“We’re barely ten minutes into the fight, and I‘ve already broken two of your targets. I thought you’d be more of a challenge, Cadenza!” Celestia shouted confidently. She glared over to a far off tower and thought, Perhaps I won’t even need to—wait a second.
The ruler’s eyes lighted on her niece, who now levitating in the air motionless. So still, in fact, that it was almost suspicious. “Cadenza, are you alright?” Celestia said, keeping her horn trained on the floating figure.
Cadence’s head began to slowly rise, revealing a set of eyes renewed with vigor and a mouth smirking in delight. “Actually Auntie,” the alicorn began. “I’m feeling absolutely amazing.” Then she closed her eyes and began to let the magic flow through her body, letting warmth encase her like a blanket. Dark blue and pink tendrils of magic began to swirl around her horn, building up power. Celestia saw this and began to ready a beam of her own. But before she could even react, Cadence let off the blue-pink blast, its course set straight on the divine ruler.
The magic struck with a force Celestia had not experienced since…well…Queen Chrysalis had defeated her. It barreled straight through the ruler, sending her far off course. But the beam kept flying onward, completely obliterating a red target that had obstructed its path.
Cadence watched the target shatter into millions of pieces, then switched over to the winded alicorn whose usually spotless fur had a burn mark where she was stuck. And frankly, the newlywed couldn’t help but raise her eyebrows in surprise. “I don’t know where that came from,” Cadence said, confused. But then with a defiant grin, she shouted, “But there’s plenty more…where that came from!”
She felt the newfound power surge once again, letting off another set of tendrils. And once again, they hit their mark, this time sending Celestia flying upwards. Seeing her aunt fly up so helplessly, it was nothing like Cadence had ever felt before. Perhaps it was the adrenaline or something, but for some reason, she just felt so alive and brimming with energy.
Sensing this as well, Celestia decided now would be a better time than ever to put her plan into action. She gave a quick glance over at the same far-off tower, and inhaled.
Xxx
Pinkie Pie watched as Cadence released her first ethereal blast, the beam shimmering as it flew through the air. “Wow! That’s so pretty!” she exclaimed. Then, as the beam contacted with Princess Celestia, she screaming, “Yeah, now kick her flank!”
Rarity recoiled as some spit from Pinkie’s mouth spattered onto the back of her head. In doing so, she bumped into Princess Luna, whose eyes were still trained intently on the dueling ponies above. At first, the unicorn was utterly terrified that Luna was going to disintegrate her with some alicorn-y magic. But then she noticed the princess's breathing was somewhat strained, more so than it had been a moment ago. Concerned, the fashionista asked, “Are you okay princess? You seem a tad bit tired.”
“Oh, thou shouldn’t worry about me. I am fine,” Luna assured, smiling when she saw another beam hit her sister into the sky. Cadence was absolutely teeming with confidence, and Luna was quite enthralled to see that the jewel was doing its magic.
But then Celestia yelled something; something which the younger sister was unable to catch. Princess Luna scanned the crowd to see their faces befuddled from whatever it was Celestia had shouted. Ponies began to mumble with each other, trying to make sure they weren’t going insane.
The night princess turned to Fluttershy and asked, “What did Celestia shout?”
“I think she said,” the pegasus began. She paused, not exactly sure if what she had heard was correct. But her ears did not lie, so she answered reluctantly, “Lollipop Chainsaw?”
xxx
As the spectators continued to watch below, a certain lavender unicorn stood atop a far tower, away from the suspicious eyes of the guards. Which was good, since she didn’t want anypony to see the absolute guilt slathered all over her face.
She clacked on the cobblestone nervously, watching the battle and hoping that she wouldn’t have to follow through with Celestia’s plan. For the first few minutes, it seemed her prayers would be answered. But then to her dismay, she heard her mentor scream the…admittedly idiotic signal.
“Oh, this is sooo bad,” Twilight uttered. She wasn’t all that sure what she was about to do was…well...legal. But since Celestia was her mentor (and she didn’t want to be banished to the Everfree, or worse, MAGIC KINDERGARTEN), the unicorn had no choice but to start the incantation. She began to whisper the ancient words Celestia had told her, and soon her horn began to glow with dark magic.
Every fiber of her logical being wanted to stop the sinister spell she was about to do. But, somehow, she kept going, even as power began to flow from her horn to Celestia’s. The power siphon spell was doing its job.
Xxx
Meanwhile, with the two duelers, Cadence was ready to let loose another blast that would really get her aunt spinning. “What’s wrong, Auntie?” Cadence taunted. “Didn’t think I’d give you this much trouble, huh?”
But this time, Cadence was the one who eyed her enemy suspiciously, making her moves with caution. Princess Celestia felt Twilight’s power mingle into hers, and she felt the effects immediately. The spell had done its work better than was expected, and the ruler felt as though her power had been practically doubled.
Now with her body surrounded with red energy, Celestia replied, “Oh, it’s no trouble at all, my dear.” Then, before the pink alicorn knew what hit her, a red beam blasted straight into her face, sending her flying a few meters. Cadence was winded, yes, but there was something else about the attack that made her feel…anxious. The power that Celestia had used…it felt much more sinister than the orbs of light she had conjured before. Whatever it was, Cadence realized, it wasn’t going to be good.
But Cadence wasn’t about to let this deter her from the battle, and the newlywed went up to face her aunt. The two floated in the air; Cadence glowing dark blue, and Celestia glowing bright red. Newfound power surged through both ponies, readying for an all-out attack.
Below, the crowd was completely quiet as they watched the duelers lock eyes. They could just smell the intensity in the air, mingled in with the scent of cotton candy and body odor. Princess Luna, who was secretly working hard to keep her ally energized, was ready to see her sister get incinerated. And Twilight Sparkle, who was not-so-secretly doing the same thing, watched her mentor with exhausted anticipation.
Celestia uttered, “Now, I am going to MAKE you eat your own horn.”
“It will mighty hard to do that when I shove YOUR horn up that fat flank of yours,” Cadence replied.
The deity scowled and answered angrily, “I eat pieces of shit like you for breakfast.”
But her niece was unfazed, and replied with a cynical chuckle, “You eat shit for breakfast?”
The two lowered their horns, focusing their magic. There was no referee this time to start it, only the two alicorns mentally counting down.
Then, with an explosion as bright as the burning sun, the real duel began.
Oh snap, that's a cuss word! Hope you guys don't mind that. This story has Mild Profanity in case you didn't read that disclaimer. So yeah, stay tuned for more exciting magic battles, and don't forget to leave your thumbs and/or comments!