“Reports from Baltimare, Manehatten, and Las Pegasus all show similar trends.” stated Shining Armour, in a rapid monotone. His coat had faded to a pale grey that was near indistinguishable from its normal shade; but the difference in his mane was striking, its normal brilliant blue having faded to an anonymous grey. “Three weapon depots, four guardhouses, and a popular coffeeshop have been targeted in Manehatten; two armourers and a guardhouse in Baltimare; and we've lost contact with the Las Pegasus outpost entirely. Fillydelfia has remained largely untouched, but there's been rebel activity in dozens of smaller villages. The individual attacks are largely disorganised and random, but they have widespread popular support and appear to have less trouble with supplies than we do. We also suspect that some of the former Wonderbolts may have thrown in with the rebels. Aside from that, the only constant in the attacks has been the rallying cry.”
Shining Armour paused, for just a moment.
“In every attack, whether the rebels were captured or not, in either written or spoken form, there has been a single cry – 'For The Cutie Mark Crusaders'.”
Tirek, sitting on his (formerly Celestia's) throne, in his (formerly Celestia's) throne room, frowned at his new guard captain. Using Discord's Grey Plague to simply switch the loyalties of the entire Equestrian Royal Guard had been a stroke of genius, but he sometimes privately wondered if some of the guard-stallions had managed to partially shrug off the spell, at least enough to act like total idiots sometimes.
“I don't want excuses.” he snarled. “I want results. These 'cutie mark crusaders' are making me a laughing stock in my own country! What have you done to protect your fellow guardsponies?”
Shining Armour stood smartly at attention. “We have increased protective patrols at all Guard locations,” he said, “and dispatched a squad to Las Pegasus to -”
Tirek roared in anger, slamming his sceptre into the ground, and making the half-dozen ponies (and one dragonequus, and one dragon) tied to his throne jump.
“USELESS!” he roared. “You fool! You treat the symptoms, when you should strike at the source! These 'Crusaders' are a symbol, and while they live you can fight rebels all day and never get to the end! But destroy the symbol and resistance to my rule will crumble and fail!”
Tirek stood up, glaring down at Shining Armour. “BRING ME THE HEADS OF THE CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS!” he yelled.
Behind Tirek, there was a slight squeak.
As Shining Armour saluted and marched off, Tirek turned about to look at the eight beings tied to his throne.
“I heard that.” he said. He snapped his fingers, and the muzzles that had been holding their mouths shut vanished. “One of you knows something. The Royal Guard had never heard of these 'cutie mark crusaders', but at least one of you has, haven't you?”
The eight prisoners clustered together, and stepped back from Tirek's angry gaze. It didn't take them long to back away to the limits of their ropes.
“Yeah? Well why should we tell you anything, you jerkface?” yelled Rainbow Dash, stepping forward
Tirek's horns glowed, as he levitated Rainbow Dash up, in front of his face.
“Oh, indeed.” he said. “That is rather the crux of the matter, is it not? How about this – if you or your friends don't start talking quickly, I'll pull your wings off.”
Rainbow Dash gulped. She shut her eyes, and took a deep breath. “It's...it's not like I can use 'em, anyway...” she murmured.
There was a thump, as Applejack tried, once again, to buck Tirek's leg out from under him. He sighed, lifting her up as well. “I really thought you'd have learned by now.” he said. “Without your Earth Pony magic -” Tirek paused, frowned, and looked down at his hooves again, where the remaining four ponies and one dragon were making a concerted attack on his left hoof. He rolled his eyes, sighed, and levitated all of them into the air. As an afterthought, he picked up Discord as well.
“For the last time,” he said, “I've got the magic of every earth pony and alicorn in Equestria. Without your own magic, it doesn't matter how often you try that – you can't hurt me. Now, would anypony like to start telling me where I can find these Cutie Mark Crusaders, or shall I start pulling the wings off your friend here?”
Rarity was the only one who replied, with a burst of blistering invective that was more or less anger given audible form. Tirek simply raised an eyebrow.
“Well, then.” he said, reaching out his telekinesis for Rainbow's wing.
Rainbow gulped, and shut her eyes.
“WAIT!” yelled Discord. “I can't take it – not my dear friend Shutterfly! I'll talk! I'll talk! I'll tell you all about the Crusaders!”
Rarity's head snapped around and she glared at the dragonequus. “Discord you misbegotten son of a viper! Traitor!” she yelled, then took a deep breath and continued in a similar vein.
Fluttershy curled up and sobbed, just once.
Tirek waved a hand, sending all the ponies and the baby dragon off to one side; and then, for good measure, he threw a silence spell over them. Rarity continued to mouth her angry insults, but they were no longer audible.
“Fascinating.” said Tirek. “As I thought, your new 'friendships' have simply given you a new weakness. Now, talk. Who are the Cutie Mark Crusaders?”
“An elite unit of Celestia's,” said Discord, promptly. “They've found out how to extract the cutie mark from a pony and bottle it, and give the result to another pony. They're based in Manehatten, I'm not sure exactly where.”
“If they work for Celestia,” asked Tirek, “then the Guard would know about them.”
“Top secret.” said Discord. “Quite frankly, the only reason I even know about them was because they were involved in recapturing me the first time I escaped. Outside of the Crusaders themselves, potential recruits, and those they've stopped, very few ponies know a thing about them.”
Off to the side, Rarity had stopped trying to angrily yell insults through the silence spell, and floated rather with her mouth open in shock. Fluttershy had a small, encouraging smile. Twilight nudged Rarity in the side, and frowned at her.
“They're very versatile,” continued Discord, “because they can switch out their cutie marks for whichever ones they need at any given moment. They're selected from the winners of the Equestria Games; those who make the cut usually only find out about the Crusaders when they're asked to join.”
Discord gave a slight chuckle. “You didn't think this group reformed me by themselves, do you? Shutterfly got invited to join after she pulled off a sonic rainboom – they're still going through the process, but she's almost a member now. Or, at least, she was, before you took us all prisoner.”
Tirek frowned, wondering whether to believe what Discord had just told him. He snapped his fingers, removing the silence spell from the ponies behind him.
“I'LL DEFENESTRATE YOU FOR THAT, DISCORD!” yelled Twilight. “I'LL DEFENESTRATE YOU WITH A RUSTY KNIFE, AND IT'LL BE NO LESS THAN YOU DESERVE!”
Discord winced.
But Tirek's mouth turned up in an evil grin. If the ponies were still threatening Discord, then surely that meant he'd been telling the truth...
Why bother mentioning it, then?
Putting parentheses in a story is very distracting. Try formatting the sentence along these lines: "Tirek, sitting on the throne in the castle that had once belonged to Princess Celestia," or similar.
Same as above. If you absolutely need to cram some additional information in, dashes are less intrusive.
Rainbow Dash is a BIT wittier than that. Especially considering what Tirek has done, I think her ire would be stronger, also.
Uh, sure ...
That word does not mean what you think it means. Also, spelt wrong the first time.
4861059
I have a sneaking suspicion that Twilight used a word that makes no sense in the context on purpose, to let Discord know she's playing along with him. Tirek doesn't know that Twilight is a genius and would not misuse a word like that, but Discord does.
4861083
I understand the context of the scene, but it makes Tirek look like an idiot for: a) not picking up on the subtext; and/or b) not doing his research into Twilight Sparkle, the alicorn princess who nearly bested him in combat.
Interesting story. Adding to Lord Tirek.
Tirek, you imbecile. Even if you succeed, you'll fail. You'll just make them into martyrs. They'll inspire more ponies dead than they ever could alive.
I was hesitant about this story at first; bad end stories usually aren't my cup of tea. But this one? This one I like. It promises silliness amidst the despair.
That said, outright saying that Discord lies when he explains the nature of the Crusaders rather ruins the joke. We know he's lying, but Tirek doesn't, and this seems to be largely from his perspective. Using knowledge from outside his awareness undercuts the immersion, which is never a good thing.
Aside from that, I'm definitely looking forward to more. Especially since Tirek appears to want to rule, and thus must singlehandedly deal not only with the Crusaders, but also with every bit of magical logistics in the entire nation. Celestial objects, weather management, agriculture... He has to do all of that, at least to a minimal extent. The repercussions for not doing so are too great to ignore, and delegation would require him to relinquish some of his power.
4861059
Because it's important. It's why Shining is now working for the villain.
Fixed the spelling, thanks. Yes, Twilight is threatening to throw Discord out the window with a rusty knife.
4861102
Or, (c), for not knowing what "defenestrate" means in the first place. He spent a thousand years locked in Tartarus, after all, where there aren't any dictionaries.
4861753
Yes, Tirek's really not being very bright here, is he?
My theory is that, while Tirek understands the villainous mind very well, the heroic mind is a closed book to him; he assumes that, underneath it all, everypony really wants personal power and he really believes that 'friendship' is a trap for the unwary.
You make a good point. Fixed.
4861130
Thank you kindly. I do appreciate having my stories added to appropriate groups.
I like the mind games here. This'll be worth following.
Quick question: I note the lack of a Dark tag, despite an evil-tyrant setting. Is that intentional? It could go either way depending on the tone you take, but from the description alone I was expecting to see one.
Ah yes... the Lord of Chaos is telling lies. Tirek certainly doesn't know who he's up against (times eleven if you count the Crusaders).
Add to that, they already have the last key in their possession and they know it. Now, if they can just get to the Tree of Harmony. As to Tirek being an idiot, well it's to be expected. "With supreme power comes supreme arrogance." (to paraphrase a certain arachnid.)
4863103
Yes.
Mind you, I'm not saying the story won't be dark; it's very hard for me to predict which direction a story will take before I've written it. So there's a good chance that I might change the tags later.
4863442 Also (speaking as an author) since people read the story as you are posting it chapter by chapter instead of all at once, tagging everything you intend to do can make for major spoilers.
Silly Tirek. He left Discord with one of his most powerful weapons: His mouth.
/double entendre.
She'll throw him out a window? How does one do that with a rusty knife?
(P.S.- I know, or at least can accept, that the mistake was on purpose. It's just that I have a very weird imagination, and the instant I heard that, I attempted to come up with ways one could be defenestrated with a rusty knife.)
5670042
Very painfully.
5670042
Clever. Surely Tirek isn't that stupid, though?
8945646
He's won. Why does he need to think? It's not like there's anything anypony can do to stop him now, right?