The crystal jittered and stopped in the air, held by Trixie's magic, but Stella ignored it and fired towards the mare's position. Trixie fired a spell of her own, stalemating Stella's beam, and revealed herself from her invisibility. She hadn't been hit, and she was still wearing the kerchief over her eyes, but the crystal had almost reached her bust. She grunted, having to use her power to both keep the alicorn's spell at bay and hold the crystal in place.
Stella leaned in a little closer, gritting her teeth as she tried to overpower Trixie with her magic. Despite her efforts, Trixie still managed to keep up, no doubt a combination of the Alicorn Amulet's powers and Stella's own tiredness. That did admittedly not bode too well for a potential new clash with Twilight right afterwards, but at that point plans had changed. Twilight had effectively run away, Stella would treat the act as such and let the rest of Equestria know. Then her coil would let her do the rest. She leaned in a little more and her wounded wing twitched. "Did Twilight tell you what I did to your friend?"
There was no answer from Trixie, still completely focused on her magic. There wasn't even a reaction from her. Stella watched the unicorn's face, and after a moment chuckled. Of course. Trixie still couldn't hear her, and whatever she was using it didn't cover that. Soon the chuckle became a proper laugh. Another crystal materialised at her side, over her other shoulder, and she jammed that forward too towards Trixie's head.
Trixie stopped it. She didn't turn towards it or visibly react to it, but her magic caught it and held it at a distance from her body. Stella's laughter ceased. Her expression twitched and shifted before settling into neutrality again. She teleported away, her crystals at her side, and the light of her magic enveloped them and shaped them into short spears with wide ornate heads. Then her magic spread outwards and left a series of floating mines all around the area between her and Trixie.
Trixie, who'd stumbled a little after Stella's teleportation, looked around at the three dimensional minefield being laid before her, with her eyes still covered. "Too scared to face me head on?" she taunted, but she didn't dare approach Stella. It was too dangerous. She kept her horn ready to strike, but didn't make any moves.
Stella did the same, staying still and studying the unicorn. Clearly she'd underestimated her opponent, and the fight deserved proper thinking and strategy. It was a most annoying state of affairs, but it was regardless the way things were, and there was nothing to do about it. She'd adjust to the situation. She had plans. The first step was getting rid of the unicorn standing between her and Twilight.
Stella shed her metal garments, letting then fall to the ground with a muted thud. Her muscles tensed as she waited for Trixie to act first.