Magic Duel by Mail

by Lise

3. Twilight Responds

As much as she tried, Noonlight couldn't stop thinking about the duel. Whether in class or outside, the nagging feeling, that a letter might arrive, wouldn't go away. In her mind, she had already witnessed the whole thing over and over again. She had seen the alicorn receive the letter, heard her read out the spell, and experienced it activate. Sometimes the spell would fail miserably, proving no challenge at all. Twilight would then find it beneath her standards and not bother with a reply, tagging Noonlight as just another special snowflake. Other times, Noonlight would imagine the alicorn getting soaked by waterflame blossoms in front of her friends and Princess Celestia. A victory, no doubt, but one that would leave Twilight bitter and angry. If that were to happen, what would her response be?

Obsessed with constant questions, Noonlight would forget she was in class, becoming completely oblivious to everything around her. This was not lost on her teachers, who would resort to warning coughs and the occasional sharp remark to bring her back to reality. Sometimes there would be a gamble or two, but Noonlight's incredible progress in theoretical matters would spare her any serious consequences. Being an assistant, even if unofficial, definitely had its privileges.

For days Noonlight would rush to her room after class, eager to learn whether a response had arrived. Each time Trixie would shake her head, make a witty remark, then force Noonlight to eat something, as if Noonlight was a foal. Next day the cycle would start again - like and endless loop from which there was no escape. Until one day, something changed.

"Hi, Trix," Noonlight said glumly, arriving back from class. It had been a particularly tiresome morning. The rumors, that she was soon to become a teaching assistant, made more and more unicorns came to her for advice. To make matters worse, the faculty didn't lift a hoof to discourage such behaviour.

"Anything new?" She threw her saddlebags on the floor.

A large purple envelope floated in front of her face. Noonlight squealed. Her exhaustion gone, she started hopping like wild. It had arrived! Twilight had written back! Eagerly, she reached to grab the letter, only to have it briskly float away.

"Now, now," Trixie said from the bed. "Eat something first."

Noonlight groaned. Having Trixie, of all ponies, act like the strict and caring mare seemed too much out of character. Did she even know how to take care of others? Noonlight reached again for the letter. A series of tsks made her reconsider. Clearly Trixie wasn't joking.

"Fine!" Noonlight said reluctantly and went to grab a hay sandwich from the kitchen. "Haf yu omned t?" she asked chewing hastily.

"Of course not!" Trixie sounded genuinely hurt. "There is no telling what sort of spell Twilight might have put in there. I'll need your help to come up with an appropriate protection spell."

Well, that certainly explained Trixie's unusual concern for Noonlight's wellbeing. Gobbling down the rest of her sandwich, Noonlight began assessing options. A full protective bubble seemed a good start. That would protect against any physical spell. Add to that a one-way-see-through barrier, to obscure Trixie from any distant sight spells. And finally a prismatic prison, for good measure. It wouldn't be beyond Twilight to try and make Trixie teleport herself to some distant location, at least that's what Noonlight would have done.

"And remember," Noonlight said as she hid behind the bed. "If light is involved, cast your cloud trick. Oh, and have a silence spell ready, if..."

"Relax," the blue unicorn said confidently. "This isn't the my first duel, you know."

True, Noonlight thought. How many duels have you won, though? Bracing herself, she waited. She could hear Trixie tear the envelope open. So far so good. Now all that remained was for the spell to be cast and...

"You can come out," Trixie said. "It's just a letter."

Noonlight didn't need telling twice. Before Trixie could put down her protective spells, Noonlight was out from behind the bed and on her way to the desk. With the grace and elegance of a three legged mule, she clambered her way next to Trixie, and stared at the letter. Looking at the piece of paper, she concluded it was indeed a note. The top five words instantly stood out - underlined and twice as large as the rest.

You are on, Starry Sun! they read.

"Well, we definitely made an impression," Trixie chucked, putting down the last of her spells.

That was the most foalish thing I have ever seen in my life! Sending spells like that is a serious matter! I appreciate the hourglass warning, nice use of a visual time spell, by the way, but you could have EXPLAINED what its purpose was! If anypony was with me they could have been hurt!

I think we should set some ground rules:

1. We keep letters and spells separate. Personal messages are to be written on a blue scroll, while the spell itself on a white one. That way, there would be no confusion.

2. Each spell is to start with a ten second warning period, not five!

3. Each spell is to be clearly marked as safe for indoor casting or not. Can you imagine what would have happened if I had cast your spell in a library?!

4. We are NEVER to send such spells through the standard mail. Somepony might get hurt! I'll ask Princess Celestia to have a royal guard leave my letters at the address you mentioned, as well as collect any you might place there. I'll also convince the Princess to let us continue our correspondence through Spike. It will be both safer and more efficient.

Finally, you don't need to worry about me using this to uncover your identity. I have accepted your 'Magic Duel Through Mail', so will stick to its rules. I will, however, use any other means to find out who you are!

Eagerly expecting your next spell,

Twilight Sparkle

"Success!" shouted Trixie exuberantly. "The Great and Powerful Trixie is victorious! With some help from her fellow mare, of course," she quickly added. "So what do we do now?"

"Weeeeell," Noonlight smiled innocently. "There is one thing I want to try out. A teleportation spell right into a giant pie! Repeated a couple of times, naturally."

"Niiice," Trixie grinned as she rubbed her hooves. "I like."

Work on the new spell started immediately. Using their developed process, it only took them two days to complete. From a magic point of view the spell was extremely intricate, requiring careful spatial planning and teleport chains. For a side observer it would seem nothing more than a foalish prank. Hopefully, Twilight wouldn't see it as such. Despite being engaged in a duel, Noonlight didn't want to upset the princess.

The spell was marked "Not Safe for Casting Indoors" and sent the morning after its completion. The answer came three agonizingly long days later. Apparently, the alicorn had had some trouble coming up with an adequate response.

Dear Starry Sun,

What did I tell you about dangerous spells? Teleporting in a tree is no laughing matter! Fortunately, I anticipated something of the sort, and chose an appropriate location.

That aside, the spell was quite clever. You are using multiple spells, aren't you? I'm only assuming you are quite advanced in magic, to combine a teleportation spell with something else. At some point I would really like to see your actual spell without the rune changer.

I, on the other hand, prefer chain spells. They might be a bit draining, so let me know if you can't handle them, and I'll tone things down a notch.

Enjoy!

Twilight Sparkle

As agreed, Trixie prepared to cast the spell, while Noonlight advised her what sorts of barriers to use. The standard defenses were a must, along with an invisibility spell and a prismatic prison. What neither of them expected, was a swarm of foul smelling insects to appear in the room. Obviously, Twilight's magic skills weren't an exaggeration.

It took a whole day of cleaning and magic to get the dreadful bug smell out of the dorm. Quite the laborious task, it strengthened the unicorns' resolve. Neither Trixie nor Noonlight were going to let themselves be outdone. Barely done with the cleaning, they started plotting their next move. Hurricane of light sounded like a good idea. Weather spells were alway a classic, especially when combined with visual displays. Barriers would be totally useless, and it was unlikely that Twilight would prepare an adequate defense. At least, that was Noonlight's hope.

The reply came two days later.

Dear Starry Sun,

You nearly got me with that last one. I anticipated you might go for a weather spell. The light element caught me off guard. Still, I was able to teleport away, so nice try!

My dragon, Spike, got the worst of it. Ever since the first letter he has been asking about you. And since he is delivering our correspondence, I had to tell him everything. Don't let him know, but my little dragon can be quite overprotective sometimes. Recently he demanded to be nearby, in case something happens to me. Your hurricane of light managed to dazzle him to the point he couldn't walk for half a day. I'm beginning to wonder whether we shouldn't return to standard mail. It will be a bit slower, but at least he wouldn't be as involved... I hope. I'll talk to him again, once he stops grumbling, and let you know how it plays out.

Here is my answer. I call it 'Bitter Sweet'. Good luck figuring it out!

Twilight Sparkle

As Noonlight correctly suspected, the spell turned out to be a self transfiguration spell. What she failed to take into account, was that Twilight had added a dispel spell to it, rendering any protection useless, and changing Trixie into a caramel candy. The spell only lasted half a minute, but proved beyond doubt that their adversary was a long way from being defeated. Strangely enough, neither Trixie nor Noonlight felt disappointed. If anything they found the experience hilarious.

"Onto the next spell?" Trixie asked, combing her mane. Being a candy had messed it up quite a bit.

"I'll need some time," Noonlight mused. Now that dispels were in the picture they had gone to a whole new level. Ordinary double spells wouldn't cut it anymore. "Say, Trix. What is she like?"

"Twilight?" the blue unicorn gave her a surprised look. "Overly obsessed with friendship and forgiveness," she shrugged. "Quite good in magic, twice as good in magical theory. She used to live in a library once."

"Yes, but what is she like?"

A simple question, yet Noonlight didn't have an answer. Why, though? All three of them had been in the SGU. They must have come across each other at some point, even if they were in different classes. Why, then, were they total strangers?

"Why don't you ask her?" Trixie suggested after a short silence. "Knowing her, she'll answer. Just be careful you don't mention too much, or you'll get us caught."

Noonlight nodded. Writing to Twilight might not be such a bad idea.