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// As Winds Blow 
// Story: Book 1 - The Behemoth came to Canterlot 
// by Equimorto 
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Trixie's stance shifted, and her horn began to glow softly. Stella couldn't tell exactly what she was doing, but at a guess it was some kind of scanning or other broad and low power activity. Trixie spoke, her expression and demeanour calm. "I wasn't actually sure if this would work. I'm pretty lucky it did, or I would have had to go for stronger attacks right away."
Stella studied the other, tilted her head, then undid just enough of what she'd set up to allow Trixie to hear her. "Why are you telling me this? Are you challenging me to figure out what you're doing?"
"In a way," Trixie replied. "I think it's more fun if you have a chance to understand what's happening. I also think it's not going to make a difference even if you do." She smiled a little, only a little. "We'll see if I'm wrong or not."
"Quite the overconfident one," Stella said. "Just as you always were."
"No." Trixie kept her smile, and shook her head slightly. "This time it's just confidence, and it's not misplaced." Her horn suddenly grew brighter. Around the two of them, in a circular area centred on a spot between them, the space distorted and shifted. A moment later they were surrounded by a rotating dome showing a starry sky, and Stella watched it with curiosity before Trixie's magic set it aflame and let it burn.
Then Trixie teleported behind Stella, a halberd of black metal held in her magic. Stella was halfway through turning back to face her when she sensed prickling in her horn and just barely had time to begin dodging as each one of the mines she'd placed began to travel like a projectile towards her position. She kept rolling and teleporting to the side as her entire minefield left a trail of explosions and craters after her, and was forced to push herself up with her wings once the mines began to anticipate her trajectory.
Trixie was watching, almost mocking in her lack of action, holding her halberd and her position. Stella attempted to fire a blast at her while dodging, but the unicorn deflected it with ease. Stella grit her teeth. Flying with her wounded wing hurt, and she didn't have as much control over herself as she would have liked. Still moving in the air she looked back to the minefield she'd laid out, or what remained of it. Almost nothing, thankfully for her. She began to realign herself, shifting her trajectory so it would leave her free to head straight towards Trixie once the last mine had been fired.
Trixie was ready for her. Once the last blast blew up in the air and Stella dashed forward towards the unicorn with her spears at her sides, Trixie held her halberd sideways in front of her, and at the moment of contact intercepted both of the alicorn's weapons with hers. Dust blew behind her in a wave, but she held her position.