A dozen Reptilians came running down the front hall, spears at the ready.
“Vile lizards of swamps and bogs
Drop those spears and turn to dogs!”
...Only to be turned into tiny puppies and scamper away from the castle as fast as they could with their tails between their legs.
“Majesty, don’t you think this is a little reckless?” The Moochick asked.
“This monster threatened everyone in my care, then kidnapped my friend and my son. I am going to show him that he’s not invincible, and what happens when you threaten my family.”
“I’m sure the Dark Lord is cowering in his bed.”
Majesty and the Moochick turned and saw a giant wolf lying on the floor, blocking the door at the end of the hall.
“If you come any closer, I’ll rip you to shreds.” The wolf bared its massive teeth.
“Are you the guard dog?” Majesty mockingly asked.
“I am the hunger in the forest. I am blood spilled beneath the moon. I am the jaws of death. I am Gmork.” The wolf growled.
“I’ve heard of you.” The Moochick gulped. “If Tirek has cursed you into his service, we can free you!”
The wolf laughed. “I am his servant by my own choice. My world is gone and I was left with no purpose, no story, no place to call home. So, I sought out one who could use my talents. One who could give me purpose. And I made a simple request: show me your enemies.”
“So, you are content to be his tool?” Majesty snorted contemptuously. “Did you never think you could be more than his pawn?”
“I know my place. I am the dog at the table of a king, growing strong on the scraps that most of the kingdom would kill for. Only the powerful make their own choices, and have their own stories. Through him, I’ll have my own power and story in time."
"There are others who could use you. Tiamat values beasts such as you," Moochick said.
Gmork gave a dark chuckle. "This story is much more to my liking until I have my own. Until then, consider your deaths at my fangs a mercy compared to what Lord Tirek will have in store for you!”
The wolf lunged at Majesty, who deflected him with a magic shield. Gmork growled and charged again.
“Creature of darkness and bloody schemes
“I send you somewhere beyond all dreams!”
Majesty’s magic hit Gmork, who vanished in a cloud of dust and an echo of a howl.
What became of him, Applejack? I imagine you may have seen or heard him one night as a foal, scared of the dark and what may lay in it and believing you saw a monster protected and brought on to this world by the rainbow of darkness, prowling for whom it may devour. But worry not. Gmork is just that now: a figment of your imagination. He has no power in this world anymore. Just like that monster a child fears is prowling in the dark, he's no more than a shadow on the wall.
Majesty and the Moochick pushed open the door that Gmork had blocked and ascended the stairs behind it.
“Brr! It’s freezing in here!” Majesty shivered.
“Tirek’s influence, most likely,” The Moochick said, conjuring a coat for her. “Darkness and cold go together so well. Even before he became as he is now, he shunned the light and warmth.”
“Indeed.” Majesty gazed around the corridor. The hall was lined with statues, all of them either a monstrous gargoyle or a likeness of Tirek himself. Notably none in gold despite Tirek's obsession with himself, only silver or even plain stone. And they all seemed to be staring at them as they passed. And... I'm sickened to say, many statues of myself in my Centaur guise, cast in silver paid for in blood. Thinking back upon them, they were not testaments to me, but testaments to what Tirek desired me to be.
Then they found Tirek’s trophy room. As horrific as the rest of the castle had been, this place was a monument to depravity and atrocity. There were the standard treasures of precious metals and jewels, even crowns of conquered kings, many still with the dried blood of their former owners. The assortment of weapons taken from fallen warriors, ranging from spears, swords, axes, maces, and warhammers.
On the walls were paintings and murals depicting horrific massacres and dark rituals spanning over hundreds of years. One wall was covered in hundreds plaques, each one detailing a date and a name of a species that had been victims of Tirek’s genocidal campaigns.
Even in death, he defiled his victims, for his trophies included parts. Heads on spikes were bad enough, but there were countless bodies or body parts in jars or preserved by magic or taxidermy. There were dozens of revenants, those poor undead creatures whose souls Tirek had stolen, condemning them to be neither alive nor dead. Their soulless shells stood in a mindless stupor as a reminder that defiance of him would mean death, or something even worse...
One of them was a tall knight in silver armor with a blue scarf and broken arm, his helmet was adorned with a long black tassel like a ponytail, and wore a wolf-headed ring on one of his fingers. This was a knight who had sworn to fight me in all my forms.
His king stood besides him, who ruled over a kingdom that had worshipped my sister. His royal tunic was darkened to black by cinders, and his lofty crown was as unpolished and unkept as the rats nest his beard became. His once great flaming sword looked more like a sword of burning ash now.
While my brother was angry with me for all the work I gave him, I believe it took him far longer to forgive me for aiding one who would keep the souls of the dead from passing to the afterlife. Robbing the souls of the dead their final reward is among the most vile and grievous of sins in his eyes.
Majesty trotted up to a revenant and used her mind reading spell. “...Nothing. Everything that made these people who they were… it’s all gone. But they’re still not dead. Why would he, why would ANYONE do this?!”
“The same reason he does anything, Majesty,” The Moochick gripped his walking stick so hard it almost cracked. “Because he can. Because that’s how he sees the world. He has power, so he has licence to be as cruel as he can be. Which makes him feel even more powerful, and thus more cruel. At his core, above all else, Tirek wants to have dominion over all things for its own sake. It's right there in his self proclaimed title: the Dark Lord of All... more so than it may seem at first glance... in his culture, Lord is a title reserved for the gods.”
“You and this Lord Tirek have a long history, don’t you?”
“Oh, Majesty, you have no idea.” She always knew The Moochick was older than her, but this was the first time he’d ever sounded truly old and tired before. “I tried… I tried so hard to reach him when he was younger. Even after he became what he is, I tried to get him to see what he had become, and every time, he made it clear that he loved what he had become. I can’t tell you how much it hurt to realize that I had to stop trying to reach him because he’d never take my hand.”
“And what about his servant, Scorpan? I noticed how you spoke with him.”
“Scorpan... Scorpan was Tirek’s brother, and probably the only being he ever cared one bit about. But... he died before Tirek even became what he is now. I can’t even fathom how he was able to raise him from the dead. Death is a very professional god who takes his rule of 'we only live once' supremely seriously, only bending it in incredibly rare circumstances, and Tirek certainly hasn't earned that reward from him. Regardless of how he did it, it must have done something to him. I’ve tried to reach him over the years, but he was nothing like the person I knew. I don’t know if it's trauma from his resurrection or Tirek is manipulating his mind, but every time I’ve spoken to him, it’s like he’s a different person. He didn't even seem to remember our past encounters the last time I confronted him.”
“So Tirek might be wiping his memories somehow on a regular basis to keep him obedient, we may have no choice but to finish them both,” Majesty grimmly summed up.
“I’m afraid so."
"Anything else I should know?" asked the mare.
"Only one thing…" said Moochick, doing a scanning spell and finding a hidden chamber, opening it to reveal a mural covering the entire room. One that made even the mighty Queen Majesty, who'd seen so much horror and suffering in her life, injustices that defied all reason, so many monsters and evil tyrants, sick to her stomach. You know well what they depicted: the first of many genocides Tirek had wrought. In all its horrific glory and not missing a single gory detail.
"The first people he destroyed were his own."
"But...but why?" Majesty managed to stutter in horror. Majesty had endured the slaughter of her entire family and tribe, the idea of one doing that to his entire species hit a little too close to home. Nay, it was incomprensible.
"Why?...He claims because they became weak. But personally? I believe he couldn't stand the reminder that he used to be mortal...or others to know it. Of course...I imagine on some level he did it simply because he WANTED to. That is the kind of monster Tirek is I'm afraid. The worst kind.
“You see so many falling into evil because they didn’t know better, like the Children of Lilith who do it out of a belief in evil as a virtue. Or because they allow their own desires to get the better of them, like Wantall and his greed to own all things. Or like that Thunderstorm you told me of who was a lost, misguided soul lashing out at suffering he had to endure, and even a genuine belief he was making things better. But Tirek? He is evil in its most senseless, horrid form: evil that serves no purpose except for the sheer pleasure of exercising its power over others, of seeing others suffer. He isn’t misguided or trying to serve a greater good. He isn’t lost, because he’s chosen this path with open eyes and a clear head. And he most likely won’t be saved, because he doesn’t want to be.”
Queen Majesty, who had endured so much in her life and had escaped it all with her sanity intact, quivered. "But why hide it? Is he not proud of it? Did he become ashamed? Alone?"
"Quite the opposite, in fact I'm sad to say in his plans he sired more only to wipe them out again," Moochick replied grimly. "...He desired it be obliterated from the face of the planet, no stone left atop another...that he even placed it here at all is proof that Tirek is too proud of it to not brag of it, even if only to himself...Do you need a bucket?"
"No... I'll be fine... Thank you for showing me the type of evil we're going to be facing..."
"... Don't thank me... I sincerely wouldn't have if I didn't think it necessary... You needed to know Tirek wasn't just some monster sprung forth from the dark recesses of the world... he's just a normal mortal who found a box of magic fallen from the sky and used it to become the worst monster this world has ever known..." he said, looking at the center of the mural where Tirek stood over what little remained of his father. Moochick bowed his head and whispered, “Forgive me, Chiron.”
"I'm not letting that beast be anywhere near it for a moment longer."
Again, Majesty simply blew the doors off the trophy hall's doors, and at last came to a chamber proper, gates and passages going off in every direction. The Reptilians on guard swiftly turned into baby turtles.
The Moochick looked around. "They could be anywhere. And that's to say they're even still together. No signs or markings. It might as well be a maze."
"Then I'll just rip this castle apart room by room."
"Majesty! Think! You said it yourself 'Tirek does not leave hostages alive.' The more time we WASTE fighting his minions and breaking apart his castle, the more time they are in Tirek's clutches as you so feared, and the more time Tirek has to prepare. He could be lurking anywhere in this castle."
"I was expecting him to welcome us, if he is so hungry for battle to show off his might!"
"I imagine he doesn't think... ahem, that ponies are worthy of his time... As for myself... he knows our last meeting ended in a draw, he is likely hoping for his servants to wear me down." Moochick didn't wish to say it... but a part of him wondered if Tirek had, in his own way, through his constant use, feeding it his own magic, and his experiment, if Tirek might have aligned stronger with the Rainbow of Darkness than the Moochick had with the Rainbow of Light.
"I'll show him something worth his time." Then Majesty relied on her talents from when she was a wild unicorn. She sniffed through stenches of blood, Reptilians, and unnamable other things, until she found it. "Spike’s scent, and Valiant's! And Scorpan's! I have them!"
"Then lead the way, your Majesty!"
Majesty didn't need to be told so. Majesty paid attention to Tirek's foreboding décor only so much as to watch out for booby-traps and snares, she merely followed the scents of her friends, family, and her enemy.
Majesty and the Moochick tore through Tirek's playthings and pets. His more intelligent minions had not gotten to be part of his inner circle by challenging those more powerful than themselves and did everything possible to stay out of the way of two of the most powerful magic users on the planet.
But the Moochick also knew how much of her own magic Majesty had used, and also knew that was a feeling Majesty had never to his knowledge experienced before. She might not realize how drained she really was. Moochick however was capable of picking up the slack.
= Dark Souls OST - Iron Golem =
The pair entered what the Moochick noted could have been an armory, with swords, shields, spears, and other weapons lined up along with the heat a smithery showing signs of only being abandoned only moments ago.
But what drew their attention was a gigantic suit of iron armor, standing so tall that its head brushed against the vaulted ceiling. Gripped in one gauntlet was a battle axe. The suit silently stomped towards the two mages.
"Who are you?! Stand aside or be undone!" Majesty called. The armor continued to march like it hadn't even heard her.
The Moochick narrowed his eyes. "Majesty, I do not believe it is alive. I sense no life within it."
"A ghost?!"
The mindless thing swung its axe down, both magic users went opposite directions as they dodged. The axe left a deep gash in the floor, splinters of stone sent flying.
"No! I don't believe it was ever alive... I believe it is but a suit of armor controlled by magic - a golem. It is like a crossbow. And I believe they are made explicitly resistant to other magic!"
"Let's see if the floor is!"
"Please Majesty, let me handle this." The Moochick said, taking out some seeds from a pocket. And he threw them at the giant with as much strength as he could muster. The seeds fell within the joints of the iron golem.
The Moochick struck the ground twice with his staff. Then vines sprouted from within the joints of the golem, spreading, twisting, enlarging. The golem motions became stiffer, then slowed as if it was rusting... then all at once, the individual pieces of the golem flew everywhere, smashing walls and knocking over weapons racks, leaving a mass of vines in the center. A fist larger than Majesty's head crashed besides her, but the pieces of the empty suit of armor laid lifelessly on the ground.
"Now... where would it be... ah!" Moochick found some ancient runes on the inside of the armor, rubbing away one of them. As he did, the rune that meant 'truth' became the word that means 'dead.'
"I'm surprised, if Tirek could make such a weapon, you think he'd have made more," Majesty said. Then worried she had jinxed them, but more metal puppets did not came forth.
"Either it was a prototype, Tirek killed its inventor and stole it for himself, or Tirek simply thought his Reptilians and Stratadons were simply cheaper and easier to produce, train, and dispose of... I must say, I do believe Tirek has grown lazy with his successes. In his younger days, he would have exploited such a weapon for all it was worth."
"All the better for us!"
Majesty wasted no more time on the soulless automaton and continued to follow the scent trail, resuming her laser like focus. Tirek's castle spiraled upwards, like a poisoned spear stabbed into the heart of a wasteland. The castle itself was one gigantic keep. It was like the tower of Babel in scale... The what? Oh! Sorry! Never mind! Something from Megan's world. Store houses, stables, smitheries, it was not small. Imagine the tallest skyscraper of Manehatten and you might imagine its scale.
+++
"Now hold on Luna, so yer sayin' Megan had to go through this huge castle too?"
"... Yes, and no, I promise you'll see what I mean soon. But again-"
"Yeah yeah, 'won't appreciate it if ya tell it out order’, Ah gotcha..."
+++
There were no locks or barriers to the chamber they came to next. It was circular, the floor covered in sand, tinted windows ringed a second floor above them, there were other entrances/exists that also had no gates or locks. The floor was littered with broken swords, shields, and armor. Every doorway, except the way they'd come in, was covered by a wall of fog.
At the center was a wolf the size of a young adult dragon. In its mouth was a giant sword.
"Another wolf?" Queen Majesty rolled her eyes. "TIrek has no imagination."
"On the contrary, of all the things he lacked, creativity was never one of them," the Moochick whispered.
The beast did not make the first move. The heroes stepped forward, the wolf growled and clutched the hilt tighter in its jaws.
"Your ally Gmork is gone, step aside and you won't share his fate."
The wolf snarled in disgust, the Moochick's ears perked up.
The wolf assumed a combat stance but again didn't move from its spot.
The Moochick looked looked back at the path of retreat left open for them.
Queen Majesty lowered her head for a charge as her horn glowed, but Moochick blocked her with a gentle palm.
"Majesty my dear, allow me to handle this."
The Moochick casually walked forward with his walking stick. The wolf narrowed her eyes.
"So, you and Gmork were not allies, or you'd have growled in anger. And if you were rivals you'd have laughed at his defeat. So am I to assume you are not an ally of neither Gmork nor Tirek?"
The wolf grunted.
"I see," said the Moochick. Majesty tilted her head.
The Moochick looked around the arena.
"No locks, but the doors are too small for you... You've been here a long time. All the exits blocked but behind us? Since when did Tirek ever let his enemies retreat? Not attacking? Unless I get within range of your sword yes?"
The wolf growled again.
"... Not your sword then?" The Moochick grew his cane, which the wolf sundered since it was within the arc of its blade, the Moochick casually restored his cane to normal.
"Well, that answers everything. That is no sword of evil. They were a very dear friend of yours, weren't they?"
The giant wolf whined. Majesty was confused.
The Moochick examined the style and design of the giant sword.
"So it was his."
The wolf's eyes widened.
"In Tirek's trophy hall, the knight revenant."
The wolf whined again.
The Moochick sighed. "Let me hazard a guess... You tried to avenge your friend or die trying... But Tirek wouldn't let you, would he?" The wolf shuddered. Majesty's eyes widened.
The sword lowered a fraction.
"You don't want anyone else to suffer as he does, do you?"
The wolf whined.
"Forgive me for speaking for the dead, but let me ask, if you had died and your friend lived on... would you have wanted this for him?"
The wolf startled.
"If I may be so bold, do you think your friend would want you to spend your days like this? Tirek's prisoner? His slave? Cutting down his enemies for him so he might focus more on bringing MORE suffering to the world?"
Silence. The elf and wolf looked at each other.
Tears fell from the wolf's eyes. She lowered her head so the sword layed on the ground.
The walls of fog around the doors vanished.
"Moochick, if she stays here Tirek will kill her," Queen Majesty said.
The wolf snorted defiantly.
Moochick nodded. "Can you get her out of here?"
"... I've never teleported a living creature as big as her before... But I shall try."
Queen Majesty's horn glowed bright, and the wolf and the sword vanished in a twinkle of light.
Queen Majesty's knees buckled, the room spinning as she saw fireflies in front of her eyes.
"Majesty?"
"Just... a little dizzy, let's go!"
And they were again on the trail.
"How did you know what the wolve’s motives were?" Queen Majesty asked as they moved.
"This deep in Midnight Castle? I imagine I'm the first to try and understand her instead of fight her on sight. Just some common sense, and elves have a quirk for understanding the beasts and plants."
"I see... so, did she say why Tirek kept her alive exactly?"
Moochick frowned. "I surmise to have a good guard dog with an amusing twist. He always enjoyed the howls of wolves. But I no longer believe he values them as living creatures, more as producers for music... He once called a beast's mournful howls for their master lovely music."
Majesty gave a growl. "There is no low Tirek will not sink to, is there?"
"My dear, I regret to say Tirek invented many of the lowest deeds one can commit…" Moochick's face showed how much it hurt him to admit Tirek had fallen as low as one possibly could. With that, they were silent for a bit.
"Their scent is getting stronger, they're right up ahead!" Majesty said at last.
"MAJESTY! WE FACE EACH OTHER AT LAST!"
Blocking a pair of armored red double doors was a grimy shadow of humanoid form covered in black robes. Their feminine figure was obvious, but their only detail that was visible was the glowing red eyes in the darkness of their hood.
"AT LONG LAST YOU FACE THE DOOMMANCER! LONG HAVE I WAITED! At last our epic battle begins, it will carry on through the ages! And at last I shall prove myself to Lord Death and catch him on the rebound from his break up with Natural Selection! See my power!" The witch's hands glowed with crackling red orbs of light. "Face the power of destruction! The very heavens will tremble with our-"
"I have had enough of this, please,
Get out of my way and become cheese."
In the blink of an eye, the Doommancer became a wheel of cheese.
"My deepest apologizes Miss Doommancer, but I'm afraid Queen Majesty has a prior engagement." The Moochick politely bowed to the wheel of cheese.
Majesty telekinetically ripped the doors off the walls and charged into the next room. It was vast and empty, more like a cave than room. There wasn’t a single window or torch or any light source beyond the light spilling from the doorway. In the darkness, the room seemed so large that it was almost a world unto itself. In the center was a throne shrouded in black curtains and three Reptilian guards on either side, already slain. Two yellow eyes staring out from the darkness. They had found Tirek’s throne room.
Majesty and the Moochick stopped dead in their tracks at the sight before them.
Prince Valiant, dead on the floor with a sword in his chest. Scorpan stood over the prince, looking at Majesty and the Moochick in horror. The silence between them all was like a graveyard, until it was broken by slow clapping.
“Well done, Scorpan. An excellent kill. But, it seems we have guests.” A figure emerged from the shadows behind Scorpan. Lord Tirek strode out past his minion without a second glance. He gave Moochick the most mocking of all bows you can imagine. He didn't spare Majesty even a glance, to him it being like giving the cart a person rode in on the same attention as the rider. “Hello, Moochick Randall, I’ve been looking forward to this reunion for so long. You’ve even brought me a pony for my chariot. How kind of you.”
The elf and the pony still stood in stunned silence, looking back and forth between the dark lord and their fallen friend.
Tirek gave the body at Scorpan’s feet a glance. “Oh yes, I had almost forgotten about him. I assure you, he is no great loss and Scorpan did you a great service by killing him.”
In another time and place, Majesty might have appreciated looking upon the one who had bullied and threatened her ponies, this ultimate evil she'd heard about for most of her life but never laid eyes upon.
Instead Majesty saw red at Tirek’s words and turned her sight to Scorpan. With a rage she hadn’t felt in years, she charged Scorpan.
“Wait, please listen to me!” Scorpan screamed as he jumped out of Majesty’s path.
“How dare you?! You killed my friend! He had a family waiting for him at home!” Majesty fired a bolt of magic from her horn.
“Majesty, I’m Scorpan, I’m alive!” Scorpan cried in horror and confusion. “I’M SCORPAN! I’M SCORPAN!”
“I know, I’ll carve that on your grave!” Majesty created a ball of fire and blasted at the fleeing gargoyle.
Scorpan jumped again with a terrified yelp. “STOP! PLEASE! IT’S NOT WHAT YOU THINK!”
“Well, that’s an entertaining sight.” Tirek chuckled, before turning to the Moochick. “But I think I’ll enjoy dealing with you even more, elf scum.”
“Tirek, I’ll ask you once; if only for your own sake, if only for the sake of the one being in all creation who still loves you, please give up this madness.” The Moochick held his walking stick tightly in anticipation. I do not know if he meant Tirek's father in the other world or My Mother with the second part.
“Hmm... I have a counter offer.” A bolt of dark magic fired from Tirek’s horns aimed at the Moochick’s heart.
Tirek’s shot fizzled as it hit a magical shield shaped like a rabbit. The Moochick waved his cane and the rabbit morphed into a wave of light that swarmed over the evil centaur. It lasted a few seconds until a dark patch appeared in the heart of the swarm and the light faded away, leaving Tirek unscathed.
“Is that the best you can do, old man?” Tirek smirked.
“Well, since you wanted to start off with childish cheap shots, I thought I’d go easy on you for a start.” The Moochick smiled in the way he knew Tirek hated. “But, if you insist.”
The Moochick drew his walking stick and blasted all the magic he could muster at Tirek. The Dark Lord returned the volley with a beam of pure darkness. For several minutes they stood in stalemate, only the sounds of Scorpan fleeing the wrath of Majesty.
“MAJESTY, PLEASE, IT’S SCORPAN!” Scorpan crawled into a corner as Majesty advanced on him.
“I know your name, you evil filth!” Majesty snarled.
Tirek took a stomp forward in his test of truth against Moochick's magic. "Do you know what your failure is Randall? And it isn't your poisoning the Empire with your delusional elven sympathy for those who can't stand on their own four hooves or your insane belief in treating the inferior as if they were the same as the superior." Tirek took another stomp forward. "Do you know why all the land is mine, why I wield this power with such might while you do not? Why it has always been you that had fled from our meetings? The Rainbow of Darkness has spoken with me. My friend's former master barely used it at all, he kept my friend locked away, he never spoke to it. My friend was never allowed to express its true power, even at the end. They were never fellows. Such an idiot didn't deserve this power." Tirek took another step, and the Moochick took a step back. "And you're the same as him! I can see it! You've never so much as spoken with your rainbow have you? This is why I can wield this power to its true strength and you cannot! This power and I are kindred spirits! You and your power are strangers besides each other! That dragon was nothing but an acting holder until I, its true holder, could be united with it!"
"... Perhaps..." The Moochik admitted, the old elf sweating, his resolve cracked at Tirek's words, but not from his taunts: never in his entire life had The Moochick heard Tirek call any entity in existence his friend, and meant every word.
"My friend will sniff out your rainbow... my friend will find your rainbow... and devour it... And be one. I only restrained my friend from hunting your rainbow down as my true aim will barter no delays. Those who can't hold onto power have no right to it."
Tirek continued to march through Moochick's attack, his own storm of darkness like a wave against a firehose.
"... You're right Tirek... I HAVEN'T spoken with it... I don't see power in the way you do... How could I? I see power purely as a means to an end, not an end unto itself like you... But if you are correct... and Heathspike was but an acting holder who used it sparingly... then am I not then but an acting holder? For the true holder of this Light... And if an acting holder has been able to hold you to a stalemate... what shall its true holder do unto you?"
Their conflicting magics now practically walls against each other, Tirek punched Moochick. The shockwave of force and magic knocked him off his feet, sending him skidding across the floor against a wall, as the beam of white magic went upwards, cleanly vaporizing the ceiling above them as if it had been simply erased before the beam dispersed.
"You will not be here to see that impossible future!"
Randall wiped the blood from his face. "You always did treat your opinions as facts Tirek."
Randall stabbed with his cane at lightning speed, but the Rainbow of Darkness caught the tip of the cane before it could stab Tirek in the chest... it pulled a tiny seed at the tip of the cane and crushed it. Randall was stunned... the Rainbow of Darkness had acted on its own to protect Tirek!
"So that is it my friend? ... Do you think that seed would stop me?"
"Actually it would have sprouted inside you and consume you as quickly as your immortality could regenerate. I'd prepared it just for you. The tree would have fed on your own evil and held you for eternity."
"How wonderfully vicious!" Tirek clapped. "I see you'd kill me if you had the chance. Finally let go of that pathetic 'all life is precious' nonsense?"
"No, Tirek...I merely make an exception for you alone. Once your life WAS precious...then you rusted it with oceans of blood and tears."
In a way, Randall was more disappointed in Tirek than he'd been before. He'd thought Tirek was incapable of bonding with anyone outside of Scorpan... now he saw the horrible truth... Tirek never cared to.
"... Tirek, I have but one question: if you do finally claim dominion over all things for the sake of it, what then? What will you do when there are no more worlds to conquer?" asked Randall.
Tirek smirked with greed that even Queen Tiamat would find horrible. "I will find more worlds."
"... Princess?" asked Applejack.
"Yes?" I asked.
"... Think it'd be nuts to talk to the Element of Honesty now and again?" she asked. "... Ah admit, Ah felt it was alive before... but Ah didn't think tah act on it."
I gave a smile. "Applejack, allow me to tell you a secret: the physical Element and the one in your heart are one and the same. Always connected, always together. If you see and think of Honesty as a living thing and not simply a weapon, it will know it."
However, as Moochick and Tirek clashed with each other... Majesty and Scorpan's one sided brawl had continued.
Whether Majesty not atomizing Scorpan in that time was due to her power being lower than it had ever been, or her wanting to see Scorpan suffer, I sincerely don't know.
"Majesty! Things are not as-!" Scorpan shouted, as he fell on the floor next to Valiant’s impaled corpse.
"Come now Scorpan, be careful with what you say, we have our new prisoner to worry about you blabbing about!" Tirek said casually.
"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH HIM?!" Majesty shouted. She had listened to Scorpan's surface thoughts, but found Scorpan had no idea where Spike was, only seeing her son dragged away by a pack of Reptilians. 'Therefore,' Majesty thought, 'This scum's life is of no value.'
'After I turn this gargoyle into seven notes of music, I'll simply have to ask Randall to hold off Tirek for some time longer while I follow Spike's scent to wherever my boy is being held.'
Unbidden, an image came to Majesty's mind's eye.
A white skinned elf with blue hair in knightly armor. A male elf in a leather apron was In front of her, he was about to meet his fate at the gallows.
"Dame Majesty, stop!" Pleaded a peach colored unicorn with a blond mane and green eyes. Her cutie mark was a silver sword at an angle with an olive wreath. "Why be so quick to deal out death in the name of justice?"
"Justice will broker no delays, Eluneth!"
Majesty ceased her assault, but Scorpan did not take the opening to attack.
Majesty looked down at Scorpan for a few moments... then remembered something Wind Whistler had taught her. She closed her eyes, taking a deep breath in and out. Meditation was an odd pass time for her, but good for settling the mind.
She slowly opened her mind, noticing Scorpan looking up at her in terror. The Moochick's words about Scorpan returned to her mind. How he seemed to be a completely different person every time they met.
Without a word she went over to Valiant's body and looked at the sword. "... This was his sword…" said Majesty. How could she tell? Royalty often had very iconic and identifiable swords as status symbols, or at least their royal symbol. Why, I have multiple weapons that could be instantly identifiable as mine alone, as does my sister. Even if that wasn't the case, Tirek's forces had a very obvious theme and design behind them: darkness. Nothing in Midnight Castle or Tirek's forces had any gold in them.
Still, Scorpan killing Valiant with his own sword was not impossible, so she lowered her head to the hilt and sniffed. "...Only Valiant's scent is on this…" She turned over Valiant's body, and sniffed the bloody blade emerging for the other side. She gasped. "...But it isn't on the blade...This isn't Valiant... which means…" she said, looking to 'Scorpan'. "...You're not Scorpan, are you?"
"I am!" replied Scorpan, though now she could see his expression was of dismay those were the words that came out.
Majesty looked somber. "... Like a different person every time... Because it was.Tirek never revived the real Scorpan... I'm sorry, Valiant, I didn't know."
“A pity.” Tirek grinned. “It would have been so delicious to have you kill your dear friend or to force him to kill you.”
“What?” The Moochick looked between them in confusion.
“This isn’t Scorpan, Moochick, this is Valiant!” Majesty explained. “Tirek turned him into Scorpan!”
“Technically, he did it to himself. It’s how the curse works. The one who kills the current Scorpan becomes the new Scorpan, while his predecessor's body becomes a copy of his own, as a reminder that his old life is gone, and he is mine until he dies.” Tirek explained as if he was finally letting someone in on a joke.
Majesty's eyes widened in horror as she realized what would have happened if she'd killed 'Scorpan.'
The Moochick looked at 'Valiant’s' body. “Then who was he?”
“An old human named O’Brien. It’s a shame, he was one of my most devoted followers and a brilliant spy master. He actually killed the previous Scorpan to earn the right. I lose a surprising number of Scorpans that way. However, he was a worthless military commander. How incompetent must one be to abandon his army without a general against a rabble of horses after losing our strongest witch? Weak useless little worms like him deserve to be killed and replaced, and no other opportunity could have been as satisfactory as this.” Tirek sneered.
“Why?” The Moochick asked. “Why defile your brother’s memory like this?”
“Defile?" Tirek actually looked offended. "I’ve improved on the original by keeping his memory alive with this curse. Now, Scorpan knows his place is at my command, and if he disappoints me, he’s immediately replaced. If he ever shows weakness then a million more will have a dagger in his back to claim his place at my side. This way, Scorpan never truly dies, only his weakness and the fools who face him are left dead.” Tirek smiled. “And best of all, I don’t need to listen to him go on and on about pointless frivolity or defend his family’s weakness.”
“Your family, Tirek.” The Moochick glared at him. “They were your family too.”
“No. I have no other family but my Lady Night and the Rainbow of Darkness.”
“Change him back!” Queen Majesty snarled.
“My my, your unicorn has a temper. Bold one too, to address me herself.” Tirek chuckled. “The curse can’t be lifted, only passed on. It’s tied to my own life. As long as I walk the world, there will always be a Scorpan. However, if you truly want him free, you could always kill him and become Scorpan yourself. You'd probably be just moving things along, the heroic fools who become him rarely last long before someone more ambitious and intelligent takes their place.”
“It amazes me that you finds new ways to disgust me after all these centuries.” The Moochick shuddered in anger and grief.
“It’s the way of the world, Moochick.” Tirek clearly enjoyed the horror on their faces. “It’s the way of my world.”
“This world isn’t yours!” 'Scorpan' dared reply.
“Of course it is Scorpan. I am the most powerful being in the world, not even the dragons can stop me, especially with the power of the Rainbow of Darkness at my command. If I wanted to, we could have killed every living thing in the land years ago. And you know why I haven’t? Because it amuses me seeing them fight and think they have a chance, before crushing them. They may have a few small victories, but no one plays chess and keeps every piece on the board. It only prolongs their suffering, and inevitable destruction.”
“You were never so tactically insane, I don’t believe you.” The Moochick shook his head adamantly.
“You should. I told you when I was still a boy that the world belongs to the strong and weakness will be crushed, and I was right. Kindness? Mercy? Compassion? Empty sentiments. They couldn’t save the centaurs, or anyone else. If you need further proof, look around! Look at the world as it is, as it always should have been! As I am making it!
“I’ve made a world where weakness is rewarded with servitude and death, and strength is true power. Power to inflict pain, power to control others, power to destroy life, memory, even ideas. Do you know there are places under my control where generations of people have lived in fear of the daylight because I honor the night? That is power! And it won’t stop there!
“There will come a time when weak ideals will be forgotten as cleanly as the centaur race. No one will ever speak of charity, kindness, freedom, or even the sun. Kill or be killed will be the only law. There will be no fruitless dreams of peace, when conflict breeds the beings I deem worth living. No one will trust anyone or anything except that I am the the master of all. There will be no loyalty, except to Lord Tirek. There will be no truth, but my word. There will be no love, except love of the night. And once I bring about the Night That Never Ends, the world will know that I am greater than their or any other god. And the night will see who is worthy of her. Their precious sun, their constant reminder that nights end, that darkness doesn’t last forever, will be gone. They’ll all fall into despair against Tirek the Sun Slayer.
“Against that, what do you have, Moochick? You couldn’t stop me from destroying the Empire, you couldn’t save everyone I’ve gotten rid of, and you couldn’t save your dragon friend? Isn’t it clear, Moochick? You’re a failure! Any ‘good’ you do is temporary at best, while mine lasts ages. If I am ‘evil’ then it’s clear that evil is stronger than good. The world doesn’t belong to your kind, elf. It’s my world! It’s hard, cruel, ruthless, and mine! Everything you cling to is a child’s dream. I’ve had my spies watching these base equines you’re so fond of. What are their great accomplishments? Tea parties? Dancing and singing? Picking flowers? Insipid childish songs about happiness and light? Hollow, girlish nonsense. You think these creatures of sweetness and light can defeat me? Then you truly are living a fantasy. It all means nothing against my power. And soon, the whole world will see it.”
The Moochick’s head had been bowed during most of Tirek’s speech. The evil tyrant’s words had left an impact, even Majesty and 'Scorpan' could tell. Then, the old elf looked up at the self styled dark god.
“Suppose you’re right, Tirek. Suppose honesty, kindness, laughter, generosity, loyalty, trust, and the magic of friendship are only children’s dreams. Well, then it seems to me the dreams are a good deal better than what we have now. And if this dark pit of suffering and ugliness is the real world, then it’s a pathetic excuse of a world and doesn’t say much for you if it’s the best you can make of it. Meanwhile, my little pony friends and their dreams have made the world brighter for everyone they’ve ever met or helped. And the world of those dreams beats your world any day! That’s why I don’t give up, Tirek. I don’t fight you because it’s easy. I fight you because in a world with this much cruelty, it needs all the help it can get. I stand by the ponies and their childish dreams, even if they are just dreams. Because I’d rather spend my life wandering through the dark looking for a light that I may never find, than sit in the dark alone and miserable like you.”
"...And Tirek, you are wrong about one thing," Majesty finally said, looking at him without fear. "We ponies have vanquished a thousand monsters. We have defeated the Children of Lilith and driven them from their own stronghold domain and made it our own!" she announced. "And…" she said, giving a smirk as a vision crossed her mind and faded, a future that was now an impossibility.
Dream Valley lay in ruins, overrun by Reptilians and their hordes. The ponies slaughtered and enslaved, marched before the Dark Lord of All.
"We win."
Tirek raised an eyebrow. "Win what exactly?"
"The battle. Your army has been beaten by my little ponies."
Tirek said nothing, merely turned and used one of his many spells to examine the situation through a large black pearl,...which he crushed to shards as he sensed his army was no more. "I see…"
The Dark Lord had been stalled, but never before had a battle he personally organized been lost. And the battle at Dream Valley was one such battle, because unlike every other battle where the lands he conquered were retaken, he didn’t let his generals do as they pleased while he busied himself with his Chariot. Yes, Applejack, the ponies had done what none other had ever before: handed Tirek a genuine defeat, and what’s more they freed his soldiers of his dark magic.
Moochick gave a smirk as well. "They aren't as weak as you believed now, are they Tirek? They're strong enough to defeat your army."
"...Well then, I was planning to make you the first to pull my Chariot of Midnight...but I suppose I must make an example to prove my point to your master and you inane ponies..." Tirek said, his amusement at the situation vanishing and charging Queen Majesty.
"Now reap what you have sown!
Dark one become stone!" Majesty yelled, sending a spell that could've turned any lesser foe to stone instantly.
Tirek simply coated his arm in dark magic and batted it aside, turning a tapestry to stone and grabbed her by the throat before she could recover from the surprise, surrounding both with a shield of magic.
"Majesty!" yelled Moochick, blasting the shield with his own magic but unable to pierce it in time.
"A reverent of their Queen coming to destroy them should suffice," Tirek said with a smirk before opening his mouth wide and swallow her soul.
Moochick pounded away at the barrier with all he had, trying to break through and save Majesty from a fate worse than death.
Majesty... smirked. Her horseshoe of telepathy had allowed her to see into Tirek’s mind. She heard screaming. Thousands upon thousands of voices screaming. Thousands of souls denied of life and the release of death. All trapped within Tirek for the simple pleasure of their suffering. And Majesty realized the truth of this horrific act: Tirek had made himself a powder keg waiting to go off.
"A grave mistake did you make,
Revealing the passageway to that you did take.
Vortex to his black soul I bid reverse!
Release his victims from this curse!"
Lord Tirek, for the first time in hundreds of years, knew shock and surprise as Queen Majesty's beam of magic traveled down the path he had opened deep inside of his rotten soul. A cage was opened wide. The Lord of Midnight Castle dropped Majesty, his barrier failing as he staggered back, clutching his chest. "What did you do?!"
Majesty smirked. "Handed your prisoners their key!"
Tirek's body contorted and spectral limbs tore their way free from his body. The centaur actively pushed and pounded on them to force them back inside. Light erupted from spots all over his body, ripping it apart. Finally his body could not contain them any further and with a roar of pain his chest and back opened like a bursting dam, thousands of wailing, screaming spirits erupting forth from inside him like a morbid fountain. Filling the room so thick Majesty had trouble seeing Tirek through them.
Moochick cheered as he helped her up. "Majesty! You've freed them!"
"Yes, now if only they had lives to return to…" said Majesty sadly.
The old elf tapped his chin. "...Maybe they do…" he said, putting his staff to the sky. "After all, their bodies are only mostly dead, and there's a big difference between mostly dead and all dead. You see mostly dead is slightly alive!"
Randall focused as much strength into his scepter as he could...and also made himself a vessel for one far greater.
"Naralis Analor, Healer of the Living, Comforter to the Dead, Renewer of the Stars, I beseech you! Please, lend me your strength! Allow these souls taken from their twisted bodies to return and be made whole again!" Moochick chanted. Around the head of his staff formed a star symbol that turned into a galaxy before erupting into a shockwave of magic.
The swirling stars congealed into a form. Majesty saw an Alicorn with a sea pony's tail and the sheen of a Flutterpony where pegasi wings would otherwise be, Moochick instead saw an Elven goddess, and Tirek saw a Centaur that he could barely make out through the countless souls streaming from his body and tearing it apart. Each soul saw the figure in the form of their own species all at the same time. With a shout, the stars dispersed across the room. Each star flew into each of the souls, turning them from a contorting tortured visage to a peaceful, healed form, and guided them slowly back to their undead bodies, restoring life back into their original forms.
Moochick fell to his knees, panting.
"Naralis Analor?" asked Majesty.
"Elven God of Healing and Renewal. Though, to be honest, I do believe we got the gender wrong, though when it comes to deities it's hard to tell…"
Tirek's ravaged body hung limply, torn apart by the force of escaping souls, his torso a tangled mass of body parts and gaping holes.
+++
In Tirek's trophy room, an old king with a lofty crown and tattered robe breathed life once again. The king nearly fell to the floor but was caught by the one good arm of the knight with the blue scarf, his own knees shaking.
"King Solar, I have you, your highness."
'Sir Asturias ... That unicorn... she saved us. We are hollow no more." The long bearded king wheezed.
Each restored being looked over their body in amazement. Some having been in Tirek for hundreds of years.
"We live!" Said another of the trophies, an elf woman.
"You die!" Shouted a Reptilian as it along with many more began to swarm into the room.
Sir Asturias hosited his sword on his shoulder only to remember that Sif had taken it hoping to slay Tirek, as King Solar with his old arms lifted his burning sword, between the Reptilians and the other former trophies.
The door behind the Reptilians was knocked off its hinges and onto the Reptilians, crushing them under the weight of a giant wolf with a sword... that whined and licked the helmet of Sir Asturias. Majesty hadn’t teleported the great wolf quite as far as she had thought.
"Sif?... You got big..." Asturias felt a wave of dizziness, the other revived victims were in no better shape.
"Our Kingdom of the Sun is no more for centuries, we might as well still be dead."
"Have heart my king, our experiences remain ours to share, not to be forgotten yet!"
+++
"Is it over?" asked Queen Majesty, looking at the Dark Lord, wondering if even he could survive that.
"No it isn't!" 'Scorpan' warned. Majesty remembered what Tirek had said about the curse being linked to Tirek's life, and this let her get back before a red hand's swipe could rip her throat out.
Tirek's mangled body began to jerk around and slide back together. Flesh mending together, bones snapping into place, wounds sealing, skin and hair regrowing. Finally, Tirek's eye sprung open and he gave an earth shaking roar of fury, as the flesh and bone rapidly mended and pulled itself together until in seconds his form was fully restored.
Tirek stretched, giving an small glare. "Surprised?"
"More disappointed…" Majesty admitted.
"If it's any consolation, that hurt like Tartarus…" the centaur replied, actually allowing a slight amount of respect into his tone.
Tirek would not realize it then, but Majesty had done more than simply free the captive souls within his body. She maimed his soul. With that act, Majesty had forever stole from Tirek the power to take the spirits of others as his own soul had too many holes to hold them. My brother personally thanked her for that when they met.
“You actually hurt me. A unicorn hurt me. And a female at that!” Tirek grinned in a way that made everyone else cringe. “I haven’t felt this angry in decades, and yet… it’s exciting! I can’t remember the last battle I’ve had that wasn’t as easy as stepping on ants. You may actually be a challenge, and that will make breaking you so much more fulfilling!”
“You seem awfully confident for a creature who just had his body ripped apart from the inside.” Majesty smirked.
Tirek chuckled. "And yet I survived. I am the ultimate being on this planet, what have I to fear? But, I must ask: where did you get that kind of power? Breaking my hold on those souls is no small feat."
"You wish to know so you might steal it?" asked Majesty.
"Steal implies I don't already own it."
"Well it is my turn to disappoint you: I simply am this strong."
A half truth, of course. But she wasn't about to tell him of her elf friends who made her horseshoes. And after all, they only acted as a focus for her power, not the source.
Tirek was taken aback...then laughed. "A good jest! But not possible. No being on this planet could be born with that kind of power."
Moochick tapped his chin. "...Maybe not, Tirek...The goddess you claim to follow the ways of, not your Moon, but natural selection. She has a rule: no one goes unchallenged for too long. No creature, no person, no kingdom, nothing. Nothing on this world can claim absolute dominion without challenge, without struggle. When something has too big of an advantage, nature has a way of restoring balance. You centaurs proved that to the dragons. Perhaps Majesty is nature's way of restoring balance: your natural rival."
Was Moochick correct? I do not know. Perhaps she descended from a pony closest to where the Rainbows were released. Perhaps she was born from the great upheavals in magic Tirek created. Perhaps Majesty was so strong simply as a freak of nature with no true origin. The ways Majesty was born so strong do not matter. What does is that she was.
Tirek looked a mix of rage...and pleasure at the idea. "Hmm...well, if that is true...then let's see if my friend agrees she is worthy to be my natural rival. Or my pet."
"No!" Moochick reached for the Rainbow of Light.
"SCORPAN!"
"I'm not sorry," Scorpan grunted as he tackled the Moochick.
"BEHOLD THE POWER OF DARKNESS!" Like a wild beast freed from its pen it spewed forth, reaching our hungerily, and perversely, seeking to twist and pervert Majesty into a thing that reflected Tirek's will the way it had seen Tirek do to others countless times. In a swirling dark tornado I'm sure you'd recognize the shape of it all too well Applejack, Majesty was obscured by the Rainbow of Darkness. She felt it reaching into her, seeking to violate her into something that was no longer herself.
If you pictured Majesty's innermost self as a place, it would be like seeing a black tidal wave flash flooding from every horizon at once. Even at her strongest, Majesty wouldn't have been able to resist the force of either of the Rainbows.
So she didn't try to. She stared into the abyss, and didn't look away, she didn't hide from the dark. The darkness in her heart was vast and deep, and she'd used it to punish evil and protect her beloved people.
Oh Majesty, we shall tell ye Applejack, Majesty in her heart of hearts, had feared the light, feared it would sear away who she was, what ponies are, leaving only identical creatures wearing different flesh to the two legged tribes. But Wind Whistler, friend that she was, helped her see through the light, and taught her not to run from it. And Firefly had taught her not to be a slave to the dark she drew her strength from, to always recognize it for what it was, and never to ignore its presence. It is a fine balance: to neither flee from the light nor the dark. To embrace and balance the heart. As great as Tirek’s understanding of darkness was, he was swallowed up too much by it to ever come to the same conclusion as Majesty did. I understand darkness more than any being in existence, but I could not balance it with the light as Nightmare Moon, and never could.
Perhaps Majesty was a mutant created by Strife, maybe it was luck, perhaps her ancestor had been closer to the other rainbow... whatever the case, unlike any mortal pony alive before and for eons more, within herself, Majesty said, "This, is my darkness!"
And like a firebreak, a ring of darkness exploded around Majesty's core of herself...
In reality, the Rainbow of Darkness let out a sound that hurt Moochick, Scorpan, and Tirek's ears as it twisted about against its wishes, and tore away from Majesty. Tirek and Moochick both looked in total surprise to see the unicorn, herself, her shape completely unchanged, healed, invigorated, and her horn glowing bright, her magic fully recharged.
"Try not to think about where Spike is," Majesty said, the sea of voices in Tirek gone... only to learn... Tirek didn't know where in Midnight Castle Spike was. If they fought, Tirek could fight with abandon, Majesty could not, and all those freed from Tirek would die anyway.
"Moochick, find every former Revenant in the castle and Spike if you can, and get as far from here as you can! I'll fight him!"
"Queen Majesty-"
"You won't be able to hold him off."
"Valiant-"
"I am Scorpan!"
A thought entered Majesty's mind and she looked Valiant in the eye, resonating the darkness she'd been struck by and absorbed with the darkness used by Tirek to make the spell. She could not break it, but she could alter it to rob Tirek of one command he could force on him. "Around his orders you may strafe, to find Spike and keep him safe," she chanted, horn glowing as he held his head for a moment. He nodded.
The Rainbow of Darkness retreated into the bag around Tirek's neck... he held the bag in his shaking hands, his mouth agasp and his eyes wide.
"Y-you... you... you... you... " Then Tirek roared. "YOU HURT HIM!!!" His voice echoed throughout the castle. Repilitians, constructs, summoned horrors, fell where they stood as their power were reclaimed, returning to their Master, and Tirek willed himself back to full power, to his full potential. "YOU DIE LITTLE PONY!"
Majesty whispered. "Well then, come and get me."
Titans clashed.