> True Magical Duel > by Dragonlover553 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Chapter 1 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- "You really thing you can defeat the great and powerful TRIXE, the greatest unicorn who ever lived?!" Trixie boasted, as the duel began. "Just to be fair, Trixie will give you the first spell." "How kind of you." Replied Twilight Sparkle, sarcastically, as she began charging up a spell. Let the magic build til it has nowhere to go but out. She though, recalling the first thing her dueling mentor taught her on the ways of magic: the basic arcane bolt, simple, fast, easy. The beginner's weapon of choice. Let's see how she handles this. She thought smugly. Twilight pointed her horn down at Trixie and let it ripe. A beam of lightly purple tinted white light shot forward like a lance. Trixie responded quickly, with a magical shield. The arcane bolt hit the shield and dissipated. "Is that all you've got?" Asked Trixie. "Pathetic. Well I guess I'll just need to show you how it's done." Trixie fired her own bolt, this one bright red. Twilight dodged to the right and charged a lightning lance in mid air. She glanced down at where she was just standing and saw a large scotch mark on the ground. Her eyes widened with fear but she continue the spell. The lightning fired forward at breakneck speed, only to be stopped by Trixie's still active shield. "Impressive." Trixie commented. "Not. Must Trixie demonstrate proper combat for you again?" Trixie asked boredly. "No", Twilight replied. I was just testing the limits of your shield and your reflexes. Not bad." "Not BAD? My shield and reflexes are the best in all Equestria!" Trixie boasted ignorantly. "Perhaps, perhaps." Twilight responded. "But, Trixie. The real fight starts now." "Oh really? Is that s-" While Trixie was in the middle of her banter Twilight called a blast of icy wind, which blew Trixie back several feet. Not missing a beat, Twilight shot another lightning lance directly at Trixie. Get your enemy off-balance, then strike. Twilight recalled Dashing Blade, an ancient Equestrian general saying that. And that just what she was doing. So she fired a Flare, a massive fireball at Trixie"s failing shield. It exploded on impact, but despite her shield being gone Trixie didn't look the least worried. "Really? You're trying to get Trixie off balance aren't you?" Trixie questioned. Twilight chose to ignore her and fire another barrage of Lightning Lances, Arcane bolts, and Flares at Trixie. Trixie laughed and dodged them all. Twilight stood panting, amazed at Trixie's agility. "Ha. You failed." "I'm not done yet Trixie, in fact, if anypony's losing this duel, it's you." Twilight replied stubbornly. "Oh, your not? Look at yourself, You're exhausted. Your reserves are nearly depleted. Trixie, however, hasn't even begone to touch hers." Twilight realized she was telling the truth. Her magical energy was almost gone, while Trixie leaked raw, arcane power. Never pull a desperate play unless you're desperate. Running Goal, a world-famous athlete had said that once. Or did he say Always save something for a rainy day? What did that even mean? Twilight was too tried to remember. Suddenly her thoughts were interrupted by a flash of light. She blacked out. * * * Spike, needless to say, was shocked. Trixie, who was one of the weakest unicorn he had ever see, had beaten Twilight with only three spells: a shield, an arcane bolt, and a stunning spell. It was unheard of. They were quickly made, poorly woven, and ill-suited for a duel. So why did they back so much of a punch? He asked himself, and instantly, the answer struck him: the amulet. He had noticed that amulet around her throat when she had walked into town. He had meant to get a closer look, but now it was priority. Trixie had quite literally thrown Twilight out of town before she had conjured the massive bubble that now surrounded ponyville. "xsio batobot conros" he muttered in his native born draconic, a language not meant for any mortal pony's mouth, a language programed into every dragon egg since before it was layed. "nomag jaciv valignat." He had no doubts he could break it, it was meant to contain mortals, and hastily made, but would it be wise? He had spent many years hiding his maturity and magic behind a mask of childishness and stupidity. Then again, he thought, Maybe it wouldn't be so bad to finally show them who I really am. To not have to hide all the time." That would be nice. Or I could do it in private. No one would know it was me. Or, perhaps, I could sprout my wings and destroy it from the air. That could work. He considered. But the last plan was quickly discarded. I can't hide my wings once I bring them out, and after I lost control on my birthday...No. That's not happening. No wings. For now, at least. He decided. So show them my power or destroy it in private." "Or" said a darker side of him "We could do nothing. Let Trixie win. Let evil rule. At least until one of the Princesses finds out and send an army or Twilight returns. "You know that's never an option. I am a dragon, a wizard no less. My sacred duty is to destroy, ripe, tear and rend. To burn and claw and bring chaos. I protect those who cannot protect themselves by destroying those who would do them harm. Then I undo the damage done and return to my slumber. It has been this way since the first of our race was born, long before time itself existed." "So why not break tradition? You would not be the first, nor would you be the last. Think of the power you could posses: to hold the world in your hand, to take what you want and answer to no one." "That was never an option, now qe gethrisja, begone, foul one." "Fine, alright. For now, I will leave, but know this young dova, I will be back. You cannot kill me without killing yourself. For I am you, and you are me." > Chapter 2 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Trixie sat upon her thrown in the center of Ponyville's town hall, sleeping, three days into her reign of terror. While she did this, a meeting was being held. "We gotta stop her" said Applejack. "YEAH!!" Shouted Rainbow Dash. "Shhh!" Said everpony. "Keep your voice down, I mean, if that's alright with you." Wimpered Fluttershy. "How? That ghastly amulet makes her unstopable." said Rarity, for the ponies had been informed of it by Spike who said "I must of read about it somewhere." "Um...yes." said Fluttershy, timidly hiding behind her mane. "Umaohfoatheoi!" Pinkie said, or at least tried to say, her mouth was gone, so it she couldn't make herself understood. "Huh?" Everypony wondered. So Pinkie pulled out a sign labeled "Plot Device!", leaving everypony even more confused than before. *** Elsewhere, in the Ponyville Library, Spike was fast asleep. Well, sort of. He was deep inside his own mind, in his inner sanctum. The one place where he could not be interrupted and discovered. His eyes were closes in both places, but why his body slept, his spirit was more active than it had been in years. He sat within a maelstrom of madness, rage, fury, and darkness. He sat perfectly closed, brow folded in concentration. He was attempting to calm himself. A sound soul, dwells within a sound mind, and a sound body. He repeated this mantra over and over again, and slowly, the maelstrom began to calm. It may have been hours, or perhaps seconds, but to Spike to felt like an eternity. His mind and magic were calm, now to practice. *** Within the boundaries of the Everfree forest, inside a small hut,on a small bed, a young unicorn woke with a start. "Huh? Where am I?" She asked. "Hello young Friend, that injury was nearly your end." Said a Zebra. "Zecora? Is that you?", asked Twilight Sparkle from the bed. The Zebra, Zecora, nodded. "It is nice to see you too, thought I must ask why I do." "I got into a duel with a unicorn by the name of Trixie Lunamoon." "I see, very powerful she must be." "She is, now but last time we meet she was a weak illusionist." "Curious it is, she must have been very bus-y." "I guess so, but I think it had more to do with an amulet she was wearing." "Ah, a necklace, I take it you were reckless. " "I guess so, I burned up all my reserves before Trixie even started to weaken." "An intelligent caster you must be, or she will beat you as though a flea." "True enough. I guess I just haven't really had enough practice in combat magic, I took basic classes as a filly, but so did everypony else." "Then as a filly you must act, in order to upgrade your tact-ics," "Huh? Zecora will you stop speaking in riddles? Do you mean I need to take more lessons?" "To learn, you must first unlearn what you have learned." "Um, what? Wait. You didn't rhyme there." "I merely did as you asked. I stopped speaking in riddles." "But that was still a riddle." "Alright, I'll simplify it. To learn to fight Trixie, you must forget what you think you know. I will teach you." "Alright. When do we begin?" "Tomorrow at sunrise. For now you need to rest." "Alright, thank you Zecora." Then it all faded to black. *** "MOVE SLAVES! There is a disturbance in the barrier and the Great and Powerful Trixie! must find out what. NOW!!" Yelled Trixie, six days later, to her drivers, Snips and Snails. "You know this would go a lot faster with wheels..." whispered Snips as they dragged the wheelless wooden chariot across the ground. "The Great and Powerful TRIXIE! doesn't trust wheels." "Can't argue with that logic." Said Snails. "Because there is none." Muttered Snips under his breath. "TRIXIE HEAR THAT!! And just to punish you, Trixie will increase your burden." Said Trixie, as her horn glowed with a blood red aura, and the small wooden chariot transformed into a massive golden bed. With a roof. And a pair of harnesses, for the still-attached Snips and Snails. Eventually, after about 20 minutes(though it felt like years to Snips and Snails) the group reached the disturbance: beavers. There was a family of them, smacking their tails against the barrier, they had an average looking felled tree with them. "WHAT!? TRIXIE came all the way down here for some beavers?!" "And just what's that supports to mean?" Asked the father beaver, in the tongue of beasts, which Trixie could now understand. "We need a house too you know, and this barrier is in the way of us and this wood." "Alright, fine." Said Trixie." Trixie will open the barrier for you." Trixie' s horn glowed blood red as a hole in the barrier opened, about 5ft by 5ft. "Thank you kindly." Said the beaver. "You're welcome, beaver." Trixie said, mysteriously OoC, as the beavers left, dragging their felled tree. "NOW." Said Trixie. "Trixie' s good deed has left her completely exhausted. Let use return to town." Both Colts groaned but began pulling the golden bed back to town. *** "Balance and Concentration is key to unlock victory." Said Zecora as Twilight continued her training. This time she was to balance upon a wooden pole, sticking out of water, while Zecora threw bags of beans at her. No magic. This exercise would increase her balance, concentration, and ability to detect projectiles. "I know Zecora, you've told me like ten times." Said Twilight threw clenched teeth. When Zecora said combat training would be like being a filly again, she wasn't lying. When Twi had first become Celestia' s student, she had had lots of raw power, but little skill,precision, and knowledge. She had studied so hard so that she could live up to everypony' s expectations. Before that she had been like every other little filly: young, naive,and foolish. That was exactly how she felt now. She was actually worried Zecora might turn her into a filly to teach her a lesson. It wouldn't be the first time Zecora had pulled something during the training. > Chapter Three > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Twilight awoke to, well nothing really. And that surprised her. Of the five days of training she had had from Zecora she had never just woken up naturally. Once she had been woken by a loud noise outside, once she had been woken after just two hours of sleep to learn how to fight without rest. Once, she had woken up to one of Zecora's lessons: to sacrifice her pride in order complete the mission. That lesson had taken two days and they were the worst, longest, most embarrassing two days of her life. No one can ever know. she thought. No one at all, can ever know what happened those two days. Zecora had promised she would take the secret to her grave, which was comforting, but what Zecora had done to her still weighed heavy on her mind. Where did she even get the formula for the potion? Twilight wondered. Did she invent it? Why would she? It's not like she would ever have a reason to use it, besides then of course. Twilight had forced Zecora to swear never to speak of what happened, but would she anyway? These questions still weighed heavily on Twilight' s mind. Then Fluttershy burst in. "TWILIGHT!! WE NEED YOUR HELP!!!"'screamed' Fluttershy. "WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?!" "Hi Fluttershy. Good to see you. I'm training with Zecora right now." Twilight replied calmly. "Oh." Whimpered Fluttershy. "I see." "How are things in Ponyville?" "Well, not to be mean, I mean unless you want me to, but Trixie is really mean to everypony." "I understand. I'll come back and help as soon as I can help." "Okay," said Fulttershy softly. "But can I say here until then?" "Sure, well, it's Zecora's home, so you'll need to ask her, but I'm sure she'll be okay with it." "Thanks Twilight." > Chapter 4 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- A massive blast, no, a beam of emerald fire shot into the sky. Well, not exactly the sky, but that's the general idea. It was Spike's mind after all. "Svent!" he evoked as he thrust his hands forward. A titanic blast of emerald light shot from them, decimating the forest before him in a single shot. Huh. He thought smugly. "Not bad for a drake with no formal training whatsoever." "Yes, not bad at all." replied the darker part of him. "But really" it said "you know you could do much better, if you only gave in to me..." "And that's never going to happen." He retorted. "We shall see" hissed the voice "We shall see." "Yes, we shall.ssejinw lpuul ir." he evoked again, calling upon the magic that ran through his veins to silence the darkness within him. "Come now. There's work to be done. Trixie's on my To-Do List, and after three days of tyranny, I think it's time she was done." "I am surprised with you young dova. Weren't you raised by ponies, the most pacifistic race in all this world?" "Yes" he responded without hesitation. "Then why so quick to end a life?" "She is a tyrant. he respond"Remember what our visions say about King Sombra? Of his return and following execution?" "Yes." "Well it makes the price for tyranny quite clear, even here in Equestria." "Alright then. Let's go." **** "TRIXIE!!" boomed a titanic voice. "COME OUT AND FACE ME!!!" The source of the voice, Spike, was clearly not in the mood for games. "That is Great and Powerful Trixie, to you." replied Trixie in an irritated tone as she entered the town square from the town hall. "AND THIS MATTER TO ME HOW?! boomed Spike. "The Great and Powerful Trixie wishes to know how you got your voice so loud." "Simple, I shouted." "That is not possible. You were almost as loud as Princess Luna." "Believe what you wanna believe, but I came her on more important matters." "And what would they be, whelp?" "Ending you.valignat!" A blast of intense emerald flames shot from his mouth, only to be blocked by Trixie's shield, which shattered. "How did you do that?" demanded Trixie. "Not even Twilight Sparkle could break my shield with one shot!" "It all comes down to one simple fact, Trixie. You two are ponies, mortal, meant to kill nothing beyond grass and the like. I am a dragon, a godkiller. Did you ever think you would be a match for me?"