//------------------------------//
// Clash of the ages 
// Story: MLP:FIM Twilight's Kingdom (What if?) 
// by kahnac 
//------------------------------//

Much time had passed since Twilight had left her friends back in ponyville to come to the Castle of the Two Sisters on her own. She hated having to lie to them about what was going on, and for not letting them help her. But Celestia had convinced her that she HAD to keep her new powers a secret. She, and the other princesses believed that with Tirek an even greater threat than before, it was imperative that she stay hidden, and keep the others safe through ignorance. Though there was an incredible risk in this plan, especially with Discord on the dark one's side, but they felt there was little choice. Now, twilight sat alone, a good distance away from the castle, trying to contemplate how she could ever hope to manage the power of four alicorns at once. When she came home, she found she was barely able to handle doing anything seeing as how super-charged she was. And if she couldn't get a handle on this.....then what hope did she have of defeating Tirek?

But she didn't let these thoughts get to her. If there was one thing she was known for, it was perseverance in the face of danger. And with a determined look, she intended to master her new strength, no matter what it took.

"I can do this." she said to noone in particular. A moment later, he horn began charging with her signature aura. And in a flash, she has teleported herself from the rock ledge she had been sitting on to one that had been just below her. She looked a bit surprised as she stood there, looking back to her previous spot. But that quickly turned to a small hint of pride as she took in her small accomplishment.

"See? Ha! perfectly controlled teleportatio-(flash)"

Suddenly, she found herself in a window in canterlot, much to her sudden fluster: then it was a waterfall-then it was on the back of a charging buffalo in AAAAppleloosa - then finally, in between a narrowly-split rock. Where, while inside, Twilight simply groaned in exasperation from how annoying this seemed to be. Clearly she had her work cut out for her.

"PRINCESS TWILIGHT!" 

The loud, roaring shout had caught her completely by surprise, but she was far more worried than surprised. While she hadn't faced him, yet, she had already figured who this must've been as she gasped: "Tirek!", and her horn began charging once again.

"YOU HAVE SOMETHING THAT BELONGS TO ME!" yelled the fearsome centaur, in all of his furious power.

Suddenly, a fiery energy formed in both of his hands. He raised them both above his head, before throwing both in the direction he sensed Twilight was in. Out of his hands emerged two pillars of intense flame that shot forward like streams of destructive energy. They very nearly hit Twilight before she shot out of the rocks she hid in. The rock, however, was not as fortunate as it exploded in a sea of fire, and debris. Twilight was now zooming, and zig-zagging through the air, trying to get control of herself. She ended up heading straight for Tirek, and very nearly collided with him. Seeing her dash past him, Tirek sneered in anger, and immediately his magic surged between his horns as his left hand moved forward, and then lifted up. As Twilight looked behind her to see if the demon was still behind her, she was met by a pillar of rock rising out of the ground, surprising Twilight. She took evasive maneuvers to avoid the rock, but ended up doing a 3'60. She ended up dragging along the ground as she tried to stop her descent, coming to a bumpy halt when she hit a titanic, black-furred equine leg. She nervously glanced upward to see the glaring gaze of Tirek, causing her to back up a few feet. Seeing her standing directly in front of her now, Tirek did something the young princess wasn't expecting: he began letting out loud laughter of amusement. She wasn't sure what he found so funny, but it didn't last long as he addressed her.

"So, this is the fourth, and newest alicorn princess to "grace" equestria: a young mare. How amusing. Still, after many dark forces have failed to corner, and face you: the fates deliver you to me as an act of providence."  

Twilight figured that, right now given the apparent mood of her enemy, she might be able to talk to, and reason with him. Even if it was a mistake, she still had to try.

"Please, listen to me! You don't have to do this! Equestria is a land for acceptance, and friendship! If you just give us a chance, we can accept you, too! You have the power to stop this! So, please, do it!"

*smirk*"You're right: I DO have the power. I have all the power in THE WOOOOOORRRLLLDDD!" Tirek roared, as he unleashed a large beam of magic from between his horns, fire from his clenched fists, and his entire body glowed in that same fiery aura. This dsplay of power, however, caused the very sky itself to darken with a reddish haze. To twilight's eye, it almost as if the sky had been set ablaze. But she had not time to ponder this development as she was drawn back to Tirek.

"Yet it's still not enough: it will NEVER be enough....not until i have the alicorn magic hidden away inside of you." 

Twilight gasped in surprise loud enough for Tirek himself to hear. That let him know how surprised she was that he learned her little "Secret".

"That's right, "your majesty": i know exactly what your fellow princesses have done. I FORCED them to tell me before i banished them to Tartarus itself." 

Now, Twilight was terrified. Not for herself: but for the fates of the princesses. Somewhere, she knew something like this might happen. But that still didn't make it any less dreadful to imagine.

"No less a fate than what I was condemned to centuries ago. You all made a pathetic gamble.....and you lost. Now the other 3 are doomed, and only you remain. And whether you like it, or not: you're going to give me what i want!" 

His magic surged once again, as he opened his mouth to perform his magic stealing curse. But Twilight managed to teleport herself away BEFORE he could catch her. He was annoyed by this, but he refused to let it inconvenience him. While Twilight sent herself to the treehouse, and began watching him through her looking glass: he was using his enhanced senses to locate her. And eventually, he found where she had gone. His eyes glowed as his sight zoomed in on her location. Seeing that she was watching him, Tirek made a rather vicious smirk before his horns began charging with magic, and he loudly spoke, not caring if she could either hear, or read what he was saying.

"Peek-a-boo! I. KILL. YOU!!!" 

He reared himself back, before unleashing a powerful beam of magic: straight towards the library. Twilight wasted no time teleporting herself inside, before appearing outside with Owlowicious in her hooves - at the exact same time as the beam collided with the library. The force of the explosion shoved her into the ground as she teleported, making her lay on her side. When she looked back to the library, she was met with a terrible sight that made her gasp in horror:

The Golden Oaks Library was no more. Thanks to Tirek's attack, it had been reduced to a dismantled piece of timber that began raining burning books which had been blown out of the decimated library. Twilight felt more than a little emotional as she had been forced to watch her precious library - her precious HOME, be destroyed before her eyes. She felt a great sadness as she bid her faithful owl to fly away to safety, with the latter feeling just as terrible as she. However, she was quickly pulled out of her emotional moment by the loud, threatening yells of Tirek.

"NOW COME, AND FACE ME, PRINCESS! UNLESS YOU WISH THE SAME THING HAPPENS TO THE REST OF YOUR PATHETIC VILLAGE!" 

Registering his insidious voice, Twilight felt a new emotion flowing within her: anger. A scowl formed on her face as she thought of what Tirek had just done. Crippling the ponies of equestria, and banishing the other princesses to Tartarus was bad enough: now he had just made things personal. That library held precious memories she had shared with her friends, and he had just destroyed it. Now he was going to pay for everything he did. Activating her magic, she teleported several meters in the air before Tirek, and then unleashed a super-charged magical beam which engulfed Tirek. Luckily he had formed a forcefield at the last second. But the beam intensified, and began forcing him backwards before causing an intense explosion behind him. He immediately stood back in place, his own scowl remaining, as he saw the angered princess land before him, and then glare intently. Interestingly, this only made him smile in amusement.

"So, not every alicorn is a cowardly weakling like Celestia, and the others. Good. Now let's have some REAL fun."

Focused mainly on the insult he registered, Twilight's glared only intensified. But then, she began building up force around herself as she shot into the air once again. Seeing what she was doing, Tirek followed suit using the pegasus magic that was now part of his being. The two enemies began charging through the air towards each other. As they did, each began channeling their energy into a certain part of their bodies: twilight: her right hoof, Tirek: his right fist. Each was enhanced with their own super charged energy, and was inbound for collision. The two raised their appendages back, before crashing them against each other in an incredible punch, resulting in a massive shockwave which blew back most of the trees, and sent the two away from each other.

Tirek recovered from the push-back first, and began launching the first attack. With two magical sources in the palms of his hands, Tirek began firing beams of his magic at Twilight, who quickly saw the attacks, and began dodging each one. As he fired his attacks, which caused massive damage to the area around them each time they missed their mark, Twilight continuously fired her own beams of magic at Tirek. However, when she fired a beam at him, he projected a powerful shield that deflected the beams. This went on for a few minutes, as they soared through the skies above the everfree forest. In time, they ended up close to the outskirts of ponyville itself. 

Specifically, the playground of the school. 

Taking just a moment to survey her surroundings, Twilight's expression widened when she realized where she was. She knew right away she had to get out of here, before-BOOM! Too late. Tirek crashed into the ground in front of her, and had a hardened look on his face. Refusing to give here an inch, he launched another energized fist at Twilight, who was barely able to jump out of the way in time. Tirek proved relentless, and lashed out wherever he spotted her. In his furious assault, he had caused immense damage to the area, much to Twilight's growing concern. She decided enough was enough, and as he struck the ground once again, she took to the skies once more, prompting Tirek to follow.

However, he wasn't so quick to follow just yet, and devised another attack. With his magic primed, he held his hands over the ground toward the forest area, and with a quick raise of his arms, ripped several chunks of stone out of the earth. Twilight was surprised at this, or rather, Tirek's seemingly flawless manipulation of the magic at his disposal. Unfortunately, he capitalized on her momentary distraction, and launched six boulders at her in the sky. Quickly regaining her senses, she dodged each boulder as quickly as possible. One almost hit her, if she hadn't reacted with an explosive forcefield which obliterated the rock afterwards. She quickly retaliated by firing another beam at Tirek, only for the former to leap to the side, and let it pass him by as it carved an explosive line in the ground. AN amused smile appeared on his face before he took to the skies once again: twilight at the ready. But what she didn't expect to see was the growing, electrical surge of red lightning which began forming in Tirek's right hand. Before she had time to fully dodge, Tirek shot a lightning bolt at the startled princess. Without really thinking, she pointed her horn in the bolts path, her horn glowing with her aura as she did. The bolt struck it head on. But instead of killing her instantly, the energy conducted around Twilight's horn as she struggled to hold onto it with a spell she was using to redirect the bolt. Tirek was plenty surprised that she was able to hold the lightning like this. Almost moreso when she aimed her horn at him with a strained glare, intent to finish him off.

Right before she realized what she was going to do.

With a reluctant expression, she aimed her horn in an opposite direction - making the lightning bolt shoot harmlessly in another direction. Tirek watched as the bolt went off, before turning his attention to the mildly exhausted alicorn. This was when he knew the advantage was slowly turning in his favor. He would just need to wear her down a bit longer, and the fight was his. Regaining herself, Twilight instantly shielded herself against a magic beam fired by Tirek, before teleporting out of its path. She then began flying towards the castle of the two sisters once again while firing magic beams at him. But Tirek pressed onward firing his own magic beams, and now his lightning bolts at Twilight, refusing to let her escape. Seeing how this was getting nowhere, Twilight decided to use one of Tirek's own attack methods against him as she lowered herself towards the wood. With her enhanced magic strength, Twilight began grabbing several trees, and throwing them at Tirek. The demonic centaur blocked each one that came towards him, though his anger seemed to grow as he did. One of them, however managed to hit their mark, and strike him in the side of his head. But that only made him angrier as his eyes began glowing brightly. Before Twilight realized it, a strong current of wind began blowing towards Tirek. And to her surprise, began flowing around him in a large circle of wind that began drawing in some of the tree's she had thrown, along with some of the debris from their fight. As the wind blew faster, and faster, Tirek drew fire from his hands that began to engulf the wind circle, and change it into a ball of fire. The air from the ball fed into the flames, and increased the temperature, and intensity of said flames. Before Twilight could teleport, or even conjure a shield: the flaming sphere erupted into a fiery wave of destruction that leveled everything around it. The Twilight was at least able to project a mild shield which still proved strong with her enhanced magic. But the flaming shockwave still pushed into her hard enough to send her flying, and then careening to the edge of the castle's cavern, dazed from the blow.

Tirek, meanwhile, dropped from the ground a few feet away from Twilight, creating a small crater as a result. He soon stood back up to his full height, before walking toward's the dazed Twilight. As he did, a look of smug triumph was on his face. He was confident that he had won, and he was about to capitalize on that as he reached down to grab her, and then finally claim what was his.

"You were quite the slippery little fish, child. But now this game is over."

Just as soon as he was about to grab her, however, her magic kicked in, and she teleported away. She soon reappeared next to Tirek, a determined look on her face.

"I can still give you a run for your bits!"

Twilight suddenly zoomed away as fast as she was now able to. But just as Tirek was about to pursue her again, he noticed that as soon as she had gone several miles away from him: she immediately zoomed back around, and was now charging at him. As she did, her horn charged up, and surrounded her in the intense alicorn energy as her speed increased to its Zenith. In the blink of an eye, she seemingly collided with him, resulting in another intense shockwave. However, when the smoke cleared: it was revealed that Tirek had used another shield to protect himself from the attack. Twilight was left to land on the ground, worried that her attack had no effect on him thanks to that shield. But a sudden rush of pain through her head distracted her from this.

"OW! Okay, i think i might feel that tomorrow."

"For you, nag: there IS no tomorrow!" 

Once again, Tirek channeled his magic into his arms, granting them intense energy. And with just as great speed, he slammed his fists into the ground, nearly crushing Twilight in the process. But it did cause a large chunk of cliff to separate, and crash down into the chasm below. While it did, Tirek once again attacked with a series of super-charged punches, which Twilight narrowly evaded each time.

"You can't escape! And you can't dodge forever!" 

Suddenly, he overshot one of his punches, and gave Twilight a chance to strike. She attempted to perform a spin kick to his head - but he was a little faster, and caught her back leg before it could strike him. But the force of the attack did push Tirek near the forest. Unfortunately, it just gave him a little something to throw Twilight into after he repeatedly spun her around. She smashed through several trees as she smashed through them. But she still kept going. Flying as fast as possible through the woods, she fired yet another powerful beam at him. He just crossed both of his arms together, and let them beam wash over them. When she got close, he once again tried to strike her with a powered fist. She ducked right beneath it, and followed his example as she struck him in the torso. However, that didn't seem to harm him in the slightest: even with the force she tried putting into the blows. Her momentary disbelief gave Tirek a chance to grab her, and then slam her into the ground in from of him.

"NO MORE GAMES!" he roared, before rearing his fist back, and launching it into the earth. Of course, before it could strike Twilight, she managed to teleport away just in time. So his fist ended up getting stuck in the earth for a few moments before he blasted his hand out of the ground. He turned his head in several directions hoping to find Twilight, and end this fight for good. What he didn't seem to notice was her flying right behind him, charging her horn for a sneak attack. Or so it appeared as he spun around with a vicious smile on his face, as he fired two beams from his hands directly at Twilight. Seeing the attack coming, she quickly shifted her spell to a protective barrier, which she strained to hold for a while before teleporting a few feet in front of Tirek, surprising him. She quickly shot a beam into his face, earning an annoyed growl before he blocked the beam with his hand, with his person being unharmed, and with another vicious grin, use his magic to grab hold of her. She found herself helpless in his mystic grasp as he gave her a quick look, before spinning around and hurling her straight to one of the high mountains. All while she screamed at the top of her lungs.

'YAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!"

She made a powerful collision with the mountain, making a plume of smoke form around her. When it cleared, she was seen in a magic aura: safe from any real harm.

"RRRRAAAAAAAAGGGGHHHHH" 

As she squinted through the smoke, she was surprised when she saw Tirek charging straight towards her - both horns aimed directly at her as he hurled through the air once more.He collided into her with enough force to break through the mountain-side. But even so, she was still unharmed thanks to her shield. While he growled in aggression, she gave him another sharp glare before teleporting directly above him. She took this opportunity to charge up her magic once more, and slam it into his back, forcing him to collide with the ground. But she still pressed her advantage, and shot another beam at Tirek, striking him while he was still trapped. He disappeared into the ground as the rock, and dirt seemed to bury, and seal him in. Twilight safely landed on the ground, sure that she may have won. But she got proven wrong as a beam of his dark magic erupted from the ground, circling around her as it seemed to make an incision in the ver ground itself. Moments later, Tirek raised the round slab upwards, with Twilight still on top, and hurled it away from him. Twilight managed to fly off of the stone as it crashed a distance away, and she made her way back towards Tirek. The demonic centaur roared once again as he raised both arms up, before slamming them into the ground. This time, it caused eruptions of stone pillars to sprout like saplings, very nearly hitting Twilight. But she managed to both evade, and blast every last one that got in her path before she focused her attack on Tirek. The latter seemed to have the same thing in mind, and soon fired his most powerful magical beam at Twilight, and vice versa. The beams collided with each other, and caused an explosion bigger than any previous ones prior. The whole area was engulfed, and caused mass destruction all around.

Soon, the light faded, and revealed Tirek was buried beneath the rubble caused by the blast. It looked as if he may had been incapacitated by this, and that the fight was finally over. But instead, Tirek simply stood back up, brushing off the rubble without a single scratch on him. To him, it was more of an inconvenience than anything. But then, Twilight herself re-appeared: standing before him, and delivering a stern gaze to match his scowl.

"Hmph. It appears we're at an impasse. You've gotten quite strong with the magic you now possess. But i know for certain that it will only get you so far."

"You really think so, huh? I don't think that arrogance will save you. We may be evenly matched, but i still have the magic of 4 alicorns on my side. Eventually, i WILL take you apart."

"Heh, and don't think that i don't appreciate the effort. Even i must admit: by a wide margin, you're packing much more of a punch than that unicorn stallion, or even Discord himself ever did. tch, however: you will never-EVER-defeat me with that power." 

Upon hearing this, Twilight's expression changed from stern to completely flabbergasted. She just couldn't comprehend the logic behind Tirek's claim.

"Wh-i-you-...What in the name of Celestia does THAT mean?! How could you even come to that conclusion?!"

"Because you're green." 

*raises eyebrow*"......wait, do you me-"

"No, not literally! What i mean is: you're a novice. An amateur. You're a single alicorn who's trying to harness the magic of being's who've had more experience with THEIR magic in a thousand years, than you no doubt have had in a few hours. Let's not forget: after her sister's banishment, Celestia learned to not only control the sun: but also the moon itself!" 

"But, what does tha-"

"And besides, i could see it the moment i first saw you: you don't have a handle on the FULL power itself. Unless you focus everything you have on a single thing: you will quickly lose control, and the magic will soon enough overtake you. Or worse, your lack of complete control shall wear you down to the point of exhaustion. It's only your negative emotions that allowed you to wield it up to this point. As for me? I've trained myself to harness the magic i take with solid fluidity, and to never let it control me. For i am the master of my own fate, and nothing else commands me! So i assure you, even if we continued with this fight: you could never truly best me." 

"Is there a reason i shouldn't still try?"

Upon being asked this question, a knowing smirk suddenly appeared on Tirek's face. Thus causing Twilight to suddenly grow concerned about what he knew.

Actually, there is one reason i can think of: strength, and power is only relevant .... when a certain "leverage" is involved. So, how about a trade, Princess Twilight?" 

Tirek then snapped his fingers, and made eight bubbles appear in a circle above him. Inside each one were the captive mane five, spike, Shining Armor, and a greatly depressed Discord.

"Their release: for ALL the alicorn magic in equestria!"

Twilight gasped in fright at the sight before her. Fright that was directed to the fate of her friends, AND family. All of whom began frantically speaking, and pleading to Twilight, while some like Rainbow and Shining, tried to break free. Discord was the only one who did nothing as he just lay in his captivity: a solemn look of regret etched upon his face.

"What's it going to be.....princess?" 

Twilight, for the first time, was unsure of what to do. With her friends, and family at the mercy of the evil demonic centaur, there was a chance she would end up doing anything she could to save them.

Even if it meant making a decision which could doom equestria itself.

to be continued.