Starswirl University

Chapter 17

The Duel

Grey groaned as he sat at the lunch table with the rest of his squad. He sipped his drink and face tabled. “Something wrong Cap?” Roach asked.

“I got assigned this project in my advanced magic class.”

“The wavelength thing?” Bolt interjected.

“Yeah, my partner is Trixie.”

“Ouch.” The ice mage said as she put a spoonful of her vanilla ice cream in her mouth.

“Honestly, I’d rather try to sync with an enraged manticore than her.” The white haired man raised an eyebrow as Roach mad a throat slicing motion across his neck. “She’s right behind me isn’t she?” Grey turned and was met with a dark purple eyed stare. “I stand by what I said.”

“You think it’s any easier for Trixie to associate herself with a scruffy looking buffoon like you?” The performer scoffed.

“Who’s scruffy looking? Least I’m not some traveling circus act.”

“Shots fired!” Eris chuckled.

“Trixie would wipe the floor with you in ten-seconds flat!” The performer growled.

“I’ll believe that when I see it.” Grey said as he stood up and yawned. “I’m gonna go practice.” Trixie could feel foam forming in her mouth and she pointed at the mage.

“Trixie challenges you to a duel!” The entire room fell silent as Grey continued to walk.

“No way.”

“It makes sense that you’re frightened.”

“I’m not gonna beat on a girl that has no chance of wining. Bad for my image.” He said as he reached for the door.

“Do not underestimate the Great and Powerful Trixie!” She stamped her foot. “I’ll have you know that Trixie is the strongest mage in the Zodiac guild!” Grey froze at the words and his ear twitched.

“Pardon me, but I don’t think I heard you right. Did you say that you’re the strongest mage in the Zodiac guild?”

“That’s correct.” Trixie smirked. Grey cracked his neck loud enough for the sound to echo through the room. He turned with a darkness in his eyes and an expression that would make a dragon drop it’s haul of stolen gems.

“Okay Trixie, I accept your challenge.” The man’s team gulped as they felt the magic rise in the room. Twilight suddenly got between them.

“C’mon guys. Isn’t there another way to-”

“Stay out of this Sparkle.” The man snapped at her. “I think it’s fine time someone knock the Princes of her self proclaimed throne.”

“Th-this is a cafeteria!” Twilight yelled. Grey looked around and nodded.

“It is a bit cluttered, besides I want people to see this fight.” He chuckled. “How about Saturday at noon? The school’s dueling arena should suffice.”

“Trixie does her best work in front of an audience.” She grinned.

“We’ll see.” Grey said as he walked out of the cafeteria chuckling to himself.

~~~

Many Years Ago.

A young girl with long red hair sat in her classroom with a bored expression on her face. Her green eyes were barely focused on the teacher as she scribbled notes down in her notebook. “Ms. Rose, do you know the answer?” The sound of her name made the girl snap out of her daze. She suddenly felt all eyes on her. She looked towards the instructor. He had spiky golden hair and a piercing blue left eye while his right was covered by an eye patch. His wrinkled white shirt was messily tucked into his dark blue pants.

“Er, what was the question?” Some classmates chuckled while the instructor sighed and adjusted his round glasses on his nose.

“History is important Ms. Rose. If you do not know it, then you are destined to repeat it.” He stated in an oh-matter-of-fact manner. Scarlet lowered her head and groaned. She saw a red blur and some of her papers scattered on the floor. After she picked them back up she looked towards the front to see a child, about the same age as her wearing a red hood. The teacher looked to his left and saw the child making him jump a bit.

“Ah Grey. I see you’re entrances are as theatrical as ever.” The boy reached inside his coat and pulled out a letter. The teacher opened the letter and adjusted his glasses. “I see. Tell them I’ll be there.” He turned to put the note on his desk.

“Is there anything else from-” The child was gone. As the red blur passed the girl she saw what looked like white hair and piercing grey eyes under the hood. A faint gust of wind exited the door. “I guess not. Anyway on with the lesson.” The red head raised her hand. “Yes, Scarlet?”

“Mr. Swift, who was that?”

“Oh, he’s just a messenger that works for the local guild.” The children all knew that their instructor was a member of the guild he was talking about. “You’ll see him from time to time around the neighborhood delivering letters. Best leave him be.” The bell suddenly rang signaling the beginning of lunch time. “Okay, we’ll pick this up after class.”

The students all funneled out of their classrooms and made their way into the lunch room and took their seats. Scarlet sighed as her brother sat down next to her.

“I’m telling you Carmine, he teleported!” Scarlet said as she sat beside her older brother. The man beside her had short spiky red hair and dark red eyes. The boy was a year older than her and would be graduating that year.

“Scarlet, for the last time, a kid your age can’t teleport. The spell is too complex. I think your eyes were playing tricks on you.” The girl furrowed her brow and pouted. Her light green eyes then drifted to the back corner where she saw the red hood nibbling on a sandwich.

“There he is!” She pointed. The man followed her finger and saw the red hood. He raised an eyebrow and could have sworn he should have seen him when he walked into the room. Scarlet got to her feet and started walking over to him.

“Hey what are you doing?” Carmine said. “Swift told you not to bother him.” Scarlet brushed off the warning and kept going towards the boy.

“Hey!” She said as she stood in front of the child. He didn’t bother to look up to the girl. “Hey, how’d you do that teleporting thing?” No answer came from the child. “I asked you a question!” She slammed her hands on the table making a loud sound.

The vibrations made the boy look up. Scarlet raised an eyebrow as she stared into the child’s deep silver eyes. There was a hollow feeling to his stare that seemed to go on forever.

“Sorry didn’t see you there.” He said in a stagnant tone. Scarlet felt her rage building. The nerve of him not even seeing her. She reached for his collar, but gripped nothing but air.
She blinked once as her brain tried to comprehend what had happened.

“Trying to grab someone isn’t very nice.” Like a rusty hinge the eight year old turned around to see the red hood walking away from her before vanishing entirely, the door on the far end of the room slammed open. Scarlet stood frozen as the entire lunch hall were wide eyed and their mouths were hanging low. Carmine came up to his sister and scratched his head.

“Well, that was a thing.”

“I told you he could teleport!”

“He didn’t.” The voice of Scarlet’s teacher caught their attention. “He’s just very fast.” He said before taking a sip from his coffee. “He’ll be around again.” Scarlet pouted as the bell rang and she went back to class. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t get the boy’s silver eyes out of her mind. The end of the school day couldn’t come soon enough and she started walking home.

Her brother Carmine left to go hang out with his friends and Scarlet needed time to think. As she rounded the corner, she saw the red hooded child walking in the crowd. Scarlet ducked behind a trash can followed the child’s movements. She soon found herself near the outskirts of the city. A large concrete building came into view. It was tall, and looked like a school. The windows were blasted out and there was a sinister feeling hanging in the air.

Something really bad happened here. The girl thought as she felt a chill run down her spine. The child crossed the barbed wire fest that surrounded the school and walked up t the main entrance. Scarlet ducked into the bushes and coughed, a familiar smell filled her nostrils and she tried to place the scent. She squinted and saw a large red stain on the front door. Her face went pale as she realized the scent and the red mark were both dried blood.

Quickly, Scarlet got out of the bush and started to run back to the city. She suddenly tripped over something and she fell on the ground. She picked herself up and looked down to see a wooden sign; Rosewood Elementary. A familiar shiver came over her and she turned to see the silver eyes of death on her. The girl got to her feet and booked all the way home. She ignored the stinging in her leg muscles and threw open the door to her home and collapsed as she panted.

“Scarlet? That you?” The girl gathered her things and went to her room. A hard knock made the girl jump.

“Y-yeah?” The door opened to show a tall man in his late twenties with dark red hair and light red eyes.

“Are you okay? You seem off.” He said as he sat down beside her on her bed.

“N-nothing.” The man gave her a deadpanned look. “Fine. I saw this boy today and-”

“Oh dear, you’re starting to notice boys eh?” The girl gave her father a small shove and blushed brightly.

“Not like that! He was strange. So I followed him after school.”

“Scarlet what have I told you about spying on people?” He scolded.

“I know, I know.” She said with a roll of her eyes.

“I swear you’re just as stubborn as your mother.”

“I followed him to this old building near the outer rim.” The man frowned.

“I told you to stay away from that area. It isn’t safe.”

“Nothing bad happened, but the building had this weird vibe to it. Like something out of Carmine’s scary stories.” She shivered as she remembered the one about the rolling disembodied head.

“What was the building?”

“It was some old school. Rosewood Elementary.” The man’s eyes shrank at the name and a gulp could be heard from the man’s throat.

“Wh-what did he look like?”

“He had a red hood up, but I think he had white hair and silver eyes. Why?” The man stood up and looked at his daughter.

“Scarlet I want you to promise me to leave that child alone.”

“Why?”

“Just promise me!” He said as he put his hands on her shoulders and looked into her deep green eyes. Scarlet saw a shine in her father’s eyes, something she’d never seen before; fear.

“O-kay.” The man sighed and nodded.

“Thank you, dinner will be ready soon.” When her father left, the girl laid on her bed with her arms spread out and stared at her blank ceiling.

~~~

Present.

The red haired woman woke up in a cold sweat and was panting heavily as the morning sun shined through the window onto her skin. She sat up in her bed and calmed her heart. She walked to the bathroom and splashed some cold water in her face.

“Something wrong Red?” She looked behind her to see the physical manifestation of her wand. He was waring a suit of white armor to contrast his white hair and a long bow was slung over his shoulder while a small axe hung on his belt. His eyes were like two deep pools of emerald green water.

“Nothing Apollo. Just a dream.” She said to her wand partner, Apollo Oberon. Scarlet had received him when she went through her awakening when she was nine.

“Another one?” She gave a nod as she ran her hands through her hair. “Was it about him?” A look from the woman answered his question.

“Anyway, you seem to be more active than usual. What gives?”

“My counterpart has been awoken.”

“Counterpart?” The woman asked as she poured herself a glass of water.

“I suppose you could call her my wife.” Scarlet did a spit take at the words and coughed.

“Your what?”

“Remember that not all wand cores are artificial. Some, like myself, have a core that holds the personality of a person that once walked this world.”

“So who owns this wand?”

“I don’t know, but I can faintly sense their presence.” He squinted out the window. “I have a feeling that we’ll meet whoever it is very soon.”

~~~

Grey was walking back from his workout in the forest and was minding his own business when he felt his wand vibrating and glowing. The image of Nike then appeared next to him.

“So you’re really going to fight her?” Grey had since learned that Nike could appear to him in a ghost like form and talk to him. The only problem was that only he could see or hear her.

“Damn straight. She’s been getting on my nerves since day one.” He chuckled. The man then saw the woman vanish and he heard the click of high heels against the hard marble floors. Grey turned to see none other than Princess Luna. “Evening Princess.”

“Same to you too Grey.” She said as her icy blue eyes were fixated on the man. “I heard that you will be locking horns with Trixie tomorrow.”

“Word travels fast and that’s correct. Trying to talk me out of it?”

“No, nor will you face any punishment if she gets hurt, since it’s a formal duel.”

“I figured. So why are you here?”

“I heard you talking to someone.”

“Nah, just myself.”He said as he continued to walk. “Well, as much as I’d love to stay and chat, I need my rest. I have a big day tomorrow. Goodnight Princess.” He said with a wave. Luna watched the man turn a corner down the hall as he headed off to his dorm.

The next day, almost every student was gathered in the stands. The three headmasters and Cadence were also in attendance. Grey was in the locker room on the far side of the arena donning his dueling uniform. A knock on the door caught the man’s attention as he slipped his shirt on. He turned to see Twilight and Eris.

“Trixie’s waiting outside.” Eris stated.

“I’ll be out in a minute.”

“Be careful Grey. Trixie may be a show off but she’s Luna’s student for a reason.” Twilight said as they stepped out onto the field. Trixie was donning her usual hat and cape with tight fitting shirt that hugged her form and showed off her impressive curves. She also had a purple skirt that matched the rest of her outfit.

“Oh that’s adorable, you think she’s a threat.” He said as he tapped Twilight’s head like a basket ball. “Sit tight kiddo, show’s about to start. Careful though, the first few rows are a splash zone.”

“What do you mean by that?” Twilight gulped as she teleported back to her seat beside Celestia. Eris then gave Grey a kiss on the lips which resulted in the crowd whistling.

“For luck.” She said before she teleported up to her seat next to Discord. The crowd grey quiet as Grey cracked his back.

“This won’t take long.” Trixie grinned.

“Getting cocky eh? Tell you what Trixie, let’s make this interesting.” Grey said as he crossed his arms.

“A wager? Now Trixie is interested.” The girl tapped her chin and grinned. “When Trixie beats you, you must acknowledge that Trixie is the strongest.”

“What about if I win?”

“Trixie doubts that’ll happen, but I suppose you may choose something.” Grey thought for a moment and smiled.

“Fine, if I win then you have to be my personal slave for a full day.” The crowd let out an ‘oh’ sound at the words.

“Trixie accepts this challenge, not that you’ll win anyway.” Trixie laughed o herself as she got into position. Shining walked onto the field and looked at the students.

“Are both combatants ready?”

“Always.” Trixie said with a grin.

“As I’ll ever be.” Shining looked at both of the students and threw his hand down.

“Begin!” He yelled as he teleported back to the sidelines.

Trixie moved first and fired a volley of missiles at the man who remained still. The blast created a cloud of smoke around the man. Trixie then started firing her wand off like a machine gun, dangerous and fast. She gave a pause as the smoke cleared and charged her next attack. The smoke subsided to show Grey unharmed.

“You finished?” He asked in a bored tone. Trixie growled and fired a few more blasts at the man. “My turn.” Grey pulled out his wand and something started forming around it. The mass of magic formed a briefcase and the man grinned as he used it to swat the blasts away. After the shots subsided the briefcase opened and transformed into a mini-gun. Several blasts of magic erupted from the spinning barrels and Trixie was barely keeping ahead of the bullets.

The performer waved her wand a magical shield appeared before her that deflected the blasts. “That all you got Lulamoon?” Trixie growled again and focused her magic. A cloud of purple smoke then wrapped around the woman. When the smoke cleared Grey was surprised when he saw close to a dozen Trixie’s standing before him.

“Ha!” They all yelled.

“Great, one of you was annoying, but this? I don’t think that there’s a word to describe the annoyance I feel right now.” He sighed. “So you can use the clone spell, I dare say I’ve underestimated you Trixie.” He said with a nod. “But it won’t matter.”

“We outnumber you!” The clones then rushed the man.

“True, but ten times zero is still zero!” Grey charged the pack with blinding speed as the group shot several spells at him. The man easily avoided the blasts and slammed his elbow into the first clone’s face, making it’s nose break before vanishing into smoke. He summoned and ethereal scythe and became a twister of slashes that cut through the pack like a hurricane. One of them caught him off guard and shot his wand out of his hand. Trixie saw her opportunity.

She and the five remaining clones fired a synchronized blast of magic aimed directly at the man. Grey bit his lip and knew he didn’t have time to get to his wand. The man breathed a heavy breath and knew he had no choice. He channelled his magic into his hands and swung towards the blast. The crowd’s eyes shrank as the large magic bomb was cut down the middle by a large ethereal blade that was in the man’s hand. The arena grew silent as they stared at the blade.

“How did he do that?” Dash yelled what most of the crowd members were thinking.

“What trickery is this?” Trixie yelled.

“No tricks, just skill.” He said as he made the sword vanish. “Ya see, I’ve been holding back Trixie. I can use magic without a wand, I always have been able to.” Trixie glared at the man as he summoned his wand and pocketed it. “Don’t believe me? Ask Discord, he knew.” The chaotic being then felt a several sets of eyes on him.

“I am as shocked as you are.” He said in a dumb tone.

“Let me ask you something Trixie, what was your score on that power test Celestia gave us during our first private lesson?”

“I’m a level seven mage, easily stronger than you!”

“Yeah about that, I lied. I held back to see how you’d react. Originally I’d say I’m about a level seven mage, same as you, but that was at the beginning of the term.” Trixie saw the man’s eyes starting to glow white with magic a grin appear across his face. The ground started to shake and bits of rock began to levitate around him. “Let me show you what real magic is.”

In the blink of an eye, the man vanished from sight and appeared in front of one of the Trixie’s with his hand in front of her face. A blast of white magic came from his palm and he clone was consumed by the blast. “Darn, only a clone.” He then turned to the other girls. “Oh, well, I have three more chances to get it right.” He vanished again.

One of the clones screamed and the group saw two ethereal blade coming out of her chest before vanishing showing the grey hooded man with a smirk. Trixie growled and fired several volleys of magic at the man. Grey dodged them with ease as two circular saw blades the size of manhole covers formed in each hand. Grey threw them at the three girls. The group easily dodged them and turned to face the man only to see what looked like him hitting the ground and two large rocks came up behind the two clones as the saw blades came back around.

In the light, Trixie could see that there was string attached to the spinning disks that suddenly wrapped around the clones pinning them to the slabs of earth. Grey then let out a large breath of white flames that incinerated the two rocks and the clones pinned to them. “And then there was one.” He said with a crack of his neck. Trixie flared her nostrils and cursed.

An idea came to Grey and he vanished as a large cloud of smoke enveloped the arena. “Ya know Trix, I heard a funny story about you. Something about an Ursa Minor?” Trixie gritted her teeth at the words.

“Show yourself coward!” The girl then felt one of the man’s ethereal blades graze her skin.

“So you got chased out of town by an angry mob. What you couldn’t get a job as a rodeo clown?”

“Shut up!” She shot several random spells into the fog.

“There’s a reason why I agreed to fight you Trixie.” His voice echoed through the fog. “You said you were a member of a guild.”

“Trixie is the strongest in the guild!”

“Funny thing that.” The smoke cleared and she saw the man standing on something. As she raised her wand her blood ran cold. Standing in front of her was a gray ethereal Ursa Minor. The large beats towered over her and roared. “Ya see, I know for a bucking fact that you lied.”

The man reached inside his coat and pulled out the badge he’d received through the mirror on his birthday. The badge was silver and had a shield with a symbol etched into it.

“Anyone who messes with my guild better have their last will written.” The giant Ursa then ate the performer in one swift motion before swallowing. The crowd could see Trixie in the Ursa’s stomach and she pounded on the magic that acted as a wall. Grey hoped down from the top of the beast’s head and looked at Trixie. “With this I call check.”

With a snap of his fingers, the large bear exploded and the man drove two blades into the ground to keep him upright. There was a large scorch mark where the Ursa once sat, at the center was Trixie getting to her feet. “I suggest you give up Trixie. You can’t beat me.” The girl cursed and ignored the man.

She summoned the large shield that she had used earlier and started to pant. Grey fired a few blasts from his palms only to have them bounce off. “I admire your determination,” The man started building up magic in his right hand. “but this is where it ends.” He grabbed his right arm with his left hand and focused. “I’ll let you see something not many have seen, my own technique.”

His right hand and forearm was wrapped in white flames. As he moved, the crowd only saw a white blur shooting towards the shield. Trixie felt fear entrap her as the man closed in. His right arm slammed into the shield and it crumbled like a cookie. Trixie saw the flaming fist on a collision course with her face and slammed her eyes shut as she waited for the pain. Nothing was felt, no crushing defeat, no pain.

Trixie opened her eyes to see the flames were gone and the man flexing his middle finger against his thumb. “Checkmate.” With a tiny flick to the forehead, the woman fell on her back. Grey panted heavily and looked down at his right hand that was scorched. “Game over Trix. I like my coffee black.” Grey said as he started to walk away. Trixie was fuming as she stood back up.

“Don’t you dare turn your back on me!” She yelled with a pant. Grey looked at her and shook his head.

“Trixie, look at yourself, you can barely stand let alone fight and you’ve barely got any magic left.”

Same could be said for me. He said as he coughed up a bit of blood.

“The Great and Powerful Trixie will never admit defeat.” She pointed her wand at the man and focused the last of her magic. Her body started to glow, and she started gathering a large amount of magic. Grey shivered as he felt Trixie’s magic running out. Trixie felt something hard slam into her gut, knocking the wind out of her and breaking her concentration.

She looked down to see the man’s clenched fist. The woman dropped to her knees before passing out. Grey shook his head and sighed as the bell rang signaling the end of the duel. Something shiny caught Grey’s eye and picked up what looked like a badge similar to his own. He pocketed the item as Luna and Celestia teleported onto the field next to Trixie. Grey turned to leave the arena and saw Twilight teleport in front of him. Before she could get a word out, the man ran through her like a ghost would leaving a chilling feeling in the scholar’s bones.