Trixie stared at the assuredly ancient tome before her with a blend of confusion and intrigue. She ignored the grumbling of her empty stomach, instead focusing on her passage on magical theory. She hadn’t left her borrowed room in the demolished Castle of the Two Sisters in several days, and she probably wouldn't leave for another few days once she returned with food. For now, food was beneath her. What Trixie was interested most in was the book in front of her: Arcana Mysterium- The Complete Almanac of Magicks and Witchery by the great unicorn mage known as Starswirl the Bearded.
Well, that's what she thought she was reading. The real book was only printed once, with the sole copy of it residing in Princess Twilight’s personal collection. What Trixie had found was a knock-off titled Arcano Mysterio- The Complete Journal of Magic and Sorcery. This book was written by a pony named Star Blur, who wasn't the same as Starswirl at all. Star Blur was a mare, presumably one without a beard, and not actually a great unicorn mage. Or even a unicorn mage. Or even a unicorn. What a pegasus cloud farmer was doing writing magical tomes, the world may never know. The book wasn't even all that old, having been published maybe three years prior. Unfortunately for Trixie, she didn't take the time to notice. Even if she did notice, she likely would not have cared. She was too consumed with her revenge.
Trixie wanted her revenge, despite how little sense that made. The last time she was in Ponyville, which was also for revenge, she was completely forgiven. She seemed to turn over a new leaf. Then, when Princess Twilight earned her castle and then bested yet another adversary, Trixie felt her blood boil with envy. Mostly, she was imagining how beautiful, comfortable, and warm the castle is, whereas Trixie was stuck squatting in a broken down, dilapidated castle (and castle was a very, very giving term).
As such, Trixie had spent the last few weeks studying Arcano Mysterio, searching for a way to gain power. So far, she hasn't found much of consequence. In fact, Trixie had yet to find anything she could actually use, and she was just about to give up when she uncovered a very interesting passage near the back of the book.
“Alicorn Power Transfer,” Trixie read aloud. “It is nigh impossible to transfer Alicorn Magic from one vessel to another, though a few cases have been documented. The process of Alicorn Power Transfer (APT) is both unpredictable and highly volatile, under most attempts to simply remove the magic. However, APT happens automatically when an alicorn dies. At death, the magic will evacuate the alicorn’s body and seek solace in the body of the nearest, habitable pony.”
And then, it all clicked. Trixie knew what she had to do. She hardly even had to convince herself. In order to get ultimate power—and her revenge—Trixie would need to kill an alicorn.
She ignored the fact that what she had planned was basically impossible for the strongest of magical creatures and was actually impossible for her. She just decided that she'd do it. Lucky for her, there was an alicorn just within walking distance.
“But how is Trixie going to kill Twilight Sparkle?” Trixie asked herself. “If only there was some sort of minute murder magic that Trixie could use.” Trixie turned her page, skimming through the list of charms on the next page. She grinned at the sight of the spell at the top of the page.
Minute Murder Magic.
“Perfect! Now all Trixie has to do is learn this incantation, walk over to Ponyville, and kill Twilight Sparkle!” Trixie clapped her hooves together in glee. “With her power in tow, I can move on to kill Celestia and Luna! I will become the most powerful alicorn there ever was! Then, Equestria will be mine! All mine! Mwahahahahahaha!”
Trixie continued her evil, maniacal laughter for thirty-four minutes, only stopping because she had forgotten to breathe and subsequently passed out. When she awoke, Trixie had entirely forgotten about her entire plan. Her empty stomach sent pangs through her body, and so she set off for Ponyville to gather sustenance. When she returned with her basket of apples and jar of peanut butter, she tripped over her book and was flooded with remembrance.
“Oh, right,” said Trixie, licking the sweet, smooth, creamy peanut butter from her lips. “Trixie was supposed to murder Twilight to steal her power.” She glanced out of the window, noting that the sun was beginning to set. “Oh, well. Trixie will make her move tomorrow.”
Trixie took her jar to her favorite sleeping corner, licking the peanut butter out as she settled down for bed. She fell asleep seconds after she finished her jar.
“Alright, Spike,” said Twilight, closing her book and setting it down onto the grass. “Are we ready?”
“Sure thing, Twilight,” said Spike. He held in his claws two glistening silver orbs, with six more near his feet. “Uh… What are these again?”
“Schmidtium orbs. The most unbreakable material in nine realms.” Twilight looked around, making sure that there would be no random civilians wandering into her carefully taped-off practice area. When she was sure that the outside of her castle was deserted, she prepared her magic for the upcoming test.
“Why are you trying to break them again?”
“I want to know how powerful my magic is now that I’ve properly settled into my alicornism,” explained Twilight. “I could dent Schmidtium before, so let’s see how it holds up to my new and improved magic.”
“Okay, then. Ready? 3! 2! 1!”
Spike tossed the first two orbs up into the air as high as he could, then bent over to scoop up another two. He barely had time to complete this quick movement before he heard the whizz of Twilight’s spell through the air, followed immediately by the loud, reality-rending shriek of the Schmidtium exploding into tiny fragments. Not missing a beat, Spike tossed another two orbs into the air and was met with similar results. They repeated this process a few more times until all of the Schmidtium orbs were reduced to shrapnel.
“Not too shabby, if I do say so myself,” said Twilight. She had hardly broken a sweat. “Alright, Spike. What next?”
“Let’s see…” Spike unrolled a piece of parchment to take a glance at their schedule. “Necromancy spell.”
“Aww. That’s easy,” said Twilight, pouting her lips slightly. She lit up her horn and pointed it to the ground. Several thin beams of purple light impacted the ground, shattering the earth and causing it to tremble. A single bony hoof pushed itself to the surface, followed by another, and another, until about twelve skeletal hooves were poking from beneath the ground.
“Princess…”
The bony figures pulled themselves up, undead ponies of bone with burning golden flames in their otherwise vacant eye sockets. They were all barren, with the exception of the one nearest to Twilight, who had a dented golden helmet.
“We live and die to protect the Princess!” He growled, his voice rattling like his very own bones in the wind. “We will slay any being that threatens her Royal Highness, Twilight Sparkle! Threats to the crown will be eradicated with the most vicious of attacks! We will burn their flesh, rend their bone, and make grand temples from their corpses! We will—”
“Yes, thank you, Azoth. Just practicing my magic,” said Twilight. “You are dismissed.”
“Yes, ma’am!” The bone ponies collapsed into a pile of bones and sank into the ground from whence they came.
“Anything else?” Twilight barely got her question out before a yawn. “Something tougher.”
“Er...Oh! Cloning Spell,” supplied Spike. Twilight nodded, then twirled her horn through the air, letting shimmering sparks dance down from her head to the ground. She surrounded herself with her purple aura, focusing it on her chest. Light flashed, and a mirror image of Twilight stood right to her left.
“How many can you make?” asked Spike. Twilight pondered it for a minute.
“I can probably make eighty clones before they start to lose power,” said Twilight. “But eighty perfect copies of me, even for only a few minutes, could be quite useful. Just imagine if somepony wanted to assassinate me. They’d have to fight through Azoth, my army of clones, and I still have my Schmidtium Buster.”
“Wow, you’re pretty much untouchable!” cheered Spike. “I kinda want somepony to try it, so you can put them in their place!”
“Heh. Hey, you never know. Celestia told me that I would make some enemies, so an assassination attempt isn’t too far-fetched.” Twilight gathered her book with her horn. “Come on, Spike. I still need to finish that spell to let me smack people with galaxies.”
Unbeknownst to Princess Twilight and her assistant, they were being watched by a certain would-be assassin. Trixie attempted to scrape her jaw from the floor, failing to withhold all of her shock.
“Hm…” Trixie looked up at the sky, contemplating. “Perhaps attempting to murder the most powerful mare in history is easier said than done.”