Trixie and I were escorted out of the locker room through a tunnel and onto an artificial turf covered floor of an outdoor stadium. The stands appeared to be full, perhaps 15,000 people having gathered to witness this spectacle. I wasn't sure how much advance notice had been given, but there seemed to be an equal mix of fans for both sides. Trixie glared angrily at me.
"Gwen, fight her! Snap her out of this madness!" I shouted, trying to make my voice heard above the din of the crowd, who upon seeing us had started cheering for their favorite pony. "Is this what you wanted, Discord?" I thought as I tried to approach the show-mare. I was prevented from getting any closer as another escort took me to a circular area that had been cleared of the artificial turf -- about 50 yards away was a similar circle, prepared for Trixie. She stood defiantly in the center of that circle, giving me a fierce scowl. I took my position in my circle and faced off against her.
"Trixie, we don't have to do this!" I shouted, using magic to amplify my voice.
"Trixie will show Sparkle she is the most powerful unicorn in the universe!" she responded, using magic to amplify her voice. I shook my head sadly at this and lit my horn.
"I don't wanna have to hurt you, Trixie!"
"This is going to hurt Sparkle a lot more than it hurts Trixie!" she shouted as she lit her horn. As she readied her spells, the crowd started cheering her. I prepared a shield to defend myself against any magic attack she might level at me. I strengthened my barrier, my horn glowing magenta as I placed the barrier in front of me. "Trixie sees your barrier, Sparkle and she has anticipated it!" she shouted at me. I had left an opening which she exploited, her spell hitting with rather strong force, knocking me to the ground. I was dazed and struggled to regain my stance on all fours.
Trixie's fans cheered her on, while mine gasped in concern. I steeled my gaze against her, acknowledging that this duel was for all the marbles. My concern for her safety left me at this point, and I readied my strongest attack spell. Trixie saw my horn glow with a second aura, my visage darkening considerably. She retained a confident expression, but I saw her erect a barrier spell. I gave a slight grin and cast my attack spell at her barrier, shattering it with the sheer force of my attack, which knocked her to the ground and pushed her out of her circle. My fans started cheering now and hers started booing her.
"Stop cheating, Sparkle!" she shouted at me, readying another attack spell. This time I decided to cast a counter-attack spell to negate her attack. Knowing her magic strength gave me a bit of an advantage, one I intended to exploit to its maximum. Our spells met somewhere between us, though mine was closer to Trixie than hers to me. The resulting combination of magics interacting with each other caused an explosion, or at least what I thought was an explosion. I was a bit surprised to see two more Trixies show up between us.
"What's going on here? Where am I?" one of them asked. I noticed the one who asked this appeared to have my cutie mark. The other Trixie appeared to be an exact duplicate of my opponent. Gwen was able to wrest control of Trixie's body when the surprise appearance of the two caught the show-mare off guard. The crowd suddenly went silent upon seeing three Trixies, though a few of Trixie's fans cheered wildly.
"You, the Trixie with my cutie mark," I stated, pointing a hoof at her. "Tell me who you are!"
"Well, my human name is Michael Walker, and I was in the middle of having a private conversation with Trixie here before we were suddenly yanked through a dimensional portal. Where exactly is this?" Trixie-me asked.
"I don't know -- it's a stadium outside of Chicago. Trixie and I were having a magic duel, and I guess our spells caused a rift in the fabric of the space/time continuum and pulled the two of you through it. Discord is running loose in our realm and I need a little help getting the Elements of Harmony relics," I stated flatly.
"Heh. I can help you with that!" Trixie-me chuckled. I stared at my alternate universe self in disbelief.
"Um, how do you propose to do that?" I asked. I watched Trixie shake her head in disbelief at seeing an alternate universe version of herself as Gwen wore a shocked expression. Trixie-me grinned mischievously.
"If you come with Trixie and me, I will show you what I'm talking about," he stated with quite a bit of self-confidence. I trotted over to the two visitors. Gwen trotted over to meet with them as well. The crowd seemed to start booing at this point. Trixie-me stared up at them in disapproval.
"What did you all come here to see? A magic duel? Really? How many of you want to see what an Ursa Major looks like for real-real and not for play-play?" Trixie-me shouted at the crowd. "I can summon one of those!"
"Oh, come on, you can't do that, can you?" I asked my counterpart.
"You'd be surprised at what I can do," he chuckled. Trixie nodded her head in agreement.
"Trixie has seen what Michael can do -- she has been most impressed!" she grinned.
"Hmm. I suppose I should accompany you, then. But won't that create a paradox?" I asked.
"That's why Trixie is here. You can hold one of her fore-hooves while I teleport us back to our universe," he replied confidently.
"So you have access to the relics?" I asked.
"No, but I'm on friendly terms with somepony who does," he replied, giggling softly.