A Darker Tale

Twilight stared at the unicorn in front of her, eying the dark cloak and the strange amulet that was connected to the front of her outfit. She was still trying to put together her thoughts as she wondered why Trixie had returned to Ponyville. Spike glared up at the once show off magician. "What is she doing here?" he sneered.

Trixie glanced around to the surrounding buildings, ways keeping a smirk on her muzzle, "Well, it seems this pathetic town has cleaned up since I was last here."

Rainbow Dash flew forward, crossing her hooves in front of her chest. "You mean after you nearly got our town destroyed by an Ursa Minor?"

Trixie just closed her eyes and smiled up at the cyan Pegasus, "You have got quite a big mouth. I doubt it is as large as your wing." the amulet on her chest began to glow bright red. Snapping her eyes open, they glowed the same color as the amulet. Before Rainbow could react, a bolt of red magic shot out from Trixie's horn and struck the startled flyer.

"Ahh!" Rainbow screamed as she felt the bones in her right wing shifting under her skin. The sickening sounds of pops were heard across the courtyard as the magic contorted with her physical features. After a moment, it all stopped instantaneously, followed by Rainbow dropping to the ground. "Oof!" she yelped as she hit the dirt. She tried to flap her wings, but felt something off. Looking back, she gasped at what she saw.

Her right wing was five times larger than it was before.

Trixie chuckled at her work before her eyes went to the crowd. When she saw two certain fillies, her smile was replaced by a snarl, "you!"

Snips and Snails both gave shocked looks as the angry unicorn glared at them. "Uh oh. Snips, I think we should get out of here." the gangly orange unicorn stated to his shorter green friend.

"Y-yeah, I think your right, Snails." Snips shakingly replied.

Before Either of them could move, however, a blast of red magic enshrouded them and pulled them through the air towards Trixies face, her eyes filled with hatred. "You two were the stupid foals who brought that Ursa Minor to the town in the first place!"

Both young colts trembled under the gaze of the enraged unicorn as they thought back to when they groveled at the hooves of Trixie as when she last visited their town, bragging about how she defeated an Ursa major, and how they had the bright idea to bring one to town for her to fight. Snails shook his head clear of his memory to focus back on Trixie as she help him, "We just wanted to see you vanquish an Ursa Major!"

"Y-yeah, we didn't know you were just a fraud!" Snips said without thinking.

Trixie glared even more angrily towards them. "A fraud!? I'll show you who is the fraud!" she lifted them higher and threw them hard across the clearing. They screamed out as they came towards a tree before a purple Aura caught them moments before they struck the trunk.

Twilight gave a sigh of relief as she lowered the two frightened fillies down onto the ground before returning her glare back to Trixie. "Leave my friends alone, Trixie."

"Hmm, looks like you are ready for what I want." Trixie said with a smirk. "I will leave them alone... If you accept my challenge. You and me, a magic duel. Winner stays, loser leaves Ponyville. forever!" her eyes glowed red once again as she shouted louder.

Twilight was startled; both by the challenge that was thrown at her, but by the strange glow that came from Trixie's eyes. 'What is that? It is the same color as that amulet' she thought to herself. After a moment, she glared back at the blue unicorn, "Forget it. I'd never agree to anything like that."

Trixie sighed, "If that is what you want, alright then." she quickly shot another blast of magic at Spike, catching the small dragon off guard.

"Ahh! What's going on!?" Spike screamed as he was lifted into the air. Suddenly, he felt his body being contorted into a tight ball, forcing his limbs locked against his body. He cried out in pain as his bones were pushed to their limits in flexibility. Then, Trixie began to bounce his body up and down off the ground like a beach ball.

Twilight gasped at seeing Spike being tortured like this. "Trixie, leave him alone!"

Trixie laughed as she threw Spike against a wall, causing him to rebound off and ricochet toward the crowd of onlookers. "Why don't you make me, Twilight?" she snickered as she made Spike bounce off the heads of the scared ponies around the courtyard. After a few more seconds of fun, she dropped her grip on him, making him fall down into the mud.

"Why are you doing all of this?"

Every emotion of enjoyment fell off of Trixie's face at Twilight's question. She slowly turned her head to face the purple unicorn. "Why? Are you really going to ask me that after you destroyed my life?"

Twilight furrowed her brow at what she heard. "What are you talking about? I have never even seen you since you ran away from Ponyville."

"That Ursa Minor you sent back to the cave just happened to destroy my wagon before you had to show off your fancy magic to humiliate me. After I left, I had to live on the streets for months! I had to scrap for anything I could get my hooves on just to eat."

"Trixie, if it was so bad, why didn't you just go home? Why did you live like that?" Twilight asked.

"You don't understand, do you? That wagon was my home! Not all ponies are like you and have a princess to help them out with a problem. That was all that I had. I had to save up months of bits from various small things to finally get myself a new one. I felt like I could get over my small problem and once again do my shows. But guess what, my problems were just starting! Word of what happened in Ponyville spread all across Equestria. I became a laughing stock in every town that I tried to visit. Ponies saw me as a joke and a fraud."

Trixie began panting out of anger as she continued her story, "I was hated and pushed out of nearly every place that I went to. I couldn't even get bits for food most of my days! Just to eat, I had to sell my new wagon and go back to living in the dirt. I couldn't even show my face in a town without being laughed or pointed at. I had to wear my cloak and walk in the dark just so I could get around.

Trixie finally came to a stop, her eyes burning with hatred. "Now, I want revenge for what you did to me. I am going to prove that I am the strongest unicorn in Equestria."

Suddenly, Pinkie Pie bounded right up to Trixie's face and glared right at her. "Bring it on! Twilight is the most super awesome unicorn ever! You would never be able to beat her!"

"Shut up." Trixie snapped. Shooting a bolt of magic at Pinkie's mouth, she clamped it shut and summoned a thick, metal muzzle. Placing it over the pink ponies head, she latched it on so tight it caused her face to scrunch up in pain. Trixie grinned at silencing the annoying pony. "There, now some pony will actually want you around."

Twilight looked back to all of her other friends behind her; She saw how Rarity was still distraught over her destroyed mane as Applejack tried to comfort her. Rainbow Dash was awkwardly trying to control her disfigured wing on the ground. Fluttershy was helping Spike get off the ground and stretch out his sore limbs. Her anger grew inside her as she saw her friends humiliated and even somewhat injured. She knew she couldn't let Trixie get away with what she did. She turned and faced her challenger, "Fine. I will challenge you to your duel. If I win, you never come back here."

Trixie gave a sinister smile seeing she was getting her desire, "And if I win, you are to live off alone out of this pathetic city."

"first, fix what you did to my friends."

Putting a hoof to her chin, Trixie glanced up to the sky, "Hmm. No, I think I'll leave them like that until after we are finished. They will be my insurance to make sure you don't try to leave early. We finish this to the end."

Twilight glared at Trixie, "No. I won't duel you until you fix them!" Her eyes went wide as she watched Trixie shoot a blast of red lightning towards her. Jumping to the side, she barely dodged the attack as it crashed into the dirt. She looked back up, seeing the red glow illuminating from Trixie's eyes.

"Sorry, but the duel has already begun, Twilight!" Trixie shouted as she shot out another beam of magic.

Twilight felt her heart speed up as she quickly jumped out of the way of the incoming blast. Landing on her hooves, she stared at Trixie for a moment as her thoughts raced inside of her head. 'She is serious. She really wants to fight like this.' Charging her own horn, she fired a purple blast at her opponent.

Trixie smirked as she stood still as the beam raced towards her. "You really think something so weak can stop me?" she pointed her horn down and focused her magic into the ground beneath her hooves. Suddenly, a column of Earth lifted Trixie up and over the blast, causing it to harmlessly strike dirt. Looking down, she charged her magic and levitated a large portion of dirt, crushing it into a tightly compressed ball and launched it at Twilight.

Seeing the giant dirt mound rush at her, Twilight summersaulted forward only a second before the giant mound slammed down and shattered everywhere. Before she could stand up, however, a bright flash of red to her right caught her attention. "What the-" Trixie had teleported down to the ground, lifting up another large chunk of earth and hurdling it at Twilight.

"Agh!" Twilight yelled as she was struck in her side and knocked across the clearing. Ponies gasped as they watched Twilight being thrown down, but they were too terrified to try and help her out.

All of Twilight's friends stared in shock at how Trixie was actually beating Twilight. "How did she get so strong?" Rarity asked.

Applejack glared and scraped her hoof on the ground, "Ah don't care how tough she is. Ah'm gonna give her a hoof up the side of her head."

Spike quickly put his claws on her shoulder, "No, you can't!"

Applejack turned back to him, confused by his statement, "Why can't ah?"

If a pony is challenged to a magic duel, they cannot accept help from those watching it or they will be forced to lose!" spike exclaimed, "Once engaged in the duel, a magical bond is formed between the two combatants, keeping them connected until it is over."

Rainbow's eyes floated up from Spike to her friend on the ground across the clearing, "So she has to fight her alone."

Twilight rolled up to her hooves and stretched out her legs. She felt an odd tightness in her chest as she tried to breathe. "She *huff* must have broken a rib from that hit." she said to herself. She glanced up to see Trixie slowly approaching her, the glow of her eyes illuminating the same as the amulet on her. "What is that thing? Why is it changing the color of her aura?"

Trixie grinned to herself as she looked down to the amulet she adorned. 'The rumors of the Alicorn Amulet were true. I do have much more advanced magic with this now.' she thought to herself. Knowing she had power beyond normal, Trixie felt unstoppable.

Looking to her left, Twilight saw the water in the fountain, giving her an idea. 'let's see how she does against water.' focusing her magic, she lifted a large stream of water, controlling the liquid as if it was a slithering snake. Beads of sweat began falling down her forehead as she strained to keep the stream from falling down into the ground. Using all of her willpower, she shot the long stream through the air towards her opponent.

Trixie shot out her own magic, colliding with the stream and enshrouding it with her aura. The water was now locked in a match in which magic could overcome the other. Both were pulling with all that they had. To Trixie's surprise, Twilight was giving her amulet a run for its money. 'arr! She is actually resisting the amulets power!?' she sneered to herself. 'No, I won't lose to her!'

Trixie's eyes grew an even brighter red as she focused her magic. After a moment, she ripped the water out of Twilights grasp, Causing the purple unicorn to drop to the ground from strain. Pulling the water behind her, the former magician separated the water into several small liquid balls. They then began to shift into elongated spears, and then were frozen solid. She smiled when she saw the scared expression on her target, "I'd be careful, Twilight. You may hurt your precious librarian hooves if you strain yourself." she then turned the spears and launched them through the air.

Knowing she couldn't outrun them, Twilight focused whatever magic she had left and illuminated her body. In an instant, she teleported behind the incoming ice spikes, dropping down to the dirt again and putting a hoof to her horn. "ugh! My head!". The use of so much magic was beginning to take a toll on Twilight, causing her mind to blur. She looked back up to Trixie, who suddenly enshrouded herself in a powdery glow before vanishing completely. "What-, what was that? Teleportation?"

"No. I'm still here, Twilight..." Trixie's cold voice said, "You just can't see me."

Twilight's blood ran cold when she realized what was happening. "An invisibility spell? That's impossible! Only Mage level unicorns can perform that!"

A sinister laugh was heard in the air from an unknown location, "You have no idea how powerful my magic had become, Twilight. There is no way for you to defeat me now that I possess this new level of skill."

Twilight stood up and looked around, trying to find where Trixie was, but was blindsided by a blast of magic from her right. "Agh!" she collapsed back down, her side burning from the strong strike. She shot a small blast in that direction, but her magic didn't hit anything. Then, another blast hit her, this time from the left. She fell on to her belly, unable to keep her head up anymore as her chin hit the dirt below. Before she could try to move, another beam hit her, this time connecting with her left shoulder.

Her body was aching all over from the mix of injuries and from the overuse in magic. She couldn't take anymore punishment; she just wanted to stop. "Alright. I *huff* I surrender."

Gasps were heard from all of the ponies watching the duel after they heard Twilight give up. They could not believe that she had actually been beaten.

Trixie's laughter echoed across the clearing as her body began to become visible again. "Ha ha ha! Oh my, I am disappointed. I didn't get to really experience that spell too much. You didn't last long after I started it. Now, I am the winner!" she trotted and stood over the battered unicorn in the dirt. "Now, you will face the pain that I have suffered." Tilting her horn down, she fired a beam at point blank range at Twilight.