "But we won't just stand by and watch!"

Lily rolled her eyes; they came off as rather dorky, and a bit showy. But she still smiled; their hearts seemed like they were in the right place.

"Right!" Rove smiled at his friend, then turned back to the bullies. "You'd better back up, or else we're gonna get the teacher!"

Ashley sighed. "Whatever." She lazily tossed the binder over her shoulder as she climbed down, leaving Lily to try and catch it. She managed to grab the binder, but some of the pages fell out and scattered over the ground.

The three bullies left as Lily went to pick up the scattered pages. As she began to pick them up, she was slightly surprised to see that Rove and Os were already helping her with them. She smiled silently, before continuing to retrieve her collection.

Lily opened her eyes and clenched her fists; she knew what she had to do.

---

Damnit, Rove, I thought to myself, why'd you agree to this?!

Os and I had just arrived at the meeting spot, the school's football field. Harold was standing on the 40-yard line on the other side of the field, looking incredibly ticked.

I gave a look towards Os, who seemed nervous - and rightfully so. "Well, I suppose you should stay over here," I suggested.

"Yeah right," she retorted, "as if I'm gonna let you do this on your own!"

"Os, I appreciate the gesture, but he only has beef with me; I don't want you getting hurt unnecessarily. Besides, I'll need you to stay over here in case anything goes wrong. Be ready to run and get a teacher, or jump in only if needed."

Os looked at me with concern, but nodded, and stepped back towards the bleachers. I gulped, then turned and walked out onto the field.

When I got to the 40-yard line on my side, Harold finally acknowledged my presence. "So, you decided to show up."

"Harold, I think you've jumped to a few conclusions about this whole situation," I began.

The asexual changeling rolled his eyes - at least, I think he did; it was hard to tell because he didn't have pupils. "Are you just going to repeat what Mr. Adler said to me?"

I blinked. "Well, if what he said was 'The transformations were caused by magical leakage from another dimension that had nothing to do with Rove', then yes."

Harold didn't respond for a moment.

Then he began to laugh-chirp. "Y-you actually expect me to believe that?!" he managed to choke out in between guffaws.

"Yes! Because it's the truth!" I pleaded.

Harold managed to reign in his laughter. "Oh, puh-lease. You're just trying to shift the blame! Do you even realize how ridiculous that story is?"

"I get that it's hard to believe; hell, at first, I didn't want to believe it myself." I momentarily glanced back at Os, before turning back. "But dude, you've literally turned into a fictional creature from a show made for little girls; I think the line into the absurd was crossed a while ago."

"Wait a second," Harold realized something. "You're just stalling, aren't you!"

I blinked, "Why would I be stalling?"

"You totally are!" He continued, undeterred by my question. "You called a teacher, and are waiting for them to arrive!"

"No, I didn't!" I denied fruitlessly.

"Just admit it, you coward!" He accused, getting into a battle position.

I responded by getting into a defensive position. 'He isn't listening!'

He seemed to take my silence as an admission of guilt. "Well, seeing as I have limited time now, I'd better make this quick."

With that, he lunged. I dodged to the side as he sailed past me, his horn alight. He quickly turned his head and shot a blast of green fire towards me, grazing my tail but not actually damaging it. I took to the air, and lit my own horn in preparation.

When he next shot a blast, I shot my own, neutralizing his in mid-air. I used the collision they made as a temporary smokescreen, and started flying straight for him. He readied another blast, but I was too quick; I plowed right into him, making him shoot his blast off into space.

We exchanged blows with our hooves for a while, until Harold managed to throw me off, and get back to his hooves. I wiped a bit of blood from my forehead as we both charged our horns, and I prepared for us to have to fight to overpower each others' blasts.

I wasn't prepared for what he actually did.

As I shot my blast, he instead leapt to the side and shot his own shot afterwards. By the time I realized what he was doing, it was too late. The blast sailed directly towards me, and...

Before it could hit me, a brown figure jumped in its path from my right. The blast impacted, and I heard a feminine scream, before the shape flew backwards.

I turned, finding Os on the ground. There was a large burn mark on her right foreleg, which she was clutching with her other foreleg.

That bastard hurt her.

Gritting my teeth, I turned back towards Harold, who was stood there in shock, and lit my horn. The edges of my vision were turning red, but I didn't even notice; I was too furious.

I lobbed a green ball of fire his way, but he managed to dodge it. I shot a second one, and it managed to graze his left leg. A third shot hit him square in the chest, making him stumble backwards. Spell after spell, I pummeled him with increasing anger, driving him further and further back.

Finally, he collapsed, and I readied one final shot. I glared at him without really seeing him, and—

"STOP!"

A crimson shape leapt into my vision, coming between Harold and me. It took a moment for me to realize that it was Lily, with her arms spread out to her sides.

We both stood there for a moment, eyes locked onto each other's. Lily looked more sure than she'd ever looked, with a firm gaze in her eyes. We both stood there for a moment, and though we never said anything, our gazes said it all.

Then I slowly came back to my senses, unlit my horn, and backed off. When Lily finally eased up, I ran back to Os to see if she was okay. Thankfully, she only had a minor burn that, while it would hurt for a while, it would eventually heal.

Me, on the other hand? Well, in our hoof-to-hoof scuffle, Harold had managed to crack the chitin above my right eye. While it wasn't serious, it would leave behind a scar that would never truly go away.

"Wait, that's it?!" I looked over to Harold, who was being helped up by Lily. He looked both flabbergasted and annoyed at the same time. "We hardly fought! That doesn't even begin to —"

Unexpectedly, Lily slapped him in the face. "Now listen here, you insecure jerk. Rove and Os are two of the nicest people I've ever met; even IF they were the reason you turned, it was not on purpose. But that's not what happened, and you need to stop blaming others for something that was clearly out of their control!"

"B-but they were making excuses! Claiming that there's a magical land of ponies, and—"

But Lily seemed to be prepared for that argument; she pulled her phone out of her backpack and opened the camera, showing him several pictures she'd taken of both the Portal and the ponies that'd come out of it. Harold stared in silence for a moment, then his ears dropped and he suddenly couldn't make eye contact.

"Well, Harold?" Lily sighed in relief, having finally gotten through to him. "You have anything you want to say?"

He groaned, but eventually said, "I'm sorry."

I looked to Os, who nodded, then turned back to him. "Apology accepted."

Then Harold muttered, "Still don't like you, though."

Os shrugged, "That's fair."

Author's Note:

So, it's been a while, huh? It took a while to write the fight, and even then, it doesn't really go on for that long at all. But if it went any further, then it'd be kinda hard for the ending to work.

(Initially, the fight was going to be stopped when Os got a notification on her phone detailing the ponies' presence in DC, but I decided to drop the 'coincidental thing that comes in to solve the plot' and instead tied in Lily's character arc.)

And no, they're not going to forgive Harold that easily; they will continue to hold some animosity towards each other, even after Harold's punishment.

EDIT (3/6/2023): Added an illustration.

Comments

[Prettypony]

Nice to see this updated, I was actually thinking about this story recently.

[Someguy458]

11264208
No way; so was I! What are the odds?

[tsaukpaetra]

Heh, kids will be kids. Stupid teenagers. 😈

[Someguy458]

11264656
Tell me about it.

[Amanisaman]

It’s back and great!

[Dis-Harmony Light]

Finally! An update.

[Someguy458]

11267201
I know, right? I was starting to think the author would never update it again.