Hero Souls: Awakening

by SvenFoxx

19. Magic Duel

The Everfree Forest...

“Are you sure we’ll find one in here?” Snips asked Snails as the two young foals ventured deeper into the Everfree Forest.

“Yeah! The forest is full of monsters! How hard can it be to find a massive bear? And when we find it, we’ll bring it to Ponyville for Trixie to vanquish!” Snails said passionately. “Then they’ll all see how great she is!”

Snips seemed to take comfort in his friend’s enthusiasm. “Yeah! What could go wrong?”

---

Town Square...

“A magic Duel?” Trixie asked. She seemed surprised.

“I didn’t stutter, did I?” Twilight asked. She smirked. “Or is the Great and Powerful Trixie… scared?”

Trixie scowled. “Trixie isn’t scared of anything! Trixie accepts your challenge!” She stomped her hoof. “As the challenged, Trixie executes her right to declare this a no-holds-barred Magic Duel. No restrictions beyond the law, and the duelists must remain on the stage. No touching the ground outside the stage. First to give up, touch the ground outside the stage, or be incapacitated is the loser.”

Twilight was downright grinning now. “And as the challenger, I execute my right to name the stakes. If I win, you have to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth whenever I ask you a question. You will bind your magic to that oath to enforce it.” By the end of that declaration, the Unicorns in the crowd had gone wide-eyed and Twilight was glaring at Trixie.

Trixie hesitated. She was beginning to realize Twilight didn’t seem to like her. “... And if Trixie wins?” she asked.

“I will publicly declare you my better in all ways magical, and likely on the level of my teacher… Princess Celestia,” Twilight said solemnly.

The crowd had gone deathly quiet, and Trixie’s eyes lit up. “Deal!”

“To the count of three?” Twilight asked, tensing.

“One… Two… Three!” Trixie counted down.

On the three, Twilight tested the waters, so to speak, with a simple Magic Missile. It hit Trixie... and blew a hole in her chest. Twilight panicked momentarilly before realizing there was no gore. Trixie faded away like dust on the wind, grinning the entire time. Her grin was the last to fade away.

Twilight swore to herself, and focused on limiting her own powers as much as she could. If Trixie hit her physically and realized it did nothing to her, she may call foul and force Twilight to forfeit for cheating.

Thankfully, the blue Unicorn seemed to be sticking to magic, as a telekinetic aura enveloped her tail. With a shriek of surprise, she was hurled through the air and towards the ground outside the stage. Thinking quickly, she teleported. Unfortunately, she forgot to account for momentum. On exiting the teleport she hit the stage hard.

“That’s the second time you’ve teleported today in front of Trixie,” the Unicorn’s voice called out. It seemed to come from everywhere and echoed. “On top of conjuring two large tubs, a Magic Missile, and the flare from the race… Trixie is impressed.”

Twilight looked around, looking for distortions in the air. “I assure you, it was not my intention to impress you.”

“You do not seem to like Trixie.”

Twilight rolled her eyes. “No, why ever would I dislike someone with the arrogance to claim to be better than Princess Celestia?” she said sarcastically.

“Trixie never claimed as much! She specifically said she was the best Unicorn!”

Twilight suppressed a grin. Trixie may have excellent control, if her rather impressive illusions were anything to go by, but the moment anyone gets emotional their control slips. However, while she now knew where Trixie was, timing was important. She didn’t want to tip her hoof yet.

“You claimed to vanquish an Ursa Major!” Twilight made herself sound angrier than she was. “Even the Princess can’t do that alone! Therefore, you say you’re greater than her! I call bullshit!”

“... Oh.”

Twilight suddenly spun and aimed her horn to the top of the stage. A blast of lightning split the air explosively and connected with something not there.

There was a comical moment of being able to see Trixie’s skeleton, and Twilight noted that magic was more… cartoonish compared to the magic she saw on Earth. It wasn’t ridiculous like that Looney Tunes show she vaguely remembered, but enough to be funny in hindsight. Then a blue Unicorn thudded onto the floor of the stage. She was lightly smoking.

“Had enough?” Twilight asked, trotting up.

Trixie gave a wheezing cough as she stood up slowly. “Ow… Trixie would like to file a complaint.”

Twilight raised an eyebrow, leaning over to hear the mare more clearly. “Oh?”

Suddenly the Unicorn grinned. “Gotcha!” She faded away into a whirlwind of leaves.

Twilight had only a split second to realize she had been played before she was hit from behind by what felt like a backhand from God, sending her flipping through the air. She managed to stop herself before she hit the ground. Thankfully, she had the awareness to envelop herself in magic to make it look like she was levitating herself. She spun around and glared at Trixie, who looked shocked. “Okay, I’m done playing nice.” she declared, before she conjured a warhammer made of magic. Then she vanished in a blur, racing towards Trixie.

Trixie’s eyes widened at the speed before she was hit hard by a blur of purple. She went skidding backwards. Her nose was busted, she knew instinctively. She ducked the next blow and tried to lash out with a wave of raw magic, which seemed to slow Twilight considerably for a moment, before the hammer connected again on the third pass.

When Trixie woke up next, it was to the feeling of grass under her and the sight of Twilight grinning down at her.

“I win,” she said simply.

Trixie scowled and opened her mouth.

“FIRE!!!”

Trixie shot to her hooves and Twilight spun. They both saw a Unicorn pointing at the Town Hall, which wasn’t far. Smoke was billowing from windows, and the occasional lick of flame could be seen, alongside the dull orange glow in the windows. At the same time, a loud angry roar shook the night air. Trixie paled considerably. She knew that sound. She knew beyond a shadow of a doubt what that was. There could be no mistake. She could never mistake that sound, a sound she had only ever heard once before. A sound the source of which nearly killed her.

An Ursa Major.

Author's Note:

Snips seemed to take comfort in his friend’s enthusiasm. “Yeah! What could go wrong?”

The author would like to take this moment to assure his readers that writing this line had physically hurt. That is all.

---

Name: Trixie Lulamoon
Gender: Female
Main Theme: Black and Yellow, by Wiz Khalifa
Talent: Illusions
Species: Pony
Sub-Species: Unicorn

Hero/Villain Soul: None

Abilities
Magic
Analytical Mind
Physically Fit
Above average magic reserves
Exceptionally high magic control

Bio
Born to a poor family in Trottingham, Trixie was eventually taken in by Social Services when it was discovered her family was on the edge of being unable to properly care for her financially. Tossed around the foster system most of her life, Trixie was eventually adopted by an old stallion named Trick Shot. Trixie came to view him as her grandfather.

Taught the ins and outs of show-business by Trick Shot, Trixie learned how to work a crowd to her favor, and had even joined her grandfather on stage many times. It was through this that she learned of her talent for illusions in general. Trixie was happy with her life.

Unfortunately, old age caught up with the elderly stallion and he left Trixie everything in his Will. Shattered over the loss of her only family in her eyes, Trixie vanished into the Underground. She began taking on bounty hunting contracts and built a reputation as being a master of stealth, further honing her skills with illusions.

It’s only in recent years that Trixie doned her grandfather’s cape and hat and began performing again.

[REDACTED]

Notes
While Trixie’s boast of vanquishing an Ursa Major is a lie, she did run afoul of one during one of her bounty hunting contracts in the Everfree Forest. She barely escaped with her life, but was praised for even escaping. It was this event that started her down the path of lying to make herself seem greater than she is, as she liked the praise.

Trixie’s talent for illusions led her to devouring any book on illusions she could find. She practiced hard for years with the talent, eventually leading her to develop a keen eye for details. She has also refined her control over her magic to such a point that it far outstrips even Twilight Sparkle’s control.

When Trixie lets her emotions get the better of her, her control can slip enough to cause disturbances in the illusions she creates.

---

1. Dummy!, by Toby Fox

Comments

[badninja]

I got to ask but why did "What could go wrong?" hurt? At that point you should have been cackling as to show them why. Also so Trixie will not be a villain soul it seems, that is too bad as I think her and Dr. Doom share a lot in common, besides speaking in third person constantly. Otherwise great chapter and I can't wait for the reveal that it is an Ursa Minor.

[alfonso_rd_33]

8094883 that's ez... it hurts because everyone but them know not to tempt the will of Milo Murphy's great (x16) grandfather

[TheDriderPony]

8094883 We get it, you like Trixie for a Doom soul. You don't have to keep reminding the author.

[ErikPhantom]

8088376 Huh. That sounds cool, and I've definitely not seen such a premise before. Going on my read list.

Mixed verse of DC and Marvel or just one or the other?

(Following are super-optional questions, since I'm curious, don't feel you need to answer if the answers are spoilers)
Are other non-Mane Six characters also reincarnates? All heroes? All villains? Mixed bag?
Are the Sisters? Discord? Or are they just this cycles new unique superbeings? (No more reincarnates than our Supe's or Batman are of anything.)

Ah, sod it, you've piqued my curiosity to much. I'll start reading tomorrow, it's midnight so bed first.

[SvenFoxx]

8095065

Hero Souls: Awakening Q&A

If that doesn't answer your questions, PM me. I'll try to answer what I can.

[Greenhorn]

Some colts need to learn not to challenge Murphy.

[ErikPhantom]

8095149
Cool, that covers all my initial questions.

[Comickook]

Hey there. Excellent work on the magic duel. And, yeah, Trix messed up BIG TIME in order to get Supermare to drop a bomb THAT big (it typically takes a lot to get Superman upset enough to even use the "d" or "h" words, much less any variant of the "s" word). Of course, Snips and Snails messed up even worse (not that that's a big surprise). Still, even though she lost, Trixie was still able to do a respectable job dueling Twilight. Hopefully, Twi will be able to handle this (okay, she was able to canonically non-violently subdue an Ursa Minor WITHOUT Superman's powers added on, but I doubt she'll get off THAT luckily in THIS continuity meaning this is likely to be an actual Ursa Major rather than the Ursa Minor of canon just so Super-Twi doesn't end up feeling like a bully for beating up on a baby ). Plus, great info in the author's notes. I'll very definitely be looking forward to more, but will respect the fact that real world concerns might make it take a while.

[Cross Lament]

Shame on you, Twilight, cheating in a magic duel.

[SvenFoxx]

8096608 It's not technically cheating. Trixie declared no-holds-barred, which generally amounts to anything goes. The only rules are the ones that are decided at the start, and Trixie never said you couldn't use abilities that weren't related to magic. Only that you couldn't leave the stage. She assumed Twilight would only use magic. Justifiably so, in fact, considering Twilight's publicly known history.

It was a rookie mistake most professional Duelers know better than to make. If you have the ability to choose the form of combat, always confine it to a method you know you excel in.

That's not to say Twilight wouldn't get in trouble if said abilities were revealed. While she didn't break the rules, she basically took a hidden weapon into a fight that had an unspoken agreement to only use fists. She would still win the duel, but her reputation would suffer.

[ErikPhantom]

Hey, finished reading and I like it.

The one thing that mildly disappointed me was the "one character per universe" rule, so no Bats and Soups shenanigans, plus it seems like it would be difficult to choose only one character from universe's as large as DC or Marvel and be wholly happy with it.
Also serves as both a plus and minus in that there won't be any "past life baggage" (such as ex's and arch-enemy's) bogging down the Equestria-centered plotline, but also no interesting interactions with those 'baggage' characters or even the one's a Soul was friends or colleagues with (again; PonyBruce and TwiClark talking or working together would be hilarious 9 times out of 10.)

Regardless, I enjoyed it and anticipate more.

[Titan Commander Sebaste]

Uh oh....

Trixie doing bounty hunting? I'd definitely go for Boba Fett as a Hero/Villain soul for her

[SWEETOLEBOB18]

8104773
No, Trixie = Joxer the Mighty (Xena)
Joxer the Mighty was a major character on Xena: Warrior Princess and Hercules: The Legendary Journeys. He was one of the closest friends of Xena and Gabrielle. Although he was incapable of fighting and wasn't the smartest of people (and mostly oblivious of this), he was a loyal friend and extremely trustworthy. He was one of three identical triplets, his brothers being Jett, a professional assassin, and Jace, a rather flamboyant performer. He didn't have a close relationship with either of them, although implications would lead one to believe that he was closer to Jett than he was to Jace.