Magic duel - Alternate ending
She concentrated hard on her spell. This was an important event and she didn't want to make a mistake, especially with so many ponies watching. Twilight focused, her horn glowing it's usual light purple colour as her magic levitated the nearby animals. Tonight was very special as Princess Celestia herself had arrived in Ponyville to welcome a pair of delegates from the region of Saddle Arabia. The diplomats, along with the Princess, were watching eagerly from the stalls. But they weren't alone, as most of Ponyville had turned up to watch the display.
Twilight had been pleased to be chosen to host this greeting for the diplomats, but she couldn't allow that to distract her. She had a spell to cast, one which required the utmost concentration. The animals, lent to her by her friend Fluttershy, were all gathered in the middle of the celebration area. They were soon engulfed in the same pale magical glow of Twilight's horn. Fluttershy, who was watching nearby, had buried her face in Spike's shoulder, not wanting to see her animals affected by magic. She had great confidence in Twilight's abilities, but as usual she was always nervous to see anything happen to her animals like this.
Twilight took great care in levitating the animals high above the ground, as all who were watching kept their gaze upon them. The animals rose higher and higher into the starry night sky before reaching their desired height from the ground. With that done, Twilight moved onto the next part of the spell. Concentrating, she moved the animals in such a way that they began moving in mid-air forming many formations and movements, much to the amazement of all in the crowds, save for Fluttershy of course. The animals darted and weaved and circled each other for quite some time, earning Twilight many gasps of astonishment from the audience, a feat which made her smile.
Stealing a glance at her mentor, she saw that Princess Celestia was smiling at her, giving her a brief nod of approval. Twilight smiled back before looking at the diplomats standing next to the Princess, who both seemed to enjoy the display. Knowing this, Twilight continued with the spell until it had reached it's finale. Having finished, she gently lowered the animals safely back to the ground, leading to a massive uproar of applause from the gathered crowd. Blushing, Twilight gave a bow to them as she and the animals moved off-stage. Fluttershy rushed over from Spike to hug all of her animals.
"Oh thank you Twilight for not hurting them! Oh! Not that I mean you WOULD have hurt them of course! It's just that....you know...."
Twilight chuckled and raised a hoof to stop her talking.
"I know Fluttershy. And you should be proud of your animals. They behaved very well during all that."
Fluttershy gave a smile of pride before busying herself with the task of herding her animals back to their home at her cottage. Twilight meanwhile looked over to where the crowds had gathered. Many were now casually chatting with each other, including the diplomats and Princess Celestia. Seeing this, Twilight was happy. Only a few days ago, things in Ponyville were very different. A unicorn from Twilight's past, Trixie, had entered the town and challenged her to a magical duel. Twilight had lost that contest and was driven out as a result. The town had fallen under hard times after her departure, having been subjected to Trixie's powers. Powers that had come forth from a mystical artefact known as the alicorn amulet.
With the help of her friends, they'd managed to trick Trixie into relinquishing the amulet and freeing the town of her influence. As for the amulet itself, they'd given it to Zecora the zebra, who'd taken it to an unknown location for safe-keeping. Good riddance, Twilight thought to herself. That amulet had been nothing but trouble. But as she dwelt on the events of the last few days, her thoughts turned to Trixie. She'd meekly backed away from the Ponies of the village after her failed attempt at a second duel, and nopony had seen her since then. Even now, among the crowds, Twilight could not see her.
The unicorn's attention was then diverted to four mares, who were now approaching. Twilight smiled as Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Pinkie Pie and Rarity approached her with smiles of their own.
"Well done Twilight! I must say that was an absolutely terrific display!" Rarity said.
"Sure was. Everypony could hardly believe their eyes." Applejack added.
Twilight nodded in appreciation.
"Thanks girls. I've been practising that one for a while now."
Her smiled faded somewhat. She wanted to ask her friends a question but was hesitant to do so.
"Er....guys?" She asked.
They looked at her with somewhat confused looks ion their faces.
"What's up Twilight?" Rainbow asked.
Twilight looked rather uncomfortable as she asked what she needed to.
"Do you know where Trixie went?" She asked.
And just like that, the expressions of her friends turned sour. Twilight couldn't blame them. Being her closest friends, they suffered the worst when Trixie was in charge, being forced to obey her every whim, just out of spite for Twilight.
"That show-off? Who knows? With any luck she's halfway to Fillydelphia by now." Rainbow answered.
Rarity and Applejack nodded in agreement. Clearly they were not willing to think about her, which was reasonable given what they had to go through last time. But Pinkie, who was still smiling, bounced up and down with her hoof in the air, like a school student waiting to answer a question.
"Oh! I know! I saw her on the other side of town! She looked like she was getting her things ready to leave!" She answered enthusiastically.
Twilight considered this. So it was true, she was leaving. She smiled to her friends and turned away from them before making her way away from the celebrations. Her friends gave each other odd looks as they looked to Twilight leaving them. But Twilight had something she needed to get off her chest and it was important that she said this to Trixie. She walked down the main street of Ponyville, looking all over for the place Pinkie was talking about. Eventually, she found her. The so-called "great and powerful" Trixie. Like Pinkie said, she was putting some things in a travelling bag, no doubt her own, and was clearly getting ready to leave Ponyville.
As Twilight approached, Trixie heard the sound of her hoof-steps and turned to face her. Twilight stopped walking and the two looked at each other, blank expressions on their faces. Neither said anything and all that could be heard was the sound of the celebrations on the other side of town. Eventually, Trixie broke the silence by giving a long sigh.
"So.....you've come to make sure I was gone I suppose?" She said.
The harshness in her voice was evident. But there was something in the way she said it that gave away something else. Shame perhaps? Whatever it was, Twilight could not allow it to deter her from her purpose.
"Actually Trixie, I wanted to say something to you." She said.
The blue unicorn turned to her, eyebrow raised, and stopped packing her bag.
"Really? And what might that be?" She asked.
Twilight knew this was going to be difficult. From the look on her face it was obvious that Trixie wasn't wanting to talk to her right now.
"Well, I just wanted you to know that.....I don't hate you for what you did."
Trixie's expression was one of surprise. Clearly she'd been taken aback by Twilight's words. She didn't hate her? Even after she threw her out of her home, made slaves of her friends, turned her town into her own private domain? Even after all that?
"......Why not?" Trixie asked.
"The amulet. The alicorn amulet that gave you all that power. It corrupted you. Made you worse than you really were."
Trixie's expression became one of discomfort. She could see where this was going.
"That amulet made you do things you wouldn't have naturally done. So I can't blame you for....."
But she was interrupted by Trixie, who had raised a hoof to stop her.
"No Twilight. You're wrong."
Twilight looked shocked by that statement.
"I WAS at fault for doing this. I made the decision to buy that accursed amulet. I put it on of my own free will. And it was my...."
She looked right at Twilight, her expression a mixture of shame and anger.
"......my hatred of you that led me to do all that I did."
Twilight said nothing, merely looked at the ground. She had come here hoping to try and patch things over with Trixie, make sure she didn't leave with resentment in her heart the way she did last time. But this confession from her was putting things in a very difficult position.
"Ever since I left Ponyville the first time, my life has been difficult. Before I came here, ponies from far and wide would be amazed by the spells I could do. They truly thought I was great and powerful. And while some of my declarations of myself were not true, it was all part of the image I wanted ponies to have of me."
Twilight looked up from the ground as Trixie said this. The blue unicorn was looking away from her now, and towards her bags.
"But coming here changed all that. You proved to everypony here that you were the greater magic user. You, a pony none had ever heard of, coming out of nowhere and vanquishing an ursa minor, while all I could do was annoy it. The image ponies had of me shattered that day. They saw me as a fraud. And, as I told you before, nopony would take my shows seriously after that. For all intents and purposes...."
She looked back to Twilight, her eyes narrowed.
".....you ruined my life."
That line was like a punch to the gut for Twilight. While she may have had her issues with Trixie the first time she came here, she never wanted to do anything to harm her. And she certainly never wanted to destroy her livelihood, as she seems to have done.
"All I wanted, all I could think of, was how much I wanted to be respected for my magic again. To be the best again. And every time I though of that, I saw your face, saw you doing what I could not. I couldn't take it anymore. So I sought after the amulet. I knew my own magic could never best yours, so I resorted to the only thing whose powers I knew could."
Twilight frowned and stepped closer to Trixie.
"Trixie. That amulet corrupted you! Surely you know that?"
Trixie frowned back at Twilight, before slowly closing her eyes and sighing once more.
"Yes. I know. The moment I put that amulet on, things changed."
Trixie gently placed her hoof onto her chest, the spot where the amulet had once been.
"At first I didn't notice. All I could think of was getting back to Ponyville and beating you in a magical contest. That was all I wanted. For everypony to see you fail as I had failed."
She opened her mouth to continues, but instead her closed eyes tightened as the memories of her time with the amulet came back to her.
"But as I planned the duel, something changed. I felt the need to do more than beat you. I wanted to hurt you. To drive you away from your home and friends. And as my time in Ponyville passed, I felt more things, things I'd never wanted before putting that amulet on. To take you friends and hurt them, just because they were YOUR friends. Every moment that amulet was on me, I felt as though it was encouraging me. Urging me to take things just that one step further."
Twilight's expression became almost sympathetic. While she had no experience with the amulet itself, she knew all too well how terrible it was to have some force affect her mind. It had happened once, when the trickster spirit, Discord, had influenced her and her friends to split apart from one another. And earlier this year, the dark power of the unicorn king, Sombra, forced her to face her worst fears. Twilight knew what it was like to have your mind messed with. She looked up at Trixie, and it was clear that remembering this experience was difficult for her.
"I cannot ask you to stand there and absolve me, as you were planning to do." She said.
Twilight shook her head in confusion.
"But why? You said it yourself, the amulet was changing you, making you act against your will."
Trixie nodded.
"Maybe. But wanting to come here, wanting to defeat you, humiliate you, that was all me, I know myself well enough to realise that, Sparkle."
Trixie moved over to her bags and used her magic to continue placing things in it before eventually filling it up and zipping it shut. She picked up the saddle bag and flung it over onto her back. She gave a hard look to Twilight before beginning to move off. Twilight stood there, disappointed that her attempt to make things right with Trixie had failed. But before she herself began to walk away, she noticed that Trixie stopped and looked back towards her.
"I wanted to humiliate you, Twilight. And I can never forgive you for showing me up and destroying my career. And after what happened, I realise that I could never truly do that. But.....but I never should have dragged your friends into this. They weren't involved. Nor were any of the other ponies. I can't face them right now but....if you would be so kinds as to.....to tell them.....I'm sorry."
Twilight paused, looking at Trixie. The look on her face seemed genuine. She could tell that she truly felt sorry for involving the other residents of Ponyville in her revenge against her. Twilight gave a brief nod to acknowledge Trixie's request, a nod with the latter returned. Trixie looked away and began walking away from Twilight and the town. But before she moved too far away, Twilight felt a sudden urge to say something to her. She ran forward and cut across in front of Trixie, causing her to step back in surprise.
"Trixie. You and I have had our differences in the past. And I realise that it's very unlikely that the two of us will ever be friends."
Trixie stared at her, unsure of what to say or how to react to all of this.
"But......I never wanted you as my enemy. Believe me when I say that I understand why you were angry at me. Why you'd feel the need to get back at me somehow. And I understand that perhaps it was naive of me to think you were completely devoid of blame over what happened this week."
The blue unicorn's expression became one of discomfort again. But it was lessened somewhat by the purple mare's next words.
"But now I see that your better than that. You're not some evil tyrant. You didn't want to do all of the terrible things you did. That amulet made you just as much of a victim in all of this as the rest of us. So for that......"
Then, to Trixie's shock, Twilight placed a hoof onto her shoulder.
"......for that I am willing to forgive you, even if you don't think you deserve it."
Trixie couldn't believe her ears. Even after everything that had happened between them, even after she flat-out refused to be forgiven, she was doing it anyway. In spite of her own self-doubt about the situation, Trixie afforded herself a small smile, one which Twilight returned.
"So......what now?" Trixie asked.
Twilight considered this for a few moments before answering.
"Well, I suppose we could start from scratch. Try again." She answered.
Against her better judgement, Trixie laughed.
"I would actually like that."
Smiling, Twilight walked past Trixie and back towards the town. Trixie looked at her as she gestured to the party. Trixie's smile then vanished as she considered what Twilight was offering, to join her in going back to the ponies of Ponyville.
"I......I can't".
Twilight's own smile then faded. Trixie continued.
"At least, not yet. You may be willing to forgive me, but I doubt the others would. You weren't here to see some of the things I did to them. I doubt they'd be as willing to see past that as you have."
Twilight looked over to the town before looking back to Trixie, with a worried look on her face.
"So, what are you going to do?" She asked.
Trixie took a deep breath before turning away from Twilight and back towards the road.
"I still have a few things I need to take care of. My employers at the rock farm will probably be wondering where I've gone. But who knows? Maybe I'll drop in from time to time." She said, smiling again.
Twilight gave a brief chuckle.
"I'll see you around then." She replied.
Trixie gave her a nod and a smile before eventually making her way down the road. Twilight kept her eyes on her until she was eventually unable to be seen. Thinking on what it was she had just done, she was pleased with herself. Trixie had almost always caused nothing but problems for her and her friends, but in spite of that she'd never wanted to go out of her way to reject somepony like her, no matter what she did to her. She realised that while you can't always make a pony your friends, perhaps it was at least worth it to make sure that things between them were better than how they started.
Looking back towards the town, Twilight began to make her way back to the party, knowing that she'd done the right thing in forgiving a pony who did not think herself worthy of forgiveness.
