Twilight Sparkle trotted quietly through the slums of Manehattan, the pitter patter of light rain blending with the distant trotting of hooves to fill her ears with a soft, soothing ambience. It was the perfect backdrop for a pleasant read, but that was not why she was here. Briefly checking for prying eyes, she dived into a nearby alleyway.
Lighting her horn, she took out two pieces of paper from her saddlebag and examined them. The first one donned a portrait of a lilac unicorn's devilish grin, purple and teal bangs cascading from either side of her horn. The glare of her blue eyes bore deeply into her own. "Catch me," they teased. Below the portrait was the caption: "WANTED: Starlight Glimmer, One Million Bits, Dead or Alive!"
Twilight glanced over to her other paper: an intricate map of the city with her current location circled bright red. It cost a lot of bits to acquire that info, but she knew it would be worth it. She scanned the alleyway and spotted her destination, a rectangular section of wall with traces of unusual magic. With a swipe of her horn, she peeled away the illusion and reached a hoof to the revealed, wooden door.
ZAP!
A brilliant bolt of electricity arced from the handle to her hoof but danced harmlessly across her body before disappearing into the ground.
"Ha! Protective Ward? Saw that one coming, Glimmy, nothing a basic defensive enchantment can't stop." Confident there were no more wards, Twilight pushed forward through the door and into the dark.
Suddenly, the door slammed shut behind her. Her surroundings were bathed in a blinding white glow, and Twilight instinctively shielded her eyes. When her eyes adjusted, she looked again and found herself in a wide, empty warehouse. Far in front of her stood her target, the criminal unicorn.
Starlight cackled. "So! You've found my lair! I congratulate you, Twilight, but unfortunately this is where your journey ends!" Her horn lit with bright, teal magic as a giant boulder fell from the ceiling onto Twilight, crushing her with a splat.
Starlight blinked, then laughed wildly. "Hahaha, fool! It's been a long ride, I bid you fare-"
"Oh, you didn't even touch me."
Starlight whirled around in shock and gaped as Twilight walked out from behind the rock, completely unharmed. "How?!"
Twilight brushed off her foreleg. "It's quite simple, really. Before I entered, I cast a quick spell to create a decoy of myself, then I made myself invisible and walked safely behind it."
Starlight smirked. "Very clever. However, I only expected this." She gestured to the ground. "I knew you would fake your initial entrance. That's why I booby-trapped the floor around the rock trap!"
Twilight felt a sharp prick on her hoof. She looked down and lifted her foreleg, spotting a thin needle protruding from the ground.
"Soon the effects of the Ardere flower's deadly poison will render you completely paralyzed, allowing me to finish you off myself!"
Twilight smirked back. "I see, but I already knew you'd use this poison on me." She reached into her saddlebag and levitated out a vial of green, viscous fluid. "You remember the day you bought your Ardere flower? In that back alleyway in Canterlot? You bumped into a mare, to whom you profusely apologized and ran off? It was me, Starlight. I was the mare you bumped into. I had been following you secretly for weeks. Once I knew what you might use on me, I concocted the antidote!" She quickly popped the cork off and downed the vial in one gulp, licking her lips smugly at Starlight.
Starlight only grinned back. "Oh, but I wanted you to know! You remember the next day, when you went to gather the ingredients? The sweet mare you bought the herbs and powders from? It was me, Twilight. I was the mare heading that shop! All the ingredients I gave you were fake! Fake! Your antidote won't save you now!"
Twilight gasped in horror. "No! What did you do to that mare?! Did you kill her?!"
"No, that's always been me. That's my part-time job."
"Oh."
Starlight chuckled. "But it matters not, Twilight! The poison will be reaching your brain any second now!"
Twilight blinked.
Starlight blinked.
"Why aren't you writhing in agony yet?" she questioned.
Twilight snickered. "Oh, Starlight. You thought you gave me the fake ingredients? I knew all along you were my vendor, and I knew you'd try to trick me. So the night before, I broke into your store and swapped the fake ingredients with the real ones! So when you'd try to sell me the fake ingredients, you were really selling me the real ones!"
"But I knew you'd break into my store! That's why I replaced EVERYTHING with fake ingredients!"
"I was prepared in case you did that, Starlight, and I actually made a second antidote at home using my own grown ingredients."
"I didn't know you were a botanist."
"You do now." Twilight shot a streak of purple lightning towards Starlight, striking her in the chest. "And now you're dead."
Starlight stepped out from behind the mannequin. "I also use decoys."
"My lightning can jump between targets." And it did.
"My shield is lightning-proof." And it was.
"Not against this lightning." And it wasn't.
"I can teleport away."
"I prepared a spell circle to block teleports before arriving."
"I disabled it."
"You disabled a decoy."
"Nahhhh, I'm pretty sure I got it."
"GIRLS!"
Twilight and Starlight looked up from the game board and over to the door, where Spike stared back, visibly annoyed. "Can you two keep your game down while a dragon is trying to have his nap?! Sheesh!"
Spike slammed the door shut and stomped away. Starlight deadpanned at Twilight and raised an eyebrow. "Really? Breaking into my store now?"
Twilight stood up. "Hey, I did say there were no rules. But you won't get away next time."
Starlight grinned back mischievously. "Let's hope you're better prepared."