//------------------------------//
// 240 - A Star Lit Battle 
// Story: Putting on a Silver Robe and Wizard Hat 
// by David Silver 
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Starlight flipped her mane, eyes locked on Silver. "Any limits you care to set, 'Your Majesty'." Her tone did not sound sincere in any reverence. "Or will we fight with all the tools at our disposal?"

Silver's eyes darted around to the intense watching gazes of the guards that surrounded them. "We should be mindful of our surroundings. Hurting others is no sign of control."

She stuck out her tongue. "Poor stallion, afraid he can't keep his aim true. A classic problem... Shall we begin then?"

Silver stomped a hoof. "Why are you being so hostile? I used to like you quite a bit."

Starlight started at that, surprised. "We've barely met. Looking to expand your little herd? Enough, defend yourself." Her horn glowed, but the glimmer gathered quickly to a fine point and lanced out in a beam directly at Silver.

Silver played a song across his horn, summoning a quick shield that caught the incoming energy and threw it aside. Being indoors and with witnesses, he couldn't just toss it aside. He aimed specifically for a window, sending it sailing out where it would likely cause no harm. The bolt felt powerful, but not overwhelmingly. Perhaps he had overestimated Starlight? Some confidence renewed, he let his magic leak free of himself, filling the air around him. He could feel the ponies that stood close, their breath and their heartbeats. It would take time to spread further, to encompass the battlefield, but that would give him an advantage.

"What are you doing?" Starlight was scowling, eyes darting around. Could she see what he was up to? "You won't get me that easily." She lifted into the air with the grace of any unicorn, entire form shimmering with her magic. "Stop stalling." She brought her forehooves together and a beam of power burst from between them, striking Silver's shield more powerfully than the first. Silver strained as he turned it aside, but it was proving a proper challenge. 

A guard squeaked as the ray was reflected onto him. A small confused mouse stood where once there was a guard, still wearing his armor, now tailored for his rodent body. Some of the other guards shied away at the display, but most remained to see the battle play out.

Playing defense would only carry him so far, but Silver knew that he had to act decisively, not rashly. His magic was still pouring free of him, filling the room. He could feel Starlight. Her breath was hastened. He could feel her magic, trying to batter down his shield. Her heart beat in her chest in a quick thumping.

"Enough! I can do more than brute force." She threw down a hoof and magic swirled at Silver's hooves, just outside his shield. The floor gave out from beneath him, sending him stumbling. In that moment of distraction, she streaked across the room, ready to deliver a telling blow.

That was when Silver closed the loose cloud of telekinetic magic around her. He grasped her form tightly from all directions. The closer she came, the thicker the magic was. He squeezed her still, arresting her charge as he stood up from the depressed circle of stone.

"I... don't... think so!" She grunted out before she vanished. Silver knew she was behind him, she was still in the field. He could feel her magic rapidly charging another spell, one meant to imprison him just as he had held her for a moment. He jumped to the left, allowing the shaft of angry magic to strike the rocks, enclosing one in a crystal.

Silver decided it was time to vary things up a little. He reached deep into his earth pony magic. He could feel the stone beneath him and around him. He could feel the broken stone and the pain it felt, strange as the pain of a rock was. It was not hot. It was a cool disappointment. The stones were content as they were. That sadness was already cooling. They would be content as they were. Such was the way of rocks. He would change that. He stomped a hoof and spoke to them. Not in words, but they knew. They knew who had visited discomfort on them.

They were eager to exact some small revenge, an act stones were usually unable to accomplish.

"Stomping the ground like a wild horse?" Starlight glared at Silver with an amused smirk on her face. "That won't get me." Her expression fell as a rock suddenly darted past her snout, missing so narrowly that she felt a few hairs come free. "What the--" Her eyes dropped in time to dodge as the stones began to rain upon her. Each one sang a silent song of retribution at the pony that had shattered them. Silver's magic propelled them, but their cooperation made them sail with determination. She was fast, but they were firm in their desire, as rocks were prone to being. One collided with a loud thump against her right thigh and she let out a yelp. The pain was distraction enough for another to catch her in the chest, and another bashed her head to the side.

She vanished, appearing across the room, panting harshly. "Alright, playtime is over. You want to get serious? We get serious."

The room became suddenly very loud as the guards cheered for their champion, the one stallion that dared stand up to a powerful mare, a spellcaster no less.

Silver turned to face her, but did not immediately lash out. Pelting a pony with rocks was not his preferred style of battle. It felt too... real. Even the sound of the cold stone striking soft flesh had upset him. He didn't want to really hurt Starlight.

She seemed to be suffering no such distraction. "Twilight could block this. Let's see if you're half as good." She lowered her horn directly at Silver. "Or if you'll jump and let the guards accept the punishment for your weakness." Magic flared brightly. He could feel her body going warm with the intense power she conjured from within her. A beam of energy came, no small line. This was an enormous horizontal column of pure destructive might. It was exactly the sort of magic Celestia would despair to see being cast.

Silver did not dodge. He couldn't. Guards would be struck, hurt, maybe worse. He pulled his shield forward, focusing to receive the magical onslaught. It struck. His vision became full of light as the powers collided powerfully and struggled against one another.

He felt his reserves being tapped. It took almost everything he had to keep the onslaught from reaching him. He could see fine lines forming in his shield, straining, but not collapsing. A tickle reached across his rump, across his cutie mark. He swiveled an ear at it even as his field told him, once he thought to check it, that magic was being subtly woven about him. It was too late.

Suddenly his cutie mark was violently ripped free of him. His shield collapsed as he gave a surprised whinny. The beam washed over him in a wave of pain, but it wasn't nearly as terminal as he had feared. It also did not last long, as its caster was too busy laughing with joy. His mark floated around her horn, orbiting it. "You're not the only one that can surprise someone, 'Prince'. Let's see how well you do without this."

A glance was enough to see that he had been re-branded with two black stripes that ran in parallel along his rump. What did it mean? He didn't like it, that much he was certain. He reached out with his field, but it was sluggish and hard to feel through.

Starlight could see the surprise on his face. "Oh, didn't I tell you? You've been equalized." She waved the cutie mark at Silver. "No fancy tricks for you, especially the ones you got with the help of this cutie mark."

That was... unfortunate, but Silver's mind went to other things. The rocks had been a gift of his alicorn-ness, not any advanced understanding of magic. He had two other tribes to draw on. He backed away from Starlight, making it look like he was cowed, but he glanced at the rubble that would serve him once more.

Starlight followed, one step after step, "That's right, run away. Not so tough now, are you? I figured Twilight was overplaying things, as usual. 'The Next Star Swirl', hmmph, as if. You'll never be even a tenth the stallion he was, if he's more than myth anyway."

Silver's hoof came down beside the broken rocks and he let his earth magic flow down through them, calling on them. They came. Flowing up around him, he was sheathed in stone, openings allowing him to breathe and see but little else. He could move, the stone flexing around his body as he took a step back towards Starlight.

Her ears pinned back against her head. "What? What magic spell is that?" She let out a little growl. "It won't help you." Her horn lowered, ready to blast.

Silver jumped, wings going wide. He caught the air with a flex of pegasus magic, despite his increased weight. He soared directly at her and crashed before the magic could come. He was a pony-shaped avalanche of stone. He barreled into her and they both went down to the ground, but one was cushioned by a protective layer of stone, while the other was battered between a rock and a hard place.

Starlight slid free from between the two, her magic yanking her free. "So it's hoof to hoof now, is it?" Magic shone bright about her forehooves as she crashed them together. "So be it."

The two faced one another, both sporting no few cuts and abrasions from their clash, though Silver's were hidden from view by his armor of stone.

"Starlight!" came Twilight's shrill shriek. Both looked to the side to see a small musical box with a suspiciously Twilight looking figure on the top in a ballerina pose. "What are you doing?!"

Starlight blinked softly, then pointed at Silver. "He started it."

Silver's armor came free in a rain of debris, littering the ground with stones of various shapes that once formed his shell. "Twilight?"

The figurine glowed with magic, Twilight's magic, as it lifted into the air. "This isn't what you're here for." The little figure glared at Starlight accusingly.

"You can't prove that..." Starlight glanced away, not sounding like even she believed her lame defense. "Come on." She grabbed the little figure and stuffed the entire music box away. "Spar's over."

Silver watched Starlight wander off. The guards gave a cheer, as if he had won. But had he? He didn't feel like he had. It was, at best, unresolved, but perhaps that was for the best. Quite suddenly, his cutie mark came flying back in, released from her grip. With a yelp, he was made whole, his magic returned. The guards were too busy talking about how the fight had gone. It seemed they had already forgotten how it ended.

Nefertari set a hand on Silver's head suddenly. "That was a fight worth seeing. You've developed a few new tricks, I see... You'll need to show me them later, privately."

Silver went a sudden red. "Phrasing!"

One of the guards poked at Silver. "Um, Majesty... how... did you do that?"

How did he explain that? "It's a little complicated."

That was, surprisingly, answer enough. The guard nodded and wandered off to rejoin the others in their chatter. Even as the guard captain moved to get them back to work, Fast suddenly pounced Silver, hugging him around the neck tightly. "That was quite a little brawl you had there. You really surprised her. She obviously thought you would be a pushover, and even when she pulled out dirty tricks, you didn't fall over." She smooched Silver's cheeks, left and right. "That's my Silver."