• Published 24th May 2015
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My Little Pony Bizarre Adventures - Part 1: Ponyville Central - LateBronyWriter



One Thousand years ago, the saints Celestia and Luna drew upon the power of the Red Stone of Aja to defeat the demon Discord. Now one thousand years later the Stone is destroyed, beginning the tale of six ponies and their quest to redeem the world.

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Chapter 16-Magic Mare-Take 2

Magic Mare-Take 2:


Twilight and Trixie stare each other down as they prepare to engage in a particularly heated contest of magical skill and tactical ability. Each one paws their hoof on the stage, mentally psyching themselves up for the inevitable confrontation. Sparks fly from each unicorn’s horn as they build up magical charge and every muscle in their bodies tense and flex prepared to lash out at the slightest stimulus.

“So….” Trixie begins, “Trixie has chosen the stage, so it only seems fair that the loser would decide the specifics. Does that seem fair to you, Snarkle?”

Ignoring Trixie’s jibe Twilight addresses the whole audience equally. “We will go by Crystal North rules, the first one to give up or become unable to continue loses, no lethal force, no Dark or Chaos magic, no pre-prepared magics. Is that fine by you… Twixie?”

Trixie flinches from the insult. “Twilight, that was….. that was….”

“Ha! You see, I can sling insults just as well as I sling spells!” Twilight smirks with her victory.

“….. Really really lame. It sounds like the name of a bad romance genre…..” the showmare finishes. “I mean….. You should obviously leave the quips to somepony else….”

“That’s what I said!” Pinkie yells from the sidelines.

“And I certainly hope that you DON’T sling insults as well as you sling spells!” Trixie responds. “Otherwise this will be a very short fight! I hope that you are prepared to face the Wrath of the Great and Powerful Trixie!” A barrage of sparklers go off behind her as she stands on her back hooves, making an intimidating appearance that surprises every mare in the arena.

All except one of course, a lavender mare who rolls her eyes in exasperation. “…. Can we fight now?”

“Son of a…. yes!”

With sudden display of speed and precision Trixie launches a bolt of magic directly at the head of Twilight, who weaves to the side avoiding the blast. Taking advantage of Twilight’s opening Trixie charges towards the startled lavender mare, who is unprepared for the sudden rush. Yet at the last second Twilight launches a blast of her own, hitting Trixie’s barrel straight on with a blast of eldritch force. Yet, the moment that the spell collides with the showmare she disappears into a cloud of smoke that surrounds Twilight and cuts off her field of vision to almost complete zero. Trying to back out of the mist, Twilight brain kicks into overtime as she looks for a weakness in the showmare that she can exploit.

‘It’s obvious that Trixie is an illusionist-type magic user; if I let her gain the upper hoof or close the distance I’m a goner,’ Twilight thinks, her eyes searching through the mist for any sign of movement. ‘If I’m going to win I have to keep a distance between me and her, otherwise she’ll be able to interrupt my spells with hoof to hoof combat. And if I’m able to take her by surprise……’

With a sudden gust of magical wind, Twilight quickly blows away the smokescreen and scans around to locate the troublesome blue mare before she can play another trick on her. Yet the moment that the smokescreen vanishes, she is tackled from her blind side sending her tumbling to the ground.

“Dojyaaaaaaa….n”

Trixie whispers under her breath as she stands over Twilight, taking a step towards her prone opponent. Basking in the fact that she was able to get the upper hoof on her rival in the first round, Trixie strokes her mane. “Had enough, Snarkle?”

Twilight grins as she rises to her hooves. “Please, Twixie, I’m just getting started!”

“Stop trying to make that work, you…” Trixie is cut off by another explosion as Twilight releases a purple smoke cloud of her own, giving herself almost total concealment from Trixie’s attacks. Trixie readies herself as she faces the cloud, aware that an attack could come from any direction at any time. Then with a flash of light Twilight teleports to point-blank range in front of Trixie, who is only able to backpedal once in terror as Twilight hits her with a powerful right cross across the face.

Yet once again her hoof passes harmlessly through the showmare, as the illusion dissipates into nothing. “An illusion?” Twilight recoils looking around her. “But how?! I never saw her ignite her…” Twilight’s words are cut off as the purple mare is once again tackled from her blind side, sending her skidding to the ground. Appearing from behind the purple mare, Trixie grins at another successful attack.

“Dojyaaa…..n”

This time the purple mare rises to her hooves almost instantly as the blue mare smirks in front of her. “Well that was a surprise, little bookworm knows how to throw a punch and it looks like you can take a punch as well,” Trixie remarks with a pleased tone in her voice.

Twilight smirks back. “The Boxing Compendium chapters four and six, the straight cross and the half step. Both essential moves for any close quarters fighters.”

THe showmare scoffs. “Don’t get cocky, Snarkle, your punch is still lacking compared to the Great and Powerful Trixie! If you want to win against me…..” Trixie’s horn glows bright. “You’ll have to turn up the heat!”

With a flick of her horn a wall of flame materializes around the purple mare, its flames rising high enough in a second to completely obscure her from view. Twilight’s friends look on with no small amount of fear as the walls of scorching heat rise, preventing them from knowing if Twilight Sparkle is alive or burnt to a crisp. The flames roar, the fires burn, and the heat is unbearable, yet not twenty seconds later the lavender mare walks clean through the flames, completely unharmed.

Twilight brushes her coat with her hoof as if brushing off any imaginary soot. “Making an audible and visual illusion that incorporates touch… Not bad, Trixie. But you’ll need more than petty tricks to get the upper hoof on me.” Twilight takes a step forward. “Not that I’d expect anything less from a showmare. But if ‘The Great and Powerful Trixie’ expects to beat me with light shows she had better think again!”

Twilight takes a firm stance before the showmare as she stares her down. “I trained personally under some of the best minds in Canterlot, learned magics that you couldn’t even conceive and played chess with an alicorn, so if you want to beat me you’ll have to think four moves ahead.”

The ground beneath Trixie’s hooves ignites in a sudden flash of light, blinding the showmare. “… because I’m playing three moves ahead of you.” Rushing at the blinded showmare, Twilight runs up and throws a powerful cross across trixie’s left cheek, knocking Trixie off her footing. “This one’s for the tackle.” Then torquing her body at just the right angle Twilight turns her extender right hoof into a powerful uppercut, catching Trixie just above her diaphragm and causing her to double over in pain on the ground. “And that was for calling me ‘Twibright’.”

Twilight’s friends on the sidelines let out a jubilant cheer at their friend’s victory, however their cries are short lived. Despite being on the receiving end of Twilight’s full force, Trixie slowly rises to her hooves her resolution and determination unfaltered and her body barely fazed by Twilight’s full force blow despite the ugly bruise on her cheek.

Spitting out a dab of blood on the side of the stage, the showmare rubs her bruised face as she turns back to face her opponent. “Please, you call that a punch? Don’t make Trixie laugh. She’s fought fillies who could hit better than you.”

Trixie takes delight in Twilight’s stunned expression as she paces around her foe. “Don’t look so surprised, Twibright, as a Stand agent it has been Trixie’s job for the last six years to track down and bring to justice the most hardened criminals. If Trixie was so weak to succumb to a librarian’s punch she would have died ages ago.”

“And another thing..…” Trixie stops her pacing, turning her supple body to face Twilight. “….you talked about playing four moves ahead like this was some form of chess game. Don’t delude yourself, Twilight Sparkle, this is real combat not some board game! It’s something that sheltered fillies like you would know nothing about.” Trixie raises her hoof revealing a long brown rope. “Real combat is about reading your opponent’s moves, planning for them and luring them in for the kill, like what Trixie just did to you.”

With one solid yank using both her hooves, Trixie pulls the rope tight, the previously ignored cord now wrapping itself around Twilight’s back and fore legs. The lavender mare barely has time to yelp as the rope hogties her, sending her crashing to the ground with a thud. “Did you honestly think that Trixie didn’t have a plan?” Trixie tugs on the rope binding it in place around Twilight’s hooves. “Trixie let you hit her on purpose, to lure you in for one of my signature magic tricks. Trixie’s Third Trick: Magic Rope Trap.”

Twilight flails about, her horn burning as she attempts to sever the rope with her magic. “Don’t bother, Twilight! The rope on your hooves is enchanted to resist all magics, even my own, it’s why I had to set it up manually with my hooves while you were wasting your time with that little smokescreen!”

Twilight’s horn flares as she tries to grasp the rope with her telekinesis, burn it with fire or sever it with a cutting spell, but to her great distress nothing works. Trixie, grinning in victory, walks up to the struggling mare and places her forehoof firmly on top of her head. “Well it looks like I have won our little match, Twibright! Be sure to show up bright and early tomorrow, after all a servant can’t be late for her master now can she?”

Twilight blushes furiously in embarrassment as Trixie yawns lazily. “Now if you don’t mind, your stupidity has worn the Great and Powerful Trixie out so she is retiring for the night in her…..” Trixie’s eyes widen in terror as she looks back to see her home, her caravan burning down like a grass hut. “….. Smoking ruins of her wagon?!”

The fire consuming Trixie’s home suddenly becomes apparent to the group who was so entrenched in the fight that they could not see the flaming trailer behind them. Trixie turns on the Mane Six with malice in her eyes. “YOU….. You just couldn’t stand the fact that your little friend was no match for the Great and Powerful Trixie! Could you! So you destroyed her home?! I swear that you’ll pay for th…..”

“Don’t look at us!” Dash shouts, “We weren’t the ones throwing around deadly lasers all over the place!”

“WHAT!?” Trixie looks back between her house and her own horn. “Do… do you expect Trixie to believe that Trixie was responsible for this you…. You…..”

However the more she thinks about it the more Trixie comes to the horrible truth that deep down she is the one responsible. None of the others possess the means to create a fire with such intensity in such a short time while they were all watching Trixie’s fight. Which means the blast that was currently burning her home must have come from her or……

Trixie hears the sound of ropes snapping behind her and turns to see Twilight freed, the ropes around her hooves badly burnt by an errant piece of flaming wood. Twilight breathes a sigh of relief. “Whew, those ropes were really resistant to magical fire. But luckily for me they weren’t so resistant to normal fire. It’s a good thing that there was a fire so close by…”

“YOU!” Trixie looks at the lavender mare, stomping towards her with the force of an enraged titan. “YOU BURNT DOWN MY HOME! It wasn’t enough to just embarrass the Great and Powerful Trixie and ruin her life, now you have decided to destroy her home and livelihood as well!?”

“Your home?” Twilight tilts her head in obvious confusion to the showmare’s allegations. “I just got this piece of flaming wood from over….” Twilight looks over towards where she got the piece of flaming wood to see that the small fire she found has grown into a blaze that is currently turning the showmare’s home to cinders.

“….. Fire!! Don’t worry, Trixie, I’ll have this put out in a moment! Just let me….” Twilight concentrates, her horn blazing with magical energy as a dark storm cloud forms over the Trixie’s wagon. The cloud crackles with magical energy as it explodes in a thunderous boom, releasing a torrent of water down over the caravan, and extinguishing the fire. Looking at the charred and skeleton remains of the home Twilight looks nervously back at the blue showmare. “S-S-See? As good as new!”

CRAAASSHH!!

As if waiting for the irony of the situation, the trailer falls to pieces leaving a pile of ashes and burnt wood where Trixie’s only permanent residence once stood. The showmare, witnessing her own home destroyed, gapes for a minute or two with her mouth wide open at the scene of devastation before her. Her mind struggles to process both the suddenness and destructive after effects of losing her wagon, her vehicle of business, her home to a freak accident that leveled the entire structure in less than a few minutes.

Slowly the Great and Powerful Trixie takes a deep cleansing breath, stoking the flames of her rage with the ashes of her worldly possessions. The showmare then turns to the librarian, her face contorted into a look of cool rage, the kind of cold calculating anger that makes a Twilight’s hairs stand on end. “Twilight… you used your Stand just now… didn’t you……”

Twilight backs up. “Trixie… what are you talking about? I’m sorry about your home but it was…..”

“You used your Stand just now.… to get that flaming branch, didn’t you….. I saw that your Stand had the name FRIENDS on it….” Trixie manifests her own Stand. its star covered arms folded like a wrathful djinn of old, its cape billowing in a ethereal breeze as its anger-filled eyes glint from under its wide brimmed hat. “Well if you wanted this to be a Stand battle in the first place you should have just asked. Trixie can certainly oblige you, Twilight, but she can assure you that by the time she is done with you you’ll be sipping your meals through a straw.”

Twilight shivers with cold terror as she is aware that Trixie is now completely serious. She has one chance and only one chance to explain herself before Trixie loses it. “Trixie, what happened to your house was a complete accident! There’s no reason to….”

“’It was an accident!’ ‘I’m sorry!’ ‘I’m a pathetic unicorn!’ blah blah blah!” Trixie screams in a nasally mocking voice. “Don’t you get tired of saying the same thing over and over?!” Trixie shouts in her most snide voice as she takes a step closer.

“Now then, since you are so insistent in taking this match further…” The showmare pulls out an assortment of knives seemingly from out of thin air with her Stand. “I can show you some of my most devastating magic! With the aid of my Stand, MAGIC MARE!”

Twilight’s eyes widen as fear suddenly gives way to alertness, the active threat brought on by the presence of the knives drawing out her Stand FRIENDS as Trixie stands ready to attack.

“Now take this! DOJYAAAN!” Twilight’s eyes grow wide as the mare throws a barrage of knives directly at her, her Stand FRIENDS reflexively defending against the attack. The knives scrape and bounce off Twilight’s FRIENDS causing several shallow cuts that fail to draw blood to appear on Twilight’s coat. Refusing to let up her attack Trixie throws another assortment of knives at blindingly fast speeds. This time Twilight quickly manifests a barrier that stops the knives, embedding them in a translucent purple shield.

“Not bad, Twilight!” Trixie yells as she jumps into the air. “Now try this!” Another barrage of knives are thrown and Twilight raises a stronger shield to block them, however this time the razor sharp knives vanish into thin air the moment that they contact the shield, dissipating into mist as mysteriously as they appeared. Twilight withdraws her shield in confusion as Trixie lands back on the ground, the purple mare keeping her eyes on her foe for any sign of Trixie’s usual tricks. However, what Twilight sees in Trixie’s eyes scares her even more than her knives, he look of smug victory and a mare who knows something that she doesn’t.

With a gesture filled with overwhelming confidence Trixie points up to the sky with her hoof, causing Twilight to follow her gaze upwards, just as she a razor sharp storm of knives falls all over her body. “Trixie’s Fourth Trick: Rain of Knives” The showmare coldly states.

Twilight manifests her Stand as fast as she possibly can, attempting to swat away as many of the multitude of blades as possible. Yet despite her best efforts, many of the blades manage to slip past her guard through numbers alone as they fall on top of her, cutting her coat with their jagged edges. Eventually she realizes that there are far too many to deflect and attempts to shield herself with her Stand’s body as the storm of metal continues to fall around her, praying for the attack to finally end.

Yet after a scant few seconds, the steel rain finally ceases and the storm ends, leaving Twilight Sparkle standing in the middle of a pile of blades that glint in the last light of the fading sun. The unicorn is barely standing, her body now covered in countless scratches ranging from glancing blows to long cuts that layer across her forearms and back. The purple mare pants heavily, more from the pain than the blood loss, as she channels her magic as rapidly as possible to heal the numerous wounds covering her body.

“TWILIGHT!” Fluttershy calls out as the other mares prepare to rush onto stage.

“TRIXIE! What were you thinking?! Are you trying to kill her!?!” Dash yells as she leaps up on the stage.

“Back off!” Trixie snaps at them in a tone that causes the mares to halt in their attempts to save Twilight. “All of her wounds are superficial, little more than scratches. Trixie intentionally missed her vitals and slowed the speed of the knives, so it doesn’t count as lethal force. Trixie broke no rules in this duel so none of you have any right to interfere!”

“Besides…” Trixie looks over towards the lavender mare, a slight look of defiance hiding behind the Twilight’s pained expression. “If she didn’t want to fight any more she wouldn’t have remained standing. Twilight hasn’t surrendered yet so that proves that she doesn’t want this fight to end either!”

Applejack, unwilling to let her friend get so heavily injured in front of her, stomps her hoof with enough force to crack the wood of the stage. “No way! Ah’m putting my hoof down now! This little match of yours has gone too far an Ah’m stopping it right….”

“Shut up!” Trixie yells at the top of her lungs, and with a wave of her horn throws the mares off the stage with raw magical force. “This isn’t about the magic duel anymore! It’s about my honor as an illusionist and a mare.” Trixie shouts “Twilight has taken everything from me, my future, my past and now my present! But more unforgivably… But more unforgivably…” Trixie shakes with rage as she tries to formulate a response that justifies exactly how she feels about the mare in front of her.

Twilight, exhausted and breathing heavily, manages to raise her head towards Trixie, the librarian’s eyes regaining their focus as she looks upon the star-spangled silhouette of Trixie’s stand Magic Mare. Suddenly, Twilight’s eyes light up with a flash of inspiration. Her mind clicks as she finally understands the depth of Trixie’s deceptions. “Trixie…” Twilight points her hoof at the showmare. “your next line… it’s going to be…”

“.… Twilight spit on the pride of the Great and Powerful Trixie! And now she must pay for it!” both Twilight and Trixie yell at the same time. Trixie audibly gasps at this, putting her hoof over her mouth. “Wha… What!?!”

Twilight grins seizing the initiative despite her profuse wounds. “And your next line is ‘Nopony sees through the Great and Powerful Trixie’s tricks! It’s impossible!’”

“Nopony sees through the Great and Powerful Trixie’s tricks! It’s impossible…… WHAT?!” The blue showmare seethes, completely flabbergasted by Twilight’s sudden surge of confidence and her well timed trick. “How.. how did you…. You couldn’t have…” Trixie stutters.

Twilight beams in pride as she takes a step forward. “Yes, Trixie, I did! I saw through your tricks! I know how you’ve been getting the drop on other ponies with your illusions, like how you managed to disappear at will and make knives appear out of thin air! It’s your Stand power!”

Twilight points to Magic Mare with her hoof, causing the showmare to flinch and look at the star-caped figure beside her. “I was confused because I never saw your horn ignite when you seemed to disappear and reappear, so I thought it was some form of sleight-of-hoof and not your magic!” The lavender unicorn declares. “But you were using your magic, just not your unicorn magic!”

Twilight manifests her own Stand and causes it to pick up one of the remaining knives in her hooves. “That’s how you managed to make these knives appear out of thin air and how you seemed to disappear at will! Your Stand can probably cause anything it touches to vanish into thin air and create an exact illusionary double in its place.” Twilight concludes with expert insight honed over years and years of studying magical effects. “When you threw those illusionary knives at me, you threw the real knives into the air so that I would try and block the illusions and miss the real attack.”

Trixie begins to sweat bullets, her tricks unraveling before her eyes as Twilight fiddles with one of Trixie’s knives in her telekinetic field. “From how I figure it” Twilight says “it works like the spell ‘mislead’. You mask the real object in invisibility and create an exact illusion of it at the same time. Then you use the illusion as a distraction while the cloaked object hits your opponent from a blind spot.”

Twilight throws the knives off the stage as she clears the distance between her and the showmare. “In fact…. That’s probably how you managed to vanish and reappear behind me all those times and hide a rope where I couldn’t see it! My Stand was able to hold the rope, so Stand powers work on it. You’ve been cheating from the beginning, Trixie! You were using your Stand the entire time!”

“So what if I was?!” Trixie snaps at Twilight as she takes a step forward to attack. “In a life or death battle anything goes! Besides, you decided that this would be a magical duel, and Stands are a form of magic!” Trixie manifests her own Stand, inching closer to attack. “If you’re so sore about me using my Stand you should use your own!”

The blue showmare tilts her head in confusion. “So come on! Hit me with your Stand power! You haven’t used it once since this battle began. Have you been holding back on me? Or is it that your Stand is so weak and pathetic you didn’t bother to use it, Twibright?”

Twilight gulps heavily as she tries to put on a brave front. ‘Trixie’s right!’ she thinks, ‘my Stand has no offensive power! And by itself it can’t do anything! It can only form connections!’ Twilight shakes her head as she pushes the doubts out of her mind. ‘But I can’t let Trixie know that! And I doubt that I can form a stable connection with Trixie given how much she hates me.’

An idea enters Twilight’s head as she manifests her Stand, causing the blue showmare to back off in caution. ‘Maybe if I attack her with my Stand, I can create an opening to finish her with my magic! That’s my best option now; if I keep her in the dark about my abilities I can get the drop on her.’

“Alright, Trixie…” Twilight’s FRIENDS strikes a threatening pose as it raises its hooves to attack. “You want me to attack with my Stand? You’ve got it!” With surprising speed Twilight attacks with her Stand as Trixie moves to block with her Magic Mare. FRIENDS rushes forward, it’s hooves attacking with such speed and suddenness that Twilight’s feint soars clean past Trixie’s hastily-constructed guard, connecting squarely with Trixie’s face.

“ORA…..” the Stand says as it pulls back its hoof from the face of the blue mare, the same mare who is blinking in confusion.

Twilight freezes as Trixie looks at the Stand, then back to Twilight, then back to the Stand, before laughing out loud. “BWA HA HA HA! Was that your best attack, Snarkle?! That must have been a fluke! Come on and try again, the Great and Powerful Trixie will let you!”

‘Oh no!’ Twilight thinks, ‘she knows that my Stand can’t do anything! Now I have to…’

“ORA!!!!” As if obeying the orders of the showmare, FRIENDS lashes out again with much more force, yet just as before, the blow produces no signs of physical damage on Trixie’s face.

“Well it seems as if that wasn’t a fluke,” Trixie remarks snidely, “I thought that it was strange that you didn’t use your Stand to attack… but if this is all it can do….”

“ORA! ORA! ORA!” The Stand cries as it continues to hammer away at Trixie’s stand and body, landing clean blows that produce no damage upon the increasingly frustrated showmare. Trixie glares at Twilight’s FRIENDS in frustration.

“Once might have been funny, and twice maybe, but now it’s just getting annoying…. Gruah….” Trixie rubs her horn. “Your little antics have given Trixie a headache…. But now it’s time to end this!” Trixie cries out as the magic in her horn builds to incredible levels. “Take this! DOJYAAAN!”

‘Hunh?’ Twilight thinks to herself, ‘a headache…? Didn’t Lyra complain of the same thing?’ Twilight jumps to the side, avoiding Magic Mare’s slow punch as her mind races. The pained expression of the showmare causes Twilight’s mind to go into overdrive as she weaves in and out, avoiding the Stand’s movements. ‘Why? Why did my Stand attack all on its own? Why doesn’t it do any physical damage? Why does it make ponies’ heads hurt when I can’t mind link with them? .… Wait a moment!’

A crazy idea enters Twilight’s mind as she parries one of Trixie’s blows with her own Stand, glancing at her astral projection before her in a new light. ‘What was it that I said to Applejack?! About what happens if a mental link fails?! Could it be? It doesn’t inflict physical damage because it actually inflicts……?’

Cutting off Twilight’s train of thought, a large black box appears around the lavender mare, trapping her body inside the prison as her Stand is trapped outside without its owner. Trixie’s horn flares and her Stand holds up a collection of swords as the black wooden box is surrounded by solid iron chains that quickly seal off any chance of escape. “It’s over, Twilight Sparkle! Trixie’s First Trick, the best in my arsenal…..” The large straight swords disappear from Magic Mare’s hooves, only to reappear around the black box suspended in Trixie’s magical aura. “…..Magical Cutting Boxes!”

Like a scientist testing a new hypothesis or an athlete testing a new limit of their abilities, Twilight is filled with excitement and rising terror, knowing if her hypothesis is faulty then it will mean the end of her. Glancing through one of the sword holes, she maneuvers her Stand FRIENDS directly in front of Trixie as it readies its hooves to attack the now exposed showmare. ‘This is it! If this fails there will be no second chance! I’ll have to hit her with everything I’ve got in one shot!’

As FRIENDS stands ready to attack, however, Trixie barely pays it any mind, knowing how powerless its blows truly are. “Why won’t you just give up, Twibright?!” Trixie shouts to the librarian as she lifts the black box in the air for the finishing blow. “It would take a thousand of these little foal punches to beat…..”

ORA! ORA! ORA! ORA! ORA! ORA! ORA! ORA! ORA! ORA! ORA! ORA! ORA! ORA! ORA! ORA! ORA! ORA! ORA! ORA! ORA! ORA! ORA! ORA! ORA! ORA! ORA! ORA! ORA! ORA! ORA! ORA! ORA! ORA! ORA! ORA! ORA! ORA! OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO AAAAAAAA!!!!!

Twilight’s Stand throws one punch after another, each one hitting the blue mare square in the muzzle like a volley from a Gatling gun, each blow followed instantly by another just like it. Suddenly the black box around Twilight falls to pieces, the chains dissipating into mist as Trixie falls to the ground groaning in pain.

With her concentration breaking apart the suspended swords fall to the ground with a loud clatter, the blue mare clutching her head in agony, vainly shielding herself from FRIENDS’s numerous blows. “My…. My head…… hurts so bad….. What did you…?”

Twilight smirks. “It’s my power, Trixie. I have the power to form mind links with other ponies and boost their powers….” Twilight looks at her Stand with pride on her face. “… and I thought that because of that, that I had to rely on others in combat and couldn’t protect myself. “

Now free from the box, Twilight begins to trot over to the prone showmare as she raises her Stand’s forehooves. “However, I forgot that if a pony isn’t willing to perform a mind link, that the mental feedback creates intense mental strain. In other words FRIENDS creates mental damage, not physical damage.” The lavender unicorn comes to a stop in front of the showmare. “Normally it wouldn’t be noticeable from one attempt because the initial feedback creates only mild headaches.”

Twilight raises her Stand’s hooves, smashing them together in a thunderous clap. “But a mild headache can blossom into intense migraines, dizziness, confusion and eventually unconsciousness if its effects multiply. Meaning my Stand can inflict concussions just by assaulting your mind, you can block a punch but you can’t protect your mind!”

“D-D-Defeat T-Trixie?!” The showmare rises shakily to her hooves and manages to manifest her Stand. “Y-You must be joking! T-Trixie’s power is invincible…… Y-You can’t……”

With a single blow Twilight pours the last of her strength into her Stand’s powerful left cross, hitting Trixie’s muzzle square on as FRIENDS’ hoof punches through the magician’s face. For a second the two mares and their Stands are completely motionless, then with one last gasp the Trixie falls to the ground completely unconscious.

Twilight’s friends look on as Twilight remains standing, the sole victor in a fight of rivals; many times they feared for her safety, but now their souls brim only with pride and happiness as the lavender mare stands over her enemy. However, Twilight does not share in their joy. Her body is frozen in fear, the lavender mare stares at Trixie with a haunted expression in her eyes, her face contorting itself in rising horror like a pony coming face to face with death itself, her eyes twitching as if seeing something only visible to her.

Just as her friends prepare to ask if Twilight is all right, the lavender mare lets out an ear piercing scream as if she was the witness to a crime of horrific proportions. Her voice echoes over the field with a piercing cry of pain and despair just as she falls to the ground in a dead faint, both the victor and the loser lying on top of the other as their minds drift in the immense sea of the unconsciousness and dream.

………………..

“Uuuuuggggghhhhhhhh….. my head….. what…. What happened?” Twilight Sparkle, mare extraordinaire, raises herself off the ground, her head throbbing with new information as she pulls herself upright, quickly helped up by the familiar face of one of her friends.

“Whoa there…. Take it easy, Twi…..” Applejack says, “yawl were pretty pooped after that there fight and Pinkie had ta give ya each a Red Stone to perk ya up. Otherwise yawl might have been out fer longer than an hour.”

“An… an hour….” Twilight rubs her head. “That’s right! I was fighting Trixie?! What happened? Who won?” the mare frantically asks. “Do I have to be Trixie’s slave? Because I really really….”

Dash lands by the lavender unicorn a cocky smile across her muzzle. “Relax there, Egghead, you totally….”

“It was a tie!” a familiar voice yells and every eye in the group turns to face the arrogant and self-obsessed Trixie sitting on her rump. “The match was a tie, it was a great and equal draw! The perfect ending to a Great and Powerful duel!”

Dash glares at Trixie. “Uh….. earth to loser, you fell down first that means you lost…”

“Ridiculous!” Trixie says. “I heard the details from the yellow pegasus! Who is much kinder and has better manners than a brute like you!”

Dash turns to Fluttershy who blushes nervously. “… Well um…..” The butter yellow pegasus shuffles her hooves. “…..she did ask what happened….. and she kind of deserved to know…. I didn’t want to be rude…”

Trixie nods politely. “Yes, and Trixie thanks you for being courteous and telling the truth. Thank you, Fluttershy.” The entire group stands dumbfounded by the fact that the Great and Powerful Trixie would actually thank anypony as the blue mare turns to face Twilight. “And from what I heard, Twilight collapsed exactly five seconds after I did. And according to magical duel rules a contestant has to stay alive or conscious for ten seconds or the match is a tie.”

The Great and Powerful Trixie magics her hat back onto her head with poof of smoke. “Besides, Trixie woke up first!”

“Why you…” Dash readies her hoof to strike.

“… However,” Trixie continues, cutting off Dash. “since it was a fair duel and Trixie did fall first I will honor my word and attempt no actions against you plebeians.” The mare tilts her hat, obscuring her eyes. “Trixie is a mare of her word if nothing else.”

Twilight, surprised at the showmare’s sudden shift in behavior, trots over to the Trixie, extending her hoof in friendship. “Wow, Trixie, that’s…… really kind of you. Tha….”

Trixie swats the hoof out of her face. “Don’t get all chummy with Trixie, Twibright! I still hate you; I’m just following orders to help you out. I was commanded by Celestia to watch over you and your little friends, that is all there is!”

The entire group looks at Trixie with disdain in their eyes. “Wait a second!” Dash shouts. “If you were commanded to protect Twilight why did you try and kill her with that magic cutting box thing?”

“And those flyin knives!” Applejack says.

“And that garish outfit!?” Rarity finishes. The entire group looks at the fashionista “What? Her outfit is a danger to everypony who gazes upon it! Why, I don’t know how you all can put up with it!”

“This outfit is traditional magician’s garb!” Trixie shouts. “And Trixie wasn’t trying to kill her! She was just going to defeat her to prove to Celestia how much more superior Trixie is!” Trixie crosses her hooves in a pout. “It would then be obvious to her who the better apprentice would have been and who she can really trust in this backwater town.”

Trixie lowers her head as if in shame. “And for that The Great and Powerful Trixie apologizes. She was so sure that she would beat you easily; you see it often in those pompous nobles in Canterlot. They think they know everything about using magic but most can’t even fight their way out of a paper bag.”

Trixie raises her head, looking directly in the eyes of the lavender mare. “However it is obvious now that you are different, Twilight Sparkle.” THe showmare concedes. “You are obviously not even a quarter as talented as the Great and Powerful Trixie… but you have the right stuff. The Great and Powerful Trixie was wise in choosing you as her eternal rival.”

“Well….. Thanks, Trixie.” Twilight says with surprise in her voice “….. I guess. And I know that you will be a great asset to us here in Ponyville, and my friends are more than happy to have your help too, right?”

The entire group (other than Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy) grumble to themselves, revealing their great disagreement with Twilight’s sentiments.

“RIGHT?” Twilight stares them down, causing the entire group to mutter positive conformation.

Pinkie giggles, “This is great! A new pony who loves to party! This is going to be the best welcome to Ponyville party ever! That is, aside from the party we threw Twilight…… and the party for the mayor’s reelection …. And that one time this really strange guy came to Ponyville and started stealing all my songs… and that one time….”

As Pinkie babbles on, Rainbow Dash turns to Fluttershy. “I don’t know about you, but I still don’t trust her. Call it a hunch but I think that that mare is hiding something. What do you think, Flutters?”

“Well….. um I don’t know…” Fluttershy mutters, “I think that having Trixie around could be….. nice….”

“NICE?!” Dash yells, “NICE?! Trixie is the complete opposite of nice!”

“Well… um… she complimented me…. So I think that she isn’t all bad…..”

“NOT THAT BAD? Let me tell you something Flutters…..”

The group continues to debate and talk with each other, Pinkie about her parties, Rainbow listing the reasons not to always look on ponies bright side, and Rarity remarking on Trixie’s ‘fashionable’ cape and hat. Between Twilight trying to restore order and the group’s rambunctiousness, nopony notices as Trixie walks towards the smoking rubble of her home. With a gentle glow of Trixie’s horn she pulls a magic-protected suitcase out of the ashes before walking back over towards the group. “Well, now that Trixie is homeless again, she needs a place to stay until this is all over; do any of you plebeians have a place luxurious enough for the Great and Powerful Trixie to stay?”

Dash’s eyes grow wide as she imagines what would happen if Trixie decided to start living in her house. “Not It!” In a flash of rainbow color Dash flies away as if chased by Discord himself.

“…. Well that excludes Rainbow Crash….” Trixie turns to the rest of the ponies. “Do any of you ponies have a decent place to stay? What about you, Twilight?”

Twilight taps her chin. “Well…. The library does have a guest room that I can lease out. It’s the least that I can do considering it is partially my fault that you lost your home….”

“….. And my cottage has a spare room, too!” Fluttershy shouts with suddenness that causes the entire group to look at the yellow mare. Realizing her outburst, the yellow mare blushes furiously. “That is…. I don’t mean to intrude…. And it is pretty far from town……That is…. If you needed a room that badly……”

The showmare looks between the two mares. “Two very tempting offers, Trixie is sure….. However, Trixie believes, despite her resentment towards a certain purple mare for destroying her home, she will stay in the library. From Twibright’s reports it is closer to town and the center of all your operations.”

Trixie’s eyes stop on the butter-yellow mare, the look of disappointment on her face readily apparent. “However, Trixie would be more than happy to meet up with a mare as polite as you at another time perhaps for tea… considering you seem to be the only pony in this town with any degree of civility.”

Fluttershy immediately perks up, as Twilight picks up Trixie’s suitcase in her magic. “Then it’s settled!” Twilight looks at Trixie. “Trixie will stay with me in the library for the time being. We’ll meet again at the same time tomorrow!” With that the entire group disperses as the ponies make their way to their own prospective homes.

………………….

Twilight the pack mule carries the burdensome load of Trixie’s magical props and luggage on her back. Struggling under the immense weight of Trixie’s worldly possessions, the librarian struggles up the stairs as the blue mare taps her hoof impatiently. “Come on, Snarkle! It’s just a couple more steps! Keep up the pace.”

The mare groans under the immense weight of the blue mare’s pack, placing it down on the halfway point on the stairs. “And why, oh Great and Powerful Trixie, am I the one who has to carry your things?”

Trixie taps her chin. “Trixie does not know, Twilight. Why did Twilight destroy Trixie’s home?”

“… Touché, Trixie.” Finally, with a monumental heave of magic the lavender mare finally places the cumbersome items on the top of the stairs, breathing freely for the first time in what feels like hours.

Trixie raises her nose at the purple mare. “So the little bookworm couldn’t even carry the baggage the rest of the way….. Well that’s fine, since Trixie is so generous she will carry her baggage to her room.” With a gentle glow of magic the blue mare slowly picks up the baggage, managing to shove the enormous pack through the door into Twilight’s guest room.

Twilight shuffles her hooves as she watches Trixie move her possessions. Finally the lavender mare can take it no longer and clears her throat. “Um… Trixie…”

The showmare stops removing a specific package, causing it to hang in midair as she turns to face the lavender mare. “Yes, Twibright, is there a problem? If this is about going back on giving me this room you are far too late as Trixie has already had to turn down Fluttershy and move all her things here.”

“Trixie…” Twilight continues her words as if stepping on broken glass. “Who is the bandaged pony….?”

The package falls to the floor with a loud thump as the blue mare looks at Twilight, her face pale and her eyes wide. “How…… how did you….. know about…… THAT?”

Twilight shuffles on her hooves as she looks Trixie in the eyes. “I didn’t want to say anything since my friends were there, but when I hit you that last time I saw…… I saw that memory……. Of your parents…… and that Stand…..” Twilight gulps heavily. “And all that BLOOD.”

At this the lavender mare has Trixie’s complete and utter attention. “I don’t mean to pry into anything or make you talk about anything that you wouldn’t want to talk about……. Just…. Just, what was that?”

Trixie turns her face from Twilight, resting her head against the door frame. “So…… you saw that.” Suddenly Trixie turns back to Twilight, her face resolute and grim. “Well, if you saw that then there is no point in keeping it a secret, now is there?”

Twilight is about to speak up but a simple raised hoof from Trixie stops her cold. The showmare breathes in and out with an uneven breath. “When Trixie was a filly…. long before she ever met you or took that magic exam, her parents were murdered, about thirteen years ago, by a Stand user. Trixie remembers little of that day before she blacked out: just a dark pony with a Stand covered in bandages gripping my parents’ corpses in a vice.”

Trixie breathes out, the weight of revealing such a monumental secret bringing her both relief and apprehension. “That’s the reason Trixie joined the Stand agents and the reason that she travels across Equestria. Since Trixie never found out the user’s identity, Trixie has searched town after town for years of her life, searching for that one Stand. Since every Stand is unique, Trixie would know when she found the stand that she found the pony who murdered her parents.”

Trixie’s eyes glow with a dark fire of hatred as she looks off in the distance, as if seeing the hated Stand with her naked eyes “That is the force that drives Trixie. To find the pony who took her parents from her so cruelly and attain her revenge.”

Trixie closes her eyes as her demeanor returns to normal. “Your motivations are naive, Twilight…. However, if you are truly intent on preventing rogue Stand users from hurting innocent ponies…. then Trixie is with you.” Trixie smiles ever so slightly as she extends her hoof towards the purple mare.

Twilight looks down in shock at Trixie’s outstretched hoof, before suddenly grasping it firmly. “Trixie, I think that this is the start of a beautiful friendship….”

Trixie’s grin suddenly returns to its normal, cocky nature. “Friendship… HA! As if Trixie could ever consider the mare that ruined her life to be a friend! Friends are weakness that Trixie cannot afford; you are only a tool for my own revenge, so don’t let our collaboration get to your head, Twibright!”

Twilight can’t help but chuckle. “Whatever you say, Great and Powerful Trixie, whatever you say……”

Author's Note:

Chapter END: Status:
Area Discovered: Ponyville Town Square
Party Status: The Great and Powerful Trixie and Twilight Sparkle were heavily injured
Both however recovered completely thanks to the Red Stones.
The Great and Powerful Trixie Joined the party.
Trixie grudgingly accepted Twilight’s invitation to live with her.
Enemies: The Great and Powerful Trixie
Stand: Magic Mare
Items lost: Trixie’s Caravan was destroyed due to her own incompetence.
-2 Small Red Stones. (Healing Twilight and Trixie)
MOVE TO NEXT STAGE!→

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