Dixie was trapped as Celestia’s spell held it in place. Feeling the full force of Celestia’s spell, thousands of pounds of pressure, Dixie could do nothing as Celestia’s spell started to take hold. Dixie held up a meager shield to protect itself from the worse of the pressure but as time went on she started to feel colder and colder with each passing second.

“Think Discord think.” Dixie thought to itself as it quickly tried to formulate a plan.

With its body held in place, Luna stood idly by; keeping the lightning cloud that hung above her charged and ready to fire in case it tried to escape. Dixie looked at its options and lamented at the desperation that the princess had put it in.

“She probably has the spell locked on me,” Dixie thought to itself, “and I can’t teleport away with this pressure bearing down on me, if only there was a wa-“

Inspiration struck Dixie suddenly as it thought of a plan for escape and it suddenly started to grin in spite of itself.

“HAVE YOU FINALLY GIVEN UP THIS GAME DIXIE?”

“Nope,” Dixie said as it paused for dramatic effect, “I’m just getting started!”

Dixie warped every smoke bomb in Trixie’s chest into the throne room before detonating every single bomb at once. In seconds, the room was filled to the brim with smoke as if the throne room spontaneously combusted. Dixie could hear the princesses coughing from somewhere in the haze while Dixie smugly sucked in a breathe full of fresh air. It felt the spell weakening enough for it to gain some breathing room and suddenly charged up some power in its horn. It only took an instant for the power to charge and now all Dixie had to worry about was the timing . . .

In moments, the smoke was blown away by a powerful gust of wind. Both of the princess’ faces were fuming as tears ran down their faces. Dixie, in all its life, had never seen the princesses look so furious in its entire life.

“I’ll take this as an achievement.” It thought to itself.

“DID YOU THINK THAT THIS WOULD SAVE YOU?” Celestia screamed angrily, “DID YOU THINK THAT THIS LITTLE REPRIEVE WOULD SAVE YOU FROM MY WRATH?”

Dixie felt the pressure beginning to worsen as the shield protecting its body started to crack from the pressure. It felt the air getting pushed out of its lungs as the pressure continued to increase until she could feel her torso being pushed into the floor.

“Just…a little…more…” Dixie thought to itself weakly.

She began to see darkness enveloping her vision; in its half delirious state it wasn’t sure if it was going black from the oxygen deprivation or from the spell. It held on to consciousness bitterly as the pressure continued to rise, knowing that if it gave in now, it would all be over.

“IT’S TIME FOR YOU TO DISAPPEAR!” Celestia roared as she finally let loose the spell.

As the pressure reached its apex, Dixie let loose the energy that it had saved up. There was a flash that blinded Dixie’s vision before it found itself lying a few feet away from where it was being held down moments ago. Dixie saw the most satisfying look of terror on Luna’s face as she took the full brunt of Celestia’s spell and disappeared in a flash of light, leaving nothing but a crater and small wisps of smoke behind.

●●●

The throne room was quiet as Celestia stared at the spot where her sister stood just moments ago. Her face was blank, devoid of all emotion, as she just stood there watching the trails of smoke slowly fading from the edge of the crater.

While Celestia watched the crater, Dixie slowly rose to its feet. It took more damage from the spell than it had thought and had trouble standing until it had gathered magic into its horn and casted a healing spell on its aching joints and spine. Once it had recovered, it had suddenly started to giggle as it got a good look at Celestia’s face.

“Oh-ho-ho-ho, this is rich princess, sending your own sister to the moon like that? Ha-ha-ha, talk about irony right?”

Celestia’s face remained stoic as Dixie continued her tirade.

“You know what princess, I’m going to let you in on a little secret, my true name isn’t Dixie, it’s Discord.”

The news didn’t shake the princess as much as Dixie had thought. In spite of the startling revelation, the princesses still wore a mask that hid her emotions.

“Oh come now princess, you could technically just wait for her to come back again. I mean it’s been what, a thousand years since she returned the first time you banished her to the moon? I imagine she’ll be back sometime over the next millennia or so.”

The princess’s mask started to crack as tears began to run down her face.

“Oh boo hoo princess, she’ll be back…eventually.” Dixie laughed.

“Quiet!” Celestia said under her breath.

“Oh I’m sorry, touchy subject for the royal family? I’d imagine that this sort of thing would be old hat since you were the one who banished her the first time.”

“Not another word…” Celestia said in a loud whisper.

“I mean it must have taken a lot of will to take control of the elements and use against your own flesh and blood. Were you laughing while you did it, did you honestly believe that there was no other way, or did you think that you were doing an act of generosity, banishing your own sister to oblivion for a few ponies whose unappreciative attitude is what drove her to become nightmare moon in the first place?”

“NOT. ANOTHER. WORD!”

Celestia’s mane erupted into pure heat and fire. She teleported before Dixie and stamped both hooves atop Dixie’s back, causing a crater to appear around its body as she continued to apply more and more force. Celestia then jumped back and activated a spell that pushed Dixie to the ground and began to crush it into the ground.

“I…never…imagined you…as…being…so ruthless…princess.” Dixie said weakly as the air was forced from its lungs.

Dixie shakily built up energy into its horn and warped away before Celestia’s spell could continue much farther. Once it was safely freed, it saw the spot where it was previously being crushed to into a deep crater by Celestia’s spell.

“My goodness,” Dixie thought, “she’s actually trying to kill me.”

“STAND STILL AND FIGHT!”

Twin balls of light flashed beside Celestia before two fireballs twice Dixie’s size flew towards it. Dixie warped away from the fireball’s path to the side of the throne room only to see the fireballs changing direction in mid-air and continuing their path towards it. Dixie slowly backed away from the fireballs until they were a few feet away from its position. It then warped away just as the fireballs closed in and watched as the fireballs collided, causing a bright flash and an incredible explosion.

“Now y’know what princess, I was just hoping to have a friendly combative reunion and then you had to get too violent.”

“SHUT UP!”

Another set of fireballs ripped through the air as they burned so brightly that the throne room was bathed in a violent shade of crimson. Dixie smirked and coolly teleported out of the way, allowing the blazing fireballs to crash into and ignite the walls behind it.

Celestia’s eyes suddenly began to change, shifting from a cool violet, until her eyes became blazing spheres of white light. Her main had changed from blazing red to a cool blue as the flames in her mane danced and quivered, as if it were actually alive. The flames in Celestia’s mane caused the room to become bathed in an otherworldly purple light as she calmly strode toward Dixie who had become momentarily stunned by Celestia’s image. Everywhere her hoofs trotted, a scorch mark in the shape of an equine hoof blazed for a moment before extinguishing itself and letting out a puff of smoke.

As Dixie watched the princess approaching, it had become lost in thought. It had never seen the princess in this form before, so powerful yet so beautiful that it couldn’t bear to tear its eyes from her. It shook its head before it retained its wits and flashed the princess a coy smile. As it noticed the temperature steadily rising in the room, it waved to the princess.

“Ta-Ta for now princess, give my regards to Luna when she comes back from her impromptu vacation.”

As Dixie gathered energy and teleported away, the last thing it saw was the princess’s eyes glowing brighter than the sun itself before the flames in her mane leaped forward in the shape of a phoenix. . .

● ● ●

As the flames in Celestia’s throne room finally died down, a group of soldiers burst into the room.

Most were taken aback by the contrast of the room, how the once brightly colored interior had now been reduced to soot and ash, how the carpets and drapes had been eaten away by the flames, and worse of all, the throne which was now nothing more than a memory.

In the middle of the destruction, the soldiers saw Celestia, bent forward, holding her head down as if she was looking into the crater for something.

“Princess Celestia?” A soldier called out worriedly.

Without lifting her head, Celestia simply said “find the one responsible and bring them to me at once.”

The soldiers looked at one another before one asked her if there was anything else they could do.

Celestia simply stated, “No, there’s nothing else you can do, I just want to be alone with my sister.”

Author's Note

Sorry for the wait you guys, I hope this latest chapter makes up for it somewhat.