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// Chapter 18: Magic Duel 
// Story: Spacebound Equestria 
// by TheMajorTechie 
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	There was still one element left without a bearer. Sunset looked at Twilight. Twilight looked at Sunset. Starlight Glimmer glared at both of them, which was seemingly awkward, as she had simply materialized between the two.

Twilight jumped back in surprise. "Whoa, who are you?" she asked.

Starlight took a bow. "I am Starlight Glimmer, the proud mayor of Our Town, and I've just heard that you're looking for bearers for the Elements of Harmony."

Sunset sighed. "Y'know," she began, "Twilight and I already have every element except for Magic fulfilled, and unless you want to compete in some sort of I dunno, magic duel, then I'd suggest that you leave."

Visibly irritated from Sunset's rudeness, Starlight snapped back. "Fine then, I will compete in your little duel." She stopped, and a small, vicious grin appeared on her face. "Winner. Takes. All."

General Dash suddenly landed between the three. "Hey, you do know that right now, Celestia is suffering, and if we don't do anything soon, then she could die."

Starlight hushed the General with a hoof, and said, "Don't worry, I have all that under control. Equality in all terms, time included, is always my priority." She then lit her horn, and suddenly, everything around them froze.

The General looked around. She could spot a squad of pegasus guards in the distance, frozen mid-flight, on their way towards the static flames that were being doused by the unmoving buckets of the firefighters. She turned back to Starlight, who had a small, devilish grin sprawled across her face. Finally, she sighed, and said slowly, "Fine. Have your magic duel," she paused to scan the surroundings. "But only if you find a clear area to have it in.

The group wandered along a path on the outskirts of the city, avoiding as much attention as possible. It was still alien to them for the reality around them to be frozen in such a way, and because of that, they paused many times to inspect their surroundings.

Finally, they arrived at their destination: A small park on the outskirts of the city, currently devoid of any activity. The only building nearby was a lone apartment building, a "For Sale" sign hanging from it's sagging lawn.

The General turned to the others. "This should be a perfect place," she began, "there's nopony here, and there's plenty of room for whatever it is you're gonna do."

As the rest watched, Twilight, Sunset Shimmer, and Starlight Glimmer quickly trotted off towards the center of the park, and began readying their spells.

In a moment, the park lit up in a bright crimson color. Derpy curiously eyed the large fireball that Sunset had summoned. She threw the fireball towards Starlight, who quickly deflected it with a shield spell. At the same time, Twilight sent a barrage of stones flying towards Sunset, who promptly ducked, allowing the rocks to pass over harmlessly. Suddenly, the air became filled with a musky ozone smell, coming from Starlight as she began forming an even bigger fireball that dwarfed Sunset's. Within seconds, the orb of fire grew from the size of a bowling ball to a massive behemoth that took on the size of nearly two train cars stacked end-to-end. She then launched the flaming object towards Twilight, who quickly magicked up a large wall of water. Upon impact, the deafening sound of the exploding steam sent both Twilight and Sunset staggering for their balance. Smirking, Starlight readied another spell, this time it being a large, grey cloud. As it passively floated towards Sunset, the cloud abruptly halted in the air, and began emitting massive bolts of lighting in all directions. Twilight quickly countered the spell with her own wind spell, which swiftly dispersed of the clouds. Finally, Sunset launched her final spell, draining her of all her mana. The spell was a come-to-life spell, a very dangerous thing to cast if one didn't know what they were doing. Suddenly, the ground began trembling as a huge golem of rocks and metal rose from the ground. It began it's slow march towards Twilight, who, along with Starlight, simultaneously blasted with a strong spell made from a mix of Starlight's previous lighting spell, and a light focusing spell by Twilight. Together, the lightning provided a strong energy source for the focusing spell, creating a strong laser that immediately disintegrated the golem. Panting heavily, the two mares promptly collapsed on each other. Sunset watched the two with a grin on her face, when suddenly, her face lost all traces of emotion, and she too collapsed.

Upon awakening, the three found the world around them to b once more filled with motion. The park was no longer a shattered wasteland as it had been before, thanks to the effort that Rarity had made to restore it back to it's original state.

Remembering what had just happened, Sunset quickly blurted out, "Hey! So who won???"

General Dash simply pointed a hoof towards her neck to tell her to look down.

Sunset looked down to find a necklace--that is, a necklace with a third of the Element of Magic. She gasped, and set her gaze towards the other two sleeping mares. On both of them were necklaces that were nearly identical to her own, save for the fact that each one was emblazoned with a small imprint of their cutie marks.

Applejack wandered over to them, her own element still around her neck. "Well then," she stated, "it seems here like the three of ya'll all are worthy of yer Element." The mare paused for a second. "Yes, Ah remember clearly that the three of ya'll were passed out, when suddenly, the final Element flew from it's box, and divided into three glowing lights, of which became your necklaces..."

The General finally spoke up once Applejack finished. "Well then," she said, "seems like we have three new bearers of the Element of Magic..."