Ch. 3: Fire with Fire

Sonic and the others were outside on the steps, wondering why the girls' power didn't work. Sonic and his siblings filled in gaps for the others since they hadn't been to this world before.

"It doesn't make any sense," said Twilight. "I should've been able to create the spark that would help us break their spell. That's how it worked before."

"But to defeat Sunset, you drew power from the crown she was wearing," said Sonic. "Like you were using her own power against her."

"He's right," said Sunset. "The Sirens' magic comes from their music, So maybe you have to use the same kind of magic to defeat them." Twilight realized that wasn't far off. "Or maybe not."

"No. No, I think you're onto something here," said Sonic.

"Really?" she asked.

"It's when you play music that you transform now, right?" asked Twilight.

"Yep. Ears, tails, the whole shebang," said Applejack.

"So maybe the way to use that magic to defeat the Sirens is by playing a musical counterspell." said Twilight.

"You mean like a song?" asked Fluttershy.

"It's worth a shot, but in order to free everyone exposed to the Sirens' magic, we're gonna need all of them to hear it. Any ideas?" asked Sonic. Everyone thought for a second before Rarity came up with something.

"The band competition! That's the next time we can be certain everyone will be in the same place at the same time," she said.

"She's right. Practically everyone in the school signed on for this contest," said Silver. "If we perform and it doesn't lift the curse on everyone, I don't know what will."

"Guess the Rainbooms are the band to beat." said Applejack.

"And the Sonic Underground, of course." said Sonic.

"And I believe you, Twilight, just became the Rainbooms newest member." said Rarity.

Everyone crowded around her happy, but Sunset was still sitting on the steps.

"You alright?" asked Shadow.

"I'm fine, thanks," she said, still a bit upset. Shadow leaned down and put his hand on her shoulder.

"Look. You need anything, I'm here for ya," he said.

"Thanks, Shadow," she replied.

"So… What do you wanna play?" asked Pinkie, zipping back and forth with various instruments. "Triangle? Sousaphone? Theremin?" Then she made some eerie sounds with it. "So magical!"

"I will never understand how those things work," said Manic.

"I might take a little too long to learn how to play something with these," said Twilight, holding out her hands.

"Still not used to those, huh?" asked Sonic.

Twilight nodded. "I'll just sing," she said. Then Rainbow zipped up next to her.

"Like, as in lead singer? 'Cause that's usually my gig. This being my band and all." she said.

"It's our band," said Applejack. "And of course as lead singer. She's the one with the magical know-how to help us pull this thing off."

"Ok. Yeah, that's cool," said Rainbow. "I'll just use it as a chance to hone my already insanely good lead guitar skills."

"It's only temporary," said Twilight. "And we don't have to win the Battle of the Bands. We just have to perform during the first round of the competition."

"So let's get to learning that musical counterspell." said Rainbow.

"Well, that's just it. I don't know any," said Twilight.

All the girls frowned and looked at Sonic. "Don't look at me. I don't know the first thing about Equestrian magic."

"But I'm sure I could figure out how to write one," said Twilight.

"Totally!" said Spike. "Twilight can write a spell like nobody's business. That's pretty much how she got to become a princess in Equestria."

"Technically, I helped finish a spell, and there was a little more to it than that, Spike." said Twilight.

"Yeah, whatever." said Spike.

"Whoa. You weren't kidding about the talking dog," said Silver.

"Yep. Now where's my twenty mobiums?" asked Manic. Silver groaned and handed some Mobian paper money to him. "Grazie."

"I've got this. Come on," said Twilight as she and the Mobians went back up to the school.

"Where you goin'?" asked Applejack.

"Well, last time we were here, we spent the night in the library," said Sonic. "Besides, we can't exactly camp out in the courtyard. That would just look weird."

"Are you crazy?" asked Pinkie grabbing Twilight in a hug. "We're besties now! Slumber party at my house!" All the girls whooped in excitement, but Sonic and the others kept on walking. "You guys too!"

THAT got the team a little uncomfortable. "Uh, I'm not sure about that," said Silver. "We don't wanna disturb your privacy."

"Aw cmon, it'll be fun." said Rainbow.

"Oh all right already," said Sonic. "You sure your family won't mind us, Pinkie?"

"Of course not. It's just me and my sister Maud. You'll be fine." said Pinkie. Later that night, everyone was in Pinkie's room messing with the toys and video games. And Twilight was working on the counter-spell.

"Status update, Okie-dokie-lokie!" said Pinkie, playing with her computer. Manic and Silver were still working on the green boy's geokinesis. Rarity was taking a selfie with Fluttershy and Sunset, and Tails and Shadow surprisingly. Then they saw that Spike managed to sneak in with a funny face. Once she saw it, Rarity glared at him, who was sitting in the corner with a dog treat. Tails, Shadow, Fluttershy and Sunset just snickered.

Applejack and Rainbow were playing a shoot-em-up video game while Sonic and Knuckles watched. Rainbow was getting her butt whooped, so thinking fast, she smacked the controller, severing the connection to Applejack's controller.

"Hey! I was about to beat you," said Applejack.

"I doubt it." said Rainbow, spinning the controller on her finger like a basketball.

"Nice," said Sonic, fist-bumping her.

"So Twilight, how's that counterspell coming?" asked Rainbow.

"Huh? Oh, uh good. Great," she replied. "Thanks for letting me use your notebook, Fluttershy. I really like the song you wrote for the Rainbooms."

"Thanks," said Fluttershy and she sighed. "Hopefully one day, we'll get a chance to play it." Rainbow had snagged Applejack's controller and was taunting her with it.

"Hey!" she growled. Then Rarity sat next to Twilight on the bed.

"Twilight, I think I speak for all of us when I say, I don't know what we would have done if you hadn't come back to help us." she said.

"Uh-huh." said the other girls.

"What we're really lucky for is Sonic and the others showing up." said Twilight.

"Hey, no sweat. Stickin' up for the little guy is all part of the hero gig," said Sonic. Then the doorbell rang.

"Pizza's here!" said Pinkie.

"Last one there pays for it!" said Sonic and everyone but Twilight rocketed out of the room. Twilight looked back at the notebook to see it full of meaningless scribbles. Then Pinkie came back in with a slice of pizza dangling by the crust in her mouth.

"Don't you want any pizza?" she asked. Twilight nodded and Pinkie zipped away. Twilight put the notebook in a drawer in Pinkie's desk then left to join the others who were coming up with ridiculous hypothetical situations.

"Okay guys, I got one," said Sonic, eating a slice of pepperoni pizza. "Would you rather get a massage from a man or surgery from a female doctor?"

"Wow." said Silver.

"Like, minor surgery?" asked Rainbow.

"No, serious surgery, like a blown kidney or something." said Sonic.

"Geez." said Shadow.

"Good question, Sonic." said Knuckles.

"Is the man gay?" asked Applejack.

"Nope." Sonic.

"Is the female doctor at least Jewish or Asian?" asked Silver.

"No, but actually, ya know what, I'm gonna take it up a notch," said Sonic. "Hispanic female doctor, or gay male masseuse?"

"Hispanic from Spain?" asked Sunset.

"No…," said Sonic bluntly.

"Ugh!" everyone groaned in realization.

"So it's basically, would you rather get a massage from a gay guy or die?" said Tails.

"Pretty much." said Sunset.

"All right, I got another one," said Sonic. "Let Amy Winehouse spit in your mouth, or eat a raw slice of Anderson Cooper's ass?"

"Sign me up for Cooper," said Applejack. Later that night, practically everyone was unconscious in Pinkie's room, except Twilight who sneaked downstairs with the notebook to finish the counterspell. She had the pen in her mouth, but she couldn't come up with anything legible, so she spat the pen out and groaned.

"No, that's not gonna work." she said.

"Hey Twilight," came a voice. She looked and saw Sunset in the door frame. "You're up late."

Twilight quickly covered the book to keep Sunset from seeing what she was writing. "Just looking over the counterspell," she said. "We only get one shot at this it has to be perfect."

"We really are lucky you're here." said Sunset opening the fridge.

"That's what everyone keeps telling me." said Twilight.

"Who could possibly need this much whipped cream?" asked Sunset, seeing the fridge filled to burst with cans of the aforementioned product. "Must be nice to have everyone always looking to you for answers to their problems. Instead of waiting for you to cause one." Then she put a little bit of whipped cream on her thumb and licked it off.

"Just because everyone expects something from you doesn't mean it's guaranteed to happen." said Twilight.

"But that doesn't stop them from expecting it." said Sunset.

"Which only makes things harder because the last thing you wanna do is…" said Twilight.

"Let everybody down." they both said. They smirked at each other as Sunset closed the fridge. Then she was face to face with Pinkie's deadpan sister, Maud. She jumped in fear and stepped back.

Maud lifted a small rock in her hand. "Boulder was hungry," she said flatly. She opened the cupboard and pulled out a box of crackers, pouring them on her rock and spilling them on the ground as she walked away.

"I still can't get over the fact that she's related to Pinkie Pie." whispered Sunset.

"You and me both," replied Twilight. They both grinned and Sunset yawned.

"Better get some sleep," she said and left. "Good luck with the counter-spell. Not that you'll need it. This must be nothing compared to the stuff you're expected to deal with as a princess in Equestria."

"Sunset Shimmer?" Twilight quickly said. Sunset looked back at her, but she shook her head. "Never mind. It's not important." Sunset smirked and left, but Twilight was really worried.

"No. I have to be able to do this," she said to herself. "I have to."