Book 1 - The Behemoth came to Canterlot

by Equimorto

Astrum Aureus

Twilight let out a wave of energy from her horn, powerful enough to both counter Nightmare Moon's blast as well as to act like an attack of its own. That much magical energy density fired in that shape should not have been sustainable, the pattern was a direct expansion from a spherical surface base and the kind of growth required to maintain the spell consistent in its outer portions at even just two thirds of the distance she shot it for would have drained a regular unicorn to the point of passing out, the amount and intensity of power passing through her horn needed to maintain it would have singed and burnt that of almost anyone attempting a similar feat. Twilight just did it, and the hardest part was thinking about how she wanted to shape it.

Nightmare Moon didn't simply back away, she was pushed back by force. Parts of the crystal walls they were standing on turned a smouldering red and began to melt where the spell's golden aura reached them. Twilight did cut it off shortly after, but only to switch to another one. More than another one, actually. Again, she made up for her lack of proper direct combat strategy by doing things that one shouldn't do, just because she could get away with it.

Casting multiple spells at the same time was not a recommendable thing unless one was an expert, especially not during a duel, especially if the spells required continuous upkeep or took large amounts of power. But for those reasons Nightmare Moon had surely never fought an opponent who'd do something like that, so Twilight reasoned she could get some form of advantage by getting creative with multitasking. She was perfectly capable of managing the mental juggling of using her magic multiple ways at the same time after all, she'd just never had the means to do something like that on that scale.

Part of her magic went into four streams that poured out of her horn in four directions perpendicular to the one it pointed to, curved backwards and then forward again like a chandelier of energy around her head, and from where the metaphorical candles would have been fired off ceaseless streams of magical projectiles and sparks that chased after Nightmare Moon. Another part of it went into a small sphere of energy maintained right in front of her horn, shooting beams of power towards different parts of Nightmare Moon's body.

Nightmare Moon was forced to focus solely on defending herself as she drew back faster and faster, and even still she began to fail at doing so properly. Sometimes one of her shileds was broken through, one of her attempts at deflecting a spell didn't work out. Some sparks and bolts got through, some shots still hit her. Singed her coat, burnt her feathers, cut through her skin, dug into her flesh. The alicorn hissed, but she could not do much. Seeing her chance, emboldened by rage and by the other's reactions, Twilight went even further with her efforts.

Comments

[Speckle]

Go, Twilight!