Book 1 - The Behemoth came to Canterlot

by Equimorto

And Yet Still A Spark Remains

"I charged that back when we had our little scuffle there, that wave you blocked. I wasn't ever expecting you not to do so, and the way you didn't notice anything told me I was probably right in my assumptions." Remembering Trixie's position and seeing the red glint of the Alicorn Amulet in the cloud of smoke and dust the explosion had raised, Stella hurled one of her spears forward. There came a wet, snapping sound, and she smiled, descending to earth and then stepping forward, her horn ablaze.

"Still, I wasn't sure. Not until I got to throw you there again." She fully released her coil and walked slowly towards the centre of the explosion, keeping her eyes on the light of Trixie's amulet as she made her way there. She could feel its power radiating, even in those moments she couldn't see it. She didn't need it to defeat Twilight, and she hadn't bothered ever stealing it for that reason, but it would still be worth keeping. And it would certainly be fun to get it off of Trixie's neck the hard way. Oh how much it would hurt Starlight when she'd see the sight of it. Or maybe Trixie's head should get brought along as well.

Her other spear shot forward. A creak, a muted cry. "Spatial manipulation," Stella explained, creeping closer. "I will concede, pretty smart. My coil can override any kind of sight or perception, any kind of reading, but I can't ignore physics." She kicked a small rock to underscore her point, not that Trixie could see her do so. "I can usually force others to ignore the ways I affect the world, or simply perceive them as natural, but you weren't looking at them. You weren't looking at me at all."

A wave spread slowly from her horn and for a moment the space all around her was lit by a vibrating construct permeating its entirety, warping subtly around her and her magic. "Congratulations on keeping this up the entire fight and for the entire area. And congratulations on getting this to slip my attention." At those words, she yanked something out of the hole in her side. It was invisible at first, but another wave from her horn revealed it a conical chunk of the same ethereal substance that permeated reality around her. She let go of it and it fell without impact to the ground. "Oh well. All that work for nothing." She took the last step forward into the smoke and readied her horn to fire.

The Alicorn Amulet stared mockingly at her from the ground, next to her spears embedded in the sand. Stella tried to move, in the instant of panic that immediately followed, and found her legs bound to earth by a red mesh of spiderweb-like threads that equally stopped her from teleporting. There was the crackle of electricity arching below her, and then a massive red blast rose from the earth and enveloped the alicorn whole.

Comments

[Speckle]

Aaaaaaaaand boom.
Did you ever stop and think that perhaps Trixie herself had a contingency plan, Stella? That she did notice the boobytrapped regalia? Also, Derpy's still out there and Twilight certainly wouldn't abandon her friends, even one she butts heads with. Either way this goes, I think you've been out-gambitted.

[Saix]

Curses, I went back and re-read the Stella fight from the beginning to see what I missed, but I was too late. Clever stunt.