Her opponent sat there, taunting her from its ledge. There was no sense of fairness in its reluctance to meet the inevitable end, and Twilight Sparkle fumed at the indignity of it all. She had paid the price, done the appropriate rituals, and victory was supposed to be her's now!
She reached out, then recoiled at the concept of regressing to physical violence. There were procedures for this eventuality, but they took time, and right now, time was something she could not spend. If this combat were not to end in her favor, an entire checklist would be pushed back, tasks that could advance humankind's knowledge of the world might never come to fruition. If intellectual prowess were not sufficient to vanquish this foe, then physical effort would have to suffice.
She struck. Her opponent merely wobbled on its ledge, looking smug from behind its protective shield. Additional blows, measured as not to damage anything important were likewise impotent, and the famous Sparkle temper began to fizz beneath her placid exterior. Father was well-aware of his wife's tendency to explosive outbursts, which is why their house had an indoor greenhouse with a rosebush accessible at any time of the year, but Twilight lacked that kind of close physical relationship with a spouse.
It would prove to be a destructive fault.
More blows rained down on the protective shield guarding her opponent, to little effect. Kicks were added, along with polite profanity, until Twilight grasped the protective machine and yanked it.
"I warned you!" she snapped through gritted teeth as the faint wisps of darkened fire rising up from around her. "By Newton's Second Law, by all that is holy through the Runge–Kutta method, I invoke thee to give forth that which I seek! In the name of Pascal, Fermi, and Feynman, I shall smite you! FORTH GIVE ME STRENGTH, AND HILBERT GIVE ME YOUR POWER!"
And there was fire. Much fire.
Sunset Shimmer picked her way in through the front door of the school lab very carefully, avoiding the broken glass from the shattered light fixtures and the few puddles of water still steaming on the floor. Twilight Sparkle was sitting casually at the lab bench with a soldering gun in one hand, a spool of silver wire in the other, and a candy bar sticking out of her mouth. After a few moments, Sunset moved closer, giving the general area a good looking-at before clearing her throat once she spotted the shredded steel and molten plexiglass of a familiar object.
"Vending machine not working right again, Twilight?"
Twilight Sparkle gave her a sideways glance while continuing her soldering. "Wouldn't give me my bar," she mumbled. "Not my fault."
Sunset prodded one piece of shredded steel with the tip of her boot. "You know, you could just keep a box of NuttyOatyOat bars in the bottom of your desk."