Even in his weakened state, Tirek was mighty. Thick red arms corded with muscles the size of buildings, wrapped in iron-like skin and topped with curved horns alight with evil magic. His four hoofed legs gave both stability and weapons, and his bucking back-kick could fell kingdoms.
Yet his opponent was an elder horror, lord of an unimaginable empire from eons before the birth of gods or demons. Not as strong as Tirek, it made up the difference in freakish dexterity, hopping and bending ape-like around his blows. It fought as a wrestler, using its superior mass to grapple, twist, and claw. Its flesh was spongy and soft, yet even this served advantage as it curled unnaturally around Tirek’s fists. Using this, the thing managed to counter and mount him, pinning Tirek and nearly crushing him beneath its unfathomable bulk.
Perhaps it would have succeeded, had the energy blasts of Tirek’s horns been limited to the front. Black beams flew backwards into the creature’s face, then as it staggered, Tirek raised and delivered a double-kick that sent it careening into the mountain.
Neither wounded nor winded, the thing propelled itself from the stony wall into a fresh assault.
Discord watched it all from his perch on top of Canterlot’s tallest skyscraper. He sat in a displaced theater seat, stuffing his face from a titanic popcorn bucket with eyes fixed upon the battle.
Courteously, he had made a second theater seat to his right. It was ignored. A copy of his own voice came from a standing position on the other side. “Seriously, Mister D? This was your big plan?”
Discord – that is, Equestria’s Discord – stood facing him with crossed arms and petulant frown. Mister D only gave him a glance, then raised a third, new hand with a television remote and clicked a button. A brief scene in time appeared, showcasing the pair in past discussion.
Mister D gave an abrupt chortle, his grumpiness falling to amused glee. He grabbed two smaller objects from the end-table – Power Pillar action figures, that he promptly began smashing into each other. The words came in a distracted babble. “You know what I really want? I want to see a real, honest-to-goodness Kaiju monster battle. Like in the movies… all the real, lovely chaos these poor humans have is their movies. Skyscraper creatures going at it in a mountain-sized throw-down. Just once before this world ends. But where would they come from, why would they fight? This poor, gray, boring world… why can’t it have a little fun?”
“You’re acting for the world’s sake?” Discord raised an eyebrow, drawing a dismissive snort.
“No, of course not. Many would die, but I’d love it.”
Mister D pushed another button, and the image vanished. “It’s not my fault that you lost your head for clever hints somewhere in between the tea parties and substitute teaching.”
“This isn’t clever!” Discord yelled. When that failed to get his twin’s attention, he brought low one gloved hand and smacked the bottom of the popcorn tub, showering Mister D with its contents. “This is stupid! If Tirek wins, he’ll drain your power and destroy you along with the rest of the world!”
A long tongue snaked out of Mister D’s mouth, licking a few kernels off his suit. “What are you, some kind of losing to Tirek expert?”
Discord bristled. “Now that you mention it–”
“I don’t actually care,” Mister D said, never turning his gaze from the fight or his mouth from its grin. “I got my Kaiju battle, and now Tirek will rain chaos down upon this complacent, sleepy world. So long as there is chaos, I myself will survive. And who know what fun that reborn Earth shall give? Unless...”
His eyes slunk over to Discord’s. “I wonder, where is your counter-play?”
“Walking the halls of a shiny crystal castle, en route to our meeting.” Discord gave a thin smile. “You are really quite lame, Mister D. Sulking about, bored, needing someone to make your chaos for you. Too much TV these days, chaos gods have no imagination. Why, if you followed my lead and joined a few tea parties, you’d be surprised at how–”
A terrifying black and red beam shot over their heads. A desperate blow as Tirek roared, hoisted from his hooves with one flabby green arm around his neck and the other holding up a hind leg. He looked injured, unlike his adversary, in the one second before the monster slammed him to the ground.
Discord hesitated. “What if the fat gargoyle wins?”
Mister D’s smile did not falter. “Oh, then we are completely doomed.”
But Discord was already gone. Mister D paid him no mind, merely producing a new popcorn bucket and watching as the battle approached its climax.
Words were inadequate. Tirek bellowed his rage, then screamed it. He staggered to his hooves once more, feeling exhaustion and pain. This damned interloper… Tirek fed on destruction, and it would not be destroyed!
Where were the sirens? This would already be over if they were empowering him like they agreed.
Words of frozen hatred whispered into his ear. The wendigos spoke of infighting among their erstwhile allies. Their plan was delayed, possibly aborted. Tirek roared again – to come so close, only to fail now…
The wendigos’ voices did not change. They knew naught but hate, yet something akin to cruel satisfaction emerged as they revealed the final contingency of their gem-froze comrades. The sirens blindly thought the reclaimed powers their own, but such was truly the wendigos’. Months of use had slid hooks in their hosts’ voices and souls, and in every scrap of power the sirens drained for themselves. Needless, so long as the sisters served well.
But of course, they did not. Tirek’s grit-tooth smile gave answer, and the wendigos bowed.
A boot slammed on Adagio’s chest.
Not a knife. A black and spiky boot. Aria’s. Adagio’s breath fled in a rush, and her momentum stopped. Her dagger fell, clattering out of reach.
The boot pressed cruelly into her ribs, reducing Adagio to shallow gasps. Evening light glinted on Aria’s blade as she… scowled?
“If you’re quite. Fucking. Finished.” Aria pushed down even harder.
Still just the boot. Adagio stared up curiously as Aria continued at a growl. “Here’s what will happen. Sonata is going to get up there and keep singing solo. You’re going to stay down, and if you even think about trying anything funny, I will kick your ass from here to Equestria.”
Curiosity turned to shock. Adagio’s eyes went wide for one second before they closed, and she laughed as loud as her compressed lungs would permit.
Another look showed mute confusion from her sisters. Adagio laughed again, and gave a breathless shriek. “You were serious!”
“We always are,” Sonata quipped, though traded an uncertain glance with Aria.
“I thought you were just trying to psych me out,” Adagio explained. Her laughter fell to coughing, and Aria lifted her boot a tiny bit. “When you guys were circling, you asked me to join back in. You were serious!”
“Yeah,” Aria muttered. “So?”
A heavier cough reclaimed Adagio’s breath. “I betray you and you want to make up. You have me at literal knife-point and you don’t ram it home. And… and you didn’t need me to raise Tirek, but you got me anyway! I can’t believe you shits, you actually care about me!”
Sonata gave a light groan. “Please. You’re useful, that’s all.”
“Uh-huh, right. And you all bitched about me having guilt!”
“No guilt, here.” Aria’s gaze went to the side, and a little more pressure eased from Adagio’s chest. “But regret? Yeah, maybe. Things weren’t easy after we left you. All the glamour of modern showbiz is on the outside. Inside it was the same, stupid scramble as before, just without our leader.”
Sonata took an unsteady breath. “We shouldn’t have left you. We’re better together. Aria and I got to talking, maybe we should just take our gems and head to Eq–”
Adagio’s leg swung up – maybe not as fast as her sisters, but not much slower. Her foot connected with Aria’s butt, sending her tumbling over Adagio’s head. The dagger fell, and Adagio snatched it on the first bounce.
Siren’s agility, Aria managed to roll into a crouch. But Adagio was on her the next instant, shoving her to the floor and placing the blade at her neck.
Aria glared upwards, nonplussed. “Bitch.”
Adagio smirked, even as she felt the cold tip of Sonata’s dagger set down on her shoulder. “You have no right to be surprised at this point.”
“Why are you doing this?” Sonata grumbled.
“I’ll let you know once I figure it all out myself,” Adagio said with a breathy chuckle.
Aria gave a groan. “You could’ve slashed my throat and then fought Sonata one-on-one. Who’s the no-kill pussy, now–”
She jerked, and only with quick reflexes did Adagio avoid cutting her neck. Aria gagged, soundlessly screaming as the gem on her throat flared white like a stricken match. She managed a pathetic cough, sending a few drops of spittle onto Adagio’s hand; and even those few drops burned and numbed her with cold.
“Adagio… run!”
Sonata managed two words before she too collapsed, choking and gasping. Cold wind in their midst. Starved, mournful neighs heralded the descent of wendigos, and from them, it was a triumphant sound. From the white of the sirens’ gems, ghostly souls began streaming out and upwards, diminishing smoke-like as they spiraled towards the dueling titans.
“Our powers!” Aria cried in a hoarse, frog-like croak.
The chill around them grew stronger, and a thousand tiny voices whispered their reply. “It was never yours. OUR power. OUR harvest.”
Unseen rope jerked upwards at the sirens’ collars, standing them upright and showing their exodus-spewing gems to the heavens. Their faces locked into silent screams, with eyes rolled back as something moved unnaturally through their throats. Four will-o’-wisp souls bobbed from each mouth, bearing frozen white lines tethered to something within.
“Now we take it ALL.”
Adagio sped, then skid. The floor had turned to ice.
Fine. She crashed deliberately into Aria, and with one flawless stroke slashed the choker from her neck. The lines to her mouth vanished and she collapsed, taking the unbalanced Adagio with her.
Aria coughed, weak but loud. Deep, desperate breaths heaved in and out, and her eyes fluttered between wake and sleep.
Adagio rose, and was slammed downwards by an icy hoof. A black-eyed wendigo loomed. Behind it, the struggles of Sonata’s body grew still as a ghostly copy emerged from her mouth. White cords wound tightly around her wrists, and the ethereal blue face screamed and thrashed uselessly as it was pulled from her body.
Black eyes bore into Adagio as the Wendigo spoke. “Leave.”
Adagio blew an errant curl from her face. She swung, burying her knife in the Wendigo’s neck.
It gave a frosty snort and kicked her again. Adagio managed to jerk her head out of the way, but the iced hoof punched solidly into her shoulder. Bones cracked and pain erupted; Adagio winced, but did not lose grip on the knife.
She pulled, forgoing the slippery ground for a twirl up and around the lodged blade. The wendigo neighed, rearing back, and Adagio turned her twirl into a leap. She impacted Sonata, dragging body and soul downwards.
No more knife. Adagio made to pull the glowing gem, then jerked back with a cry. Cold enough to burn. Even that bare touch raised pained white blisters on her skin.
Adagio sucked in her breath, then grasped the gem once more. Hydra, it hurt. A cold hoof clubbed her, and the world went black.
Yet she remained conscious. She wrapped fingers and palm around the gem and yanked for all she was worth. Fabric stretched, then ripped. Ghostly lines disappeared as the choker came undone.
Another kick, right on her eye. Adagio flew backwards, gem in hand. She heard Sonata fall, gasping, coughing, and breathing.
Adagio feebly tossed her prize away. Cold agony on her palm lingered. Could see again, but only from one eye. The other was swollen shut.
Tears sprang as Adagio pictured herself. She must look so hideous…
Aria’s voice croaked from her side. “Sorry.”
She coughed feebly. Adagio watched, helpless as the wendigos closed in. The hate-wrought fiends couldn’t even be angry with her, and that gave her a last, cruel spark of humor.
In the devouring chill, she felt something warm fall against her back. Purple hair came into sight. Aria had crawled over, and laid against her.
Sonata weakly followed her suit. “We just wanted things to go back to the way they were.”
“They never would,” Adagio said. She smiled vaguely to the nearest wendigo. It floated towards her, staring balefully. Two powerful ice hooves reared back…
Then exploded, along with the head and body.
“Rocket launcher, motherfuckers!”
Sunset’s shrill, adrenaline-fueled scream followed the blow. Barks of shotguns and automatics erupted alongside, scattering and shredding the wendigos. Some dodged upwards to find themselves hounded by Twilight Sparkle, approaching from opposite the gunfire with jet-pack and lightning gun.
Adagio smiled, though it made the pain worse. “And maybe that’s for the best.”
“Gay,” Aria groaned, drawing a feeble laugh from Sonata.
Adagio tried to laugh as well, but found she couldn’t. The noise around her faded, then vanished, and she tumbled down into a warm dark.