Trixie Vs Twilight: The Movie
Twilight, Applejack, and Dash jumped through the portal behind Trixie all at once, hoping they could simply tackle her back into the real world. Trixie created a shield that crackled around herself that sent a surge through Dash and threw all three of them back.
“Ha! Did you think it’d be that easy?” Trixie turned her head to glance at them from behind. “This shield is—"
Twilight landed on her feet and shot a small arrow at Trixie. It hit her shield, popping it like a bubble.
“Eh?” Trixie blinked.
Dash cast the murder spell, sending most of her crows to harass Trixie, leaving one on Applejack’s back. When Trixie turned to fire a chain lightning spell at them, Twilight cast her spell. It summoned an ethereal chain that connected Trixie’s rear leg to Applejack’s.
Applejack created a portal back to the real world and jumped through it. The crow on her back turned back into a pony and both, back in the real world, pulled hard on the chain. Meanwhile, Fluttershy created a path of ice leading from Trixie to the portal before flying out herself.
For a second, there was zero resistance and they managed to pull Trixie’s rear leg out. A moment later, it stopped and Dash felt like she was trying to bring down a wall as Trixie dug in. That too lasted only a second before she and Twilight both tumbled out and the portal closed.
Trixie growled in frustration. She took her frustration out by grabbing the chain with her hooves and Applejack with her psychic powers and slamming the earth pony hard against a nearby tree. Applejack hit the tree with enough force to break it and passed out again.
“Do you think it even matters if you pull me out?” Trixie smirked at Dash, then laughed. “Well guess what? I already finished the— Hey, don’t ignore me when I’m being dramatic!”
To be fair Dash did ignore what sounded like an important announcement. She’d dove straight towards Applejack, scooping her up. Her job was to evacuate the area and already the chain was dissolving.
Frustrated, Trixie shot a blast of lightning at Dash only for Twilight to intercept it with her own lightning bolt.
“Whoa!” Trixie whistled, impressed at the display. “I think I underestimated the purple one! Not so much the others. But it hardly matters because I already—"
“I’ll cover you while you get out of here!” Twilight jumped in front of Dash as Fluttershy flew to her side and went back inside her teddy bear.
“Hey! I’m trying to dramatically reveal that you already failed! Do you people have zero sense of theatrics?” Trixie asked.
“I didn’t come here to play games with you,” said Twilight. “I’m giving you one chance to surrender. Remove all the curses you made and give me your spellbook.”
“Yeesh! You’re a serious one.” Trixie hopped off the wall and trotted towards Twilight. “I hope you didn’t come here to lecture me about morals. To a witch, strength is the only moral. The strong can do whatever we please and the weak have no right to complain about it. Maybe you don’t like it, but your morals are nothing compared to that truth.”
“That’s not how it’s supposed to be at all,” said Twilight. “You’ve completely abandoned the principles of witchcraft. Vengeance and conquest are sins that distract you from obtaining more power. You’re supposed to leave the weak alone. If you valued power that’s what you’d do.”
“Huh?” Trixie took a step back, taken off guard by the accusation. “Hold up. The sins of revenge and conquest? Are you talking about the old ways? How the heck do you even know about that?”
Twilight kept frowning but stayed silent.
“Ha!” Trixie raised an eyebrow then laughed. “Ah yes, super sleuth Trixie has finally figured it all out. It all fits together perfectly. You’re a witch too, aren’t you? You were trained by some far-flung hermit who still clings to the old ways.”
Trixie was technically right. Twilight frowned but kept her mouth shut.
“Don’t deny it,” said Trixie. “You didn’t even flinch at my psychological attack. And that pathetic excuse for a pegasus over there is your student, isn’t she? She reacted just like a trainee would to it. She knows the murder spell, you all have mind fibers, your way too strong to be anything else. It’s too obvious at this point.”
Twilight still didn’t answer, though it was clear the jig was up. Dash looked up at Applejack, still slung across her back. She was still unconscious, so at least nopony else was around to hear all this. Hopefully, nopony would believe Trixie or care if they couldn’t shut her up about this. It wasn’t like Trixie could prove this to anypony else.
“Well maybe you’re still new to this, so I’ll tell you how things work in the modern world.” Trixie held her hoof out to Twilight, like an offering. “We stopped following those stupid rules a long time ago to embrace the truth. But we try to stay out of the way of other witches. That’s all the morality that is still around. Maybe you should listen to that, hm?”
“But why?” Twilight asked. “How did things change so much? Why would you abandon our entire school of thought?”
“Your master hasn’t told you anything? I suppose if you are a witch, you have the right to know.” Trixie shrugged. “But I want to be one hundred percent certain first. Tell me the name of the first witch so I know you’re for real.”
“Well.” Twilight looked at Dash, unsure if she wanted to go that far with her student’s education just yet. “I guess I can say it. Her name was Golden Feather.”
“Wait! Golden Feather?” That was a name familiar to Dash.
Golden Feather was a semi-mythical figure, said to be the first pegasus, heck the first pony, to exist. According to legend, she was born of a single alicorn feather and the constellation Pegasus. How the heck that relationship worked was beyond mortal comprehension.
Among a million other things, Golden Feather and her younger sister were credited as creating the first nation, which would eventually become Equestria. But Equestria was such an ancient nation that its origins were mysterious now and nopony knew the truth. Stories about Golden Feather were so conflicting, a lot of ponies figured she was at least half myth. Dash tended to lean more towards one-hundred percent until just now.
“Was Golden Feather even a real pony?” Dash asked.
“I guess your master is just teaching you this now?” Trixie smirked down at Dash. “Yes, she was real and the founder of our school of magic. All of us are her students, in a sense. But she was also a fool, adopting all this nonsense about seclusion in her old age. What’s the point of obtaining all this power if you never do anything with it?”
“Power and magic are their own ends,” said Twilight. “Putting value on anything else is like trying to run in two directions at once. You’ll never become a true witch unless power is the only thing you focus on.”
“Yes, yes. We still know all those old sayings. But power as an ideal in itself? That’s just an endless road to nowhere. Inevitably you get tired of just walking and walking and still being in the middle of the street no matter how far you come. Eventually, witches just got fed up with it and wanted to actually do something.”
“But even if that’s the case why choose to do this of all things?” Twilight pointed to Applejack. “There’s no reason for you to run around cursing other ponies and beating them up.”
“Does anypony even disagree with me?” Trixie asked. “Religions claim their morality comes from some god or cosmic force that will destroy you if you don’t comply. Surprise, surprise, that’s how governments do it too. Every society and philosophy I’ve ever seen ultimately has morals made of violence. Even right now, you’re telling me to stop by threatening me with force. The only difference between me and everypony else is I admit the truth and I have the power to do whatever I want. The more a pony moralizes at you, the more terrible a tyrant they’d be if they ever got power.”
“But you wanted a story, right?” Trixie sat down. “The age of the great, old masters who shut themselves off from the world and vanished just as they became something truly incredible ended a long time ago. The last was Starswirl, who would go on to train the last master, Twilight Sparkle herself. A few hundred years later and a new generation wanted to assert themselves and enforce their ideals. But the question was, if power isn’t their ideal anymore, what would be? Of course, the only way to truly decide that was through fighting.”
Trixie paused for a moment, counting something out in her head.
“Let’s see. I believe there were seven masters alive at the time. One of them would have been Twilight Sparkle, cut off from the rest of the world. Of the six that fought, the important ones were Sombra and Cadence. Cadence wanted to be more like glorified babysitters, cleaning up these miserable outsiders every time they wet themselves. Sombra wanted to take all the wealth in the world for ourselves and slaughter anypony who annoyed him.”
Trixie looked up at the moon, smiling with excitement at the idea of such a cataclysmic battle.
“Can you imagine what a battle between six master witches would have been like?” Trixie looked back down at the earth and swept her hoof across the vast swamps before her. “The Festering Scar? This is the wound that was left on the land. It still hasn’t healed from it!”
“And you’re saying Sombra won?” Twilight asked.
“That can’t be right,” said Dash. “I would have heard about him taking over the world, right?”
“Huh?” Trixie looked back, remembering Twilight was there. “Oh no, he died horribly, as did most of them. Cadence was the only survivor, but she vanished shortly afterward. Most likely she died from a wound or something. With that, all the masters, save the one, died. Nearly every spellbook was destroyed in the battle and the art of making them was lost within a few hundred years after that. Twilight's are the only good ones left.”
That last part left Twilight deeply curious, growing silent to the point she was ignoring what Trixie was saying now.
“But even Sombra didn’t see the way things were,” Trixie went on without her. “The outsiders aren’t even worthy of being ruled over by us! You’d need to have some concern for them to do that. They’re nothing compared to witches. It’s our right to do whatever we want to them without caring about their wellbeing at all. That’s what we realized.”
“Wait.” Twilight lifted a hoof to stop Trixie. “You said the art of making spellbooks was lost some time after the last masters died? Not at the same time?”
“That’s the thing you take away from the story?” Trixie looked down at Twilight perplexed. “Yes. The last spellbook was made three hundred and fifty years ago. It was pathetic compared to the older ones. Why?”
“I think I understand now,” said Twilight.
“You do?” Trixie pulled back, surprised. “I’ll admit I never actually convince anypony with these speeches. I’m not sure what to do now.”
“No. I meant I understand why you’re so weak, why witches have been declining while the rest of the world grows stronger,” said Twilight.
“Oh? And what’s that? Because of the power of friendship or something?” Trixie laughed.
“It’s because you’re afraid.” Twilight simply shook her head.
Trixie’s laughter stopped.
“Are you even listening to yourself?” Trixie puffed herself up, offended. “The entire world quakes in fear of me and you’re calling me the coward? What a pathetic attempt at an insult. There’s nothing a witch fears.”
“Except yourselves.” Twilight pointed up at Trixie. “If you think the strong can just do whatever they want and go around terrorizing other people, you must realize on some level that the same thing can happen to you. You’re afraid of the other witches, of your students, becoming more powerful than you are. You know what it would mean if they did surpass you. So every generation withholds knowledge from the next to prevent that from happening. That’s it, isn’t it?”
For once Trixie was silent.
“Do you honestly think your master taught you everything she knows?” Twilight asked. “Would you teach your student everything you know? How much do you think would be left in another five hundred years?”
Trixie couldn’t answer the question with anything but a scowl.
“So I’m right. That’s why you can’t win against me. You were already defeated by your ideology long before you were even born,” Twilight concluded. “You’ve forgotten too much. I feel better now that I know the truth.”
Trixie gritted her teeth, clearly loathing Twilight’s suggestion, but couldn’t come up with an answer. At least, she couldn’t at first. She relaxed just a little the moment one finally came to her.
“You’re not wrong that our order has been in decline.” Trixie lowered her hat and glared at Twilight with what little of her eyes remained visible. “It’s a complete disgrace that even one of us was defeated in single combat by an outsider. Even I’ll admit we can’t compare to the great old masters. But you’re wrong about one thing.”
“Huh?” Twilight looked back at Trixie, genuinely curious.
“Hehehe.” Trixie lifted the brim of her hat victoriously and smirked. “The art of making mind fibers isn’t lost! The old masters aren’t entirely gone, are they? There’s one left. Or did you not hear that part?”
“Um.” Twilight briefly glanced to the side, then back at Trixie.
“Twilight Sparkle!” Trixie reared up on her hind and reached her forelegs out to the sky. “The strongest of the witches. She obtained eternal youth. She must still be alive, and she knows how to make new mind fibers. From her, I can regain all the lost, ancient knowledge.”
“I don’t think—"
“Oh! Do you think I can’t get through her curse? Well guess what?!” Trixie came back down on all fours and gestured over to Applejack. “That pony right there is curse immune. With her, I can just walk right up to Twilight’s house.”
“Seriously?!” Dash bit her tongue before she could say anything more. Applejack could have just walked up to Twilight’s house this whole time?! It seemed too unfair.
Trixie gave Dash a brief, curious look before turning back to Twilight.
“And what makes you think Twilight would teach you anything?” Twilight was offended at the idea. “She’d believe in the old ways. She’d be disgusted by you!”
“She’d accept me because I’m strong!” Trixie put a hoof over her heart. “After all this nonsense I’ve been through, I’m the strongest witch there’s been in hundreds of years! She’ll see my potential and want to acknowledge me as a master.”
Trixie summoned her spellbook, the same one Twilight made.
“Besides! I’ve been collecting all of her stolen things for years. I’m sure I have enough to impress her now. When I bring it all back to Twilight she’ll be all ‘wow, Trixie! Thank you so much, you’re so amazing.’ And then we’ll become best friends and—“ Trixie got a little carried away with her friendship fantasy and hugged herself. She caught herself and broke out of it, slightly embarrassed. “Well never mind that last part, but you get the picture.”
Twilight and Dash looked at each other with a painful look before turning back to Trixie. Dash felt a little second-hand embarrassment.
“Look, Twilight’s not going to teach you anything.” Twilight sighed and bowed her head. “I’ll give you one last chance to surrender. Your plan isn’t going to work. Twilight doesn’t believe any of the things you do.”
“Everypony believes it,” Trixie shot back.
“I don’t think anyone agrees with what you’re saying, not even you.” Twilight shook her head. “But it is true I’d have to beat you in a fight to prove you’re lying to yourself. It’s not a big deal if you use hyper spells here.”
“Tch! Sure! ‘Oh, I’m going to prove fighting is wrong by beating you up!’ All of you worthless hypocrites are the same!” Trixie opened the spellbook. “I’ll give you a chance to take out whatever inferior spellbook you stumbled on.”
“I don’t actually need to take it out,” said Twilight.
“Heh! And they say I’m arrogant!” Trixie flipped her mane one last time and opened her spellbook. “Let’s see if you can even push me that far.”
“You and Applejack should get as far away from here as possible.” Twilight turned to Dash. “There’s going to be a lot of collateral damage.”
“Fine by me,” said Trixie. “I don’t want to accidentally hurt Applejack. You have five minutes.”
“You’re a hundred percent sure you can do this alone?” Dash asked Twilight one last time.
“After talking to her? Yes.” Twilight kept her eyes trained on Trixie with absolute confidence.
It wasn’t like she wanted to run away, but realistically Dash wouldn’t be able to contribute a whole heck of a lot to a battle between two witches. There wasn’t much else to do but get the heck out of here and trust that Twilight really was the strongest witch.
Dash grabbed Applejack and flew off to the south, towards Rarity and the rest, as fast as she could.
The two of them didn’t say anything more while those five minutes passed. The witches stood across from one another, both with absolute confidence they were about to win. That would change soon.
The only sound was the croaking of frogs. Twilight wished there was some way she could tell them to get out of here, else they wouldn’t be long for this world. She could teleport them away, but any spell would start the fight.
Trixie was the one to finally break the silence.
“Here. Catch.” Trixie opened her eyes and lifted a single, small rock.
She threw it underhand towards Twilight, slowly enough that it wasn’t a threat to anypony.
“Glass bones!” at the last second Trixie named and cast the spell.
Maybe if Trixie hadn’t called out the name of her spell there would have been a slight chance of that working on Twilight. A normal pony couldn’t have reacted fast enough to do anything at this point, would have broken a bone just trying to catch that rock.
But Twilight had spent so many endless hours practicing magic that her reflex wasn’t to catch it. In a fluid motion, Twilight destroyed the glass bones spell, pushed her magic up to the incoming rock to create a mirror force, then finally pushed it forward to duplicate the rock.
The result was a dozen identical rocks flying at Trixie about as fast as those muskets shot their metal balls. It didn’t do any damage, of course. Trixie stopped the rocks just in time, holding them in midair with her psychic powers.
“Hah!” Trixie smiled with excitement, seeing Twilight get through that first, basic attack. “Elemental resonance!”
Trixie jumped into the water. Though it was shallow, Trixie sunk into an infinite depth and vanished. Thanks to that spell, Trixie was one with the water now. She could manipulate it and reform anywhere she wanted quickly.
That is if Twilight let her.
Twilight tapped her hoof on the water, forming a thin layer of ice formed over top. That threw the whole spell off the rails. Trixie desperately tried to reform, managing to do so but without any grace. She came crashing out of the ice without any grace, having to push herself up out of the chilly mush.
This time she wasn’t excited.
“Ethereal chains!” Her voice was already getting harsher.
Orange, ghostly chains flew out from behind Trixie as if to make wings. She gave them a flap and sent the chains whipping out in every direction, too fast for a normal pony to see. They tore through the trees and broke up the ice. Then all seven of them came swiping towards Twilight.
Twilight calculated the etheric resonance of the chains in her mind based on the damage they did to the trees, then used magic to put herself on the same wavelength. The chains went straight through her.
Trixie pulled back ever so slightly in surprise but immediately transitioned into her next spell.
“Empire swarm!”
Every link in the chain broke apart and reformed into a large empire wasp. Those could get dangerous if you didn’t deal with them quickly. There were a few hundred now, but they could easily become tens of thousands in a minute if left unchecked.
Without missing a beat, Twilight created a miniature black hole just in front of her, then a small orb of glowing green light nearby. Every empire wasp rushed straight towards the light and subsequently got sucked into the black hole.
Just like that, in seconds, they were all gone. Twilight vanished the black hole before it could destabilize.
“What the—?” Trixie hopped backward as she tried to bring herself to a stop. “Nopony’s ever—! Gah! Ground Dance!”
Trixie raised a hoof to stomp on the ground. It would have sent a jagged spike at Twilight from below were Twilight not faster. The master witch was strong enough to get the same effect with just a small tap and beat Trixie to the punch.
A jagged pillar of rock burst forth from the ground and hit Trixie hard in the chin, sending her back with a bloody nose. She was thrown back, but landed on her feet, scowling.
“You know you don’t have to shout out the name of every spell you cast, right?” Twilight asked. “If you keep doing that, you’re not going to get very far.”
Trixie growled in frustration. She glared death back at Twilight as she wiped the small amount of blood off her muzzle, already healed.
“Oh! You want me to fight you for real, huh?!” Trixie threw her hat and cape to the side.
Trixie teleported behind Twilight and shot out a laser that melted the ground and boiled the water near where Twilight stood.
Twilight was faster. Teleportation wasn’t completely instantaneous and in that split second Trixie vanished, so too did Twilight, reappearing behind Trixie. It wasn’t necessary to tap her on the shoulder or anything. With her psychic powers, Trixie simply felt Twilight’s presence behind her. She panicked and teleported much farther away.
Then she teleported several more times, looping around Twilight. Trixie teleported rapidly in every direction, hoping to outpace Twilight. The blue unicorn vanished and reappeared in every corner of the swamp and on every tree like she was trying to touch every spot at least once. She was doing a decent job of it, even.
There were moments it appeared like Trixie was in multiple locations at the same time. To amplify this effect, she created dozens of ethereal images of herself, all of which pretended to teleport around the swamp as well.
Twilight stood in the middle of this impressive display of speed, dozens of Trixie’s and flashing lights all around her, but she never lost sight of where the real Trixie was.
Finally, the attacks began. In that split second between teleportation, Trixie managed to loose two or three fireballs each time, swarming Twilight with them from every direction.
Still seeing no reason to move just yet, Twilight returned fire, intercepting each one. But Trixie simply went faster and faster, until Twilight was surrounded by fire in every direction.
They got to the point where Trixie seemed unable to move any faster, so instead, she needed to ramp it up with more complex spells. Now bats made of fire circled inward at Twilight and sprays of lava shot over her head trying to rain down on her. Trixie repeatedly tried to summon torrents of fire from beneath Twilight or tried to get above her and shoot lightning down.
Yet still, none of it was enough to get through.
She saw the look of desperation on Trixie’s face. This was it, the limit of how fast she could go, and it still wasn’t enough to force Twilight to move. Deciding that was enough, Twilight tapped the ground and intercepted Trixie on her latest teleportation.
Trixie was hit hard in the face by Twilight’s pillar of rock. This time, she was hit by four times the force as the last one. The blow sent her spinning backward in the air, but she still landed on her feet as though this was part of an intentional backflip routine. This time, she spat out a tooth that simply regrew a second later.
A bit too little force still, Twilight decided. She could hit harder with the next one.
Trixie growled and stomped her hoof in frustration, realizing she couldn’t match Twilight’s speed. She gave up on that strategy but wasn’t deterred enough to stop her from another. Twilight knew she hadn’t pushed Trixie all the way yet, not nearly.
One last teleportation sent Trixie high into the air.
Not just her horn, but her entire body shone with the blue light of her magic, telegraphing the first hyper spell of the fight. The younger witch wound up a considerable amount, intending to put as much force as possible behind her next attack.
Twilight squinted up at the magic flows, carefully trying to determine which spell it would be. For Twilight to truly defeat Trixie, it wouldn’t be enough to simply interrupt her hyper spells. That would drag on forever.
Instead, she was going to match Trixie blow for blow with all the same spells.
It was only one second before the spell finished that Twilight knew which one it was. The hyper-destruction sphere. Yet one second was a long time in a fight like this. Twilight began rapidly imitating the spell, her body glowing purple.
A black orb appeared above Trixie that was the size of her keep. Flames erupted around it and Trixie sent it hurtling towards Twilight. If it hit the ground, it would reduce the area to a massive crater and send trees, fire, and chunks of rock raining down for miles.
Twilight needed to cut the spell a little short. Her own hyper-destruction sphere was more of an oblate spheroid, much longer than Trixie’s by design. It was a little smaller too, as Twilight had finished it in a fraction of the time.
She threw it up at Trixie’s destruction sphere like a dart, aiming straight at the middle. The two of them collided and stopped where they were in the air. Then Trixie’s, on top, began to deform around Twilight’s. The two spheres merged into one and went sailing up into the air, high above the clouds.
As Trixie fell back to the ground, watching her attack get thrown away, Twilight saw a change in her expression again. This was likely the first time anyone had ever matched a spell like that from her. She was no longer overcome with frustration at stomping out an annoying persistent bug but looked up with a clear concern that was a chance she could lose.
Trixie landed and immediately went into a second hyper spell. She was casting clearer and with more determination now. Of course, being this close also meant Twilight could figure out which spell was coming more easily. That was the main disadvantage of such large, bombastic spells. You had a few seconds to figure them out.
It was going to be the hyper dance spell. Trixie was about to summon an entire army of dancing swords and spears at once. Again, Twilight began the same spell.
This time, they finished at once.
Seven thousand ethereal weapons floated up from behind Trixie, then became solid and enveloped themselves in the blue light of her magic. These were actual, physical objects that Twilight couldn’t dodge with mere resonance.
Of course, there was a reason Twilight knew there were exactly seven thousand of them. That was how many she was able to summon back when she’d made that book. Today, she could summon ten thousand and that was the number of dancing weapons, enveloped in purple light, that appeared behind Twilight now.
All the weapons flew forward and started slamming into one another, fighting all around the two in a dance of sparks. It didn’t take long to tell which side was going to win. Not only did Twilight have the numbers, but her aura was tighter and more solid, making them more durable. Trixie’s weapons were chipping away and breaking faster than Twilight’s.
Meanwhile, that fireball finally exploded far above, harmlessly but with enough force to clear away the clouds. It was like a flash of lightning that lasted a few seconds. A new sun appearing briefly in the sky as the clouds vanished.
Trixie clamped down on Twilight’s neck as hard as she could with her psychic powers while she went to cast the next hyper-spell. They weren’t close to as strong as Pinkie’s, but it did mean Twilight would have to hold her breath till the next spell finished.
It was easy to see which spell was coming this time, Trixie was going to summon the biggest pillar of rock yet underneath Twilight. Maybe she was upset about getting hit by the same thing twice?
Twilight ignored the strangulation and focused entirely on casting the same spell as fast as possible. This time she finished first.
In a single second, an entire tower of rock three hundred feet tall burst through the ground underneath Trixie. For a brief second, Twilight thought she might have put too much force behind it. Trixie went flying over the trees with a sickening crack. There was no doubt in Twilight’s mind that she’d just shattered every bone in the other witch’s body.
For the first time, Trixie didn’t land on her feet. She hit the ground and bounced, then hit it again and rolled through the swamp.
Twilight teleported over to her side as the sound from the destruction spheres finally reached her, drowning the distant sounds of the remaining dancing weapons and shaking the ground.
It took her a second, but Trixie pushed herself into a sitting position. Her regeneration was fast enough that broken bones recovered in seconds. Already she was close to being back to normal.
“How?” Trixie panted heavily, a few of her teeth were still regrowing. “How could you possibly know all those spells? The only ponies who’ve touched volume two for decades were me and the pony who taught me.”
“You haven’t figured it out yet?” Twilight brushed some of the mud off herself.
“Was there some hidden master witch this whole time who taught you?” Trixie looked down at her own hoof. “No, there’s no way that’s possible. The only other master, the only other way to have learned them…”
Trixie looked up at her with actual terror at what she just realized.
“So you figured out who I am?” Twilight asked.
“You found Twilight Sparkle yourself, didn’t you?! She took you in as her student!” Trixie pointed a hoof at Twilight like she’d just accused the other witch of murder. “It’s the only explanation for how you can know all of the hyper spells! How dare you? It was supposed to be me!”
“You still don’t get it? There is another explanation. I am a master.” Twilight walked forward.
“No.” Trixie started backing up, shaking her head violently. It was clear she knew the truth, but she shook her head at the idea anyway.
“You know who I am, and you know you can’t beat me.” Twilight cast the spell to take her disguise off, her hair and fur returning to their normal colors and her cutie mark reappearing. “I’m telling you to stop this. If you respect me, then—”
“No!” Trixie clenched her jaw and stood her ground, determined to fight against reality. “No! You’re not Twilight! It’s not supposed to happen like this! This can’t happen after everything I’ve been through!”
Twilight sighed. She really shouldn’t feel sorry for such a despicable pony, but…
“Look—“ Twilight held a hoof out to Trixie!
“Shut up! I’ll never forgive you for trying to impersonate her!” Some idea came into her head, just plausible enough to give her a shred of hope to cling to and she smiled again. “Twilight would have defeated me instantly. Do you think a master witch would struggle this much against me? Pathetic! Of course I see through your pathetic lies! I’m not stupid!”
Trixie began to laugh like the louder she laughed the truer her statement would become.
“Struggling? You haven’t even touched me.” Twilight shook her head.
Trixie’s laughter stopped as abruptly as it began, and she glared death at Twilight.
“And how close to the end of this do you think we are?” Trixie hit her chest. “Do I look hurt to you? With my powers, I never get tired and recover from any injury. I can keep this up for months, can you?”
Trixie put a hoof over her heart and leaned her head back, wincing in pain as a red portal opened and from it, she pulled a black arrow dripping with blood.
The hyper death arrow!
Trixie shot it forward with enough force to throw herself back several feet.
In a radius of twenty feet from that arrow, in a line that traveled with it as it went, everything died. The trees withered and rotted in an instant. Less hard plants turned grey or entirely to dust as soon as they entered the arrow’s range. Dead fish and frogs came bubbling up from within the water.
Twilight didn’t have enough time to react properly. She cast a regeneration spell on herself, then tried to catch the arrow with her telekinetic magic.
The force of the arrow hitting her magic barrier was near the limit of what Twilight could handle. She had to let it carry her back a great distance as she tried to slow it, the arrow killing everything else that got near them.
Twilight left a rain of fur and hair as she was pushed forward, the arrow causing it to rapidly fall out and the regeneration spell causing it to regrow. Hers wasn’t as good as Trixie’s, though. This was doing real damage and it wouldn’t protect her much longer.
Eventually, it slowed just enough, and Twilight was able to instead redirect the arrow. She gave it a hard hit from below, sending it sailing straight up. It burst harmlessly high up in the air a short time later.
Twilight fell to the ground, panting heavily. She got rid of the rejuvenation spell right away, as it had a cost. Doing that had left Twilight visibly aged. She’d rapidly aged enough times to know she was the equivalent of maybe 35 to 40. She had just enough youth gummies back at her house to undo the negative effects but having to do that one more time would dramatically reduce her abilities.
And of course, Trixie hadn’t simply assumed that arrow was going to be enough. Twilight could already see what she was planning next. Every plant that died from the attack was breaking up into dust and that dust was flying back to where Trixie had been.
She was creating a blight golem: A construct made entirely of dead plant material.
It took the form of a jack-o'-lantern, only after a few days of rotting away. The pumpkin was easily seven stories tall and had a myriad of faces on every side of it, each one a bit mushy looking, the teeth soft and every part of it melting into itself.
Some of the faces had pumpkin guts spewing from the mouth and a few other had fire bellowing out.
A thick, black, rotted vine thrashed up from the ground below Twilight. She cast a shield to protect herself from the damage but was still thrown high into the air.
Already Trixie had finished casting a third spell, summoning another wave of dancing weapons that floated around the pumpkin.
She was just going to keep repeatedly using those spells until Twilight found a way to stop her. With that arcanium plate on her chest, she really could keep this up indefinitely, even longer than Twilight could. Once she got rid of that, Trixie would lose her advantage.
Twilight shot out a torrent of fire in the opposite direction, sending her flying towards Trixie like a rocket. The pumpkin turned one of its flaming mouths towards her and launched a fireball in Twilight’s direction.
Twilight teleported to the other side of the fireball as she got close. Trixie was glowing blue again, getting ready to summon a new destruction sphere as hundreds of weapons threw themselves at Twilight.
She fired off a chain lightning spell that bounced between the weapons, destroying all of them on a collision course with Twilight before bouncing down and hitting Trixie. Trixie recovered in a single second again, but the spell was interrupted.
Twilight landed on top of the pumpkin and surrounded herself with a shield. Weapons banged on her shield but couldn’t get through. Trixie made her own psychic shield and went to casting a new hyper spell.
Instead of directly targeting her, Twilight went for the pumpkin below.
Duskle shrooms were growing all over the pumpkin. The fungus was devouring the pumpkin rapidly, causing it to begin to deflate into mush beneath their feet. Twilight had no idea if Trixie knew what they were, but she took them as a serious threat. Trixie abandoned the pumpkin, jumping back as she cast a new spell.
It was the frog plague spell. An impossible number of frogs was emerging from every direction, covering the ground to the point it would have been impossible to find so much as a pin-sized gap in them.
But they didn’t last long. The frogs that got anywhere near a duskle shroom, which was most of them, simply melted away and vanished in a fraction of a second. Twilight was completely covered in frogs but didn’t waste her energy trying to deal with them. Being the one who made this spell, she knew these frogs were harmless.
Instead, she took what little remained of the duskle shrooms and gathered their blight into a tight ball before jumping off the pumpkin. That stuff was close to the only thing that could destroy arcanium.
Trixie saw Twilight coming as she fell. She enlarged all the frogs by her side into ones twice as big as a pony. All of them shot their tongues out towards Twilight at once only for Twilight to teleport behind them all and underneath Trixie.
She slammed the ball of blight up at Trixie’s back as the other witch fell, getting a gag from her. Trixie was stunned by this one much longer than the other attacks, seizing up on the ground. All her frogs, her dancing weapons, even her pumpkin, began to crumble to dust.
The blight ate away at her, turning her fur black and quickly traveling over her body. The decay and regeneration seemed to fight with one another. Trixie’s body turned black, but back to blue just as quickly, making her look covered in splotches.
As planned, not everything was regenerating. Trixie’s chest deflated as the blight ate away at the arcanium. This was something she noticed and regarded with absolute horror. She put all her effort into casting a healing spell to expunge the toxins from herself.
The blight fell all around Trixie and she quickly returned to being fully blue. She felt her chest, but what she felt filled her with horror rather than relief.
“I take it the arcanium plate doesn’t regenerate?” Twilight asked. “You won’t survive another serious attack. Just give up.”
“S-shut up!” Trixie began to back away from Twilight, genuinely afraid now.
“Or do still not believe who I am?” Twilight finally took out her spellbook for Trixie to see. “This spellbook is made entirely out of mind fibers. Who else could possibly have something like this?”
“No!” Trixie stomped her hoof on the ground, still defiant. “You can’t be Twilight! This isn’t the way things are supposed to happen!”
“What? Did you expect me to congratulate you for beating up ponies who aren’t anywhere near as strong as you?” Twilight asked.
“That’s just the way things are! Do you think anypony had mercy on me when I was weak?!” Trixie put her hooves on her chest. “Do you think they even hesitated to stomp on me when I was a scared, powerless child? They don’t have any right to demand mercy now that I’m the strong one!”
“I don’t know anything about that,” said Twilight. “All I know is that you’re the one doing the hurting right now.”
“And where were you when I was the victim, huh?! You wait until now to show up? You ignore hundreds of years of villains. You ignored it when I was the one getting stomped on. Oh, but the second I become strong enough to be the one on top you show up to punish me?! For doing the same thing everypony else with power does?!”
This wasn’t going at all like Twilight expected. She looked around, struggling to think of something to say. If only Rainbow Dash were here to say something sappy.
“And you seriously chose that worthless idiot from before as your student?” Trixie pointed to the north. “That has to be the worst insult of all time! I gave up my entire life to be worthy of that but you just take some random idiot off the street?! Why would you choose some worthless piece of trash over me when I’m a thousand times stronger?!”
“Rainbow Dash isn’t worthless!” Twilight shot back at that one quickly enough.
“Are you kidding me?! Do you seriously think that pony could beat me one on one? She’s weak. She’s worthless!”
“And I beat you,” Twilight shot back. “I know every spell you have. I already broke through everything you have. Are you worthless?”
“Shut up!” Trixie stomped her hoof on the ground again. “I am great and powerful! I’ll force you to respect me just like I forced everyone else to! I’ll show you my ultimate power! I can’t control it yet, but I don’t care!”
“Don’t you get it? I don’t care how powerful—“
But it was already too late.
The white of Trixie’s eyes turned from white to purple and her fur became a translucent blue. A blast of force sent Twilight back and uprooted trees as Trixie suddenly expanded in size.
Twilight had never seen an ursa major before and hadn’t expected it to be as huge as it was. Rainbow Dash wasn’t exaggerating at all with its size. The Curse Tech headquarters was fifty stories tall but even on all fours, Trixie stood taller than that. At this size, just going for a light stroll would be devastating.
Would something that big even be able to see Twilight? She must have been like an ant to Trixie now. Maybe her psychic powers would be enough?
The ursa roared with uncontrolled rage. There didn’t look to be much intelligence behind her eyes. All Twilight needed to do was knock this thing out and Trixie wouldn’t have anything else to cling to.
“Alright.” Twilight’s body began to glow with magic. “One last round.”
But Trixie never came. She turned her back on Twilight and ran to the north. She was ignoring Twilight completely.
Or rather, Twilight realized, she was going after Rainbow Dash.
“Oh, come on!”
Dash hovered in the air, holding an unconscious Applejack as she and Fluttershy watched the spot they’d just fled from. The insane power of a witch wasn’t something you could appreciate until you saw a display like this. She couldn’t blame anyone for not standing up to Trixie until now any longer.
“This is freaking insane!” Dash watched the battle from miles away. Even at this distance, she didn’t feel entirely safe. And now Trixie had turned into an ursa. “Glad we’re way over here.”
An ursa wasn’t something Dash had ever seen up close. She’d just now realized that even miles away counted as ‘up close’ to something like that. The tree line was enough to cover her paws, but nothing else.
Something like that wouldn’t just crush you like a bug, it’d crush your entire house like a bug. There was no way for a normal pony to even try fighting it.
Just when she thought she was safe, Trixie turned and started bounding towards Dash. It looked like she was moving in slow motion, but Dash knew at that size she’d be here in just a minute or two.
“Of course it’s heading over here.” Dash sighed.
“Rainbow Dash!” Twilight’s voice came over the radio. “I think she’s coming after you! I need you to fly back to me. I’ll take care of the rest.”
“Ah boy.” Dash landed and turned to Fluttershy. “You watch her. I gotta go be a decoy again.”
Fluttershy only had time to nod before Dash sped off towards the bear. There was no doubt Trixie was coming for Dash, her eyes were trained right on the pegasus.
What the heck did Dash do? Other than what everypony else in her group had done, that is.
The ursa just kept getting bigger and bigger in Dash’s sight without end as Dash flew to it. There was simply no end to how colossal Trixie was! Finally, Trixie lifted one of her massive claws and brought it crashing down on the ground below.
Dash cast the murder spell and spread out as far as she could, but that claw was so enormous it could very easily swat all twenty crows at once. Every one of them darted as hard as they could, one of them just barely escaping in time.
Even a near-hit was devastating to the one crow that survived. The wind gust from it sent her tiny body spiraling out of control. She had to turn back into a pony just to regain control and even then she made a crash landing on Trixie’s shoulder.
The paw hitting the ground sounded like an actual explosion! But Dash figured Trixie’s back was relatively safe. The fur was too thick to run on top of, but Dash was able to fly just above her back the whole way to the other side.
“Where the heck am I supposed to go?” Dash looked around for Twilight. “Where is she?!”
Dash noticed a huge black sphere in the sky, one that began to flame just a moment after she saw it. Hopefully, that was Twilight’s. Dash flew towards it, seeing it as her only shot.
Behind her, Trixie turned again. This time, Trixie reared up onto her hind legs and attempted to bring her entire body crashing down on Dash. There was no way to avoid that.
The ball of destruction flew forward and hit the bear right in the chest. The light blinded Dash and threw her forward. When she regained control and turned around, she saw the ursa falling backward.
One final explosion of noise shook the air as Trixie fell flat on her back, motionless. Already steam was emerging from the ursa as it shrank back down.
Carried by Dash, Twilight landed next to Trixie, lying on her back unmoving but eyes open.
And that was it. Trixie had nothing left to throw at Twilight now. Nothing but her one argument from before, the one truth she thought she could hold onto.
“This isn’t fair!” Trixie winced.
“Fair? But I’m the stronger pony.” Twilight summoned a spear and pressed and pointed it down at Trixie’s heart. “Don’t you still believe what you were saying before? That the strong have the right to do anything they want with the weak? Or were you just saying that when it was convenient to you? To make yourself feel better?”
Then even that, even her words were broken. Trixie closed her eyes painfully and turned away to sob.
“So I guess you never really believed any of that.” Twilight pulled the spear away. “You’re just a child having a temper tantrum.”
Trixie looked like she was about to cry, lying there miserably in the mud. But it was more of a defeated, depressed look than the enraged growl from before.
Dash, as a crow, landed on a nearby tree.
“Don’t worry,” Twilight called up to Dash. “She’s done.”
Dash flew down to Twilight’s side and reverted to a pony.
“Man! That was intense!” Dash hit Twilight on the back. “I honestly don’t know if anypony else could have done that! You’re amazing, Twilight!”
“You really are Twilight, aren’t you?” Trixie asked the question, looking blankly at the sky like that was the hardest blow of all, didn’t even attempt to get up when Twilight stepped off of her.
“I am.” Twilight threw her spear to the side. She could tell killing Trixie wasn’t necessary at this point. “Are you going to listen to me now?”
Trixie wasn’t injured at all, but she stood up as slowly as if her body was barely still together. Then Trixie bowed down to Twilight as low as she could, pressing her muzzle down into the mud.
“I swear my loyalty to you!” Trixie solemnly vowed. “I’ll do absolutely anything you tell me to! Anything!”
“What?” Twilight took a step back in surprise. She wasn’t that.
“You’re the most powerful pony alive.” Trixie lifted her head.
“And?”
“And?!” Trixie was almost offended Twilight didn’t follow her logic. “Twilight— I spent my entire life admiring you. I dreamed of what it would be like to be you, to have your kind of power and not have to— to deal with anypony being cruel to me, to be free from all of them! Free from all these stupid morals and— and everything!
All of this! It was just trying to be like you! Strong like you!” Trixie grabbed Twilight’s withers. “I used to escape by fantasizing about… about being friends with you and you’d make all of it go away. I wanted to be somepony worthy of being your friend, Twilight! I worked so hard and took so many risks for that. I’ll do anything you ask me to!”
Trixie looked at Twilight with tears in her eyes, clearly in awe of the superior witch.
Having somepony like this admire her… Twilight wasn’t sure how to react.
“My friend?” Twilight asked herself more than Trixie.
“Your apprentice, your slave, whatever you think I’m worthy of.” Trixie nodded. “I know I’m not nearly as strong as you, but surely after seeing all that you know that I’m worthy of… of something! Anything! I can help you destroy anyone who defies you.”
“Is that who you think I am?” Twilight sighed. “You weren’t idolizing me; you were idolizing some fantasy villain you created in your head.”
Trixie immediately shrank from Twilight’s criticism.
“You get incredible power, and you use it to go on a temper tantrum. You hurt my—” Twilight looked over at Rainbow Dash, a sudden pang of fear running through her. She wasn’t sure what it was okay to call her. “You hurt Rainbow Dash. You tried to kill her.”
“What?!” Trixie reeled in surprise, turning to Dash with disgust. “I still can’t understand this! She’s stupid and weak! Why would you care about her but not me?! You don’t honestly think she can beat me in a fight, do you?”
“She used the spell I gave her responsibly for one.” Twilight looked over at Dash.
“Tch!” Trixie didn’t have a response to that, merely closed her eyes. “You were always strong, weren’t you? You don’t know what it’s like to be humiliated for years until somepony finally decides you're worthy.”
She wasn’t wrong. Twilight couldn’t remember a time she felt overpowered. Maybe Twilight didn’t understand.
Dash stepped up in her stead.
“I kind of get how you feel, believe it or not.” Dash looked off to the side wistfully. “I know how being powerless feels. But tell me this. If you hate feeling powerless so much, why do you want to make other ponies feel that way? I wouldn’t ever want anypony else to feel that way, not even you, because I know how much it sucks.”
“I just—“ Trixie bit her cheek and looked away in defeat. “That’s just the way things are, though. The strong crush the weak. What else am I supposed to do?”
Trixie looked back up at Twilight in desperation.
“You’re the greatest master of magic, Twilight! What do I have to do to be responsible? What am I supposed to do with my power? Should I go back to the old ways like you said?”
The right thing, according to their philosophy, was to isolate herself from the world and practice magic for the sake of magic.
She looked over at Rainbow Dash, knowing what the pegasus would say. Really, up until Twilight met that idiot she would have told Trixie that helping other ponies was a waste of time, like throwing rocks into a bottomless pit.
One thing Trixie said before was true, the old ways had left Twilight standing alone in the middle of the road. She’d been so angry at Dash for pulling her off that path before but now even she wasn’t sure if she wanted to go back to being alone.
“I don’t know the answer to that either.” Twilight looked down at her spellbook. “I never thought about anything but making more spells and training until recently. I’m not sure how much I believe in the old ways, even. I can’t tell you what the right thing to do is, only that you’re wrong.”
“Even you don’t know?” Trixie slumped down to the ground, truly and utterly defeated.
The heat from the battle had long since cooled. After listening to her for this long, Twilight began to see Trixie a bit differently. She really was just a child throwing a tantrum. Before she’d said it with some anger, but now it was more with pity.
Twilight wanted to take sympathy on her, to tell her something, but at the end of the day, she wasn’t wise at all. She couldn’t think of anything to tell the younger witch. She was simply good at magic. She didn’t know anything about this.
“I’ll tell you what you should do!” Dash butted in. “You need to do whatever you can to clean up the mess you made and then you need to turn yourself in. If you ever get the chance again, use your magic or whatever to make people feel less powerless, help them escape what you hate.”
Twilight couldn’t help but smile. That was something that idiot would say, even if Twilight wasn’t sure she believed any of it yet.
Trixie looked up at Twilight as though she were the arbiter of whether this was true.
“Listen.” Twilight trotted over to Trixie. “I’m trying to figure that out myself, but I know I will eventually. When I do find the answer I’ll find you and tell you. I promise.”
Twilight held out her hoof.
“But until then you have to promise not to use any of these spells anymore,” said Twilight. “Give me my book back.”
Trixie took out her spellbook. She looked down at it with horror, like she’d just been asked to kill herself like such a thing would have been preferable to giving it up. Then, too afraid to look at what she was about to do, Trixie closed her eyes and offered the book to Twilight.
Twilight took the second volume from her, holding it for the first time in centuries. That was one down, at any rate.
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"Chefs kiss" magnifique!
That was grand, and really well written on Trixie's part, allowing her concept to actually evolve and grow, even within a micro arc that is this chapter, well done!
Trixie turning herself in is a... poor idea. If for no other reason then because I don't believe there is any actual prison they would feel comfortable putting her in, nor is there likely to be an actual fair trial or anything of the sort. Trixie has burned a lot of bridges... and right now I cannot help but feel like being with Twilight and the gang might actually be the healthiest place she could be. Being around people who know who she is and are willing to treat her fairly/with something akin to actual kindness.
It just seems like Trixie needs some stability in her life... alongside having some good people to help keep her grounded and help rebuild her as a better person after her former mindset was shattered and broken by Twilight.
10911533
Keep in mind that Rainbow Dash, even if she isn't really a "law and order" sort of pony, is very much an idealist.
She's telling Trixie to turn herself in because that's what an idealist would do; you've done wrong, so now you turn yourself in and let yourself be judged, and then deal with the consequences. Unfortunately, Dash is also naive: She's telling Trixie to turn herself in because she has faith in the system. Faith that even if the people at the top of the pile are jerks and bullies, the system is still fair.
Come on, maybe lost witches and powertripping adventurers are the bosses, but you didn't think either of them was the final boss, did you?
This was an amazing chapter! The fight scene was awesome.
10911533
I second Trixie joining the main team, kind of. She could be the 7th wheel, like Starlight in canon.
This fight is incredibly anime, and it's fantastic. The decline in knowledge over time makes sense. My prediction is that Trixie's going to try to clean up the mess (Applebloom's still missing, right?) only to get caught by Flash Bang. Twilight's group will save her from that, and then she'll ally with them, once they've realized she can't really turn herself in without getting murdered.
Alternatively, she might just follow them around until they let her join. (Did she get the curse proof part when she got the Ursa part? If so, I'm picturing her just hanging out outside Twilight's tree until they let her in). I'd love to see her apprenticing next to Dash. Her ego could clash so magnificently with Dash being apprenticed to Twilight for longer. I'm very excited to see what comes next.
P.S. I like the new cover art.
That's some cute ass cover art swapping you got there
The battle was gloriously over the top! And I actually felt bad for Trixie at the end there...
Very understandable
I can't agree with either of those.
Sombra for obvious reasons and Cadence because if they did that then the world would probably start stagnating
Because it's one of the two or three actually important parts in that story
Not a whole lot, and by that point there would probably be a lot of witch hunts and burnings going on
She doesn't want to get it
You got what she wanted, Twilight’s attention and protection
It's an argument that rarely holds longer than someone even stronger showing up
If the the strong can do whatever they want, then they can also choose to not crush the weak... but you couldn't, because for all your magical might you never managed to stop being that weak and scared little filly being bullied, terrified of being hurt again
Fun chapter with some interesting options left open at the end. Looking forward to see where this Trixie thread goes.
One small question though:
So is Twilight holding two spears at Trixie's heart? I have a feeling that one of them is actually a dreaded Typo Spear instead.
I am not sure why i am surprised . .
I mean, this is basically what the alicorn amulet was all about as well.
This was a really good chapter. Trixie is at a crossroads and has to decide what she'll do with her life. That is assuming Twilight doesn't choose for her. Which she probably won't.
10911621
I had the same thought about Twilight teaching Trixie too. Trixie might have to start from the beginning again since she maybe only learned how to cast spells but nothing of making them. Maybe some of the things she'd have to do she would brute force because she's already very powerful and she'd be starting at the beginning which leads to an interesting situation where she technically did what she was supposed to but not in the way in which she was intended to actually learn something. Also Dash would be pretty competent at potions by now so she has that over Trixie.
Fascinating look at witch history, including the familiar names and the cause for their decline. And the fight was exquisite. Great job in giving Trixie a chance once she actually started getting serious.
Now the question is where Twilight goes from here, especially if she’s not sure about the old ways. Even she has to admit that spinning her wheels forever has gotten old.
Oh, and there’s the question of when, not if, Trixie blabs about who defeated her.
That build up to the fight was magnificent. I really appreciate a good slow decline of magic with hope for it rising again in a setting.
Oh, Twilight, don't you know that shouting your attacks is worth style points?
I really like that Twilight isn't just aiming to win but to crush Trixie's spirit in a mirror match.
Man, I feel really bad for Trixie. She's terrible, but she's clearly hurt and broken. I think she needs a chance at being better. And a therapist.
Well anyway, this a great character for Trixie and character growth for Twilight. I'm looking forward to more as always.
Enjoying your story! Great work!
10911981
Well the scythe isn't intended to kill anyone. It's more like a time waster / sadist tool.
10911621
Yes, I wanted to see if something like this would get more clicks and it looks like it did.
10911677
There may very well be another witch out there who agrees with that.
10911621
No. There's exactly three people on the entire planet with that trait
and Twilight owns two of them.I hope Trixie ends up sticking around, she deserves a chance to grow as pony.
NOOOOOOO!
I didn't wait four months since march trying to shove this story out of my head just so that when I could binge it, it ends here! Waaaaaa!
At least I came back to binge this story when I did, I would absolutely hate to have read the previous chapter to figure out that it was the latest. Then again, waaaaa! I still want moar!
WhinningJoking aside, again, as I've said four months ago, this story is an incredible piece of work. I'm happy to see Trixie having a bit of humbleness, a small glimmer of hope for the future.Sigh, I only wish I could read about it right now. Also, cute new cover art(At least I hope it's new, I remember the previous one being different!)Though the alicorn part did confuse me for a bit. And oh was I lucky! I come to binge this story right at the climax. If I came earlier I would've been left with a cliffhanger.
I feel bad for reading this story for free, do you have like, a Patreon or something I can donate to?
Coming back for a second reread, it said Twi summoned a spear twice, or am I just missing something?
10912485
I guess I could make a ko-fi if you want.
10912388
Well the bad news is I'm still not close to the end of this madness. The good news is that the next few chapters should go faster. Actually the one... I think 2 from now, has been done since freaking February.
And yeah, the alicorn thing is a compromise! It's not easy to find slightly-flirty unicorn witch Twilight.
10912550
That was to fool the enemy (though I fixed it)
10912553
Have a coffee!
10912575
Thanks. I will drink that coffee forever.
Well this was a good chapter. I also notice that many other readers desire that Trixie stays around. Too be honest I'm one of them too. Maybe Twilight can start a Witch Coven with all the other witches? Though your the writer and you decide where the story goes.
I got one question though, how is Trixie going to remove her curses. Doesn't she need Twilights spell book to do that?
I see some subtle clues in this chapter you brought forth.
Twilight is not the only master witch that is still alive, isn't she? I bet that Cadance and Sombra are still around.
10912668
Trixie isn't powerless without her spellbook. Firstly, if you use the information in a spellbook/mind fiber frequently enough you'll still know it even without it. Second, you need to do an immense amount of training before you can use a spellbook like a pro. I think the figure Twilight gave was something like 12 hours a day for ten years? Trixie would still know a great amount about witchcraft and curses without it.
And once again Dash saved the world without knowing it. If Trixie had found Twilight first she might've been able to befriend her, but end up a toxic influence that could've turned Twilight into the monster she was feared to be. Dash befriending Twilight opened her up to the world and gave her a curious if cautious opinion instead.
Also I can't help but think things are gonna go south next chapter. They'll try to turn Trixie in, but Trixie only half understanding the group's plan and wanting to repent will likely brag to authorities about how "all credit goes to magnificent Twilight Sparkle and her loyal student Rainbows Mash", and the jig will be up.
Also some patch notes:
-Starlight is established as the only pony to have ever beaten a witch in single combat. It’s mentioned she took volume six from said witch and it’s being studied in area 5X. Volume five's location is lost and five known witches have the other 5.
-The zombie apocalypse scenario is better explained. (Basically zombies never truly die, always coming back eventually. In a few hundred years zombies will cover the planet entirely. Twilight underestimates this danger initially because she thinks the population of the planet has to be maybe 100 max.)
I regret not finding this story sooner. This is simply epic.
10913371
I don't know if that's good or bad.
You know I will give an extra comment for this chapter. This had kinda Alucard and One Punch Man anime feel like. I'm not sure if you know either of those animes. Anyway this is a good thing. Because you must careful with a powerful character not to make her into a Mary Sue.
10912121
Right... The source for the new image goes to the old one.
Amazing chapter but I can't help feeling a little bad for the great and hopefully apologetic Trixie
I have finally caught up, man this story is way better then I anticipated, seriously amazing job. I am especially excited for what’s to come with trixie, she’s already one of my favorite characters both in canon and this story. I really hope she sticks around in the story in this fun little friend group they are making. And quite frankly, there is just a lot more you can do with the character if she sticks around with twilight and rainbow. There is so much potential for growth to happen between the 3. Plus Trixie looks like she really needs a friend. Also for the record, turning herself is in probably the worst way to go considering with most parties involved, I’m sure she would just wind up dead or possibly something worse.
I look forward for more.
I’m sorry for asking but I’ve read the story great by the way but I have trouble memorising and putting things together can you tell me why Twilight would not teach trixe also will Twilight and rainbow dash hug also will we find out more about Twilight and rainbow dash’s past
10915525
Probably yes.
Ill just add on some more to the praise. As someone who never reads anything, i can't say these from an objective viewpoint, but this was fantastic. The pacing was good, nothing felt rushed or too slow (well maybe the ursa fight part) and most importantly I easily envisioned and believed the FiM characters in their roles here. I feel like you've nailed the characterization and interactions of everyone so far and thats what makes it really nice to read.
Hope you continue this to the end because I don't think a piece of literature has ever raised my heart rate reading what is about to happen. The ending with trixie even made me tear up a bit. A common but too real of a feeling.
As with what other are saying, I am curious where Trixie is headed, to me, trixie's character and situation are perfectly set up for her to join the group, but its your story so write what you think is best.
10913034
I don't think Trixie would have ever been able to influence Twilight to the grade Dash did.
10912668
I think it was stated that Sombrero is truly and fully dead.
10916850
How many times have you read story where the big bad is suppose to be gone, only to reveal he or she faked it. It's a common trope that can be used by artists and writers. A smart writer knows how to play with this. Showing little subtle hints and clues in the story to suggest that there is something the character assume is not correct.
It can be done many ways. Contradictions is one of most used form in this. And the more subtle ones are usually the best ones. Because that make it for us readers more believable that our protagonist or actually any character failed to notice them.
It's because English isn't my native language that I never wrote a fim fiction of my own. But I can enjoy the other writers and those like this one is a gem in a thousand. I recognize and appreciate good work.
Was that a sneaky This Platinum Crown reference!?
Great chapter. Even with all the silly cheese and references and action, it was very much in the spirit of MLP at the end.
10917416
Wait, was there? I've read that story, but I don't remember putting in a reference to it.
Though interestingly there was a reference to Platinum Crown in the rough draft of the chapter Rarity first appears in, but that part of it got cut for time.
10917444
The constellation Pegasus being the mother of Ponykind is in This Platinum Crown.
10917484
That was totally unintentional, but I'll pretend like it wasn't if it makes me look better.
10917835
Haha. You win points just for saying you read that story as far as I'm concerned!
10919369
Then imagine how strong Twilight is if she can do that.
Well I just read all of this over three days.
I know It's only been ~10 days since your last chapter came out but any idea when we might see the next?
10923087
I've been making pretty good progress on the next few chapters. My goal is for the next one to be done by Saturday.
10923092
Didn't expect such a quick reply, thanks for the update and thanks for the story.
What's the source on the current cover art?
10923138
It's right here. Someone made a unicorn edit of it for the story since Twilight's not an alicorn in it.