My Little Pony Friendship is Magic: Magic Duel

A/N: Hello, world and welcome back to MLP: Friendship is Magic!

Yeah, I know I said that I would be posting on Friday, but it turns out that I am able to post today instead in order to finish up this story. Onward!

Read, review, and enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything from My Little Pony: Magic is Friendship. I just own any and all characters that I just happen create.

CHAPTER SIX: TRIXIE APOLOGIZES

That night was the night to perform for the ponies from Saddle Arabia and Princess Celestia. They all oohed and awed as Twilight Sparkle magically flew the happy animals in formation and Sunrise Blossom set off firework potions. In the crowd, Spike was patting Fluttershy's back as she trembled in fear for her animal friends.

Toward the end of the performance, additional fireworks went off, startling the twins since the firework potions had been used up. They looked around and then they saw Trixie, who'd been setting the fireworks off with her magic.

"Trixie?"

"It's the least I could do," said Trixie, putting her magician hat back on her head. "I treated you and your friends so horribly when I was wearing that Alicorn Amulet. I just couldn't control myself. You can forgive me, can't you?" she asked hopefully.

Twilight Sparkle thought about it for a moment and then nodded. "Hmmm. Sure."

"Of course we can, Trixie," Sunrise Blossom agreed.

"Oh, good," Trixie said with a relieved expression on her face. "Don't you think the Great and Apologetic Trixie is the most magnificent humble pony you've ever seen?!" And she held up a smoke bomb when the orange unicorn stopped her.

"Trixie, before you run off, mind telling us why you've been acting like this?" Sunrise Blossom requested.

Trixie was taken aback by the question and then sighed, putting the smoke bomb away as the twins' friend joined them. "Well, it has to do with my dream of being an amazing magician like my father," she explained. "During the summer months, my mother and I would travel with him when he toured Equestria, and we would assist him in his performances," she explained with a wistful expression. "I loved those trips and I loved learning how to make his magic tricks work. However, when my mother became ill and couldn't travel with father, he invited his sister to look after mother until she got better, and my aunt insisted that I should also remain home and focus on my studies instead of traveling.

"My father reluctantly agreed and from that day forward, I spent my summers at home with my aunt insisting that I study as much as possible instead of spending time with friends, and even when mother got better, I still wasn't allowed to travel with my father on his tours. After I got my cutie mark, my aunt convinced my parents to send me to Celestia's School, and I was thrilled when I got in. However, after that first year, I discovered just how hard it was to learn magic, and when you both became the personal students to Princess Celestia, I became jealous.

"I was struggling so hard with my magic, that I finally dropped out of school, and started my career of trying to impress everypony by being a bully and putting down other ponies," she concluded. "Looking back, that wasn't the best way to make friends, and I ended up doing more harm then good when I used my magic to hurt other ponies."

"Whoa, that's a sad childhood," Rainbow Dash remarked. "Why didn't you talk to anypony about how your aunt was treating you?"

Trixie shrugged. "I don't know," she admitted. "I guess I thought that was how things were suppose to be."

"Trixie, if someone is being controlling like that, you should speak out," Rarity remarked.

"Rarity's right," Applejack agreed. "If you're being bullied, whether by a pony your own age or by an adult, you should tell somepony and not keep it to yourself like that."

"You are absolutely right," Trixie agreed as realization dawned on her. "I need to stand up for myself and not let other ponies bully me like I was bullying all of you."

Just then, Princess Celestia spoke up, having heard everything that had been said. "And a very good lesson to learn, too," she added, startling the ponies. "When you learn from your mistakes, you grow stronger for it, Trixie, and I am certain that you will grow stronger from this experience as will you all."

Trixie beamed and when the Mane Seven offered to have her join them for some food at Sugarcube Corner, she accepted instead of running off like she intended, and she even helped with adding more fireworks to the rest of the night entertainment.

While all of this was going on, Zecora conferred with Princess Celestia about the Alicorn Amulet, and they agreed that it needed to be kept in a secured place so that no other pony could get their hooves on it.

While they were making plans to have the amulet sent to a secure location, all of this was being seen through a special mirror that Shadow Star had in her cabin, which was located somewhere deep in the Everfree Forest, and she was disappointed since the Mane Seven hadn't been distracted for the amount of time she needed to get what she needed for her final plan.

'Curses!' she thought sourly as the images on the mirror faded away so that she could only see her own reflection. When she had hinted to Trixie about the Alicorn Amulet, and where it was located within Canterlot, she'd been pleased when the blue unicorn had run off to locate the amulet. She'd hoped that Twilight Sparkle, Sunrise Blossom, and their friends would be distracted for a long period of time.

For a while there, it looked like her plan would work and allow her to gain what she needed, but that dome that Trixie had put over Ponyville had blocked her access to the town, and now that Trixie no longer had the Alicorn Amulet, she still couldn't get what she needed from the town.

'There must be some way to distract Princess Celestia's precious students and their friends,' Shadow Star thought sourly, pacing the main room while the small silver figure in the bottle made mocking sounds. "Shut up!" she snapped at the figure, magically shaking the bottle so that the figure was left dizzy. "I need to think."

What was Shadow Star up to? And who is the figure trapped in the bottle?

A/N: And that's a wrap for this story. Now, I have morning shifts at the movie theater tomorrow and Friday morning, so I will see you all on Monday with the start of the next episode. Bye for now! R&R everyone!