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Episode 57 Magic Duel Aired:
December 1 2012
During a rainy day (or night, it's hard to tell), a dark figure browses a store and the store owner tries to help until the dark figure requests the Alicorn Amulet and in response, refuses to sell it because of how dangerous it is. Nevertheless, he agrees to sell it to his customer when presented with a bag of money, even offering to gift wrap it.
Meanwhile, apparently Twilight and Fluttershy made an agreement that Twilight could use her magic on them for a bit of entertainment. Fluttershy remains on edge, not wanting any of her animal friends to get hurt. Spike assures her Twilight's magic has improved drastically. Still, Fluttershy remains horrified at what she sees and cannot bare to watch. Just as Twilight promised, no harm is done to the animals as they are set back down and Twilight agrees to do another performance later if permitted. Twilight has to be at her best for when Celestia arrives from Saddle Arabia and can't believe she's been trusted for the entertainment. Suddenly, Rainbow Dash plows into her, declaring an emergency and to follow her. They arrive to see a crowd and Rarity getting her fashion don't, leaving Applejack and Pinkie Pie to carry her away.
The dark figure from before unveils herself as Trixie, still claiming to be "great and powerful" but backs it up by leaving Rainbow Dash with an unusually large wing and causing her to fly erratically. Snips and Snails complement Trixie's action and are told to remain silent while having their heads fused together. Twilight has had enough and orders Trixie to stop but Trixie and Twilight have unfinished business and Trixie's magic has improved. She proposes a magic duel against Twilight and at first Twilight refuses, learning that Trixie is doing this because of Twilight humiliating her back in "Boast Busters" and tells the story of what followed.
Pinkie Pie protests that Trixie is lucky a rock farm would take the likes of her and gets her mouth deleted (though it does likely indicate that Pinkie Pie wasn't on the same rock farm or Pinkie Pie would've most likely mentioned it). Now Trixie wants revenge and after taking another glance at what her friends are experiencing, Twilight agrees to the duel (in a manner that Yu-Gi-Oh fans like me would acknowledge, though it is uncertain whether it's a reference to that show, even though that show used the phrase throughout its run).
The stakes are set with the loser being banished from Ponyville forever and Trixie remains mostly one step ahead of Twilight and when the age spell completes, Twilight protests that only the highest level unicorns can do the spell but tries anyway. Her attempt to restore Snips and Snails is in vein and Trixie declares herself the highest level unicorn, booting Twilight out and leaving her separated from her friends via a magic forcefield despite her friends' intervention.
Twilight darts off, determined to find out how to get out of the mess she's in and more about Trixie. She tries the age spell on a flower and almost succeeds before concluding that she must see Zecora. Zecora states that she can train Twilight to beat Trixie and while that is arranged, Trixie has taken over Ponyville as ruler, making others do her bidding. Back at the pond, Twilight's training has begun and it's going well until Trixie's words from before enter Twilight's mind, unraveling what was started and leaving Twilight wet. Zecora ends the training and heads back while Twilight continues pondering about Trixie's magic.
Back in Ponyville, the full effects of Trixie's reign are apparent and the rest of the mane 6 aren't having any luck with finding out about the Alicorn Amulet from Twilight's books in her library. Fluttershy happens to find the book but it isn't until Spike notices this that he brings it to the groups' attention, and they mostly repeat what Fluttershy is trying to tell them. They decide to have Fluttershy sneak out of the dome to find Twilight but Fluttershy is anything but thrilled with the idea yet decides to go anyway.
Elsewhere, Snips and Snails are pulling Trixie's (chariot?) but since she doesn't believe in wheels, they have to drag it along. Trixie's attention is drawn to three beavers that (from what I gather or understand) want to move the log outside the forcefield into their dam somewhere and Trixie agrees but complicates Snips and Snails' task by making her chariot bigger and still without wheels. We find that the beavers' story was a ruse and Fluttershy is pulled out from inside the log dressed in a sort-of bunny outfit. Fluttershy uses the outfit's torn appearance as a way to return back but her animals drag her to Zecora's house where Twilight takes in the new info and learns that she must "use the six" to beat Trixie.
The next day, Trixie arrives to another alarm triggered by her forcefield and sees Twilight Sparkle, whom shows off her own amulet given to her from the Everfree Forest by Zecora. Trixie isn't buying it, claiming that hers is most powerful but decides on a second duel after Twilight begins walking away. Trixie starts with a simple age spell but Twilight does that and much more, impressing Trixie after a bit so Trixie decides to take it for herself, detaching herself from the AA and replacing it with Twilight's. While distracted with her obsession over the new amulet, Rainbow Dash snatches it and puts it in a small chest Zecora is holding after getting a very light tickle from Trixie's magic.Twilight breaks the news that the amulet is a doorstop from Zecora and that all the spells Twilight did were actually just the magic of friendship. Later that night, with Celestia and her accomplices home from Saddle Arabia, the watches Twilight perform her trick with the animals while Fluttershy cowers in fear.
When the show ends, Trixie apologizes  and Twilight accepts (though she'd have to apologize for what she did back in Boast Busters too and prove that she truly is sorry by being nice for a LONG time for me to accept her apology) before Trixie heads off (exactly as she did in Boast Busters I might add). At last, Pinkie Pie gets her mouth back but before she gets a word out, the credits roll.