Starlight Glimmer was faster by a fraction of a second.
Telekinetically swinging her staff around in an arc, she fired a beam of energy as soon as she sighted Aria between the points of it. But Aria hadn’t been content to simply stand there and let herself be targeted, having started rushing to her left – opposite the direction that Starlight had swung her staff – even as she sang a quick tune. The result was that Starlight’s spell missed her by inches, lancing past her and causing the crowd to shriek as they scattered.
Not taking her eyes off of Starlight as she hurried to finish her own spell, Aria heard two voices rising in louder cries than the others. “PEACHY!”
“What’s happening?!”
A split-second later, the image of two peaches connected at the stem – the cutie mark of that mare who had been with the stallion who’d just told Starlight off – rushed over toward Starlight, coming to rest between the twin points of her weapon. Snarling at having hit the wrong target, Starlight flicked the staff behind her, tossing the captured cutie mark over her shoulder like a piece of junk mail. Unbound, it sailed toward the four ponies who had followed her, with the unicorn mare rushing to fetch a glass jar from the wagon she’d been pulling and bottling the disembodied tattoo up.
The sight was surreal, but Aria didn’t let it distract her. Instead she rushed through the last few syllables of her spell, striving to complete it before Starlight could bring her staff back into a ready position. Here goes nothing…
Aria knew she wasn’t as smart as Lex, but she wasn’t as dumb as Sonata either. That pushy purple pony that called herself Starlight Glimmer had been waving her big stick around ever since she’d showed up. Not only had she announced that it had a name – the incredibly stupid-sounding “Staff of Sameness” – but she’d openly admitted, and now demonstrated, that it was what she used to take cutie marks. All of which pointed to the idea that it was a powerful magic item, and quite likely what she’d used to enchant Sonata.
Which meant that getting it away from her was priority number one, since without it she’d be nothing more than an ordinary unicorn with a big mouth. The question then was what spell would be best for taking it from her?
Aria knew a telekinesis spell, but it was weak, good for little more than lifting rocks for her to kick. Her fireball spell was scorching hot, but the burst of flame it generated was too brief and too intense to actually set anything on fire, while her spell that generated a cone of flame had a short range. And trying to shatter wood with a sonic scream was much more difficult than something crystalline in nature. So instead, Aria had placed her hope in one of the simpler spells that she knew, one which might not work at all, but if it did would immediately separate Starlight from her staff.
An instant later, she finished casting, and Starlight’s staff became covered in a thin layer of extremely slippery grease.
Aria had no idea if that would work on unicorn telekinesis or not, but it was still the best chance she had, and she was already moving forward in preparation to grab the staff if Starlight dropped it…
Only to see the purple pony snicker and give the wooden weapon a quick shake, flicking the slippery substance off of it with contemptuous ease.
Realizing that her plan had failed, Aria immediately skidded to a halt, but Starlight was already pointing the weapon right at her. “Nice try,” she taunted, “but when it comes to magic, it looks like you’re not anything special!” She hadn’t even finished speaking when another beam from her staff lanced out.
And struck Aria dead-center.
The magic enveloped her instantly, causing Aria to groan as she strained against it. But despite her best efforts, the glow from the beam spread out to cover her completely, holding her in place. A second later she felt a strong tugging sensation on each flank, and the thought of losing her ability to sing gave her new strength as she squeezed her eyes shut and fought with everything she had.
For an instant she thought she felt the spell holding her waver, but the tugging sensation renewed itself immediately, and a second later it grew to be too much. It was with a moan of despair that Aria felt her cutie mark peel away from her flanks, floating over to Starlight Glimmer’s staff, the unicorn grinning darkly as she passed it off to one of her followers – the male unicorn this time – for bottling. But Aria barely had time to process what had just happened when there was a new sensation coming from her haunches, causing her to glance back as she saw the equals sign appear where her star-and-note symbol had been up until a moment ago.
Its work done, Starlight’s spell fizzled out a second later, letting Aria drop to the ground in a heap. “There,” cooed Starlight. “That wasn’t so bad now, was it?”
Her breathing ragged, Aria barely heard the other mare’s jeering. Instead, she took a deep breath and tried to sing. She didn’t even bother with lyrics, simply raising her voice in a wordless tune, silently hoping that somehow the change had been purely cosmetic, leaving her with her voice intact despite all evidence to the contrary.
But that hope was shattered a second later as, instead of a beautiful melody, Aria heard a tone-deaf screeching coming from her throat.
Cutting herself off so fast she nearly choked, Aria somehow forced herself to stay calm. Steadying herself, she tried again, putting all of her focus into holding a single note. But even that was beyond her now, unable to get the tone correct and causing her voice to come out as a cacophonous warble instead of an unwavering pitch, causing her to abandon the effort once again.
Sonata had been right. It was just like when they’d had their gems shattered after the Battle of the Bands back on Earth.
Her reaction to that must have showed on her face, because Starlight spoke up again. “Aw, don’t look so down,” she smirked, making no effort to hide how she was gloating. “It’s not that you’re a bad singer now, it’s just that you’re not any better than anyone else.”
For a moment Aria couldn’t answer her, her legs shaky as she stood up. Slowly, she looked over at Starlight, then past her, beyond Sonata – who was giving her a heartbroken look – over to where Starlight’s follower was screwing the lid onto the jar containing her cutie mark, placing it back in his wagon. “Give it back…” she hissed softly, taking a step forward.
“Ah ah ah,” warned Starlight, the corners of her lips still turned up even as she waved her staff threateningly. “I know the adjustment can be hard, but you just need to give it a little time-”
“Give it back!” snarled Aria, baring her teeth as she kept advancing.
She stopped only when another beam of energy from the staff impacted the ground in front of her hooves. “That’s far enough!” snapped Starlight, her features stern now. “If you want to become our friend now that you’re our equal then you’ll have to-”
“GIVE IT BACK!” Aria’s voice was a roar this time. “Give it back right now, or I’LL KILL YOU!!!”
Then she cast a spell.
Sonata watched in horror as Aria’s fireball exploded against Starlight’s hastily-raised shield spell.
“We’ve got to stop them!” she wailed, rushing forward, intent on putting herself between the two of them again. But she didn’t make it more than two steps forward before Double Diamond and Night Glider grabbed her from each side, holding her back.
“Sonata, slow down! Starlight can handle this!” protested Night Glider.
Double Diamond nodded. “Yeah, remember when Starlight first got rid of your cutie mark? You freaked out exactly the way your sister is now…magic and all.” That last part was accompanied by an uncomfortable look, one which was also reflected on the faces of Sugar Belle, Night Glider, and Party Favor.
“Leave this to Starlight,” pleaded the latter pony, his voice anxious. “If you use that weird magic of yours again now, it’d make you different from the rest of us.”
“I know,” admitted Sonata with a wince. “But Aria’s spells are different than mine. They’re more…” – a thin black beam of energy shot out from Aria’s outstretched hoof, causing Starlight to dodge to the side as she fired a return shot from the Staff of Sameness – “Fighty. If we don’t do something, they might seriously hurt each other.”
Sonata could still remember how she’d kept fighting after Starlight had taken her cutie mark away. Losing it had kept her from using the natural magic that she’d always had, where she could simply sing in order to make people feel how she wanted them to feel, like when she’d helped rev Garden up while fighting those ghouls. But casting actual spells, the way she’d learned how to do after she’d become a pony back on Everglow, was something she’d still been able to do. Even with her singing voice having become the worst, she’d still been able to do things like scream super loud or make people fall asleep. So it was no surprise that Aria, who’d learned a whole bunch of beat-‘em-up spells instead since she’d been stuck living with those awful fish monsters, could still use those.
But as concerned as she was, her new friends didn’t feel the same way. “It’ll be fine, Sonata,” soothed Sugar Belle. “Starlight has the Staff of Sameness, remember? She can handle your sister’s tantrum.”
“I still can’t believe how it can do so much more than just remove cutie marks,” noted Double Diamond, a touch of awe in his voice as he glanced back at the battle.
“Mage Meadowbrook must have wanted a world where everyone was equal too.” The thought made Night Glider smile happily. “We’re lucky that somepony as kindhearted as Starlight found it.”
“You wanna fight?!” shrieked Starlight, charging up a blast of magic. “I’ll give you a fight!”
But before she could unleash her attack, Aria sang – or rather, crooned – another spell, and suddenly her form blurred, causing her to shift and waver like a painting in the rain. Cursing, Starlight unleashed the spell she’d prepared at the persistent nag, trying to freeze her inside a block of ice. But it was harder to target her now that her image was indistinct, and the shot went wide, almost hitting another pony in the rapidly-scattering cloud.
The miss made Starlight’s lip curl, but sound of Aria’s discordant voice being raised in another ear-splitting ditty left her no time to be upset. An instant later, the blurry image of Aria rushed forward, covering the distance between them with incredible speed. Starlight’s eyebrows shot up, barely recognizing the accelero spell – or some closer variation thereof – in time to bring her staff up in front of her face protectively. It was only by sheer luck that she guessed correctly, feeling Aria’s hoof connect with the weapon in a heavy punch a split-second later. Even then, Starlight winced at the sound of the impact.
Fortunately, the staff was able to take the hit, the wood thick enough that it absorbed the blow without suffering any damage, sending a thrill of relief through her. If it had been damaged – or worse, destroyed – then Starlight knew she would have been in real trouble.
After all, she needed it to pretend that all the magic she was using came from it and not her.
Of course, the fact that Sonata – and now Aria – could keep using magic after losing their cutie marks gave her some cover if worse came to worst, since she could say that she was the same as them. But that was only so long as nopony realized that she hadn’t actually given up her own cutie mark to begin with. If they ever found out that she’d simply hidden it with body paint…
Shoving Aria away, Starlight took a step back, forcing herself to stay focused on the here-and-now. Aria’s magic might be different than Sonata’s, but if she couldn’t be beaten into submission, then she’d simply have to be subdued another way! This worked on Sonata! It’ll work on her!
Focusing intently on the hazy image that was her opponent, Starlight hefted her staff toward her as though calling upon its power. “ENOUGH!” she yelled, focusing intently. The cogeria spell wasn’t that hard to use under normal circumstances, since all it did was make the target suggestible, but if Aria was anything like her sister, it would be an uphill battle to make it affect her. “Aria, I am not your enemy! Release your spells and stand down!”
Although she couldn’t see the other mare beneath her blurring enchantment, Starlight could feel her struggling. “Y-you…!”
“RELEASE YOUR SPELLS,” bellowed Starlight, concentrating harder, “AND STAND DOWN!”
“I won’t!” came Aria’s voice, but Starlight could hear the tension in it, knowing she was fighting it with everything she had. “I WON’T!”
Starlight could feel her spell slipping; Aria did indeed share her sister’s resistance to mind-affecting spells. But Starlight refused to let that stop her, knowing what was at stake. I have to win! If I can’t beat Sonata’s sister, I definitely won’t be able to overcome Lex Legis! Sonata had been emphatic about that, telling her how Lex was strong enough to defeat both of the Royal Sisters at the same time, among numerous other powerful monsters. But rather than make Starlight nervous, she’d found it exciting, knowing that if she could get him on her side, she’d be able to spread her doctrine of equality across all of Equestria! Then there’d finally be true harmony! A world where everypony could be happy together!
A world where no one would ever have to lose a friend because of a cutie mark…
“YES, YOU WILL!”
Her eyes glowing white, Starlight held nothing back as she pushed her spell onto Aria with everything she had…and broke through, feeling Aria’s resistance suddenly fall away.
Panting, Starlight nevertheless smiled as she looked at the now-compliant mare. “Now…drop those spells you put on yourself, would you please?”
For a second nothing happened, as though Aria was still trying to fight, but a moment later the blurring effect ended, revealing her standing there with a vacant expression on her face. But a moment later her features twisted, and Starlight realized that she was still fighting it. Maybe I should have used persuadere instead, worried Starlight. But her anxiety passed after just a moment. So long as there were no sudden interruptions, Aria wouldn’t be able to get out from under her spell anytime soon-
A flicker out of the corner of her eyes and a sudden gasp from her friends was the only warning Starlight had, but it was enough to make her whirl around, raising her staff on instinct.
That motion caused the small object flying at her head – and surrounded by a glowing aura – to just barely miss her horn, instead scraping along her forehead painfully before flipping past her. The other one – similarly wrapped in light – impacted her staff, dragging over it harmlessly and slipping behind her. But she didn’t have time to focus on what they were as a pony rushed past her, making a beeline for the mare Starlight had just enchanted. “Aria, get yourself together!”
“What…?” Reaching a hoof up to her forehead, Starlight’s eyes widened as it came away bloody. But her surprise quickly turned to anger as she saw the pony, a tall unicorn mare with a vermilion coat and a cutie mark of a white picket fence, quickly slap Aria across the face, making Sonata’s sister blink as she suddenly came back to herself. No! I had just gotten her under control! “I don’t know who you are, but you’re going to regret that,” Starlight promised through gritted teeth.
The mare, seeing that Aria was regaining control of herself, turned to give Starlight a dark look, clearly unimpressed by the threat. Her horn glowing, the two objects wrapped in her telekinetic aura – knives, Starlight could see now – moved into position in front of her. One of them was still dripping blood.
“My name is Garden Gate,” announced the newcomer. “And I think the only one who's about to have some new regrets…”
She slowly rotated her knives then, making the tips point directly at Starlight in a clear threat.
“Is you.”