The dark wizard jolts toward the mage running at top speed with his blood red sword clutched in his hooves. He flings the sword at her and she in turn blocks it with her staff. The wizard keeps moving forward and upper cuts her in the stomach, the mage loses 30 points. He leans back just in time to avoid getting blasted fully in the face by the mages horn. He jumps back and his sword fly’s back into his hooves. He spins slashing her in the face, the mage loses 10 points.
Twilight glares at him in pure irritation, “By Celestia’s mane”. She then notices her avatar and her eyes widened, “sh….she’s actually bleeding?”
The cut on her cheek was bleeding; a drop of blood hovers from her cheek and splashes against the wizard’s sword making it glow even darker.
“Well,” said Mickey, his glowing red sword poised at her menacingly, “that is what a red sword spell does”. His pupils disappear and glow bright red as archaic symbols appear underneath him. Suddenly the same archaic symbols appear beneath the mage, she begins to float; the symbols then shoot up from the floor and through her body branding different spots throughout her being. The mage loses 100 points.
The mage struggles against his dark magic; but the wizard buries his sword into the ground where the symbols are and a jolt of electricity surges through the mages body. The mage loses 50 points. The ground opens up and the dark wizard casted his spell, “demons of tartarus arise, rip my enemy apart; DRAG HER INTO YOUR DARK WORLD OF NIGHTMARES”. Grotesque claws, tentacles and hooves reach out of the crack in the floor and wrap themselves around the mage’s limbs. They begin to yank and pull her body in various directions; she struggles flapping her wings desperately as they pull her into the crack. The mage loses 100 points.
The mage brings her hooves up and clings to the edge for dear life. Her back legs are broken by one of the tentacles, the mage loses 50 points. The wizard smiles still clutching the handle of his sword as it glows even brighter. The crack begins to close on Twilight in an attempt to decapitate her. The mage’s horn glows and she shoots a white energy beam at the wizard hitting him full on, knocking him off of his hooves and away from his sword, the wizard loses 100 points. She then shoots another beam at the sword breaking it in half. The archaic symbols disappear and so do the tentacles and hooves around her body. She spreads her wings and flys out just in time for the floor to close off completely. She looks in front of her and is instantly attacked by a black orb of energy shot directly in her face, the mage loses 50 points. It knocks her out of the sky and she lands on the floor again. She raises her head quick enough to blast him again with another beam, the wizard loses 50 points.
While he is distracted, the mage glows with a bright white aura and she takes off back into the sky. A wave of energy bursts through her body and hits the wizard squishing him into the ground, the wizard loses 100 points. The wizard tries to conjure a shield to protect himself but another wave is shot in his direction crushing him even further into the ground, the wizard loses another 100 points. The wizard dashes from beneath her assault and slides out of the way of another attack from above. He shoots a black beam at her which she easily dodges. The wizard growls and pulls shadows from the far corners of the room. The shadows lash out at Twilight wrapping around her neck and yanking her down to the ground. She flashes a white light from her body again and the shadows disappear. She shoots an energy ball at him latching it onto his face. It erupts in a fiery explosion of light taking half of his face with it, the wizard loses 150 points.
“UGH”, the wizard shouted out in frustration, he knew he was quickly losing momentum. He sticks his hoof in the open wound in his face and turns his blood into a large blade. He launches himself directly at the mage catching her off guard and slitting her throat. The mage loses 100 points. The wizard sticks his hooves out in front of him casting another blood spell, he pulls two streams of blood from the mages neck wound. As he stands on his hind legs, he crosses the streams of blood and grabs onto the ends of them, holding one in each hoof. The mages horn glows and she repels him away from her, but this only causes her to be yanked along with him. The wizard skids his back hooves onto the ground gaining some friction. He jumps up and over Twilights head, yanking her backwards, this time her back collides with his own and he leans forward continuously pulling the streams of blood which were now wrapped around her neck. The mage loses 100 points; the mage struggles against his choke hold, writhing and trying to get off his back, but is unable to break free. The wizard’s front hooves touch the floor adding additional pressure to Twilights neck, the mage loses 50 points. The wizard smiles maliciously as he spreads out his front hooves, tightening the blood streams around Twilights neck, “any last words before I snap your neck in two?”
Twilight growls in anger and the pupils of her eyes disappear. Her entire body vibrates with pure energy. The wizard tries to tighten the streams again but fails as the mage forcefully plants all four hooves on the ground, pulling his entire body onto her back. The energy flows to her horn and she breaks free of his blood spell. She then levitates him off of her and launches him into the wall, the wizard loses 50 points. The wizard tries to concentrate his hooves in her direction but is unable to as the mage slams him against the wall again, the wizard loses 50 points.
The wizard pries himself off the wall and teeters forward a little, struggling to regain himself, he recovers enough to notice a large blast of pure magical energy heading his way. He instantly raises his hooves and shoots his own black energy right back at her. The two beams collide with one another and struggle in a fight for dominance. The background shakes around them as the two struggle to overcome one another. Both opponents glowed with an aura representing their abilities, Twilight a white light, and Mickey a black one.
The ground shakes even more as the two powers push, surge, and clash against each other………..
Rainbow dash looks over at them a bit worried, “um…..something’s wrong with the board”. The game board is shaking and glowing rapidly.
Lightening bolts flash and shoot from the colliding beams; the wizard gets pushed back a little but digs his hooves into the ground and concentrates his power on the alicorn. The area around them begins to break at the seams as the two beams wrestle with each other.
“Uh……T..Twi….?” said Applejack, “the board is…”
“Not now,” said Twilight, as the game board glows even brighter and it rattles violently on the table.
Pinkie Pie slowly ducks under the table, “uh oh”.
A large ball of energy forms from the collision of the two beams and grows larger and larger until it encompasses the entire room. The sparks and lightening bolts become even more erratic, it becomes dangerously unstable and rumbles with the sheer force of their powers until………until…….TWILIGHT THE BOARD IS GOING TO…..
The game board explodes blowing Mickey away from it and against the wall behind him. He cries out in a mixture of shock and pain but is quickly yanked under the table by Pinkie Pie as the explosion is followed by different popping and crackling noises. It was as if someone had lit it up with a chain of firecrackers. Twilight instantly snaps out of her rage induced actions and ducked low to the ground along with her friends. The board jolts, jumps, and rattles on the table as it continues it’s violent fit before finally slowing down and resting flat on the table. The room remains silent for a while before Mickey slowly emerges from his position on the floor. He rubs the back of his head as the pain subsided and looks warily at the board.
“Hey…….hey,” Mickey whispered, as if speaking normally would set the board off again, “is everyone alright?” He crawls on his belly and approaches Pinkie Pie, “Pinkie, are you hurt?”
Pinkie Pie peeks at him from underneath her hooves and also whispered, “I don’t think so, shouldn’t I be asking you that?”
Mickey feels the back of his head with his hoof and then looks at it. He then shows his hoof to pinkie giving her a reassuring smile, “look, no blood, I’m officially head trauma free”.
“YAY,” said Pinkie giving him a hug, “thank goodness”.
Rainbow dash and Applejack peeked over the edge of the table at the board. Rainbow watches it like a hawk, “sh…should we like smash it with a hammer or something? You know before it freaks out again and kills us”.
“No, don’t you dare,” said Twilight slowly getting up from the floor, “it’s a one of a kind magical item”. She makes her way cautiously back to the board and examines it, she pokes it a little making sure that it’s safe enough to get close to. She sighs and looks at the other ponies, “I think we’re safe everypony”. The others begin to slowly emerge from their hiding spots and glanced at the smoking board.
“Oh no,” Twilight said looking sadly at it. The board was charred and burned beyond repair; however Twilights flickering avatar was still standing there. In the area where Mickey’s dark wizard avatar once stood was nothing but a smoky crater. The alicorn sighed and sat on her haunches, “it’s ruined”.
“I’m so sorry Twilight,” Mickey said, “it’s my fault; I went way too far”.
“No Mickey it’s not,” said Twilight trying to muster a smile for him, “I’m the one that pushed for this battle. We both kind of lost our minds in this”. She then noticed his disheveled look and felt a pang of guilt, “are you ok? Di…..did I hurt you?”
“Yep,” said Mickey smiling at her, “but nothing too serious”.
“Now what?” asked Rainbow Dash looking out at everyone.
“I’ll have to do a recovery spell,” said Twilight, “but I think this marks the end of game night, we still won’t be able to use it for a while. Its magical energy needs time to fully recover”.
“Please Twilight,” Mickey said, “allow me; it’s the least I can do”.
“Y…you don’t have to……,” Twilight is interrupted by Mickey whose hooves were already touching the board.
He smiles at her again as he performs the spell, “I insist”. He closes his eyes and the board turns white. The other pony’s gather around the table gazing in fascination at the board. However Twilight’s attention was on Mickey, even if he was studying magic for a short time; it is clearly not his special talent. So why was he this skilled in it? A-class mages could do this kind of spell in their sleep; she could too; so how is it possible for Mickey to do this so easily? Another thing that bothered her was the dark magic spell he casted. There aren’t that many unicorns or earth ponies who know a spell that will send their enemies to the depths of Tartarus itself. She wasn’t sure whether to be fascinated and impressed, or worried and slightly disturbed by it. The more she looked at him the more questions arose in her head; ones that she would love to find the answers to. The glowing stopped and Twilight was brought back to reality; she looked over at the board and it was as good as new.
Twilight smiled at him fully, “you fixed it”.
“The best I could,” said Mickey, “still can’t use it though, there goes our match”.
“Ah lost track of who won,” Applejack said.
“I didn’t,” said Rainbow dash, “Twilight totally won”.
“She did?” asked Mickey looking over at the cyan Pegasus.
Rainbow dash quirks an eyebrow at him, “dude; you were blown up, of course she did”.
Rarity fixes her hair while addressing Mickey, “she sustained just a little more damage then you, but that last move ended the game completely”.
Mickey’s ears turn downward in disappointment; he wasn’t keeping track of the points at all, “oh man and I was trying so hard too”.
“Awww, don’t be sad Mickey,” said Pinkie trying to cheer him up, “you were awesome”.
Twilight reached over and touched his hoof forcing Mickey to look at her, “sorry you didn’t get a chance to kill me tonight Mickey. But you were amazing and I had a lot of fun dueling with you”.
Mickey blushed for a moment, but gave her a hoof shake, “you know what? I had fun too. Good game Twilight”.
“Good game,” said Twilight smiling and shaking his hoof too.
Rainbow Dash stretched out her wings and yawned, “Well that was epic and all but it’s getting late, I’m heading on home”. She fly’s upward and towards the door “thanks Twilight, night guys, see you next time”. The others say goodnight to her as she fly’s out the door.
“We should get going too,” said Applejack moving from the table, “need any help cleaning up twi?”
“Oh no, I’m fine,” said Twilight, “you girls can head home, I’ll take care of this”.
“Well if ya say so,” said Applejack, “come on ya’ll, goodnight twilight”.
“Night Applejack, goodnight everyone,” said Twilight walking everyone to the door. As she open it she noticed something she hadn’t before. A wooden cart was parked outside the library; she tilts her head curiously looking at it.
“ALL ABOARD,” said Mickey trotting out to meet everyone, “I’ll give you ladies a ride home”.
“Why that’s right neighborly of ya Mickey,” said Applejack while boarding the cart.
“Yes thank you so much, “said Rarity as she boarded the cart along with Pinkie pie and Fluttershy.
“Night Twilight,” said Mickey turning to the purple mare, “it was nice meeting you”.
“It was nice meeting you too,” said Twilight, “and don’t worry, you can still come by and visit us anytime you like for your research”.
Mickey’s eyes light up and he smiled excitedly, “OH MY GOSH; I was soooooo hoping you would say that. I promise you won’t even know I was there”.
“Great,” said Twilight chuckles at his enthusiasm, “I…..I really do hope I see you again”.
Mickey trots happily away from her, “trust me, you will”.
He hops into the cart next to Pinkie Pie and the others. His hooves glow for a moment and he touches the cart causing it to glow as well. The others watch in shock as the whole cart begins to move on its own, “hold on tight ladies; next stop Sweet Apple Acres”. The cart takes off rolling down the dirt path to its next destination, leaving a very startled Twilight behind.
Twilight stared at the cart and its occupants rolling speedily down the path to Applejack's home along with the startled shouts of her friends and the manic laughter of pinkie pie. She quietly stayed where she was for a moment before heading back inside. Her curiosity peaked once again she closes the door behind her and smiles at the thought of getting to see her newfound friend again.
THE END