Every time she came to Equestria, it always felt strange for Sunset Shimmer despite being born here. Having spent so much time on Earth in human form, it was awkward for her to be standing on four legs instead of two, having to use magic to grab stuff instead of her hands, and walking around naked without clothes on. Sure, it was small stuff, but it still got her mixed up once in and while. It was also still weird to see pony versions of her friends who were pretty much carbon copies of each save for a few differences. For one, it was apparent that Rarity and Applejack had some feelings for each other in her world, but in Equestria, Applejack and Rainbow Dash were finally starting to date one another much their groups joy.
One of those strange and confusing instances was with the current company she was with right now. With midterms over, and all her friends hanging out with their families for the extended vacation, Sunset decided to spend her spring break at Princess Twilight Sparkle's castle. Sitting with them for tea was her pupil Starlight Glimmer, who Sunset had gotten to know a few times since they first met, and Starlight's friend The Great and Powerful Trixie. That was the weirdest moment for Sunset since Trixie wasn't much of a friend for hers back on Earth. If anything, Human Trixie was always trying to rival the girls by proving how much better she was at anything they did.
And from what the Trixie of this world sounded like, she was no different save for the whole taking over Ponyville part.
"...and then The Great and Powerful Trixie was applauded like the amazing mare she was!" Trixie dramatically claimed as she spread her arms out. Smirking, she then put a hoof through her mane and smoothed it out. "Of course, that is to be expected of Trixie since she is one of the most amazing magical ponies in Equestria."
"And yet you got an alicorn princess and one who can turn into one at times, but in a human form, drinking tea with you right here," Twilight teased, which made Trixie glare at her before she calmly sipped her tea. "Still, that was an impressive trick you did. I've never actually tried stage magic before, and hearing it from you, rather than just seeing you bully around others with it, makes it sound fun."
"Yes, well, Trixie may have been a bit...pushy in the past, but she has reformed," Trixie replied before she put the teacup down. She turned to Sunset and asked, "Trixie does have a question for you, Sunset. You say there is a...human version of myself in your world?"
"Yeah, she goes to the same school as me and the rest of my friends," Sunset answered.
"Does that mean she's younger than me? Trixie is in her mid to late twenties," The stage magician asked.
"Actually, she's seventeen," Sunset answered before seeing the confused look on Trixie's face. "Time's kinda different in the human world. I think it has to do with the laws of physics there. Even my biological age is changed when I go to the human world."
"I'm surprised that two different versions of the same creature can exist in a single world," Starlight pointed out. "I would have thought there would have been some kind of paradox that would have destroyed it along with everyone in it."
"Who says it can't happen?" Twilight pointed out. "Maybe the two versions need to be both aware of each other and physically meet for such a thing to occur."
"Hmm, perhaps Trixie will postpone her idea of teaming up with her alternate double to perform a show upon hearing that," Trixie muttered, rubbing her hoof before beaming at Starlight. "Instead, I shall have my great assistant help me next time."
"Oh, no you don't," Starlight said, shaking her head. "Not after what happened last time."
"Trixie said she was sorry! She did not know the potion was going to last that long and keep you in such a state," Trixie argued. "Besides, Trixie was arrested under the charge of using black magic. How do you think she felt being trapped in a jail cell for a week until everything cleared over?"
"What happened?" Sunset asked Twilight.
"Apparently, The Great and Powerful Trixie thought to wow a crowd with the whole 'bringing the dead back to life' trick, so she had Starlight drink a potion that put her in a death-like state for a whole week," Twilight said, rolling her eyes. "Then, at her funeral, Trixie tried to perform the magical act, but she got accused of practicing necromancy by Starlight's family and was arrested. It took us a few days to clear all that up."
"And even longer to prove that I wasn't some undead abomination," Starlight grumbled. "You're lucky I can teleport out of a grave ten feet deep."
"Ten feet? I thought the standard was six?" Sunset asked.
"It was a typo error on my will," Starlight said, rolling her eyes.
"Still, teleporting ten feet is impressive," Sunset said with a smile. "Not many unicorns can teleport that far. Or even learn the spell at all."
"Hmm, this does make Trixie curious," Trixie pondered out loud as she pointed to Sunset. "Sunset, you were once Princess Celestia's apprentice and can access an alicorn state in the human world when using magic that you have used to defeat evil before, correct?" She then pointed to Starlight. "Starlight, despite not having received such training, was able to go one on one with Twilight, use time travel, and managed to defeat enemies such as Chystalis on her own."
"Um, what are you getting at?" Starlight asked while looking at Sunset in confusion.
"Well, Trixie is curious which of the two of you is stronger," Trixie answered with a shy smile. "While Trixie herself is Great and Power, she is...willing to secede that she is not all-powerful as you two."
"What about Twilight?" Sunset asked, pointing to the alicorn princess.
"Twilight's an alicorn. She doesn't count," Trixie replied, shaking her head. "You two are practically trained by her and fought her while pushing her to the limits. I can't think of any other unicorn who is more powerful than you two, and Trixie wishes to know which of you is better." She then picked up a plate of cookie crumbs. "That and we're out of cookies, so we should do something interesting before Spike's next batch is made."
The two unicorns looked at each other before a set of competitive smirks arose. "You know," Sunset said, leaning back against her chair, "it has been a while since I had a proper duel with somepony."
"And we haven't seen much action here in Equestria since we took down the Terrible Trio," Starlight commented.
The two unicorns nodded. "Alright, let's duel."
***
Twilight decided to have the magical duel in the courtyard of the castle's gardens. Both Starlight and Sunset were stretching and testing their horn power with a few telekinesis exercises while Twilight and Trixie stood to the side. Once the two girls were ready, they stood a few feet from each other.
"Alright, this magical duel is for one round only," Twilight stated as she stepped forward. "The duel will go on until somepony is unable to continue or gives up. No use of lethal spells or casting anything that will result in a wide area of destruction. I'll also end up canceling the duel should I judge that it's going too far."
"Is there a prize for winning?" Starlight asked before grinning at Sunset. "Or better yet, when I win?"
"Oh, don't count your chickens yet, Starlight," Sunset replied with an equally sized grin.
"Hmm, how about the loser has to help Spike clean the library up this afternoon?" Twilight suggested, which made both unicorns shiver. Ever since she became the Princess of Equestria, Twilight used her privilege to use all sections of the Royal Library to its fullest to the point that it was a common occurrence to see it a mess from the History section to the Transfiguration section.
"Now I'm really determined to win," Sunset replied, leaning forward while licking her lips. "I'm not going to waste my free afternoon cleaning up Twilight's mess."
"Yeah, I did that enough when I was learning under her," Starlight joked, which made Twilight glared at her, but she stuck her tongue out playfully.
Rolling her eyes, Twilight raised her hoof. "Ready?" Both mares nodded. "Begin!"
Both Starlight and Sunset had started things off with some simple magical blasts at one another. Rays of light pinkish purple and bright light turquoise sailed through the air as they slammed into one another, canceling each other out. Starlight then started running left while firing more shots faster despite not having the same intensity. Reacting quickly, Sunset shielded herself with magic, causing the blasts to evaporate off the energy dome. Once the firing had stopped, Sunset morphed her shield spell to create a solid tower shield that focused in front of her own body as she charged forward at Starlight.
Starlight didn't once slow down despite the possible impact of getting rammed with the energy shield, but instead, she teleported at the last second, appearing behind Sunset, who tried to turn around. However, Starlight spun quicker and fired a magic blast that hit Sunset in the flank, knocking her back. "That's one point for me!" Starlight cried out with a competitive grin.
"Not bad, but now it's my turn!" Sunset shouted as she released her shield and then started glowing with magic. Starlight's eyes widened as a large set of pegasus wings, made out of Sunset's magic, appeared on her back and helped her levitate. She charged forward, hooves forward, as Starlight barely rolled away from the attack. Activating her magic, Starlight soon levitated in the air with an aura around her, much like her fight against Twilight when they traveled back in time.
Starlight tried to fly away, but to her shock, Sunset was already in front of her, smirking before making a giant fly swatter with her magic. It smacked her down to the ground in a large thud as Starlight winced from the blow. Still floating above, Sunset crossed her hooves and asked, "Had enough?"
"Nope, in fact, I want you to come closer," Starlight replied with a grin as her eyes began to glow. A large black energy ball started to appear in front of her as her horn began to shine bright. Once Starlight summoned the energy ball, a large gale-like vortex began to spread and suck everything towards it. Leaves, flowers, sticks, small rocks, and everything around were swallowed into it.
Trixie had to grit her teeth to keep her hooves from being dragged forward while Twilight, who could stay still regardless, prevented her from falling with her wings. "What is that?"
"Gravity Well Spell," Twilight answered calmly. "A smaller one, but still powerful despite the size."
It seemed to do the trick as Sunset found her magical wings suddenly being sucked towards the gravity well, dragging her along with it. She struggled to get away, even teleported a few times, but Sunset wasted energy as she tried to continue fighting against the pull. Realizing she needed some means of escape, Sunset decided to bring some old human traits to help out. Dispelling her wings, Sunset summoned her magic and two large sets of human hands, glowing with power that suddenly wrapped themselves around Starlight.
"Hey!" Starlight shouted as the distraction caused her to lose focus and the gravity well spell disappeared.
After falling to her stomach, Sunset got up and continued her hold on Starlight. "Gotcha!"
"Not for long!" Starlight shouted as she summoned spears made of her energy and got them to pierce hands, soon letting her go and evaporate. Summoning another energy spear, she twirled it around before pointing it at Sunset. "How good are you at energy-constructed weapons?"
Sunset grinned before summoning two twin blades made of her power. "Better than Princess Celestia."
The smirking unicorns charged forward and began to clash their magical weapons against one another. Sunset would use one blade to block the blows of the spear while attacking with her other sword for a good impact. However, Starlight had range on her side and could use her spear to attack from a distance while keeping her opponent far away to avoid any hits. The fighting went on for some time until both slammed their weapons so hard they burst into magic dust.
Jumping back, Sunset closed her eyes and began to concentrate as she began to gather a large amount of energy. Soon, the magic started to come into the form of fire and wind as it began to take shape around her. The heat intensity began to dry up some of the plants in the area as the magical power began to come into physical form. A giant flaming figure in the form of a phoenix shrieked above Sunset Shimmer while shining like a miniature sun with a loud cry.
Starlight began to summon her energy as she began using the same spell, only this time her eyes were glowing bright white. Magic swirled around her like a pool of water before it started slithering around like a snake. Unlike Sunset's construction, this took the form of water and began cooling the area with dew as it began to roaring while taking in its structure. It was like a dragon, but much longer in the style of eastern dragons that Ember showed them one time in an old dragon book. It was solid and yet flowed in the air like a river.
The two elemental constructs cried out against each other before both casters sent them towards the other. The flaming phoenix spread its wings out and began to shoot flames from its mouth. The watery dragon stormed through the air, tail crashing around like a wave while water spewed from its muzzle. The two creatures soon crashed in the air, causing a large wave of combined energy to burst in the middle of the grounds that blinded the eyes of all nearby. Fire and water mixed in an explosion, floating in the air before steam spread out among the dueling zone.
Gasping, both competitors were sweating while struggling to keep themselves on all fours. It was clear that their mana pools were at their lowest, and tiredness was creeping in. Both mares knew they had to end this with one final blow to decide the winner. Trixie and Twilight watched from the safety of their area while leaning in anticipation. All throughout the match, the two unicorns were dead even in power, skill, and creativity. It was almost as if they were twins fighting against one another.
"One last...attack...before it ends?" Sunset asked, taking a few deep breaths.
"Yeah," Starlight answered, nodding. "Give it your all!"
Sunset proceeded to do so with one last yell before unleashing a large beam of magic at Starlight. Starlight, in turn, did the same thing, and the two attacks met in the middle. Horns at full power, the two gritted their teeth and pushed whatever they had left towards victory as the intensity of their blasts further increased.
And then there was a backlash of magic that caused both to be blasted back from the reaction. The two beams had canceled each other out and sent both girls flying until they were in a small crater each. Trixie quickly rushed over to Starlight's side while Twilight flew over to Sunset. Both helped the other up, but it was clear that they were just exhausted and not injured.
"Ugh, I think I pulled something in my horn," Starlight groaned as she rubbed her head.
"I haven't felt this sore since Rainbow Dash took us mountain climbing," Sunset winced as Twilight helped her up. "Ugh, so who won?"
"Honestly, it looks like a tie," Twilight said with a smile. "You both are equal in power and skill that I think you just canceled each other out that final stretch."
"Aw, I thought I was going to win that one," Sunset whispered with a heavy sigh. Her disappointment was soon replaced with a warm smile as she walked over to Sunset and held her hoof out. "Well, Twilight must have taught you really well to be able to go one on one with me like that. Good match, Starlight."
"Thanks, you're really good with magic too. No wonder you were Princess Celestia's pupil one time," Starlight replied as she shook the hoof. "So, I guess nopony wins, huh?"
"True, but since you both didn't win, I guess that means you both have to help Spike clean the library," Twilight joyfully proclaimed, which made Starlight and Sunset look at each other, wide-eyed.
"Um, actually, I think I pulled a few muscles in my flank when Starlight hit me," Sunset said with a nervous grin. "Maybe I should go see the nurse at the hospital wing?"
"Yeah, and I think maybe I'm getting a concussion when I hit the ground. I should get checked too," Starlight suggested as the two girls quickly turned tail and made for the exit.
Twilight sighed before turning to Trixie. "Well, so much for that. Do you want to help-"
"Oh, look at the time!" Trixie said as she looked at an invisible watch on her right arm. "The Great and Powerful Trixie is late for a dentist appointment. She better get going right away! A showmare needs a shiny set of teeth for her audience!" Taking one of her smoke pellets, she threw it to the ground, causing a large cloud of purple smoke to appear before it faded and showed Trixie galloping away.
Sighing, Twilight smiled and rolled her eyes. "I'm not that bad when it comes to library messes. Am I?"
Author's Note
*Commissioned by Sunset_Shimmer83*
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