"I saw what happened from the encampment," Fleur said when she found Twilight and the others in the temporary hospital in the compound. "The tanks falling I mean. I'm really glad you're all okay."

"I'm guessing you're not including everypony that was killed in that comment," Octavia said back harshly. She glared at Fleur, daring the unicorn to correct her.

"Sorry," said Fleur, unable to hold Octavia's gaze for long. "If you need me to help I can at least use a healing thingamajig?"

"That won't be necessary," Octavia replied coldly. Behind her Summer winced at Octavia's behavior.

"Actually, we could give one of the other unicorns a break and let Fleur take over?"

Octavia rolled her eyes, "Oh very well." She pointed at a mare whose eyes were drooping as she squeezed every last drop of magic out of her horn. "She's been here a while; go take over from her."

Fleur gave Twilight a small smile as she passed, the filly wisely staying quiet as she followed, leaving Twilight with Octavia as she stitched up the gash on Snowbright's brow. "Is something wrong Octavia?" Twilight asked, curious about the mare's attitude towards Fleur.

"Something wrong..." Octavia said slowly, like she was tasting the words. "Let me think for a moment on that."

"Alright, something more that usual. I know it's been a rough couple of days for us, but this still isn't like you."

"You're right, it has been a rough couple of days, although that is putting it rather mildly, and I can't shake the feeling that it isn't over yet. As for Fleur, counting five ponies as 'okay' when we've lost dozens in the road collapse alone, well... I think it goes without saying that it's certainly not okay." Snowbright squeaked as she jabbed his brow a little harder than she meant to. "Sorry."

"Y'know, this is really close to my eye..."

Octavia released the needle and clasped her hooves together, "Twilight, could you? I don't think I should be doing this right now." Twilight saw Octavia trying and failing to hold her hooves still, and wordlessly picked the needle and thread up in her magic, quickly and quietly stitching up the cut. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." Twilight knotted the thread and cut it, then gestured for Snowbright to sit up. "How is it?"

"Like I've had my face sewn. That's probably how it's meant to feel though, so...thanks, I guess."

"That's alright. Could you head up and start organising ponies to take the keep with? I really think we ought to get on with it."

"We going for mostly adepts? Or something a bit more evenly spread?"

"Ask Selene if she'll be taking part, then work from that. Trixie and I will be leading the charge to find the Duke while you and maybe Selene take the keep. If she doesn't go you might want to take more adepts."

Snowbright raised an eyebrow at her, then regretted it. "Just the two of you?" he grunted through the pain.

"It's nothing we can't handle," Twilight lied. Truthfully she was more concerned that Trixie might hurt anypony that tried to stop her killing the Duke. Better to eliminate that possibility altogether.

"And how many pieces should we expect to see his body in?" Snowbright said back, seeing straight through Twilight's attempt at lying. He smiled at Twilight's surprise, "Trixie's need for revenge has got us this far, so don't look at me to stand in her way." He waved lazily and left.

"Are we hating or liking Snowbright at this point?" Octavia asked a moment later.

"I don't even know," Twilight sighed in reply. "Doesn't matter. What does matter is that we are going to end this. I doubt we'll do it without casualties though, so could you spare some ponies to come in after us?"

"I suppose so. I'll have to pack some fresh supplies though and do the same for-"

She stopped as the door burst open, Snowbright running back in. "Twilight, you might want to get up top. I just ran into a pony coming down and he said Trixie's going nuts trying to get into the keep."

"Damn it Trixie! Octavia, can you-"

"Yes, whatever, just go before she hurts somepony. Or herself," she added quietly once Twilight was gone.

Twilight's hooves skidded on the gravel of the courtyard. She'd intended to land by Trixie, but changed her mind as a massive flare of dark magic rolled up the side of the keep, bathing the area in a horrible red and purple glow as the anti-magic runes nullified the energy of the spell. A second later a scream of frustration echoed around the courtyard, originating from the small blue unicorn by the keep's main entrance.

"Trixie! What are you doing!?"

"What do you think I'm doing! He's here Twilight, he's so close, but you all keep fucking around! I'm sick of waiting!"

"If you just run in there now you'd probably get yourself killed."

"At least I'd be doing something!"

Twilight started to say something, but swallowed it as she was only going to waste time saying it. "Five minutes. Do you think you can hold on for five minutes while I get some back-up organised?"

"I could probably wait longer since I can't get through these fucking doors!" Trixie reared up and slammed her hooves on the door, "You heard her you bastard! Five minutes and I'm coming for you!"

"Sweet Celestia..." Twilight took flight, slowly circling the courtyard until she spotted Luna by the prisoners who were yet to be escorted somewhere more secure. "Why haven't you tried to stop Trixie?"

"Stop her from what? Breaking into the impenetrable fortress? The entire building is warded against magic, the windows and balcony doors are all shuttered against airborne incursions, and the walls are at least three meters thick. The only way she's currently getting in is if she tunnelled through the mountain and entered through the dungeons, but that would take some time. The only way she gets in any time soon is if you or I help her. Or some other unicorn I suppose."

"So you're happy for her to keep on doing what she's doing right now?"

"I wouldn't say happy, but I imagine they're feeling pretty nervous in there about now."

Twilight closed her eyes and pretended she hadn't just heard about Luna using Trixie to scare their enemy. "Okay, are you going to help us take the keep? If you want to declare the dungeons as off-limits, I think it best you do so."

"Then I certainly shall. I suspect you and Trixie are going for the Duke while we do the rest of the work?"

"You suspect correctly."

"I really don't think pandering to Trixie's wishes will get you what you seek Twilight."

"We'll see. Snowbright's gathering some others to storm the keep with, so find him once you're ready."

"And yourself?"

Twilight smiled weakly, "Me? I'll be stood somewhere, quietly soiling myself because I can't believe we're here, about to take High Rock keep and eliminate the Duke."

"Again, there you are saying 'eliminate.' I really don't know when you decided the Duke must die Twilight, and I care not for it. Yes he likely deserves death, but we are not judge, jury, and executioner. Is Trixie really worth the loss of ethics here?"

"That's not the issue since you just said the Duke deserves death. I'm not saying Trixie is worth it either, but if a pony like the Duke dying now helps Trixie in the longer run, isn't it worth it then? Especially since, as you said, he deserves death."

"And if he didn't deserve death?"

"Then we probably wouldn't be here, right now, doing all this, and Trixie would have no reason to seek revenge because her family wouldn't have been horribly killed to set an example."

A small smile crept onto Luna's face, "So long as you know what you're doing then Twilight. I do ask you to consider when you thought killing became the right thing to do." Luna stood and walked to where the other ponies were gathering for the attack, leaving Twilight alone to pout at the ground.

"Killing isn't the right thing to do, but helping my friend at the cost of an evil old bastard like the Duke could be." Twilight shook her head, dislodging all the errant thoughts crowding her mind. She knew what she was doing. She knew exactly what she was doing, and didn't need Luna judging her for the awful thing she was about to go and do. What she did want was reassurance that Trixie really would stop once the Duke was dead.

"Oi! Twilight!" Twilight looked up and around as Snowbright called her name. "We're ready to go here!" Twilight doubted that as he barely had a hundred ponies with him. She walked over and asked why so few when they had thousands of ponies here.

"Lots of narrow corridors in there Twilight, and not a huge number of ponies defending it," he replied. "I'll be sending more ponies in to hold the areas we've taken, but the actual invasion is standing room only." As he knew High Rock the best out of all of them Twilight didn't feel inclined to argue.

"Alright then, let's get this over with." Twilight made her way over to the main entrance to the keep. Trixie was still there, a scowl on her face as she paced back and forth for the exact length of the doors. "I suppose it's pointless asking you if you're ready."

"I am so ready for this." It was hard to miss the faint waft of purple smoke leaking from the corners of Trixie's eyes. Eyes which were normally purple, but were currently red, while the whites were an uncomfortable shade of green.

"And you remember our deal?"

"I kill the Duke, no more dark magic," Trixie intoned. "I haven't forgotten Twilight; I always keep my promises. One of which was one I made to my family involving avenging them. Something which would be going better if we stopped dicking around."

"Alright, alright, let's do this." Twilight stepped back from the door, and gestured for Trixie to do the same. Then she pointed her horn at the door and fired a beam of magic at it. The door's runes lit up blue as they nullified the magic. Then Trixie fired a beam of dark magic at the door, the runes blazing white as they tried to nullify both kinds of magic at one. The heat radiating from the door was intense, but much to their surprise, the door held.

Twilight was about to give up when a swirling beam of glistening silvery magic arced over them, impacting against the door. She instantly recognised it as light magic, and a quick glance back confirmed that Luna was the caster.

The heat intensified for a couple of seconds, then faded as their magic started eating through the door itself, the runes having simply ceased to exist after the onslaught of three different kinds of magic. Twilight stopped casting, followed by Luna and Trixie, allowing them to see the door. It was still burning, and had rivulets of metal running down it from the nails and bolts that had melted in the heat.

"Well that was interesting," Twilight muttered to herself. A quick scan with her magic confirmed that the door was still locked from the inside, but without the runes to stop her that was no longer an issue. It would only take a moment to unlock it and pull it open. "Everypony ready?"

"Just get on with it!" Trixie cried.

"Okay, sheesh." Twilight lifted the bar off the back of the door and threw it to the side, then braced herself, preparing a shield to protect herself as she pulled the doors open. A volley of arrows flew at her, and she only just got the shield up in time.

She pushed forward into the keep, keeping herself shielded as the rest followed her in. It was hardly worth it though as a mere twenty guards were there, using some overturned tables as cover as they desperately tried to reload their weapons. Hardly the greatest defence imaginable, unless they bothered to magic proof their tables too.

"I don't have time for this!" A wall of dark crystal formed down the middle of the room, then split in half and moved, sending the guards and their defences flying, and leaving a clear path down the middle of the room that Trixie leapt into and sprinted down as fast as she could.

"Trixie wait!" Twilight shouted after her, but Trixie didn't listen. She tried to grab Trixie, but the mare just slipped through her magic like she was coated in oil, and ran into the passageway on the opposite side of the room. A moment later a block of crystal formed in the entrance, preventing anypony from following her.

"Trixie! Damn it!" Twilight blasted one of the guards as he brought his weapon to bear, then drew Swordy as the other guards started to recover. Luna dashed in from behind her, swinging her glaives with a wide arc that cut down three guards in one stroke, and giving the adepts with them a chance to fire.

Half of the remaining guards fell in the wave of colourful magic that swept over them, their table based defences really not up to the task of withstanding such an attack. Even less so could they withstand the enchanted weapons of Twilight and Luna, who made short work of the remaining guards.

As soon as they were clear, Twilight ran up the block of crystal blocking the way to the way to the rest of the keep, and slammed her hooves against it. "Why would she do that!?" Twilight asked, although it was mostly rhetorical. That didn't stop Luna from answering anyway.

"I imagine she wanted to prevent the guards from pursuing her. Although I wouldn't put it past her to try and stop us either."

"I need to go after her!"

"Agreed, if only to prevent her from painting the walls with the Duke's blood." Luna stepped back and fired a beam of magic at the block of crystal. It held, so Twilight added her own magic, shattering the crystal in a deadly wave of razor sharp shards that scattered down the hall beyond.

Twilight started running, then stopped. "Luna, can you-"

"Yes Twilight, I can handle securing the keep. Go!"

Twilight nodded and started running after Trixie, the care she took to not slice a hoof open on the crystal shards slowing her down until she was past them. Then she put on a burst of speed, chasing after Trixie. She had no visual clues as to where she was meant to be going, but she could feel something in the air, even without her magic. A foul miasma filled the corridors and hallways, and there was only one source of such a thing she could think of, and that was the pony she was chasing.

Twilight rounded a corner, then immediately skidded to a halt at the carnage before her. It was the throne room, if Twilight's memory of the map Pearl provided served her correctly, and it was clear Trixie had been through there.

Bodies lay strewn across the ground, buried in the walls, and in one occasion, nailed to the ceiling. Blood ran down the spear of crystal that attached the stricken guard to the wooden beams above, forming a puddle that Twilight stopped before as she searched around. Although there were plenty of bodies, there was no sign of Trixie or the Duke, just the remains of his guards.

"Where are you Trixie?" The miasma that Twilight had been following filled the room, confusing her as to where Trixie might have gone. It didn't help that she was surrounded by the leftovers of dark magic either, the worst culprit being the large shard of crystal buried in the throne at the far end of the room, almost splitting it in half.

Then she saw the door that had been almost torn out of its frame, and quickly surmised that was probably where Trixie had gone. She ran through, and soon found herself in a richly appointed dining room, that probably looked far better before Hurricane Trixie had torn through it.

A faint whimper caught her attention, and she followed it to a young mare in a maid uniform, hiding behind a cabinet, squeezing into the corner it provided as tightly as she could. She screamed as Twilight ripped her from her hiding place, and kept screaming and begging as Twilight held her suspended in the air before her.

"Shut up!" Twilight commanded, and slowly the maid managed to gather some semblance of calm. "Where did she go?"

"I-I-I don't know-"

"The blue unicorn in armour," Twilight said in a hard voice, "where did she go?"

"I t-think she w-w-went that way!" The maid pointed at a door that was still open, "But that only goes ups-stairs to the living quarters."

Twilight dropped the mare to her hooves and started running. Then she stopped again. "There are ponies from the rebellion coming. Just stay here and surrender immediately, and you won't be hurt, understand?" The maid nodded rapidly. "Good."

The door the maid pointed to led to a sweeping staircase that led up to the floor above as the maid had said, and Twilight's hooves pounded on the stone of the stairs as she raced up them as fast as she could. Then she slowed as she found signs of more fighting. It was sickening to behold, even by Trixie's standards, as she tore the guards apart like a wild animal.

Twilight was about to lose her lunch when the sound of fighting distracted her, and she forced herself to follow it, stepping over bodies that appeared to be little more than piles of meat and tubes at this point. The fighting stopped, and Twilight listened curiously as she cautiously made her way along to where the fighting had been. Then she jumped as an anguished wail echoed around the stone hallways.

"Trixie!" Twilight stopped worrying about standing in anything, and galloped to where the scream sounded like it had come from. A torn down door led into what looked like a spacious dressing room, with another door leading off it. It was through that door that Twilight could hear Trixie, sobbing and screaming at something.

"Trixie?" Twilight carefully entered the darkened room, gulping as dark magic stormed around it, destroying everything except Trixie, and the bed she lay sobbing at the foot of, her horn blazing as her raw emotion leaked out through her magic. The windows were shuttered, leaving the only remaining light to come from Trixie's horn, the magic she was using casting everything in a sickly, pallid light. Twilight swallowed and pushed on, shielding herself until she made it to Trixie. Only then did she look at the bed, and what was on it. "Oh no."

Laying peacefully on the bed, untouched by Trixie's magic, was the Duke. He had a leg wrapped around the chest of his wife as they spooned together, holding her gently. It didn't take a second's glance at their cold, pallid complexions to see they were definitely dead, and it wasn't hard to tell it wasn't Trixie that did it.

"Oh Trixie, I'm so sorry." Twilight tried to comfort Trixie, but she was violently pushed away with a hoof. "Please Trixie, I only want to help."

"You want to help? If you really want to help, bring them back so I can kill them myself!"

"I can't do that Trixie, nopony can."

"Then you're useless to me!" Twilight sighed through her nose and looked at the bodies of the Duke and Duchess. Both of them had traces of foam around their mouths, the remains of a poison that Twilight suspected they administered to themselves, rather than face what the rebellion had in store for them. Dying peacefully in each others embrace, after being the cause of decades of suffering in Mareitania. Even Twilight didn't find that fair.

"Look, Trixie, I know this isn't what you wanted, not exactly, but he's dead, it's over. He's dead, and you're not." Twilight couldn't look at Trixie for long. Seeing her so crushed by this was horrible, like the life had just been sucked out of her, leaving only anger behind.

"That's easy for you to say," Trixie snarled. "You're just glad that you don't have to have his blood on your hooves because he chose his fate for you. But me? I needed this Twilight. He took everything from me! My family, murdered just to satisfy his will! Avenging them is all I had left Twilight, and he even took that away from me! I have nothing, Twilight, nothing! I might as well be dead."

"Trixie, you have me and the rest of your friends, and you can get help and rebuild your life. And I'll be there with you every step of the way. Please Trixie, don't give up just because this didn't end how you wanted it to."

Trixie sank to the floor and sobbed again. She whispered something in a voice so tiny that Twilight barely heard her say anything at all, let alone understand it.

"What did you say?"

"I said kill me!" Trixie screamed. "This hurts so much Twilight! I just want it to end. Please, kill me..."

Twilight started moving in to again comfort Trixie, but stopped as she suspected she would be rebuffed like last time, so she stood there, uncertain about what to do. "I'm not going to kill you Trixie."

"Why not?"

"Because you're my friend Trixie! I couldn't do that to you, or any of my friends! Please Trixie, let me help you."

"The only way I want you to help is by taking this pain away, and the only way to do that is by ending my life! Just kill me Twilight!"

"No!" Twilight ducked as a spear of crystal the length of her body flew at her. It impacted into the headboard of the bed, not disturbing the two bodies in the slightest. "What the hell!?" She teleported to the side to avoid more attacks from Trixie, taking a quick breath in relief that she was able to do so. It seemed the wards only stopped ponies teleporting into the building, not from place to place inside it.

"Trixie, stop!"

"If you won't do this for me, then I'll make you!" Trixie screamed like a feral beast as she fired blast after blast of magic at Twilight, and in return Twilight grit her teeth as she blocked each successive attack, but the sheer energy Trixie was putting into each burst of magic bled off her shields, destroying the room around them. She needed to get out of there, and take Trixie with her. Hopefully the wards didn't stop ponies teleporting out either, and if they did, Twilight couldn't think of a worse time to try it out. Perhaps a different plan was needed.

"Trixie, you need to calm down." Twilight took a step towards Trixie and held out a hoof, only to be rewarded with Trixie trying to take it off. Seeing that approach to get closer to Trixie wasn't going to work, Twilight quickly thought of something else as Trixie again tried to overwhelm Twilight with a barrage of magic.

"You can't hide behind your shields forever Twilight! You can't dodge in here either! You'll just have to kill me!" Trixie was right too, and she knew it as Twilight was forced to block more attacks.

"You're right, I can't fight you in here, but I'm not going to kill you. I can't." Twilight manoeuvred herself so her back was to the shuttered window and Trixie in front of her. Then she slammed the shutters open, the light pouring in to blind Trixie.

"Ah!" Trixie ducked her head and raised a hoof to cover her abused eyes, giving Twilight all the time she needed to grab Trixie in her magic and toss her out through the open window. She quickly followed and again grabbed Trixie with her magic before she even really had a chance to start falling, and flew as fast as she could away from the keep. She dodged to the side as shards of crystal started flying up towards her, Trixie apparently having no problems with still attacking Twilight a few hundred feet in the air.

Twilight kept dodging the entire time, even as Trixie changed her tactic to trying to break Twilight's hold on her so she could fall to the death she desired, but Twilight resolutely held on until they were far enough away from High Rock that she could no longer feel the anti-teleportation field. She dumped Trixie on the ground a little harder than she intended, but that gave her the time to land and square up to Trixie, only for Trixie to immediately start attacking again as soon as she worked out which way up was.

Twilight wasted no time in taking back to the air and putting some distance between herself and Trixie. Inside she had no manoeuvrability, but out here she had the entire sky. "Please Trixie, you can't force me to kill you, so please just give up and let me help you."

"You fucking bitch!" Trixie shouted in reply. She raised her horn and fired spell after spell at Twilight, but the alicorn dodged each attack, darting and dodging about the sky with relative ease.

"Give up Trixie!"

"No! I might not be able to hit you, but I can hit them!" Trixie waved a hoof at the ponies that were still on the plain when they landed on it. Many of them had started to run up to them, curious as to why their leader and her second had performed a rather interesting flight out here, and still appeared to be fighting. "Their blood will be on your hooves because you should've stopped me!" She pointed her horn randomly at the ponies that were drawing closer, and unleashed a wave of magic that would have obliterated a large number of ponies had Twilight not teleported between them and Trixie, raising a shield to protect them.

"Run!" she shouted through gritted teeth. She was struggling to hold back the attack as Trixie's grief and anger strengthened her magic. "Run!" she shouted again as the ponies hesitated. "Go! Before she kills you!" That got their attention, and they started fleeing.

"Hey! Get back here!" Trixie started firing at the fleeing ponies, forcing Twilight to intercept each bit of magic she cast. She started chasing after them, still attacking wildly.

"Stop Trixie!" Twilight's heart caught in her throat as she realised that there was only one way to stop Trixie, and that was by attacking her. Reluctantly she levelled her horn at Trixie and fired a beam of magic, sending her sprawling to the ground.

Trixie grinned as she slowly stood back up, "I knew you had it in you, now finish it!" Trixie started pulling her armour off in an attempt to make herself more vulnerable to Twilight's attacks. Twilight almost gasped at the black smoke that rolled down Trixie's body, and wondered if Trixie had even noticed.

"I'm not going to kill you Trixie!" Twilight was desperate now, and was more than willing to beg. "Please Trixie! Please, stop this."

"Hmmph, pathetic. Well if you won't kill me, perhaps I'll find the only other pony here capable of doing so! I'm sure Luna would be happy to oblige!" Trixie looked up at Twilight, her horribly discoloured eyes leaking smoke that mingled with that pouring off her body. "Is that what you want!?"

Twilight felt ill at what she was seeing. She didn't know how it had happened exactly, but the pony standing before her was barely even Trixie any more. Honestly, was she even Trixie at all right now? What she was though, was correct. Twilight didn't want Luna involved in this any more than she wanted to do it herself because she didn't truly know that Luna wouldn't do what Trixie asked.

"Fine," Twilight said weakly. She landed a few meters in front of Trixie, her mind a jumbled mix of fear, ideas, and resignation as she tried to find a way to fix this. "Just you and me Trixie."

"I knew you'd come around." Trixie squeezed her eyes shut for the blow that would end her suffering. "Well? I'm waiting." She peeked an eye open as Twilight continued to not kill her, "What are you waiting for?"

"I can't do it Trixie!" Twilight wailed, "I can't kill you! I won't kill you!"

"Weak." Trixie fired point blank at Twilight, catching her off-guard and sending her flying with a squawk. Trixie walked after her, stopping just out of reach of Twilight's hooves. "It'll be your fault you know."

"What would?" Twilight asked back blearily, her body aching and her head spinning. It took a couple of attempts to get back on her hooves.

"That you didn't stop me when you had the chance. Nightmare Moon, Discord, Tirek, King Sombra... All of them will pale in comparison to me Twilight. If you won't kill me, then I'll just keep destroying everything until I find something that does. I'll reclaim the alicorn amulet, then Mareitania, Equestria... The entire world, Twilight! They will burn, and it'll be your fault because you could've stopped me right now, but didn't."

"You wouldn't do that."

"Wouldn't I? You promised to stop me if I went too far Twilight. Apparently killing an innocent pony wasn't far enough, so maybe putting the world to flames is!"

"This isn't you Trixie!"

"Isn't it?" Trixie stepped forward and put her mouth next to Twilight's ear. "She is ours," she whispered. "That's what they said isn't it? She is ours? If it gets me what I want, I'll be all theirs, willingly, unless you stop me."

Twilight watched with horror as Trixie's coat darkened as she whispered into Twilight's ear. Her horn blazed with dark magic even though she wasn't casting anything, and her eyes were glowing in green and red. Was it possible that Twilight didn't have a choice here? She backed away from Trixie, the mare giving her a crazed grin as she dropped into a fighting stance. "So be it."

"That's a good mare." Trixie's attack came quickly, almost too fast for Twilight to see as she desperately threw herself to the side. She counterattacked with a blast of magic that Trixie blocked with a wall of crystal, then took to the air as Trixie shattered her shield, sending a wave of razor sharp shards flying towards where Twilight had been.

"If you want me to kill you, why are you resisting?" Twilight shouted, her confusion totally genuine, misplaced as it might be in regard to her stance on this entire situation.

"Just making sure you don't...cop out and knock me unconscious, or something!" Trixie shouted back, although she said it hesitantly, like she wasn't sure herself. As if to make her point she attacked again, blast after blast of raw dark magic shooting into the sky as she tried to follow Twilight's movements. "Stop dodging me!"

"Why are you attacking me!?" Twilight dodged and weaved, feeling the magic, rather than seeing it as it whizzed by her. More than once she felt the end of her tail get slightly shorter as Trixie's attacks only just missed her. It seemed as though her armour, protective as it might have been against swords and arrows, was nowhere near as effective against magic, and was slowing her down. She removed it as she flew, pieces of it scattering around as she dropped them. It did help though as she found herself slightly faster and more agile.

"Stop cheating!" Trixie screamed after Twilight.

"Stop trying to kill me!" Twilight pulled up in a loop and fired a beam back at Trixie who calmly stepped back to avoid it.

"Something tells me you're not trying very hard Princess." The dark mist streaming off Trixie's body suddenly started floating up around her, building up to her left and right, and tapering off to points. They started thickening, and Twilight gasped as she saw the outline of feathers start to show. They were unmistakably wings, even if they were made of black smoke, and they were quite a bit bigger than Twilight's already larger than average wings, and were comparable to Celestia's for size.

Trixie spread them with a flourish, not even taking the time to admire them as Twilight thought Trixie would have done if she had just sprouted magic wings. She flapped, and rose from the ground, her usual fear of heights and lack of knowing how to fly seemingly forgotten, giving Twilight more proof that this really wasn't Trixie any more.

"Now we're even," stated Trixie. Twilight darted to the right as Trixie fired a blast of magic at her, then kept going as Trixie chased after her, her large, ethereal wings allowing her to keep up with Twilight with ease. The only advantage Twilight really had was her agility, which Trixie thankfully couldn't match.

Twilight almost laughed at herself. The creature chasing her was no more Trixie than Twilight was, and it was stupid to think of her as such. She was half tempted to ask what that thing was calling itself, but was kept far too occupied with avoiding obliteration.

Twilight teleported up above Trixie and shot down at her, hitting her in the middle of the back. Trixie roared with pain as she fought to stop herself from colliding with the ground. Just as she was about to hit she dispersed into a puff of smoke, and reappeared in the air in the same way.

"You teleported," Twilight said dumbly. Ponies teleporting with dark magic was a new one to her, but not outside the realms of possibility, or so she supposed. She wasn't given much time to think about it as Trixie started attacking with her magic again, using her momentum from her fall to swoop in towards Twilight.

Twilight cursed with pain as some of the feathers were torn off her left wing, leaving a trail of gently floating purple feathers behind her. She had to admit to herself that her situation was pretty ridiculous. Her usual advantages of powerful magic and flight had been rendered null, and even her ability to teleport was now being matched. There was also the severe disadvantage that she didn't actually want to hurt Trixie, whereas Trixie didn't appear to have any qualms at all about reducing Twilight to a pile of minced up pony.

Twilight twisted in the air to have a look at Trixie. Even though she wasn't currently attacking, her horn was still wreathed in dark magic. If Twilight hadn't seen it like that before Trixie grew wings she might have assumed she was simply maintaining the spell giving her flight. But it had been like that before, even back when Twilight had found her in the Duke's bedroom. That writhing nexus of negative energy was either the cause of this, or a symptom, and whichever it was left Twilight with only one course of action. She had to remove Trixie's horn. Maybe if she did that, she could end this before it got even worse.

Twilight wobbled to the ground, acting like her wing was worse than it really was. She hoped Trixie would take the bait and follow her down, and she was pleased to see the darkened unicorn land not far from her. Trixie folded her wings in, returning them to the smoke that continued to seep from her body, but Twilight knew better than to assume they were truly gone.

"There's nowhere you can run where I can't follow you Twilight!"

"I know," Twilight said tiredly. "I don't want to kill you Trixie, but I'll defend myself if I have to." She shuddered at the eager grin Trixie gave her, and quickly raised her shield as Trixie dropped her horn to start casting. Then she had to redouble her efforts as the power behind Trixie's spells caught her off-guard.

"You're trying to hide again..." Twilight felt the ground tremble beneath her, and only just managed to jump aside, landing on her belly as jagged spears of crystal burst up through the ground where she'd been standing only a second earlier. She scrambled to her hooves and started running as more started jutting up out of the ground, following her as she fled.

Rather than keep running, Twilight teleported to the opposite side of Trixie and shot her with a powerful beam of magic. Most ponies would've been blown off their hooves, but Trixie only stumbled from the force of the attack, her own magic toughening her enough so that only the strongest blows would really affect her. It couldn't hold up against the following bolts of magic though, and she quickly erected a wall of crystals between herself and Twilight to shield her.

Twilight kept attacking, battering away at Trixie's defense until it started to crumble. It shattered completely, and Twilight fired at Trixie directly, only to hit nothing as Trixie teleported away. Or at least that was the only thing she could think to call it. It wasn't as clean as regular teleportation, and Twilight could almost follow it to where Trixie rematerialized, and the only other description Twilight's mind could conjure to describe what she had seen, other than teleportation, was that Trixie had slithered away.

Trixie immediately fought back, casting an attack at Twilight as soon as she was whole again, and Twilight was put on the defensive again, losing ground as Trixie battered her shield with spell after spell, both magical and crystalline. That was fine though as Twilight had come up with an idea based on what she'd seen of Trixie's teleportation. It was risky, but it was all she had right now.

There was a brief lull in Trixie's assault, and Twilight used it to her advantage, casting two orbs of magic that flew to the left and right of her, curving round so that they would strike Trixie from the sides, and as Twilight had hoped Trixie teleported away. She followed the spell to it's destination, and teleported herself to the same place, summoning Swordy as she did, and swung him in an upward arc that she hoped would sever Trixie's horn and not her entire head.

That was the plan at least. Instead, all she got was a weird pulling sensation in her mind as Swordy failed to move at all. A quick glance sideways informed her that Swordy had been encased in a pillar of crystal, and while she could still feel the blade, she couldn't move him in the slightest, no matter how hard she tried, and she had no choice but to give up as she felt Trixie's magic wrap around her and hoist her into the air. Trixie slammed her into the ground, winding Twilight completely, then tossed her away.

"I was wondering when you'd get that blasted weapon out. If I thought you were actually going to kill me with it I might have let you keep it, but that wasn't what you were going to do, was it."

Twilight was starting to think that maybe it wouldn't have been so bad if Luna came to help, and was really hoping she would. With Swordy gone her plan was rather more difficult to enact, if not downright impossible.

"Get up Twilight." Twilight reluctantly complied, even as she had to fight to regain her breath, and she was soon forced to teleport again as Trixie renewed her assault. She staggered sideways as she reappeared, her head spinning from being violently slammed against the ground, as well as deprived of oxygen for longer than she liked it to be after being winded. She soon recovered though, and started to flee as Trixie turned to attack her. She needed a new plan, seeing as how the last one had failed spectacularly, but her advantages really were spent. Even so, she'd find a way.

She sensed Trixie's teleport, and turned on the spot. She snapped off a blast of magic that impacted on the right side of Trixie's barrel as soon as she appeared, and earned herself a cry of pain and frustration from Trixie, which was odd seeing as how her more powerful attacks had barely touched Trixie before. It seemed Trixie was vulnerable for a moment after teleporting, a fact that Twilight made note of.

Trixie pressed a hoof to the injury, a large, vaguely star shaped burn, which was totally unintentional on Twilight's part. "You're going to pay for that!" She raised her head and closed her eyes as she started drawing more energy to her, the magic around her horn building in intensity.

Twilight started to panic at the sheer quantity of magic Trixie was conjuring, mostly because she had no idea what Trixie planned to do with it, and partly because trying to manipulate that much magic was severely hazardous. She needed to do something to stop it, even something so simple as to flick Trixie's horn, but she-

Twilight almost smacked herself as she thought of it. There was still one advantage she had over Trixie; being an alicorn, and having the strength and endurance of an earth pony. Trying to beat Trixie with magic wasn't working, and flying was no advantage, but Trixie couldn't hope to match Twilight's strength.

Of course, combining that strength with magic wasn't going to hurt either.

Twilight put her weight on her front legs and started the motions of a buck, pushing back with her forelegs for extra power. Then she teleported, appearing right next to Trixie as she came to complete the motion, taking care to hit Trixie on the shoulder and hip as they would take the blow much better than her chest and ribs. It had the desired effect though, sending Trixie flying, totally unable to resist the sheer, unbridled strength of an alicorns earth pony strength. The same strength that has previously kicked down an iron door.

Twilight teleported again, maintaining the momentum of her attack. She backhoofed Trixie across the face, dazing her further, but not enough to stop Trixie from trying to cast a spell right in Twilight's face. Twilight quickly teleported away, giving Trixie the time to stand.

Trixie prepared another spell, and cast her sight about desperately, unable to see Twilight. She was totally unprepared for Twilight's entire weight to come crashing down on her from above, and she fell to her stomach, getting winded as Twilight's entire weight landed on her, squashing all the air out of her lungs. Twilight grabbed around Trixie's neck in a choke hold, but couldn't complete it as Trixie grabbed her hooves with magic, trying to pry them apart, then burning them as that failed.

Twilight screamed at the agony Trixie was inflicting on her, but refused to give up now she had Trixie pinned. The only option she had was to try and nullify Trixie's magic, but without her hooves, or magic that could defeat Trixie's, there was only one thing she could think to do.

Twilight clamped her teeth down on Trixie's horn, still screaming as she did. She bit as hard as she could, making Trixie scream in return, and also forcing her to release the magic holding Twilight's hooves. With her hooves now free, and with Trixie distracted by the pain in her horn, Twilight braced herself, closed her eyes, and twisted her head.

Trixie's screams became much more urgent as Twilight wrenched the horn from her head, and Twilight felt sick at the taste of hot blood pouring into her mouth and down the side of her face, but she persevered, performing one final twist that tore the horn away completely. The change in Trixie was immediate as Twilight spat the horn out, along with the blood.

Twilight watched as Trixie's eyes returned to their normal colour. Her coat lightened back to its original pale blue, and the dark mist that had been emanating from her faded to nothing. The only thing that hadn't changed was the wound on Trixie's side, the blood pouring down her face from the jagged stump of her horn, and her agonised wails.

Twilight stood and gasped from the pain of putting weight on her forehooves, but nonetheless crawled off the top of Trixie, who raised her hooves to her missing horn as soon as her hooves were free, writhing about on the floor as her pain failed to abate.

"I'm sorry Trixie," Twilight croaked, tears starting to fall at seeing her friend like this, and for being the cause of it. "I'm so, so sorry."

"Why!?" Trixie yelled, her own tears mixing with the blood her face was covered in. "Why couldn't you just kill me!?"

"Because I couldn't!" Twilight's chest shuddered with emotion. "I couldn't do it Trixie! And I'm sorry, but I just couldn't!" Twilight fought to maintain her composure as Trixie curled in a ball and wailed. "I'm sorry, please..." she begged, but Trixie remained silent, save for her anguished and agonised cries.

Twilight sat, then rolled onto her side as the pain in her hooves became too much, along with the exhaustion from the fight, and from the entire day in general. An odd fuzzy silence cocooned her until she heard Octavia's voice urgently assuring her that everything was going to be okay, and Twilight didn't have the energy right then to laugh in her face about how wrong she was.

Author's Notes:

Hands up any of you that were expecting this to happen. Hopefully there won't be too many. Hopefully it isn't too unexpected to become ridiculous either. Meh.