//------------------------------// // Chapter 13: Princess vs Magic // Story: The Pony With The Forbidden Magic // by Hekkar //------------------------------// The next day came too soon as Velvet rubs his eyes and knows of what is to happen today. He made the deal and will follow through on it as he got dressed. On him were only his clothing as he looks in the mirror "Nexus... I know your sleeping, but able to hear. If Twilight proves a bit too formidable then take over during a distraction, but remember one thing. We want to end this in a knockout, not a death. Remember that" he says. As he puts his hat on he walks outside and to Ponyville. As he made it to the hill, he looks down to see a large group of every pony in Ponyville gathered for this. As he made his way through the crowd, he sees Twilight in her usual casual attire with her crown as it seems one of the announcers was Pinkie in a black and white strip shirt. She pops up "Welcome every pony to a magic duel to remember! I am Pinkie Pie and today we are going to see a fight between dark magic and regular magic! Between the new stallion and our very own Princess of Friendship and bearer of Magic! The two duelist have entered as we will get some words from them!" Pinkie says. She bounces over to Velvet as she holds a mic to him as she smiles for a few words without asking. He looks over as he says "This is your only chance Sparkle. Call off the duel and neither of us will waste any magic in this silly battle. I stand by my ground of me not teaching you! You know not the cost it will take" he says with a warning. Pinkie bounces over to Twilight who smiles "I am quite sure I can handle it Velvet, don't worry" she says. All she saw was Velvet shake his head as he looks up "Then your arrogance of being able to handle it.... will be your undoing" he warns. Before long, Pinkie is back at her post as the two look eachother down as Velvet let Twilight go first. As she does a simple blast spell as Velvet simply sways to avoid as he looks at her. The spell then turns around and knocks his hat off as she smirks at him. He puts his hat back on as he glares "You just shot my hat..... I am going to slightly enjoy hurting you now" he says. His horn glows a bit as from it came three bolts of green energy. They fly around before knocking the crown off, making her slip and drag her a bit by the tail as he lands in a fruit stand. The bolts dissipate as he smirks. Twilight reorganizes herself as she smirks "Oh, so we're getting serious?" she asks. Her horn lights up more as she lets out a blast of magic as he doesn't move. The blast seems to separate and go around him as something shines as the blast dissipates. He smiles as a green shield gleams as it vanishes. He looks at her "Shadow shield" he says as he chuckles. His horn lights up as above him a glowing green arrow comes out and fires as it hits her own shield, piercing it, but stuck halfway. She was surprised as he looks at her and makes more magic arrows that go flying and pierce the shield "These arrows are made to drain magic, but not hurt flesh" he says. As one passes through the shield is goes through her, but leaves no mark on her body, but did drain some of her magic, but for that magic to go to him. She lets out a magic burst as the arrows stop and has a serious look. As her horn lights up, she lets out a powerful blast, that shatters the shield and makes him skid back a bit as he shakes his head to shake off the blast as he looks at her. She has charged up a levitation spell and tosses some plants at him as he blasts them and turns them into balloons. She looks at him "I know basic unicorn magic, but mostly dark magic" he says. His horn lights up and makes some orbs fly up as he smiles and tosses them at her. Twilight takes to the air as the orbs chase after her as he smirks smugly "They are seekers" he calls out. On the ground, many of the ponies watch her fly around, out flying the orbs thanks to RD's training as she vanishes in a flash. He feels a presence as he looks back to see her behind him as he smirks "Clever girl" he says as the orbs make contact with him and send him into Quill and Sofa store as he groans. She appears back at her spot unharmed as he shakes his head and stands up "Alright... time to really knock it up" he says. The doorway lights up as fireballs come flying as she dodges them. He walks out the doorway with his horn smoking "Yeah that's right I know fire spells" he says. He knows it's taking a toll on his magic limit in his body and he would soon have to rely on Nexus, but he would fight on. Twilight just lands "Please just give up and let's stop this duel" she says. Velvet shakes his head "I cannot, under good conscious and friendship give up. If their is a small chance of beating you to keep you from the drawbacks on dark magic then so be it" he says. He searches his mental bank as he lets out a black leash as it lands around her neck. He pulls it hard as a magenta aura surrounds it and flows into him as he was looking better, but Twilight was not looking so good. She looks up as he smiles "Energy Drain. Think of it as taking your magic and giving it to me" he says. He hears her giggle as she stands up and smiles "If I was a unicorn then I be in trouble, but as a alicorn I have more magic then ever and being a element of magic, that is also more" she says. Velvet looks at her as he gets blasted by five pink orbs that send him into the fruit stand she landed in earlier. He groans as he stands up as he was clearly getting irritated. His horn and hands glow as he slams them into the ground as a straight line of black crystals go charging towards her as she flies into the air avoiding the attack as he looks up. His hands glow as he starts tossing glowing spears at her as he misses and at this point is a battle of air magic against land magic. The battle raged for a hour or two as Velvet was very tired by sheer look as Twilight hasn't even broken a sweat. As his horn glows and charges as he lets out a powerful dark magic orb as she uses her own magic to collide with it. As he pushes his magic to the brink he thinks "Nexus! I need more power!" he thinks as he waits for something, but no reply. He tries again "Nexus.... anytime" he thinks as still nothing. The two magic collides more as her magic breaks through and sends him flying high into the sky. His yelling is heard as he lands in a river as he gets out and pants as he was soaked, head to toe, in water as his look got a laugh from a flying RD as she saw his wet look. As it brought forth more laughs, all Spectre could feel was a memory coming back. Him losing a magic duel to his friend and the audience laughing at him as he felt the power rise "Shut up...." he says softly as that didn't stop the laughing. As the laughing continued he started to get more out of control as Nexus had awoken for him to take over. The laughing started to die down as the fog from the belt started to come out as it overcame him and he seem to vanish. Before anypony could speak, a loud roar is heard as from the fog, a blast of pure dark power rises and everypony look to find not Velvet, but another pony. As he walks out of the fog, he looks around as everypony backs away from him as he looks at Twilight "You are the opponent? Your not much" he says as his voice is deeper and all could see a big change. Instead of the stallion before, this one radiated power as he stands ready. He chuckles "I am still Velvet, just... a more all out form. If you wish to continue we shall. Just know this" he says as his horn glows a aura of black and grey "Unlike Velvet.... I don't hold back" he warns as Twilight smiles "Bring it" was all she said. A single blast came from his horn as he lets loose a black flame as she also blasts a magenta beam at full power. What she did not expect was the flame to shatter it as it came and blasted her into Sugarcube Corner as it was a miracle that Twilight was still conscious from such a powerful spell. He spreads his arms as out pops some black spectre like creatures. They look like ravenous windigos, but also of shadow spirits as he points at Twilight. They soon charge as they give chase, but they were slower then the orbs of before. They move around to try and flank her as she manages to avoid the attacks as she looks back to see them collide. As she turns back, she gets hit by a ball of black energy forcing her to fall to the ground hard. As she tries to get up, Nexus has two spears to her neck "Yield..... you have lost. You may have power of magic, but my power is infinite. Every hex, curse, voodoo and such spells just increased the magic pool in me. You cannot hope to beat me in a duel Twilight. You are still inexperienced with how powerful my spells may go" he says. He sees her look away as her ears drope a bit as he makes the spears vanish "You should of realized your potential before trying to fight a losing battle" he says. As he walks away, the ponies get out of his way as Nexus turns back to Velvet as he walks. Within him, Velvet didn't want to go all out, but.... it was the right thing to do. That's what he told himself. He closes his eyes "Thank you" he thinks. A voice responds within as it is Nexus "For what?" "For not killing her. She is a princess, but still has a lot to learn" "She did not deserve death. A beatdown perhaps, but not death. She needed to learn the gap between our magic and hers" Velvet just nods at this as he walks back home as he agreed with Nexus for once. It felt bad to beat Twilight with such powerful magic, but it was to keep her from darker forces. She is a good mare, but she knew nothing of just how deep the well of darkness goes. As he goes and enters his house, he closes the door and puts his hat down, remembering the blast as he shakes his head "I bet the others are going to be pissed with what happened.... especially RD. Dear Celestia I think she is going to buck me hard for that" he says to himself as he chuckles a bit. As he went for the shower, he stops and collapses on the floor as he pants and looks at the ceiling as he chuckles. The price of using so much magic was something every unicorn faced. He was experiencing magic fatigue as he just collapsed and breathes softly "Damn.... thought I had enough for at LEAST a shower..... buck" was all he says as he lays there. He sighs as he shakes his head "How can this get worse?" he asks as that was a bad call. As if on some universal cue, the door slams open as the Mane 6 walk in as he groans "And the universe tosses me yet another problem" he says. As he looks up, he sees RD lining up to dive bomb him as one thought goes through his head "I had this coming" as he closes his eyes. Yet.... the impact never came. He opens his eyes and sees her wrapped in a blue aura as Rarity stopped her as he is helped into bed by Applejack and Twilight as he felt he needed to ask "Why?" "Because.... I want to apologize" Twilight says. She looks down "I was... careless and stubborn in wanting you to train me. I... don't know much about it except for the old dark magic of a tyrant named King Sombra. I didn't want to duel, but my want for knowledge I guess got a hold of me" she says. As she looks away, Velvet tries to move a hand as he groans from how fatigued he is as he looks at AJ. She helps move the hand to her head "Hey... you were curious, that's all" he says. He looks at everypony "I guess... you all will want a explanation as for what happened. I must warn you though, the story is not pretty, yet neither is my magic" he says. He sees them nod as he sighs "Feel free to stay the night. My wards keep the creatures away" he says as he relaxes on his bed. All except for Twilight leaves as she looks at him "I... want to make sure you are better" she says as he nods. She looks over and sees books as Velvet moves his hand to her lap as she looks over at him. He shakes his head as that is all is needed before he rests. He closes his eyes as he feels something.... warm next to him, but ignores it as he goes to rest and sleep off his fatigue, his head nuzzling into the softness as he breathes easily to sleep.