The Tragedy of Twilight Sparkle

---[ The Tragedy of Twilight Sparkle ]---

By: forgotten5p1rit

Twilight scanned her surroundings for her arch enemy amongst the hundreds of ponies in motion.

“You WILL die today.” Twilight thought as her eyes continuously scanned the field for a hint of light blue.

When you are trying to see somepony in a field of bloody, bruised and dead poines defending their honor and role in battle, one does not simply see a hint of light blue even though the uniforms of the two sides where decorated elaborately with colors far from light blue, it was only her enemy’s side that was in DARK blue. She shook her head to clear the haze that seemed to settle in her mind. Snorting in frustration, she closed her eyes acknowledging the risk but paid no heed to it. She tilted her head up and thought about this wretched war, how it came to be but the constant yelling of war horses below her combined with the bouts of heat waves from the sun generating endless amounts of haze in her mind proved that thinking during war can be very difficult. Twilight then heard a warning cry that forced her eyes to snap open.

“Watch out!!” It warned.

Twilight did not know who the colt seemed to refer to but she didn’t care, this is war. Yelling a statement followed by a sentence? Ain’t no pony got time for that! Her eyes snapped open to see an arrow nearing the end of its trajectory. Right on her face. Twilight rolled sideways as quick as lightning, but the attempt to escape uninjured was too late, the razor sharp tip of the arrowhead tore apart a long gash expanding on her cheek before thudding on the hoof worn dirt behind her. Wincing at the pain the arrow had caused, she first put a hoof on the gash. Blood was pouring from it, she then looked up eyes alert for the pony responsible for the attempted snipe, her eyes darted left and right until she saw a light blue body and mane, a cape, holding a bow, the enemy she wanted to kill the last time that pony came and wrecked their lives for a short period of time. The light blue body and mane of Trixie.

Trixie caught the snarling, angry face of Twilight, lowering her bow, she responded with an evil smile, shutting her eyes and screwing up her face into a concentrated look, Trixie disappeared for a fraction of a second only to appear right next to the injured Twilight.

“Well, well, well.” Trixie tisked, “Looke what we have here.”

“Trixie.” Twilight snarled in a dangerous tone through clenched teeth.

“I thought you’re battle school would have taught you to not be stupid during war did it not?” Trixie insulted, the cocky side of her personality returning once again.

“I thought that the last time I belted that fat, light blue flank of yours, your cocky personality would have disappeared did it not?” Twilight retorted beginning to stand on 3 hooves, leaving one still holding her wounded cheek.

Trixie’s face tensed. “That shut her up” Twilight thought, self-consciously. Twilight allowed a smile to spread across her face.

“I would watch that tongue of yours Twi.” Trixie warned with a glare, her horn glistened pink to unsheathe her broadsword. Twilight, seeing an obvious potential threat to her life, dropped the hoof she was using to protect her injured cheek and also used her magic to unsheathe her sword

“Likewise…” Twilight responded but without a single chance to say anything else, Trixie pounced on Twilight and before Twilight knew it, she was sprawled on the ground, pinned down and disarmed by an equally surprised Trixie.

“What was that?” Trixie mocked with a slight tone of disappointment. “Was that meant to be a sword fight? So… let’s gather our facts… you failed to excel in Magic school AND battle school? Typical!”

Trixie saw Twilight’s attempt to teleport away and she simply whacked her horn, Twilight winced.

“Awwww what’s wrong?” Trixie asked sarcastically. “Did poor, poor Twily get hurt? Awww.”

Trixie heard a whistling sound behind her; she turned her head to see an arrow heading straight for her.

“Oh for Celestia’s sake!” she groaned.

Without thinking, Trixie jumped from Twilight’s body to not only be just in time to witness the whizzing sound of the arrow as it zoomed past her but to also free her opponent. Twilight saw a chance to flee and thus, teleported upright acquiring her sword whilst doing so. Trixie, seeing the tragic outcome of events, tried to cover her surprise by saying;

“Well, since I am so nice,” Trixie began grandly, “The Great and Powerful Trixie will give you once chance, but only this ONE chance.”

“Did you also say that when you tried to lose weight?” Twilight asked, a grin spreading across her face.

Trixie, clearly outsmarted, lunged at Twilight, expecting her to be on the ground by now, but Twilight not only remembered this dirty little trick like the back of her hoof, she also knew how to counter react this. Twilight simply raised her sword to the air on a 45 degree angle.

The two swords met with a violent *KASHING*. Twilight forced her sword towards Trixie which almost made Trixie lose her stability as she staggered backwards. When Trixie regained her composure, Twilight’s turn was up. She started her move with a simple sword swing that was defended easily by her blue opponent, Twilight then punched Trixie in the stomach with her empty hoof, Twilight looked happy with the damage she inflicted on her opponent…or she thought.

Trixie was a good actress, she pretended that the punch had wounded her severely, she coughed a few times and started to deeply inhale large gulps of breath like he was really injured, but she was merely counting the seconds going by before she made her sudden move. Twilight looked at the seemingly helpless Trixie, as Twilight’s sword began to lower, Trixie made her sudden move and before Twilight even knew it, she was desperately defending her life from Trixie’s sword swings as they relentlessly struck down. “One mistake and I am gone.” thought the desperate Twilight.

For every deflection Twilight made against Trixie’s sword swings, she took one step back. Twilight soon realized that she can only take so many steps backwards before she fell off the ledge that was supporting the two of them, and if not die by the fall damage, then by Trixie’s sword or arrow. Becoming paranoid, Twilight tried to take the offensive side by blocking Trixie’s last swing with a forced parry from her, they met faces for a fraction of a second before Trixie reacted faster than Twilight by kicking her back. Twilight, disarmed and trapped, waited for her doom by Trixie’s blade.

Trixie looking triumphant, raised her sword high in the air, going for the killing strike, Twilight’s only hope now was that she disabled the magical, pink aura of Trixie’s horn, she looked around desperately for something heavy or sharp enough that will interrupt the magical field of a unicorn’s horn, and that was when luck held her tight. The arrow that Trixie had shot previously was still embedded on the hard earthen floor about two meters away from her. Twilight knew that if she attempted to reach for the arrow with her magic, Trixie will immediately stop her, she must find a way for her to become distracted, maybe she will ask her for last words so she could-

“Any last requests before I…” Trixie pretended to think of a word before saying “DISPOSE of you?” Trixie giggled in delight of those three words, the sword still airborne aiming at Twilight’s forehead.

Twilight’s chance! She had to take this, possibly, lifesaving chance.

“Tell me your life story.” Twilight simply said.

“What?” Trixie exclaimed totally surprised that she would ask her such a request.

“Tell me your life story.” Twilight repeated.

“My life has nothing to do with you.” Trixie snapped, “I shall not give you such knowledge.”

“But you said if I had any last requests and that is my request.” Twilight pushed on.

Trixie, dumbfounded, gradually said, “Well, since this is your doomsday, I guess there isn’t any harm in telling you my life story. Well, I’ll start with me in my fillyhood years.”

Trixie coughed and began her life story. Twilight pretended to be sucked in, but she was actually awaiting Trixie to be distracted for even a few seconds.

Trixie’s eyes remained mentally interlocked with Twilight’s eyes as she gave a speech of her life story, only breaking the constant eye contact due to blinking and simply looking away for a fraction of a second. “Come on, talk about stars or something for Celestia’s sake!” Twilight thought urgently, she knew that sometimes Unicorn magic can “skip” a beat and they will lose contact with the item that they are holding for a second, the unicorn can magically “catch” it by re-summoning the levitation spell but only unicorns with a fast reaction can be able to manage this.

Twilight knew nothing of Trixie’s reaction time, so assuming the worst; Twilight would need the time quick or it’s lights out for her. But as desperate as she is now, Twilight knew that if she suddenly asked the question, Trixie will suspect an attempted distraction and she will be killed for sure. Twilight pushed her thoughts aside just in time to hear her ticket to a question that might save her life.

“-And so I asked Ms. Blossom ‘How can you tell one star from another?’ THAT was when she came up with the full hour explanation of the stars and-”

“So how CAN you tell one star from another?” Twilight asked as innocently as she could.

Trixie raised an eyebrow at her prey.

“Are you serious Twi?” Trixie asked blandly, “Can you really not tell? The difference between two-“

“No, no I can!” Twilight exclaimed, “It’s just that…h-how did your teacher explain it to you?”

Twilight was glad of a few things, she not only removed Trixie’s raised eyebrow and perhaps her suspicions, but she thought of a good excuse, “Being an egg- well-read isn’t so bad is it Dash?” She thought self-consciously.

“Oh, well THAT was different!” Trixie started, “She said that it all comes down to the center point star.” Trixie looked up. “Uh….” She raised a hoof to her chin and appeared to be in thought.

Twilight thought this chance would never have come; she quietly levitated the arrow from the earth. It proved to be difficult as Trixie seemed to have placed a lot of power onto that bow. Eventually, she managed to free the arrow from the earth and pointed the tip of the arrow towards her target, the glowing horn of Trixie. She drew the arrow back a bit to gather some momentum in power, finally thinking that the amount of space between the arrow tip and the horn was enough, she pulled it towards the horn.

“AAARRGGH!!!” Trixie screamed and fell on top of Twilight as the razor sharp tip of the arrow dug into her mystical horn, the magical aura surrounding her horn and sword dispersed, and with no force to support the heavy broadsword…

…it dropped…