A Trick of the Light

Of course we ran, what else could “The Great and Powerful Trixie” do? I must forget that title, for now it truly no longer belongs to me, stripped of me when that mare bested me in town. No longer great and powerful, but I still have emotion, the strength of which she could never comprehend. So yes, I ran, but I did not run for fear, nor for pride; I ran because there was much to do, heh, and I could not let her best me again.

…

Deep in the Everfree forest, I awakened the innate ability all unicorns possess, that of the raw magic of the soul. I trained day after day without rest; after living my life in the path of sleight of hand, it was indeed difficult to learn true magic, but not impossible. , I trained for three years, 2 months, 6 days exactly; the forest had a knack for keeping one informed, I never made the tallies on the trees in my glen, yet they appeared.

Twilight, the fool will know soon what she has wrought, the wrath of a pony whose life was crushed by her actions.

…

She walked into town, brazenly, as if nothing had happened, causing the hair on the back of Twilight’s mane to ripple. “Trixie?” She thought “What is she doing back, I thought she learned last time?” Her questions soon answered in the form of a challenge.

“Twilight Sparkle, I challenge you to a battle of magic, to the end.” With this Trixie cracked a smirk, you could defeat the showpony, but you can’t take out the show.

Slightly taken aback by the bluntness of the blue unicorn in front of her, “I have no choice but to accept, do I?”

“Oh, darling, you have every option to back down, but if you do, you must share in the same exile that I have.”

“Then my answer is obvious, as it is the only reasonable one. Trixie Lulamoon, I accept your challenge, I shall meet you in battle at the top of the Dragon Mountain.”

“So be it; Dusk at Dragon Mountain.” With that, Trixie disappeared in a flash of light blue magic.

“Well that is certainly not her usual illusions, she must have been practicing while I was gone” thought Twilight to herself, the purple unicorn for the second time in her interaction with Trixie that she felt paralyzed by fear.

No sleep was shared that night; Trixie was meditating, focusing her emotions, transferring them to raw power, the magic of

nature. While Twilight was focused as well, she was reviewing her magic mercilessly, not realizing the time until she jerked up from her books with the sun wide in the sky.

With the rise of the sun, Trixie retreated into the darkness of the forest, so that she may get the rest necessary.

Twilight, on the other hand, could not sleep. She stayed locked in the library so as to stay away from the prying questions of the citizens. Her only contact with the world outside was her letter to the Princess, letting her know the gist of it and warning her to stay away. It pained her to threaten the Princess, but this was her ordeal, a battle she knew she saw coming, and she wanted, no, needed, to finish it on her own. Otherwise, Trixie would be able to blame in on trickery and return later, stronger.

High above, in Canterlot castle, Princess Celestia had indeed received the message, and a second one. The first was that of Twilight Sparkle, and read as such.

______________________________________________________________________________

Dear Princess Celestia,

Trixie Lulamoon has returned to Ponyville with revenge in her heart, and a duel on her breath. I have accepted the challenge of a one-on-one battle between myself and her, and am still unsure as to the state of her powers. Do not try to intervene, or I shall be forced to spend my magic against you, and no doubt Trixie will as well, and there is something that does not bode well whenever I look upon Trixie, her aura has changed, becoming darker, and leaves a residual feeling, I fear what she has learned in her exile.

I give you this message so that you may know that it may be my last.

Goodbye,

Twilight Sparkle

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The princess had seen this coming, ever since she had watched as the illusionist had run into the Forest, she knew that there would be rivalry, there would be no peace.

She moved onto the second note, which was stamped with a mark that she had not seen for some time, a star-tipped wand with a sparkling swoop of magic, the stamp of Trixie. Her eye narrowed as she recognized the seal and feared what the show-pony could have possibly wanted to tell her about.

The note was small, consisting of one line, but it was enough to make Celestia drop the letter and push it away as if it were diseased, she then ignited the edge and watched the page burn, she could not let that knowledge be found, the fact that it was already know by someone, specifically this someone was troubling enough.

…

As Celestia moved to lower the sun, and Luna, to raise the moon, there was a tension on the Mountain of the sleeping dragon, a tension between the two ponies who had their gazes locked in a glare that could have melted stone.

Trixie was standing on one edge of the flat top of the mountain, she had long since gotten rid of the hat and cape she had worn as a “magician”, her hair blew gently on a ethereal breeze, similar to the fashion of Celestia’s and Luna’s; her aura was so powerful, it could be seen, it enveloped her in a blackish-blue haze, so thick it obscured her outline, she wore a simple silver circlet on her head, adorned with gemstones of such color and size that would make Rarity faint.

Twilight, on the other hand, stood stock still, wearing nothing but her earrings given to her by her father. They held magic so powerful that even he was afraid to use it to save his life, but he somehow knew that one day, Twilight would need them, and so he passed the “gift” on.

Though neither had gotten any sleep, both had put on their best façade of readiness as the stood apart from each other.

They were alone on the mountain top; they both knew that; their magic repelling all creatures, pony and woodland alike.

“Last chance to back out” Trixie warned, knowing the answer before she heard it.

“You wouldn’t stop if I did, so why should I give you the satisfaction of a quick victory?” Twilight spat back, her edge sharpened by fear.

“Because you really don’t want to know what I have gotten myself into.” With that, Trixie rose off the ground in unison with the moon; her aura trailing behind her, her eyes became filled with a light that would have blinded Twilight, had she not already experienced it herself.

One observation later, Twilight knew why she should fear. “Her horn isn’t even glowing! She’s not using magic? And she is still levitating? What is going on here? What has she done to herself?”

She did not have time to think about it too much longer, she needed all her mind to dodge the charging pony. “Why isn’t she using her magic” she frantically thought “and how?”

“YOU WISH TO KNOW WHY I DO NOT USE MY MAGICAL POWERS.” Her voice raised to an unbearable volume, Twilight could feel the world shake underneath her with every syllable. It wasn’t a question, she knew what Twilight was thinking, her learning had given her that ability. “IF YOU TRULY WISH TO SEE MY POWER, THEN SO BE IT!”

With that, Trixie rose higher in the sky until she was silhouetted by the moon. As soon as her shadow cast itself over Twilight, her horn glowed an unearthly shade of black; with that spell, Twilight could see the moon rise farther and felt the sun come up behind her, “IMPOSSIBLE! She can’t be that powerful.”

“AH BUT I CAN TWILIGHT SPARKLE” she spat out her name as if it were poison in her mouth, still reading Twilights mind as if it were a book left upon the table.  “MY NAME IS NOT LULAMOON FOR NOTHING; BEHOLD THE POWER OF THE SCORNED THIRD SISTER, DUSK LULAMOON!”

“N…n…No!” Twilight stuttered out, “That isn’t possible, the third sister does not exist, she’s a myth, a fairytale; and besides, if you are the third sister, why couldn’t you defeat the Ursa Minor?”

“A fairytale yes, a myth, absolutely not; I was shunned from the royal family for not being born alicorn, only my sisters were so lucky. The pain of being disowned by your own father and mother was too much to bear; I hid inside myself, to be protected from the atrocities I would have suffered. I may not be alicorn, but my magic is by far more pure than any my eldest sister has learned and my youngest sister was born with.” Her voice had lowered, but still remained at a high enough volume that Twilight could hear each word, even though she didn’t want to hear any more. “And I should thank you Twilight Sparkle, for you inspired me to find myself after my defeat in Ponyville, and so I did. Trixie was simply a name that I put on, my powers weakened by the form, but now, my strength has permeated the walls of possibility, Uncle Discord would be so proud.”

“Royal family or not, I will have to defeat you, even if it means that I have to lose myself in the act.” That said, Twilight reached up to her ears, a simple touch of her hooves enough to unleash the transformative magic held within the rings, her body shifted, stretched, new bones were made, skin was stretched agonizingly over growing muscles, she could feel the power growing inside her as her form began to grasp control over her mind. No longer did Twilight Sparkle stand as a frightened purple unicorn, rather, she hovered at the same level as Dusk, her new wings holding her aloft, as a beautiful alicorn, her body was crystalline, a trick she learned in the Crystal Empire, her horn glowing white as raw energy surged through her new form, aching for release.

Release that she soon gave it.

As Twilights horn glowed with the painfully white light, Dusk began to cast a spell, but not in the way that unicorns do, she darted her hooves around, making intricate symbols in the air, literally casting a spell. The shield she had set up went up just in time, for no later had she been encompassed by the black glow than it was shattered by a spear-like projectile, conjured from Twilight’s thought. Yet, to Twilight’s surprise, there was no mare behind the wall, her questions soon answered by a dark blue slash of magic headed her way. The slash was dodged with ease, though it was immensely powerful, it moved slowly. Not taking into account the new strength of the alicorn form, Twilight flapped her wings mightily, bringing her up above Dusk, so that she could get a view of the battlefield. She memorized the area just in time to see Dusk flying up to meet her; her aura had formed itself into a pair of inky wings that left streaks of magic as she flew.

Twilight’s first impulse was to hide in a cave and shut every entrance so that the powerful unicorn before her could not get her, but her resolve embodied itself into the form of a spell of bravery, immediately banishing all fear and replacing it with a strength she had not felt the likes of before. Emboldened by her newfound lack of fear, Twilight teleported to the ground and began to charge her horn for another spell; predicting this, Dusk sighed and cast her own transformation spell, she became an alicorn as well with her front being a dark midnight blue that faded to a yellow towards the back, and then, she fell. She simply let herself fall charging her own horn and pointing herself downwards, like an arrow falling with increasing speed towards the crystalline pony below her.

Their horns had both grown to a size twice as long as they were before, impregnated with pure emotion, they honed in on each other, a tear was shed by both at the knowledge of what was next.

They collided.

Earth, Space, Time, Reality, and Order; all these ripped apart as easily as if they were wet tissue paper. A shockwave was sent out, a wave of power so strong that all the nearby forests were obliterated, earthquakes were felt on the other side of the world, ponies with any empathy were stricken with washes of pain and agony and the emotions,  The Mountain of the sleeping dragon that they battled upon was smashed into oblivion, literally. At the epicenter of it all, there laid a form, only one; it seemed to cry at the horrors they had brought. Yes, they, that was the term that would describe their situation. Space reformed, Time reorganized, Reality folded back together, and Order restored itself as much as possible, except for one single figure. One figure, two mindsets.

The silver alicorn stood up, glowing slightly in the moonlight. She tried to teleport away, her horn glowing purple, but nothing happened; she tried to levitate herself away, her horn glowing blue, but again, nothing. Then the realization dawned on them, there had been no winner of the battle, for the winner had become the loser, and the loser took place of the winner.

Trying to make sense of the vow, Reality made an answer to an impossible paradox, the winner became the loser, and the loser became the winner. Victor and loser lost in one body, and trapped forever in the form that was not theirs.

They cried.

They cried because it was the only thing they could do. Their opposing minds contradicting each other at every turn; run…stay here, stand…sit, cry……okay.

“Weep not sisters, for the truth is not what you fear it to be.” They heard the Goddess in more than just their ears, the rich voice of Princess Luna filled their hearts and souls as well.

Finding unison for a brief moment, the two ponies with one body turned their head and gave out one word. “Why”

“Come sisters, there is much for you to learn, and not much time for you to do so.

They stood, learning to work together, knowing it was the only way that they would be able to do anything.