A Tale of Sparkles and Black Magic

Black Magician Girl’s confusion over the new arrival played second fiddle to the grotesque appearance he sported, especially the headless necks hanging limp on either side of the smirking, sadistically grinning head of the one calling himself Dio Brando. But the ponies’ reactions were far more expressive and terrified. Everyone around the train screamed and fled as one herd, retreating down the line and gathering in a panicked group behind them.

Dio eyed them with sadistic glee. “I would expect such a reaction from people who know they cannot beat me, yet, past experience has told me you’re still planning on fighting me to your last, dying gasp. Perhaps it would be easier to simply give up entirely? My rule cannot be complete without subjects to rule over, after all.”

Black Magician Girl broke her gaze away from Dio and onto Twilight, disturbed to see the princess’s pupils shrunk to pinpricks and mouth agape.

“Snap out of it, Twilight!” She lightly bonked her on the head with her staff.

That seemed to break her trance. “How is he still alive…?”

“What’s going on?”

“That’s the vampire who terrorized us a week ago,” Twilight explained. She faced Dio with a look that tried to come off as challenging, but the fear was still clearly visible in her eyes. “How are you still alive!? Princess Celestia blasted you with sunlight!”

“I used my claws to sever my head from my body before your princess’ power fully disintegrated it,” he explained, never losing his menacing glare. “It was a desperate gamble, but the success of which proves fate is on my side.” He turned his body around and reached a foot up to point towards his ear. Three moles lined up perfectly could be seen adorning it. “I once visited a black market merchant who told me that these moles were a sign of good luck.” He cackled, the sound vibrating through the surrounding trees, a horrid sound that made Black Magician Girl’s skin crawl. “That fortune follows me even in another world!”

So this was the new big bad guy, was he? Not what she expected from her vacation, but any opportunity to kick butt was an opportunity that Black Magician Girl was happy to take. She stepped forward and raised her staff, pointing it at Dio in a challenging manner.

“You won’t do any more harm to these ponies, or anyone else!” she declared.

“Oh ho, you’re challenging me?” Dio said. “Your powers are impressive, I’ll admit, but you have the maturity of a child. Not to mention, I’m more powerful than I was a week ago.” At that moment, two beams of pressurized fluid shot from his eyes, hitting the ground in front of her and kicking up a dirt plume. “That power requires me to sacrifice a large amount of bodily fluid, something my old human body had in greatly limited quantity. But this new body has a surplus of it, meaning I can use it to my heart’s content!”

Another round of laughter escaped him before he took another shot, this time aiming over Black Magician Girl’s head towards the ponies. They all screamed and instinctively ran away, but Dio’s attack would have reached them anyway.

Would have.

Black Magician Girl summoned her Magic Cylinders right above her head, catching the fluid jets and deflecting them right back towards Dio. He smirked, holding his tiger paw right into the stream’s path. It impacted, but instead of cutting through, the liquid instantly froze upon contact. Glittering ice shards sprayed the ground all around him as the stream barreled into him. It was easily, quickly negated, leaving him completely uninjured.

“I easily match your power,” he taunted.

Twilight stepped forward. “I knew something wasn’t right, but I should’ve known you were involved. What did you do to Zecora?”

“Zecora?” He appeared to mull over the name before realization struck him. “That zebra? Her body served me well in escaping that crevice your lot left me in after our last encounter.”

“You monster!” Rarity cried, tears streaming down her eyes.

“Get everyone back to Ponyville,” Black Magician Girl told her pony friends. “I’ll deal with this monster.”

“Right,” Twilight said. She turned around. “Everyone, we’ll lead you back to Ponyville. Stay in an orderly group and we’ll all be safe.”

“There’s no escape!” Dio shouted.

Another round of laser vision shot from his eyes. He swept them across the trees on either side of the tracks, sending them tumbling down with thunderous crashes, blocking the way back down the line. Screams filled the air as ponies backed away from the makeshift barricade.

“Run for the forest!” Trixie shouted, bolting away.

Dio leapt off the train towards her, claw outstretched. Black Magician Girl fired off a Black Burning straight towards him. The attack was successful, hitting him dead center in his back. The resulting explosion broke him into two larger halves, both hitting the ground and kicking up giant dirt plumes. But he didn’t stay down. His upper half proceeded to kick off the ground, lunging towards Trixie. She didn’t even get a chance to glance back before he pinned her to the ground, knocking the wind out of her.

“Trixie!” Twilight cried.

“Let Trixie go you monster!” she shouted with equal parts fear and defiance, struggling with all her might beneath his tiger’s paw.

Dio didn’t answer verbally. Claws extended from his paw and sank into her flesh, making her gasp. Pained cries escaped her, but it was what happened next that chilled Black Magician Girl and made everypony in the crowd scream again. Trixie’s skin grew visibly less lively and more hollow, turning a shade of dark green as blood was drained from her body and absorbed into Dio’s own. Her eyes glazed over and she let out a choking gasp. Her attempts at struggle grew visibly weaker in just a couple of seconds.

“STOP THAT!”

Black Magician Girl raised her staff, pointing it directly at Dio’s head. But before she could fire off another Black Burning, Dio raised Trixie’s body to cover him like a shield. Black Magician Girl held the staff in place but didn’t fire. She grit her teeth, rage consuming her as she was forced to watch, along with everyone else, the last bit of life being drained from Trixie’s eyes before he let her drop to the ground. Her body went limp, face buried in the grass.

“The blood of you ponies certainly tastes as sweet as the disposition of your world,” Dio said. While he spoke, the lower half of his body moved by itself across the ground, reaching him and reattaching itself to his upper half. “It makes me all the more eager to taste that of your sun princess.”

He finished regenerating after a moment before bolting through the trees in the direction of Canterlot.

“We need to stop him!” Twilight cried.

“So… thirsty…”

The voice, so hoarse and weak, made the hairs on the back of Black Magician Girl’s neck stand up. Slowly, terror gripping her very Duel Spirit’s soul, she turned to see Trixie’s body standing up. Her face, before so cute and adorable, was now a zombified horror, hollow and filled with a twisted perversion of liveliness. Her body was in a similar state, the bones beneath her skin visible through her coat which itself was drained of vibrant color, now a muted shade of its natural blue. Everyone stared at the undead unicorn with equal parts shock and terror.

Trixie fixed her gaze onto Twilight, hunger overcoming her features. “So thirsty!”

She lunged towards Twilight, who tried to run, but Trixie proved surprisingly fast. She pounced on Twilight, baring sharp fangs that she didn’t have before. Everyone screamed again, but no one harder than Twilight. Trixie lunged her head downward, only for Twilight to smack her hoof dead center onto Trixie’s muzzle.

“Ow!”

Trixie stumbled backward, falling onto her rump. Twilight scrambled to her hooves.

“Everyone, run!” she screamed.

The ponies were several steps ahead of her. A giant stampede of terrified ponies ran around the opposite side of the blockade as Trixie, tripping over themselves in their desperate attempt to escape her as their continued screams filled the air. Rarity joined them, desperately trying to instill a semblance of calmness and order to the chaos.

“I’ll get everyone to safety, Twilight!” she shouted over the screaming cacophony. “I believe in you!”

Twilight nodded. The stampede cleared out in due time, the screams dissipating into the distance as everyone followed the rail line back to Ponyville. Trixie got back to her hooves, flashing a blank look towards Twilight and Black Magician Girl before it morphed into a semblance of anger.

“I need food!” she shouted, a guttural cry only capable by an undead being. Her horn glowed, enveloping Twilight and lifting her off the ground slightly.

Twilight struggled against the magical bind furiously, but Trixie’s magic proved unbreakable. And without her own magic, she was a sitting duck while Trixie charged, baring her fangs dripping with saliva.

“Help!” Twilight cried.

“On it!”

Black Magician Girl intercepted Trixie’s path, drawing her attention. She raised her staff to her side, swinging it like a baseball bat right at Trixie’s head. The impact came with a sickening crunch, sending Trixie careening across the rail line into the surrounding woodland. Black Magician Girl winced at the smattering of blood on her staff. More important than the cleanliness of her staff, however, was the injury it dealt to Trixie.

The magic binding Twilight blipped out of existence, allowing her to drop safely to the ground. But any sense of relief she might have felt was overshadowed by the fear and concern etched into her face as she looked towards Trixie.

“Trixie…” Tears began forming in her eyes. “What did that monster do to you?”

“Vampires are known to have brainwashing abilities,” Black Magician Girl explained. “Not like this, though…”

“What do we do?” Twilight asked, pleadingly. There was so much hope in her eyes, and that’s what made Black Magician Girl’s answer all the harder to say.

“I don’t know how Dio’s power works, so I don’t know if we can undo it without harming her,” she said solemnly. At that moment, Trixie made her way out of the treeline, hunger still visible in her hollow gaze. Black Magician Girl raised her staff, causing Twilight’s eyes to go wide with shocked realization. “But there is one thing we can do.”

“No… No!” Twilight wrapped her hooves around Black Magician Girl’s arm. “Don’t kill her!”

“It’s the only way to put her out of her misery.” Trixie darted towards them, horn glowing again. Black Magician Girl felt the magic envelop her staff arm, so she switched control to her other arm, aiming it squarely at Trixie. “But I promise she’ll be revived. My mentor will revive everyone that monster kills.”

She fired off a Black Burning in spite of Twilight’s continued protests. The magic sailed through the air, hitting Trixie square in the head. In the next split second, Black Magician Girl thought she saw Trixie’s face turn surprised before the resulting explosion scattered dozens of blue, fleshy chunks all over the clearing. Trixie’s disembodied head landed right in front of them, her lifeless eyes staring blankly up at them. Blood dribbled from her mouth, pooling onto the ground. Black Magician Girl thought she saw a glimmer of relief in her face. She hoped that whatever the afterlife in this world was, that Trixie would be happy there for her temporary stay.

Twilight knelt on the ground, crying over Trixie’s head, body wracked with choking sobs. Black Magician Girl allowed her a few moments of grief before she nudged her to stand back up.

“We need to get moving,” she said in a respectful tone. “We need to beat Dio to Canterlot and warn everybody.”

Twilight wiped some snot from her muzzle and nodded. “Right.”

Black Magician Girl sat on her staff and Twilight hopped on behind her, wrapping her hooves around her shoulders.

“Hold on tight,” Black Magician Girl instructed.

Twilight’s reply was quickly drowned out by the sound of the wind rushing through her ears.