Hero Souls: Awakening

by SvenFoxx

18: Magic Apples

Trixie raised an eyebrow. “You do recall that Trixie’s claim was that she is the most magical Unicorn, correct?” she asked. Applejack frowned in confusion. Trixie sighed. “Trixie is not an Earth Pony, hence she does not have the physical strength to buck trees. The most Trixie will accomplish is breaking a leg.”

Applejack flushed, realizing her mistake. “Oh… er… Wait a minute!” She scowled. “Then why did you race Rainbow Dash? That was a physical challenge,” she pointed out.

Trixie nodded. “Yes, but it was a race Trixie was allowed to use her magic in, hence allowing her to prove the strength of her power.”

Rainbow Dash’s jaw dropped open, quickly realizing the Unicorn had neatly manipulated her into an X Race without actually demanding it. She wanted to be upset, angry, even a little pissed, but in the end she settled on awed respect. She had been thoroughly played, and likely by an old hoof at the art.

Again Applejack floundered, but before she could think of something to say, Rarity stepped up. “I shall take Applejack’s place, and we’ll make this a competition of who can magically harvest the Apple orchard fastest. Is that agreeable?” she asked both Applejack and Trixie.

Trixie waved a hoof. “Trixie does not care, so long as she can prove her excellence.”

Applejack frowned, half-remembered lessons on honor her Aunt Orange taught her surfacing in her mind. “You know that if you lose, I also lose, right?” she asked her friend.

“It’s worse than that, dear,” Rarity commented, not taking her eyes off of Trixie. “If we do this, it also counts as a magical duel. If she defeats me, she has the right to call for a favor. I can refuse the favor, but it will look bad on me and tarnish my own reputation.”

Applejack hesitated, before sighing. “Do you want to do it?”

“For a friend? Always,” Rarity assured her.

“... Fine, do it.”

“Have you reached an agreement?” Twilight asked, deciding she may as well be the referee for this as well. Applejack, Rarity, and Trixie nodded. “Alright. The challenge is to magically pick one hundred apples and place them within your container.” Twilight’s horn lit up, and she conjured two large wooden tubs with a Woomph! Trixie’s name was printed on the right tub, while Rarity and Applejack’s names were printed on the left tub. “The rules are that you must magically pick and transport the apples. Apples must be picked from a tree and not the ground. Any apple that is transported physically is considered a dud, and any apple that hits the ground at any time is also considered a dud. The first to gather one hundred apples is the winner.”

Rarity frowned. “Wait, are we supposed to transport the apples all the way from the farm to here?”

Twilight nodded. “This is a challenge of magical might and coordination. Therefore, you must be sufficiently challenged for this to be considered as such.” Twilight motioned to the line Trixie had drawn earlier. “Please take your positions.” Trixie and Rarity did so. “Do the both of you agree to the rules I have laid down?” They both nodded. “Then on my mark of three. One… Two… Three!”

The two Unicorns did not move, but they did however look to be thinking. Applejack siddled up next to Twilight. “What are they doing?” she asked quietly.

Twilight smiled. “Magic is an art form just as much as it is a science, and vice versa. They only have so much magic available to them, and are considering how best to approach the task.”

Trixie’s hoof rose, catching Twilight’s attention. “The Great and Powerful Trixie has a question!” she declared.

“Yes?”

“Are we allowed to magically control a physical platform of some kind, or would that disqualify us?”

Twilight thought about it. “... I’ll allow it, but only because it’s technically more work than holding the apples separately,” she decided.

“Thank you,” Trixie nodded, then started making her way to the Apple farm. After asking Applejack for directions of course.

Rarity soon followed. Twilight went with them.

---

The crowd had to wait roughly ten minutes, but the first sign that the competition was progressing came when Trixie showed up first. In her magical aura was a large wooden… well, some wanted to call it a platform, but it was shaped more like a bowl, and held a large amount of apples. The bowl was roughly twice the size of the average pony.

Carefully, Trixie tipped the bowl, spilling the contents into her tub. A three digit meter of magic spun into existence over the bowl and stopped on fifty seven (057). Trixie nodded to herself and trotted off back to the farm to gather her last load.

No long after Trixie arrived, Rarity arrived. Her horn was glowing brightly and her face was screwed up in concentration as she made a line of apples levitated in a beautiful pattern through the air and into her tub.

Twilight face-hoofed. Rarity was a pro at levitation, and in fact could probably outdo Twilight in sheer skill with the spell, but her magical reserves were lacking somewhat. Rarity seemed to have forgotten that this a competition of skill, not beauty, and was going for a spectacular performance.

As Rarity’s meter slowly ticked up, and she looked progressively more exhausted, Trixie arrived once more carrying her second load. She began to tip it in.

Trixie’s meter hit one hundred (100) just as Rarity’s hit forty two (42). Twilight sighed. “The winner is Trixie Lulamoon,” she declared.

At that point Rarity collapsed. Rainbow Dash and Applejack went to her and checked on her. Meanwhile, Twilight spoke with Trixie.

“That’s two for two now. How’s your magic?” Twilight asked, noticing a light sheen of sweat on the Unicorn’s forehead.

Trixie smirked. “Trixie is never better!” she said happily. “Trixie is still ready to continue.”

Twilight smirked. “Good, because I challenge you to a magic duel!”

The Unicorns in the crowd, and the ponies who knew of magical etiquette, gasped. The rest grew slightly concerned over how big of a deal this apparently was to everyone else. Ponies began murmuring as they considered what this meant. A magic duel? Between an admittedly talented Unicorn and the Princess' personal student? No one was quite sure what to think about it.

At no point did anyone notice the absence of two Ponies.

Author's Note:

That was something that I called foul on in the show. Trixie's challenge was that she was the most magical Unicorn in Equestria, not the most talented in anything and everything. She did make that "Anything you can do, I can do better" boast, but honestly, how many times have you said something like that in the heat of the moment or over excessive pride?

The way I'm making Trixie is similar to how Starlight is portrayed in Canon, in that she is an excessively talented Unicorn. Certainly above average, and maybe on a similar level to Twilight, but for different reasons. At the end of the next chapter I will post Trixie's Character Sheet so you know just what to expect from her ability-wise. The sheet will obviously be redacted to prevent spoilers, but still.

---

Lore: A Magic Duel is an ancient Unicorn tradition that is highly respected and honored. In olden times, the duel was used to settle disputes between two Unicorns or two families with Unicorns standing in for them. Most magic duels were to the death, though there have been documented cases of the rules being altered so the winner would be the one who drew first blood.

The winner of said duels depended on the reason for the duel, but generally it was about protecting ones honor and integrity. Again, there have been documented cases of differing circumstances, such as settling disagreements to determining ownership of chattel and resources.

Today, Celestia has tried hard to abolish the practice, but too many Ponies consider it a valued tradition for such a thing to be feasible. Instead, she has altered the rules. No longer can a family be traded away through a magic duel, nor can one claim ownership of the loser of a duel. Jobs are also not exchangeable in a duel. The only things that can be demanded by the winner of such a duel is either a favor, the forfeiture of resources to the winner, or an agreement of some kind so long as it does not violate the then current laws of the country.

Comments

[badninja]

Great those two idiots are going to mess everything up for our egotistical Trixie. I am still hedging my bets that Trixie becomes like Dr. Doom by the end of this arc. Great development of everyone in this chapter and let's see what Trixie's character sheet looks like.

[Comickook]

Hello there. Once again, you did an excellent job on this latest chapter. The details concerning the apple gathering competition were well thought out as were the author's notes concerning the magic duel. Hopefully Twilight beats Trixie (but NOT badly enough for the latter to develop a grudge). As for the last part, concerning the two ponies sneaking off, I've got a bad feeling about that (but in the way that's good for story-telling).

I will most certainly be looking forward to the next chapter, but will understand if real life gets in the way.

[Titan Commander Sebaste]

Uh oh....

[alfonso_rd_33]

Oh Miss Lulamon... remind me to browbeat you into something of use...

[Tide Hunter]

This characterization of Trixie and the challenges is rather interesting. She's shown that she actually has some talent, and can put her money where her mouth is on many things without overly humiliating her opponent.

[SvenFoxx]

8088271 Hero Reincarnation. That about sums it up. The Mane 6 are the reincarnation, powers, skills, and all, of six of the greatest heroes in existence. Twilight is the only one revealed in-story as the reincarnation of Clark Kent, the Superman. This is basically me turning MLP:FiM into what it would have been if DC or Marvel was in control.

[Greenhorn]

I don't quite understand why Twilight want to do a magic duel with an apparently exhausted opponent? Isn't it a bit lack of etiquette?

[SvenFoxx]

8091352 Trixie claimed to have enough magical power to vanquish an Ursa Major. Since even an Alicorn won't face one of those without serious backup, that means she's claiming power greater than that of the Princess. It's not yet explained, but Twilight is offended by that, and decided to prove Trixie is a liar by putting her through the ringer. If she's really as powerful as she claimed, she wouldn't need the rest.

Besides, Twilight checked to see if Trixie was okay after the last challenge, remember? Trixie claimed she was fine, so it's out of Twilight's hooves.

[TheDriderPony]

Man, just keep feeding her ego and the townsfolk could have really exploited this opportunity.

"Hey Trixie! I challenge you to painting this white picket fence."