Scarlet High

“Hey we’re not the first ones in this time.” Vinyl joked when she and Twilight found the music room with people already in it.

“I noticed it when we went back to the library to pick our instruments up, but that case is pretty fancy.” She continued, looking at the fabric case strapped to Twilight’s back.

“If you think that’s fancy you’ll love what it actually looks like.” Twilight said with a smirk as she sat down at a random empty chair and opened the case. the inside was red velvet and resting there was a jet black violin. It had a purple six pointed star painted and engraved into the main body with a lavender purple. instead of the normal ‘S’ marks they looked like crescent moons.

“Whoa! That is awesome! How much did that cost?!” Vinyl exclaimed.

“Nothing. Luna made it for me on my Sixteenth birthday.” Twilight said.

“...Damnit why do you have to have such awesome friends...” Vinyl huffed.

“Well you are one of them. Your keyboard is pretty good too, I heard that Yamahas are amazing.” Twilight said, eyeing the keyboard Vinyl had been carrying.

“They are, and this is one of the best you can get...but I busted my ass and saved for months to get it.” Vinyl retorted.

“You know you really should watch your language in here.” A girl their age said to Vinyl from nearby.

“I should but I’m naturally vulgar, I’m a DJ what do you expect? And you are?” Vinyl replied.

“Octavia Philharmonic. And I suppose with such a profession your choice of words would be a bit trashy.” Octavia answered.

“Vinyl, Twilight. And you’re a Cellist, I’ve heard of you. I even have one of your records, and I suppose with such a profession your choice of words would be a bit high class.” Vinyl said, ending with a perfect copy of Octavia’s voice. Octavia was surprised at that.

“She’s obviously from Trottingham. you can tell by her accent. Believe it or not so am I, at least before we moved to Edinspur and later Manehattan.” Vinyl said, adopting an accent identical to Octavia’s.

“...Wow, I never would have guessed.” Twilight said.

They chatted for a bit and got everything tuned and prepared until two Women walked in. One had short teal and white hair while the other had long and slightly puffy purple and pink hair.

“Hello everyone, My name is Miss Heartstrings. This is Miss Bon, I am the orchestral director at this school. Today will be a rather boring day. We’ll have each of you come into our office, or if you have a large instrument we will come to you, and we will test your skills. Whoever wants to go first may come, if you don’t volunteer we’ll start picking.” Miss Heartstrings said with a voice amplification spell. after a few moments nobody came forward.

“Alrighty then dear, why don’t you take that pianist. I want to test this one with the fancy violin.” Lyra said to BonBon. Bon nodded and walked over to Vinyl after rummaging through a stack of papers and picking one out. Lyra called Twilight into the office.

“Alright, miss Sparkle correct?” Lyra asked.

“Correct.” Twilight replied.

“Good, Let’s get started then. Play me any scale of your choice, any piece you know and then I’ll have you site read.” Lyra said. Twilight nodded and played a basic scale. She then played a piece that Lyra recognized as a section of ‘Phantom of the Opera’ and smiled.

‘Well this girl knows what she’s doing...Let’s see how she holds up on this.’ Lyra thought as she placed a three-page song on the stand.

Twilight blew through it, she was obviously a fast learner. Lyra was impressed. She let Twilight go on for a few minutes before stopping her and letting her go. When Twilight came out, she found the entire orchestra watching Vinyl’s ‘audition’. She was obviously using magic, as what looking like blue hands were flying across the keyboard in compliment of her own.

“Holy shit! She’s playing the Death Waltz on one keyboard by herself!” Someone exclaimed. When she finished she plopped down on a seat and basked in the applause she was receiving.

“Screw the site read that was amazing!” Bon laughed.

“Oh man, it’s been awhile since I did that with one keyboard... That took me years to master.” Vinyl said.

“Well, let’s keep going with the ‘auditions’. We don’t have all day.” Lyra said after everyone quieted down.

“Damn Vinyl, I’ve never seen anyone play that in person...only completely with magic or synthetically or something.” Twilight said, hi-fiving the girl.

“Well I do stuff like that with my mix board every weekend, working using magic and my own hands at the same time. It’s easy once you get used to it.” Vinyl said.

“Well, magic or not that was very impressive.” Octavia said.

“Thanks. It sounds even cooler on multiple keyboards or with other instruments though.” Vinyl started. They chatted while the rest of the auditions went on

“Whoa, this is a lot different than the normal magic studies room.” Twilight said to herself when she entered a large circular room identical to the first, except with what looked like a wrestling ring in the center.

“That’s for the duels.” Gandalf’s voice said from nearby. She looked over to where he was speaking to weary looking princesses.

“What happened to you guys?” Twilight asked.

“We got these put in and the recovery magic took a lot out of us.” Celestia said tiredly, showing that the both of them had the wing surgery.

“So that’s why you weren’t here most of the day...I just rented a pair for now.” Twilight said, looking back at the ones strapped to her back.

“They fit you well. This class is rather small so we don’t have to wait long.” Gandalf said. Indeed, the class only held around twenty people. by the time Gandalf started.

“Very well, you all know me and I know all of you now. We can skip the introductions. This class will test more than just your magical ability, it will test you reaction time, your strength, your wit, your ability to adapt etcetera andante... If I don’t believe you can handle this class at any point then you will no longer be welcome to participate in any activities. This is for your own safety. Any questions?” Gandalf explained.

“I got one. I don’t see why some airheads that got that wing surgery got in here.” Someone said. Gandalf sighed and sent a knowing look at Twilight that said ‘Another egotistical jackass eh?’.

“I am tempted to bar your entry to this classroom just for that my friend. I had thought you all know this by now, but you are aware that anyone can use magic correct?” Gandalf asked the kid.

“Yeah but not good...those airheads get those wing things to make them special because they suck at it.” The kid answered.

“If you say the word ‘airhead’ and you are not talking about the candy I will turn your head into a balloon! Looks like I’m going to have to do a bit of a history lesson before we start the good stuff.” Gandalf said, plopping down on the ring.

“Way back when, before lights and electronics and even cars were even thought of people were split into three ‘tribes’ you could say. Some people could do magic, others actually had wings while the rest were well built and were the best at living off of the land. Eventually we all adapted into what we are today. The people that can easily survive that wing surgery had winged ancestors, your body is built for wings. Those of you who excel at magic had Mage ancestors and same for those who are more down to earth.” He explained.

“What this means is that anyone could get into this class and do well. It just comes naturally to some of us and those who know magic like the back of our hands can easily learn the good stuff we’ll be covering. And sir? I wouldn’t call anyone an airhead that could turn you inside out with a snap of their fingers.” He finished.

“I was the best in my class last year!” The kid said.

“And they were the best in the country last year.” Twilight intervened.

“Actually Twilight, that title goes to you.” Luna giggled.

“We’re not going to get into that again. I don’t normally flaunt my skills but if you insult them again they won’t be the only ones that can turn you inside out.” Twilight said.

“Pfft, you girls think you’re so tough.” The kid laughed.

“Normally I would just send you out or punish you myself, but it appears you’ve angered miss Sparkle. Very well then, step onto the stage. In this class you will not only learn spells, but learn to use them at a moment’s notice. You will take part in duels, friendly or heated, to test yourselves and to resolve disputes such as this. Begin when you are ready.” Gandalf quickly explained, knocking his stave onto the stage to create a protective bubble around it. Twilight and the kid stepped in.

“What’s your name?” Twilight asked.

“I am Blueblood! Son of royalty!” The kid spouted, ripping his shirt off. He was toned, but it was fake looking.

“I’m going to have fun with this.” Twilight laughed, not even taking any sort of stance.

“Go on then.” Gandalf urged. Blueblood quickly sent a series of tannish blasts of magic at Twilight. She just sidestepped them. He grinned as they looped around, bounced off of the barrier, and came in at her from all sides. Twilight just hopped around them, bending her body in ways only a trained professional would and weaved through the hail of magic.

“Really now, you forecast your attacks so obviously.” Twilight mocked. “And you don’t even have your wards up!” She continued, hopping towards him and poking him in the forehead. The poke sent him bouncing off of the barrier. He quickly recovered and what looked like small barriers went up around him and metallic looking objects spun around him.

“And where are yours?” Blueblood huffed.

“Not sure if I need them yet or not. We’ll see.” Twilight replied.

“You’re cocky.” Blueblood growled.

“There’s a difference between being cocky and being sure of your abilities.” Gandalf said suddenly.

“Whatever!” Blueblood yelled as two tannish blades appeared attached to his wrists.

“Oh so you do know some advanced stuff.” Twilight said, similar lavender blades sprouting like claws as about three times as many barriers and wards appeared around her than Blueblood. “Just apologise to the Princesses and I’ll give you a fair fight.” Twilight said.

“Wait the princesses?” Blueblood yelped, looking over at the two again. They grinned and waved.

“Hello Nephew.” Celestia giggled.

“Oh great...I insulted my aunts...” Blueblood deadpanned.

“You did, so I can either end this now or let you have a chance.” Twilight said.

“Well I am sorry I said it, I thought they were some common airheads...” Blueblood said. Suddenly he found his head balloon shaped, earning laughs all around.

“Told you.” Gandalf laughed. after a moment he dispelled the spell and motioned for the two to continue.

“Right.” Twilight said, letting most of her wards drop to match Blueblood’s. He lunged forward again. This time she let him hit her wards, testing his strength. one of the wards cracked but he was launched back. He flipped and landed on his feet, charging against it once more. This time she deflected the blades with her claws. She caught the blades between her claws and flipped him over her shoulder, but he recovered in air and lunged forward with them, stabbing them through her head. Surprise registered on his face as blood sprayed his face, he thought her wards would have caught that.

“Whaa!” He yelled, falling back on his rear. As Twilight fell to the ground she dissipated, the blood covering him evaporating. Twilight was sitting on the rafters above, she dropped down in front of him.

“Oh man you really thought you killed me! That’s hilarious. Though you do have good recovery times, you managed to beat my illusion.” Twilight said. “Let’s say you get this victory for now.” She continued, hopping off of the ring, or ‘stage’ as Gandalf called it.

“B-but...what? That was just an illusion?!” Blueblood yelled.

“Yeah, when Professor Gandalf turned your head into a balloon I did an instantaneous illusion spell and teleport spell at the same time. I gave her what I thought was enough to give you a challenge.” Twilight said.

“I had only barely notice it, good job Twilight. And Blueblood? Pick your fights better next time.” Gandalf said. “Now, would anyone else like to duel one another?” He continued, looking about around questioningly.

(A/N I'd like to thank the author of "Duel Nature" I believe it's called. I use a system I based off of your duel mechanics for how mine works, but I'll do my best to make it unique. Hope you enjoyed this chapter friends. until next time, farewell my friends. -Dark)