Dark Hearts and Spirits

Bones cracked and reformed as Dark-heart transformed into a large, red wyvern. Trixie had to step back to avoid being flattened by his tail. He snorted a gout of flame as his aura calmed down to a faint black and red glow.

"Well, what are you waiting for? Get on" Dark-heart demanded to the stunned unicorn. Trixie shook her head to clear it before jumping onto her savior and, dare she lower herself to that level, friend. Dark-heart let out an ear-piercing screech without a care for subtlety and took to the air with one powerful snap of his wings. Trixie almost screamed but caught herself when she remembered that wyverns' have sensitive hearing. She didn't want to lose his favor after-all. A few pegasi royal guards flew out, spears at the ready. Dark-heart chuckled darkly before angling back. "You can take them" he ordered before going into a full-speed tackle at the guards. The guards lost their formation as they had expected the dragon to fly away and not actively fight. Before they could compensate for their mistake two head exploded with a pink glow. Trixie had taken care to only hit their heads and cause them a quick death and not a soul-drain like Dark-heart would do. The royal guards started retreating in a panicked and disorganized fashion because for all their training, they had never seen true combat. Dark-heart laughed madly before blasting a dart of fire into the group of guards. Before their ashes even fell to the ground Dark-heart burst into childish tittering. "Hihihi, they got fired! HAHA!" mocked before spreading his wings and continuing to Ponyville. Trixie felt herself chuckling along with the demon. He had made her feel more happy than she had been in weeks.

Twilight was enjoying a wonderful dream about world peace when Spike jumped on top of her. She almost yelled but caught herself when she saw Spike's terrified expression.

"T-trixie is back! She hurting ponies in the town square Twilight" he stuttered while shakes ran through his body uncontrollably. Twilight put a mild sleeping spell on Spike before charging up her horn and teleporting to the town square. What could've made Trixie relapse? As she popped out of hyper-space a body flew through the air with a hole punched through the abdomen.

"Yes, run foals as Trixie shows why she is the best!" Trixie cackled while abusing ponies all over the place with magical bolts, some fatal. Trixie is so intoxicated in her new found power that she doesn't notice the blur of orange until it slams slams into her and smacks her to the ground. Trixie attempts to charge up a spell but Applejack shows no mercy and starts using her earth pony strength to literally beat Trixie into the ground. Twilight was helping civilians to escape with her magic while Applejack beat down the blue unicorn. Applejack slammed her hooves against Trixie's face, each hit drawing blood and pain from the blue unicorn. Finally there was a loud pop as Trixie's jaw shattered from the punishment. Trixie, now with her jaw hanging limply and her eyes wide, attempted to crawl away and escape. Applejack interrupted her by leaping into the air and landing on Trixie's back with a horrific crunch. One might think this to be a mild punishment, however an earth pony weighs vastly more than one might think to hold their musculature. It is doubtful Trixie was thinking about that though since a huge glob of blood flew out of her mouth. Trixie staggered to her hooves only to fall to her knees and cough up more bloody phlegm. The showmare raised her head and saw the earth pony pulling back her hoof, ready to crush Trixie's skull. Applejack snarled with rage and prepared to finish off the pathetic creature when suddenly a magical aura grabbed her hoof.

"That's enough Applejack! You will not lower yourself to her level" Twilight screamed at the cow-pony. Applejack looked as if she had snapped out of a trance and froze. That was a mistake. Trixie somehow got to her hooves and blasted Applejack away with a blast of magic. Trixie then took a moment to cast a healing spell before grinning madly. The grin was hideous because even as she grinned, teeth were being replaced.

"Now that the warm-up is over, let's begin Princess" Trixie said with as much venom as she could muster. Twilight blocked a weak concussion blast before attempting to reason with Trixie.

"What is wrong with you? You were sorry" Twilight yelled before dropping her shield and throwing off a few blasts.

Trixe blocked them while screeching "You believed that load of pony feathers?! Groveling before you made Trixie sick to her stomach you low-class trash!" Trixie fired up an earth spell causing the ground to shoot up under Twilight. Twilight staggered from the blow before being blasted back psychically. "Trixie is now where she belongs: with everyone below!" Trixie shrieked before blasting Twilight with a barrage of torture spells. Trixie's laughter was the only thing Twilight could focus on to block out the pain.  Trixie continued mocking Tilight even as Twilight screamed in agony. "Feel the pain of a thousand tortures course through your body Twilight Sparkle!" Trixie shrieked, her eyes wild with fury. Trixie grabbed Twilight in a magical hold and began to bend her in such a way that the alicorn would have her spine broken  in minutes. Twilight writhed while her body was contorted forcefully and against her will. Finally, after a minute of pain, something inside Twilight snapped. A huge wave of magenta magic shot out from every pore in Twilight's body. Trixe then saw the full fury of Magic. Twilight floated in the air with her mane holding the vastness of space and her eyes being blank slates of magic. Then she spoke

"I have held back my entire life to not hurt someone" she said in a booming voice that would've made many paralyzed in fear. "You will never be on my level Trixie because your body would break apart from the strain" the voice said. "You are nothing to me and I could wipe you out with enough precision to make your head spin". Before Twilight could finish her monologue however, Trixie sent out a precision bolt of magic into Twilight's face.

"Don't get so cocky" Trixie chuckled while the smoke cleared. Trixie's grin turned into a frown when Twilight simply leaned her head forward without a scratch on her face.

"Is that it, weakling?" Twilight asked calmly. Trixe flew into a blind fury and fired off dozens of blasts from her horn toward Twilight. Twilight charged through the barrage and kicked Trixie into the air. Trixe righted herself in mid-air with a gravity spell and wondered why Twilight had stopped. Her question was answered when Rainbow Dash slammed into her at full speed and sent the unicorn towards the ground. Trixie screamed and flipped in the air before righting herself with a psychic pulse. Trixie attempted to charge up her horn to snipe the pegasus out of the air when she heard a whistle. The source of the sound was Pinkie Pie, waving happily at her while the party cannon's fuse burned. The cannon shot streamers and other party objects with enough force to send Trixie into the dirt. Trixie struggled to spit out the dirt that was clogging her throat when she felt a strong magic near her. Before she could ponder the source of it, Fluttershy head-butted her and let loose a barrage of punches into Trixie's abdomen, each leaving pock-marks that certainly cracked a few ribs.

Fluttershy leapt back before growling out "That was for hurting Angel". Trixie wasn't paying attention as her body and mind were both in survival mode. She couldn't be losing, she had gotten her power unlocked and so should be stronger than everypony! The last thing Trixie saw was a large boulder hovering above her. It was all she could do to not squeak in terror when it dropped onto her. Rarity huffed with exertion before letting the boulder off of Trixie. The elements of harmony gathered around the unconscious show-mare while Twilight reapplied the suppressor bands that held in her power. Ever since she had become an alicorn her power had become more volatile and so she wore bands similar in style to Celestia's only her's suppressed and controlled her power. The only reason Trixie wasn't dead was because her friends had taken care of Trixie for her. Twilight shuddered at what she had wanted to do to Trixie. It was worse than the stuff in the slanderous story, "Cupcakes". Twilight made herself a promise that from now on her training would focus on control over her emotions and power.

"You alright AJ?" Rainbow Dash questioned as Applejack got to her hooves. The cow-pony nodded before limping over to the circle the others were in. "What could have made Trixie do this?" the cyan pegasus questioned, looking at the devastation with sad eyes. The elements of harmony then leapt back as a spark of magic appeared on Trixie's forehead. Twilight shielded them with a bubble only to relax as she recognized the spell.

"It's alright, it's just a disguise spell wearing off" Twilight announced to her friends. Now they could figure out who had been imponyating Trixie. The hope left their faces as the only difference they could see was a stylized heart on her forehead. "Maybe she joined some cult?" Twilight said without much enthusiasim. She had hoped that they could be friends but obviously not.

"Discord knows a lot about this, maybe he can help" Fluttershy suggested nervously. Twilight scowled as she still didn't trust the draconequus but still she teleported them to Discord's quarters in Canterlot. Dark-heart looked on from the trees with satisfaction obvious even as a crow.

"Excellent job Trixie, you did everything you needed" Dark-heart complimented telepathically. It wouldn't hurt to make the unicorn think that he cared. While having Twilight defeat Trixie legitimately was not part of the plan, teleporting to Discord was. Dark-heart reached out with his demonic senses and found a teleporting signature in Canterlot. He smirked as his brain recorded the coordinates. Discord was dead!