//------------------------------// // The first blow // Story: Day of Coronation // by CeresBane //------------------------------// Trixie watched Twilight jump back and with a quick flash of magic the air warped around her horn into wave of kinetic energy. Invisible to the eye Twilight barely dodged the blow aimed at her head, losing only a few tiny clippings of her mane. The shot had gone wide in her haste, that was true. But it would have been enough to wound the old mare were it not for the hag's natural instincts. Trixie landed on all four hoofs safely while Twilight had to shift her body weight again to land first on her hind legs and then safely on her fore. This gave plenty of time for Trixie to send forth even more kinetic waves her way. Anticipating this Twilight summoned the power of her horn to build a magical shield-wall, built purely to take the brunt of the attack from front. "And another comes to fight the great and powerful Twilight. I swear you Trixies breed more than the changeling queen." Twilight shouted over the din of rushing wind that came with each impact of the magical waves. As if on reply, the frequency of their coming increased as the barrier began to show some signs of wear. So fast. Twilight thought, the surprise in her nearly revealing itself to her face. The waves slashed and bit great scars into the barrier as if they were knives on butter. In moments the barrier fell into useless shreds of magic leaving Twilight exposed. She was overconfident, Trixie noted. Twilight had thought she could end it all in one spell. She knew she had the power to do so and now she knew the little filly was all too aware of this power-difference. And so the filly cast the quickest and simplest attack in the Trixie spell book. It did wonders to Twilight's ability to cast complex magic, just as Trixie had hoped. "Temper temper little filly. We don't want you over exerting yourself. I want to actually enjoy myself this time." Casting this magic in such quick succession would take their toll. "Unlike the other sixty eight times." Twilight only needed to buy time until Trixie was ready was ready to die. Twilight's eyes flared with magic. Twilight could see the sky blue waves coming towards her in droves. In grim acknowledgement she calculated that she only had a few seconds to succeed, failing that she would be cut to ribbons by the warped air. Focusing hard on her horn Twilight built magic at the tip and in one simple will she exploded the magic with a single pulse of kinetic energy. Meeting a force equalling them, the waves dissipated upon impact, rendering them non-existent and harmless. She knew more would be coming, but all she needed was this little window of time to breathe. Time to test the waters. "Look at you, so young. So ready to die for queen and country. Are mere fillies all the republic can offer these days?" Twilight made ready her counter offensive. Trixie's puny spell flying just wide of Twilight as she danced around the slicing death. The air around them warped and pulsed as Twilight mimicked Trixie's spell sending forth her own kinetic waves, differentiating themselves from the little fillies as it charged with the old mare's purple energy. Where Trixie slashed horizontally to decapitate the purple pony, Twilight slashed asunder the offending attack in half in a vertically pattern to render the spell useless. Back and forth they went casting magic that would slice legions of ponies to ribbons. Parrying here, blocking there, dodging everywhere the two unicorns fought the most intense sword fight in the history of Equestria. Each impact rang out in tones creating a cacophony of melody, promising death and demise. Ear drums and lungs threatened to rapture, as the air pressure shifted back and forth almost beyond the limit of what their pony bodies could endure. "You know you can still run away from all this. You are the last of your kind and clearly without a foal to your name. When this life is over, there will be no more Trixies left to entertain me." Having finally found her rhythm Twilight was at home in the combat. Relaxing so much as to speak in such a relaxed and cordial tone. To Twilight it seemed that this duel to the death only needed as much concentration as an absent minded day-dream. Despite the blood pouring from her nose and the corner of her mouth. "I'll fight!" Trixie screamed out in an almost animalistic way. The intensity of her attacks impossibly increasing to such a rate that Twilight didn't think possible for the filly. It was still however easily within her comfort zone. A single wave managed to break through her guard, now slicing a chunk of her tail hairs. Barely in her comfort zone. Twilight corrected herself. "I'll fight so that no child of mine would have to face a monster like you. So that no child of mine will have to carry this burden I have!" Trixie's burned with magic to such an extent that it seemed to leak out of her, like wispy tears of unadulterated hate. "Today you will take all of it. My love, my anger and all of my sorrow!" Trixie screamed out with all her being as a screen of pure kinetic death pulsed out of her. It would not merely slice Twilight apart, it would incinerate her out of existence! Despite her efforts Twilight's own kinetic waves did nothing to slow the rapidly encroaching death. Looking on helplessly Twilight could only conjure a single thought in this moment. Brother. She was going to die, and not in some great flair of majesty or sacrifice but from an invisible force that no pony could see. They would only watch as Twilight merely ceased to be. To die in a way that is as sad as forgetting.