"Okay...this is new." Spike seemed to have an utterly relaxed look about him this morning, which was especially odd when one considered what he'd just walked into. After entering the main library of the palace, he looked up to see none other than Twilight and Starlight. Both of them were practically bathed in the glow of their magical auras and were, at present, flying around at near-Rainbow speeds. They were sending off a great variety of magical spells at one another, some hitting while others missed. It was quite the spectacle, to be sure, and Spike, after taking a sip of his hot coffee, walked over to the closest chair and sat down, looking up again like a spectator at a sporting event.
As for the mares themselves, they continued to fly circles around one another, never once looking like they were feeling anything other than enjoyment over this little contest of theirs. "So, getting tired yet, Starlight?" Twilight asked, with more than a little snark behind her words.
A laugh from Starlight. "Hardly! You know as well as I do how long I can keep this up!"
And keep it up she did, as she sent out one especially powerful spell, which Twilight quickly conjured a shield to protect herself from. But Starlight countered by teleporting right behind her before summoning a bunch of magical tendrils to ensnare her mentor. But Twilight was prepared for this as well, as not only did she have her shield still up, but she caused it to spontaneously produce spikes all over its surface, ripping the tendrils apart. Knowing she'd need to up her game, Starlight tried a "greater numbers" approach, and conjured a dozen or so clones of herself out of thin air, which surrounded Twilight and blasted her all at once. But the blows missed, as Twilight too teleported away. When she re-appeared, it was high above them all, from which she summoned a literal rain of magical blasts down upon them. Eventually, the attacks hit, and one by one the clones vanished, leaving only the original. "There you are!"
But Starlight was unconcerned, as her horn flared up again. But this time, it was no magical blast, nor was she going for Twilight herself. Instead, Twilight found, to her horror, that all of the books in the library were starting to glow, flying off their pages and surrounding Starlight like her own personal army, which the latter of course smirked to. Twilight, for her part, narrowed her eyes at her apprentice's underhoofed move. "That...is low."
Starlight then followed this up by sending the books straight at Twilight. Thankfully, Twilight was no fool, and immediately knew a way to undo this. With her own horn lighting up, she summoned, to Starlight's surprise, a number of holes in reality, and for every book that came her way, Twilight was able to transport it elsewhere. And it soon became apparent where Twilight was sending them, as a second set of holes immediately emerged right behind Starlight. So, the projectiles that were intended to hit Twilight instead hit her, and right in the posterior too. Of course, it only took a few hits like this before Starlight decided to stop what she was doing, and with a single great teleportation spell, she placed all the books back where they belonged on the shelves, much to Twilight's delight. "Much better!"
Her apprentice rolled her eyes, then got back to what she'd been doing before, which was basically sending basic blasts up at her teacher. Twilight dodged, shielded and otherwise bounced back everything that was sent her way. But to Starlight's credit, she held her own a fair bit, managing to provide counters to Twilight own spells too. For instance, as soon as Twilight saw an opening and sent down a blast of her own, Starlight blasted the blast, turning it into, of all things, a bouquet of flowers, which she took hold of after it landed in her hooves, before looking up triumphantly at Twilight. "Awww! You shouldn't have!"
Twilight, oddly enough, actually seemed amused by this. "Ah. Been taking a few lesson in magic from Trixie, I see?"
Starlight looked to the slide, just the tiniest bit slyly. "Among other things, yes."
Twilight shook her head, then launched herself down to her protégé. Starlight too charged, right for Twilight, and as they drew nearer, the mares' horns grew brighter and brighter. Spike, after having caught the discarded bouquet, understood immediately where this was going, and so reached behind himself and pulled out a pair of sunglasses. Thankfully, he'd been taught by Pinkie Pie some time ago where he could find such things, in case of "sunglasses emergencies". He'd put them on not a moment too soon either, as the two mares above him finally collided, sending out a bright flash of light from the magical impact. But this was no explosion, but simply the result of two equally powerful forces trying to overcome the other. Sparks flew, and as Twilight and Starlight's horn unleashed great magical power against each other, the mares themselves continued to smirk at their respective opponents, Starlight especially. "Being taught by you has certainly helped me along. Thanks for that, Twilight."
Twilight chuckled. "Oh, don't thank me yet, my confident little apprentice. You may still lose this contest."
"Ha! No chance! This question is gonna get settled once and for all!" Starlight countered.
Neither mare was willing to back down, that much was certain, and the sheer force of will they were projecting right now was so great that their magic kept getting more and more intense. Spike, sighing to this massive feat of magic above him, sighed deeply, then hopped off his chair and casually walked outside, closing the door behind him. He stayed there for a time, glancing around the empty hallway of the palace, and counted off his claws to help pass the time. Eventually, he could hear the sound of a massive explosion behind him, and even a few stray bolts of lightning try to break out of the gaps in the door he was standing beside. But Spike, who was well used to strange goings on in his life by now, simply shrugged, and after waiting for the noise to finally die down, he at last turned to open the door. After re-entering the room, he looked on at the scene of devastation before him with the same calm he'd been facing everything else this morning. "...Huh."
The library was a mess. Scorch marks on every possible surface, cracks in the room's crystalline walls, books outright burned to ashes. Whatever kind of destruction of damage you could imagine a room might have, this one had it. And at the centre of it all were Twilight and Starlight. The two mares were, at long last, on the ground, panting and breathing heavily like they'd just been through the most exhausting ordeal of their lives, which in all fairness this was probably close to. Their manes were a mess, and they each bore the occasional spot where soot from one of the nearby burned places had stained them. Exhaling deeply, Spike entered into the room proper, walking right up to Twilight first and offering her his coffee. "So...difficult morning?"
In spite of her tiredness, Twilight actually cracked a smile to that, taking a sip of the offered drink before explaining things. "Remember how me and Starlight actually seemed evenly matched back when we fought in the past? Even though I'm an alicorn?"
Spike nodded, understanding. "Ah, you wanted to see who was really better with magic. Got it."
Starlight too laughed, and after being offered that same coffee by Twilight after she'd had her turn, she looked to the little dragon herself. "Yeah, kinda didn't work out as well as we'd hoped." After seeing Spike raise an eyebrow, as well as look around to the devastation surrounding them, Starlight rolled her eyes. "Okay, so it was kind of a disaster."
Spike folded his arms. "So...any conclusions to this little experiment?"
Twilight shrugged. "Afraid not. Seems Starlight and are just can't get an edge over one another."
Starlight too shrugged. "Meh, I like it that way. Keeps things interesting." The three all laughed to that, and felt rather relaxed now that this big conflict had been brought to an end. After taking her sip of that delicious coffee, Starlight looked around, grimacing. "Guess we're gonna be spending the afternoon doing a fair bit of cleaning, eh?"
Twilight nodded. "After a morning like this, getting this room back in order will be a delight." Then, out of nowhere, there was a near-deafening screech, the likes of which nopony had ever heard of. They looked to one another after having heard it, blinking with deadpan expressions, before simultaneously getting up and walking to the front door of the palace. Opening it, they looked out at a scene of utter horror. A beast as tall as the tallest Manehattan skyscrapers was there in the distance, though it seemed more like a mass of tentacles and madness than an actual living creature. It raged and bellowed at the skies, which were currently blood-red and sending down bolts of lightning. Seeing this, and the understandable screams of panic that were coming from Ponyville at this unholy sight, Twilight nervously scratched the back of her head. "Okay...and maybe we should also do something about the terrifying eldritch abomination that our final spell accidentally summoned."
Slowly, Spike glanced up to her, looking more tired than any of them. "...Ya think?"
