Magic Duel, part 1

[no_vampires_plz]

The date of the Saddle Arabian ambassadors' arrival is fast approaching. Twilight thinks she has her magic routine all figured out, but she has yet to practice it with the other participants yet. Which is why she's visiting Fluttershy today.

"Don't be scared, little friends," Fluttershy reassures the dozen or so mice, bunnies, squirrels, raccoons, and beavers sitting in a half-circle in front of her. "Twilight is wonderful with magic." She turns to give Twilight a threatening look. "Anything happens to them, Twilight, so help me--"

"Aww, don't worry, Fluttershy," interjects Spike, gently pushing the pegasus back. "Twilight's magic has gotten a lot better since she accidentally crushed me and Applejack with a giant snowball."

Twilight cringes a little. You're not helping, Spike.

"Of course she's good with magic. Twilight's great with magic. I guess I just don't want my little friends to be scared--ohhh, look how scared they are!"

(That would be "not scared at all." They all look eager to get started, while Fluttershy is trembling and sweating through her pelt.)

Twilight lays a reassuring hoof on her friend's shoulder. "I promise, Fluttershy, nothing bad will happen to them."

"I know," Fluttershy squeaks through clenched teeth.

"" (Watch on YouTube)

"Your magic has really improved since we came to Ponyville, Twilight," remarks Spike. "Princess Celestia's gonna love it!"

"Thanks, Spike. I have to be at my best when she arrives with the delegates from Saddle Arabia. I can't believe she's trusting me with the entertainment!"

Before Spike can respond, he's interrupted by Rainbow Dash arriving in her usual manner: at lightning speed and crashing into someone. Specifically, Twilight.

"Twilight! Come quick! It's an emergency!"

Comments

[nponyc]

Upon reaching the town square, the unicorn, dragon, and two pegasi are greeted by the sight of... well, pretty much the entire population of Ponyville gathered in front of Town Hall. They seem to be watching the robed figure standing in front of the building, but it's not clear why.

At least, not until the figure shoots a blast of blood-red light that suddenly clothes Rarity in a hideous brown-green-and-orange-striped dress.

"You beast! This shade of brown should only be used for accents!" Rarity swoons, falling onto Apple Jack's back.

Pinkie helps see the two of them off. "C'mon, Apple Jack, we've gotta get her in a nice, soothing pink, stat!"

[no_vampires_plz]

"What's going on here?"

[powered_by_red]

The mysterious figure in the black robe knew it was only a matter of time before she showed up.

"Well, well, well. If it isn't..."

The figure removes the hood of the robe to reveal none other than The Great and Powerful Trixie!

"...Twilight Sparkle." she states, her eyes flashing red for a second.

[no_vampires_plz]

Twilight gasps, then scowls. "Trixie."

"What's she doing here?" grumbles Spike.

[nponyc]

Rainbow Dash, hovering overhead, rolls her eyes. "You call that 'great and powerful'?"

It's a dress. Big deal.

[powered_by_red]

Oh? So that blue loudmouth is going to doubt her? It's a little disappointing that she didn't learn her lesson when Trixie spin cycle'd her in her own rainbow. But no matter. Trixie will just have to teach that lesson again by firing off magic at the loudmouth pegasus.

Let's see her fly and create rainbows like she did before now!

[nponyc]

When the light clears, Dash's left wing is bigger than the rest of her body put together. She yelps and careens across the sky, trying to regain her balance with a lopsided wingspan.

"Ooh, she's Rainbow Wobble now!" Snips the unicorn sniggers from ground level.

"Yeah, ha ha!" Snails ducks to avoid the out-of-countrol pegasus, then cheers, "Good spell, O Great and Powerful Trixie!"

[powered_by_red]

And then there's these two. The two annoying dolts that hounded her with that Ursa Minor. Not to mention that both of their voices are annoying. Trixie will definitely show them their place.

"You two, quiet!"

Trixie casts yet another spell, this time at the duo.

[nponyc]

This time, when the light clears...

"Hey! What happened?"
"Get off of me!"

...the two unicorns' horns are fused together, one suspended upside down in midair. They run rump-over-teakettle back and forth, switching orientations as they futilely attempt to get loose.

[no_vampires_plz]

"Stop picking on my friends, Trixie," says Twilight in a warning tone. Does she really want to go down this road again?

[powered_by_red]

Trixie didn't come here to be warned. Trixie came here to DO the warning. "You and I have some unfinished business. My magic's gotten better since I was here last."

The azure unicorn closes in on Twilight. "And I'm going to prove it. Me and you: a magic duel. Winner stays, loser leaves Ponyville... forever!"

[no_vampires_plz]

...seriously?

"Forget it! I'd never make a deal like that." Twilight turns her back on Trixie.

[powered_by_red]

"Hmm. Your choice." Twilight will soon learn not to deny Trixie of anything. The fastest way to do that? Well... There is that dragon Twilight's been hanging around. Why not have fun with that? And what better way to have fun than some good old basketball!

She picks the dragon up with her magic, a red aura surrounding him. Soon, that red aura is compressing itself into the shape of a sphere. Time to test out her new purple dragon basketball! And look how wonderful it bounces! Up and down! Up and down!

[no_vampires_plz]

"Trixie, put him down!"

[powered_by_red]

Trixie summons up a makeshift basketball hoop made out of a bucket with the bottom removed and tosses her new purple basketball into it. THREE POINTS! Trixie's really good at this.

[no_vampires_plz]

"Why are you doing this?!" demands Twilight.

[powered_by_red]

"Why!?" Seriously? Twilight had the audacity to ask? Does she even remember? Trixie points an accusatory hoof toward Twilight. "Because you humiliated me!" Trixie yelled. It looks like it's up to her to remind Twilight.

Trixie looks beside her. There is empty air beside her. Now there isn't. It's a flat illusion spell depicting the purple unicorn known as Twilight Sparkle lifting up a gigantic blue bear known as an Ursa Minor.

"After you showed me up with that Ursa Minor..."

The scene in the flat illusion changes. It now depicts Trixie bedecked in her usual purple hat and cape, ponies laughing at her and green vandalism all over her cart.

"I became a laughing stock."

The scene changes yet again, this time it's night and even more ponies are laughing at her. Trixie in the flat illusion spell looks shocked and horrified. illusion!Trixie tries to escape, quickly summoning up her small smoke explosion spell, discarding her cape and hat in the process of running away.

"Everywhere I went, I was laughed at and ostracized."

The scene changes once again, with Trixie in a field of rocks, working laboriously at breaking rocks. She finishes one, only to have a pale brownish-yellow earth pony points her to even more rocks behind her. illusion!Trixie gains a downcast look, like this was her life from now on.

"I even had to take a job at a rock farm just to make a living!" Trixie dispels the illusion. "A ROCK FARM!"

[havetubawilltravel]

Did you just say ROCK FARM Trixie?!

"HEY! You're lucky a rock farm would take the likes of you!"

SO THERE.

[powered_by_red]

Wow. Trixie's never heard something so rude before. She HAD to go to that rock farm in order to actually make money to continue to actually get things such as food and water. Such disrespect! In any case, that blabbermouth has got to go!

Trixie grabs that rude pink pony's mouth with her magic and tears it off, leaving nothing but pink behind. She summons a small trash can and plops it in there where it belongs, dismissing the trash can afterward. Let's see you insult The Great and Powerful Trixie now! Oh wait! You can't! You can't talk!

[havetubawilltravel]

....



...so she has.

Cue Pinkie wildly feeling about for her now-gone mouth, then frantically pointing at it while shooting pleading looks at Twi.

C'mon friend, fix this!

[powered_by_red]

"Now, I want revenge, and I'll just keep casting spells 'till you agree!" Trixie says with a smirk. What sort of spells? Well, Trixie fires off a red beam of magic at Twilight's treehouse library Trixie saw her come out of. It gets ripped from the ground, turned upside-down, and shaken. Books start falling out from the windows.

"...Well? What do you say?" If Twilight still says no, she can do this all day!

[no_vampires_plz]

Twilight looks at Trixie.

Looks at the upended library, and Owlowiscious frantically trying to catch the books as they fall.

Looks at her friends, hurt and confused, their lives turned upside-down by Trixie's magic.

She doesn't want to fight Trixie. She doesn't want to fight anyone. But what choice does she have?



"Alright, Trixie. Let's duel."

[powered_by_red]

Just what Trixie wanted to hear! Though... some part of her wanted Twilight to say no. That way she could've kept casting spells.

"Excellent!"

Trixie rights the treehouse and puts it back on the ground, then casting a spell to make all those ponies return back to normal. Well... except for a certain blabbermouth. The pink pony deserves it.

[havetubawilltravel]

Cue Pinkie's muffled cries of anger.

It's bad enough she can't even eat like this!

[powered_by_red]

Now that Twilight Sparkle agreed, it was time to set the terms. "If I lose, I won't set hoof in Ponyville again, but if you lose, you're the one banished from this one-horse town."

Trixie has complete confidence that Twilight couldn't even hold a candle to Trixie's new-found magical prowess.

[no_vampires_plz]

The assembled ponies gasp in alarm at the prospect. Twilight just stands resolute, staring down the azure unicorn.

Two mares enter. One mare leaves. And never comes back.

[powered_by_red]

Trixie can hardly wait to see the look on the face of her opponent when she loses. Therefore, Trixie starts.

"Draw!"

Trixie fires off a bolt of blood-red magic at a nearby cart located behind Twilight Sparkle. It gets flung into the air... and is now on a direct course to smash a light blue earth pony with white hair. Let's see her try and win while being distracted by saving her precious friends!

[no_vampires_plz]

It's a near thing, but Twilight manages to 'grab' the cart and its contents out of the air and set them back down gently with no damage done.

She lets out a sigh of relief and wipes the sweat off her brow with a foreleg before turning back to Trixie...

[powered_by_red]

...who had quickly summoned up six piping-hot pies. Keeping the pressure on her, she chucks all of them at Twilight Sparkle.

[no_vampires_plz]

Oh crap oh crap oh crap what to do--aha!

Twilight concentrates a moment and teleports a parasprite from the borders of the Everfree Forest to a spot between herself and the pies. The little insect eagerly opens its mouth and swallows the oncoming pastries in one gulp.

...and then coughs up a duplicate of itself. Whoops. Twilight quickly teleports the two of them back to the forest before they can do any damage. Nopony wants a repeat of last time.

[powered_by_red]

Aww, what's the matter? Too scared of those piping-hot pies? Fine then! Have something a little colder! Trixie summons up a large pile of snow and drops it on Twilight. Maybe that'll cool you off!

[no_vampires_plz]

A quick heat spell melts the snow away, and Twilight shakes off the water.

Enough reaction; time to go on the offensive. Twilight fires a beam of magic square at Trixie's face.

[powered_by_red]

Trixie gets hit in the face with Twilight's blast of magic. ...It didn't seem to do anyth- A mustache grows on Trixie's snout.

[no_vampires_plz]

Everypony bursts into giggles, even Pinkie. Twilight allows herself a small smirk. Trick #25 just has so many practical uses, doesn't it?

[powered_by_red]

...How humiliating. Trixie is NOT happy. First off, she rectifies the problem by summoning a pair of shears and snipping off the offending hair off of her snout.




...Snipping. Snips. Snips and snails.

...Trixie just gained a wonderful idea that would surely crush Twilight Sparkle! "Snips, snails! Come forward!" she demanded.

[nponyc]

The two teenage unicorns prostrate themselves before her. "W-what is it, O Great and P-Powerful Trixie?" Snips stammers.

[powered_by_red]

Oh, she'll show them "what's it" alright! It'll be one of her best spells to show "what's it"! She fires off a blood-red beam of magic at the doltish duo, and...

[nponyc]

...and they're lifted into the air in a whirlwind of red light.

When they come down, Snips has been regressed into a wailing newborn foal, and Snails is an elderly stallion with a beard trailing on the ground.

[no_vampires_plz]

"An age spell?" Twilight boggles. "But... how could you do an age spell?? That's only for the highest level unicorns!"

[powered_by_red]

That doesn't sound like Twilight Sparkle doing anything to even try to outmatch Trixie, so the azure unicorn will just casually polish off her amulet a little bit before speaking up. "Well, Twilight? Give up?"

[no_vampires_plz]

...alright. She can do this. She hopes.

Twilight takes a deep breath and concentrates. Her horn glows a brilliant magenta and throws off sparks as she lifts Snips and Snails back up into the air.

"Come on, Twilight," Spike urges her. "You can do it!"

She's never attempted an age spell before, but she's read the theory behind it a thousand times over. Feel their timelines, past present and future, move to the spot that's required...

Her horn's aura falters once--twice--and Twilight can't keep up the energy any more. She collapses in a heap on the ground. So do Snips and Snails, completely unaffected by her efforts.

[powered_by_red]

And that was it. The duel ended with Trixie victorious.

"Trixie is the highest level unicorn!" She allows herself a laugh of triumph, completely reveling in the victory. As for the loser of the magic duel? "...And now, it's time for you to leave Ponyville..."

[powered_by_red]

"FOREVER!"

[nponyc]

"That's enough, Trixie!"

That would be Apple Jack, who, along with the rest of Twilight's friends, places herself between Trixie and Twilight.

"You've proved your point," agrees Rarity, "but you can't possibly expect Twilight to leave Ponyville!"

[powered_by_red]

...Really?

"You fools!" Trixie picks up the loser with her blood-red magic. "She's already gone!" Trixie carelessly chucks Twilight with enough force for her to land outside of Ponyville. Someone has to enforce the terms of the battle.

[no_vampires_plz]

"WAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaoof!"

Twilight lands flat on her belly on the dirt road that leads out of Ponyville, just beyond the town's city limits.

[powered_by_red]

...Trixie realizes Twilight might actually try to come back. Luckily, Trixie has a quick and easy solution! She summons up a giant jar big enough to encapsulate Ponyville and puts it on the ground. Now this town is hers and hers alone! No one will be able to leave or enter without her permission! It's the only way to enforce Twilight's punishment for daring to think that she stands a chance against The Highest Level Unicorn Trixie.

[no_vampires_plz]

Twilight looks mournfully back at her friends, who were rushing to check up on her but were forced to stop short as the barrier came down.

"It's okay, guys." Twilight places her forehoof against the bowl's surface. "I'll figure something out. Just... take care of each other. And keep an eye on Trixie--there's something strange about her."

With that, she turns and gallops off. There's no point sitting and moping in front of a giant glass bowl. She has to do something.

If only she had any idea what.