//------------------------------// // 19. Magic Duel // Story: Hero Souls: Awakening // by SvenFoxx //------------------------------// The Everfree Forest... “Are you sure we’ll find one in here?” Snips asked Snails as the two young foals ventured deeper into the Everfree Forest. “Yeah! The forest is full of monsters! How hard can it be to find a massive bear? And when we find it, we’ll bring it to Ponyville for Trixie to vanquish!” Snails said passionately. “Then they’ll all see how great she is!” Snips seemed to take comfort in his friend’s enthusiasm. “Yeah! What could go wrong?” --- Town Square... “A magic Duel?” Trixie asked. She seemed surprised. “I didn’t stutter, did I?” Twilight asked. She smirked. “Or is the Great and Powerful Trixie… scared?” Trixie scowled. “Trixie isn’t scared of anything! Trixie accepts your challenge!” She stomped her hoof. “As the challenged, Trixie executes her right to declare this a no-holds-barred Magic Duel. No restrictions beyond the law, and the duelists must remain on the stage. No touching the ground outside the stage. First to give up, touch the ground outside the stage, or be incapacitated is the loser.” Twilight was downright grinning now. “And as the challenger, I execute my right to name the stakes. If I win, you have to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth whenever I ask you a question. You will bind your magic to that oath to enforce it.” By the end of that declaration, the Unicorns in the crowd had gone wide-eyed and Twilight was glaring at Trixie. Trixie hesitated. She was beginning to realize Twilight didn’t seem to like her. “... And if Trixie wins?” she asked. “I will publicly declare you my better in all ways magical, and likely on the level of my teacher… Princess Celestia,” Twilight said solemnly. The crowd had gone deathly quiet, and Trixie’s eyes lit up. “Deal!” “To the count of three?” Twilight asked, tensing. “One… Two… Three!” Trixie counted down. On the three, Twilight tested the waters, so to speak, with a simple Magic Missile. It hit Trixie... and blew a hole in her chest. Twilight panicked momentarilly before realizing there was no gore. Trixie faded away like dust on the wind, grinning the entire time. Her grin was the last to fade away. Twilight swore to herself, and focused on limiting her own powers as much as she could. If Trixie hit her physically and realized it did nothing to her, she may call foul and force Twilight to forfeit for cheating. Thankfully, the blue Unicorn seemed to be sticking to magic, as a telekinetic aura enveloped her tail. With a shriek of surprise, she was hurled through the air and towards the ground outside the stage. Thinking quickly, she teleported. Unfortunately, she forgot to account for momentum. On exiting the teleport she hit the stage hard. “That’s the second time you’ve teleported today in front of Trixie,” the Unicorn’s voice called out. It seemed to come from everywhere and echoed. “On top of conjuring two large tubs, a Magic Missile, and the flare from the race… Trixie is impressed.” Twilight looked around, looking for distortions in the air. “I assure you, it was not my intention to impress you.” “You do not seem to like Trixie.” Twilight rolled her eyes. “No, why ever would I dislike someone with the arrogance to claim to be better than Princess Celestia?” she said sarcastically. “Trixie never claimed as much! She specifically said she was the best Unicorn!” Twilight suppressed a grin. Trixie may have excellent control, if her rather impressive illusions were anything to go by, but the moment anyone gets emotional their control slips. However, while she now knew where Trixie was, timing was important. She didn’t want to tip her hoof yet. “You claimed to vanquish an Ursa Major!” Twilight made herself sound angrier than she was. “Even the Princess can’t do that alone! Therefore, you say you’re greater than her! I call bullshit!” “... Oh.” Twilight suddenly spun and aimed her horn to the top of the stage. A blast of lightning split the air explosively and connected with something not there. There was a comical moment of being able to see Trixie’s skeleton, and Twilight noted that magic was more… cartoonish compared to the magic she saw on Earth. It wasn’t ridiculous like that Looney Tunes show she vaguely remembered, but enough to be funny in hindsight. Then a blue Unicorn thudded onto the floor of the stage. She was lightly smoking. “Had enough?” Twilight asked, trotting up. Trixie gave a wheezing cough as she stood up slowly. “Ow… Trixie would like to file a complaint.” Twilight raised an eyebrow, leaning over to hear the mare more clearly. “Oh?” Suddenly the Unicorn grinned. “Gotcha!” She faded away into a whirlwind of leaves. Twilight had only a split second to realize she had been played before she was hit from behind by what felt like a backhand from God, sending her flipping through the air. She managed to stop herself before she hit the ground. Thankfully, she had the awareness to envelop herself in magic to make it look like she was levitating herself. She spun around and glared at Trixie, who looked shocked. “Okay, I’m done playing nice.” she declared, before she conjured a warhammer made of magic. Then she vanished in a blur, racing towards Trixie. Trixie’s eyes widened at the speed before she was hit hard by a blur of purple. She went skidding backwards. Her nose was busted, she knew instinctively. She ducked the next blow and tried to lash out with a wave of raw magic, which seemed to slow Twilight considerably for a moment, before the hammer connected again on the third pass. When Trixie woke up next, it was to the feeling of grass under her and the sight of Twilight grinning down at her. “I win,” she said simply. Trixie scowled and opened her mouth. “FIRE!!!” Trixie shot to her hooves and Twilight spun. They both saw a Unicorn pointing at the Town Hall, which wasn’t far. Smoke was billowing from windows, and the occasional lick of flame could be seen, alongside the dull orange glow in the windows. At the same time, a loud angry roar shook the night air. Trixie paled considerably. She knew that sound. She knew beyond a shadow of a doubt what that was. There could be no mistake. She could never mistake that sound, a sound she had only ever heard once before. A sound the source of which nearly killed her. An Ursa Major.