Alternate ending to “Twilight’s Kingdom”. Tirek banishes Twilight before she can unlock the Harmony Chest, so another pony ends up having to stop Tirek.
Before the mane six can make it to the Harmony Chest and unlock it with Twilight’s newly acquired key, Tirek returns to banish Twilight to Tartarus out of spite.
It has been nearly two months since Tirek has taken over Equestria, but there may still be one pony with the skills and knowledge to stop him. One pony who was trained by the Princess of Friendship herself. And that pony is…
Discord sadly approached the now magically drained Twilight, as her friends quickly surrounded her.
“Tirek tricked me into believing that he could offer me something more valuable than friendship. But there is nothing worth more. I see that now,” Discord said with much regret, before glancing down at the medallion that Tirek had given him.
“He lied when he said that this medallion was given as a sign of gratitude and loyalty. But when I say that it IS a sign of our true friendship,” Discord continued as he then placed the medallion around Twilight’s neck, “I am telling the truth,” he finished somberly.
As a glimmer of light flashed across the medallion, Twilight gasped as her eyes quickly cleared up.
“You think that might be the last one we need?” Applejack asked.
Twilight looked down at her newly acquired medallion.
“We have to get to the chest,” Twilight said with determination as they all quickly headed for the Harmony Chest.
***
Tirek reveled in his newfound power as he continued to blast away at the surrounding landscape. He was truly unstoppable now! No creature could hope to stand against him! He pumped his fists with exhilaration, relishing both his newfound magical and physical strength, only to wince at an unexpected stinging sensation on his right arm.
Glancing down at the arm in confusion, he was surprised to see a large gash going down the length of said arm. It seemed that Princess Twilight had managed to land a decent attack upon him during their brief battle. The damage was quickly healing, but the fact that it hadn’t healed immediately upon his stealing her magic suggested that the wound had to have been particularly severe when she had inflicted it.
Snorting in disgust, he looked away from his arm to see Princess Twilight and her friends fleeing in the distance.
***
Twilight and her friends continued to rush toward the Harmony Chest. They only hoped that there would be something within the chest that could actually help them.
Twilight gasped as she suddenly found herself caught within a magical grasp as she found herself quickly pulled skyward.
“Twilight!” Her friends called out in shock.
Twilight soon found herself floating in front of Tirek’s face as he glared at her. The glare then turning into a smirk.
Hearing something behind her, Twilight turned her head around to find that a magical portal had opened. She then quickly looked back to Tirek in panic.
“Give my regards to your fellow princesses, in Tartarus!”
“No!” Twilight and her friends cried out as Twilight found herself being thrust through the portal.
***
Celestia, Luna, and Cadance looked up as a portal opened in front of them. Though before any thoughts of potential escape, or salvation, could even enter their minds, worry quickly gripped them as Twilight was flung through the portal, crashing into the ground beside them.
“Twilight!” The princesses cried as they quickly approached her to see if she was all right, only to stop abruptly as they stared forlornly at her flank. Her cutie mark was gone!
“Twilight,” Celestia asked with trepidation, “Tirek… did he…?”
“I’m sorry,” Twilight replied softly, “I failed. Tirek… he… he took my magic.”
“Then Tirek, has truly won?” Luna asked nopony in particular.
“It’s really over?” Cadance asked despondently. She thought she had felt despair when she was held captive by Chrysalis, but that now seemed like nothing compared to this.
The others watched as Twilight lifted the medallion that she was wearing up upon her hoof to look down at it ruefully. She felt that she had been so close.
A glimmer of light flashed across the medallion causing Twilight to let out a small gasp as her eyes lit up ever so briefly.
“It’s not over,” Twilight mumbled to herself in mild astonishment.
“Twilight?” Cadance said in concern and confusion.
Twilight looked back up at her fellow princesses with a dawning look of realization.
“It’s not over!” Twilight exclaimed quietly, “My friends, they’re going to think of something!”
“How can you be certain of this?” Luna asked.
“I don’t know,” Twilight replied as she gazed back down at her medallion, “I just know,” she finished quietly.
She then looked back up at the others again with determination alight in her eyes.
“We can’t lose hope! We have to give my friends time.”
Apple Bloom sighed as she looked out upon the orchard. She found it hard to believe how much things had changed since everypony’s magic had been stolen.
The orchard was now littered with tents as far as the eye could see.
Without their magic, the citizens of Cloudsdale quickly found themselves now homeless. Because of this, many of them had since taken up residence within the orchard. It was, in fact, a mutually beneficial arrangement.
Ever since Apple Bloom and her family had lost their earth pony magic, maintaining the farm had proven to be even harder than she had anticipated. She had figured, at worst, that they would have to work twice as hard, but even that expectation had proven not to be enough.
So, in exchange for room and board within the orchard, many of the pegasi were now helping out where they could with the chores and the general upkeep of the farm. But even with the extra help, the farm was still struggling a bit with their resources now even tighter than before.
Pulling a small water wagon behind her, Apple Bloom made her way over to one of the pegasi tending to one of the many trees in the orchard.
“Hey, Soarin. Need some water?” She asked.
“Yeah, thanks. I think we both could use a little,” he replied with some amusement.
Taking the hose from the wagon, he first filled his personal water jug and then began giving the tree a good watering before placing the hose back upon the wagon’s tank.
“Supper should be ready within the hour,” she told him as she prepared to move on to the next pony.
“Thanks. I’ll see you at the barn,” he smiled back with gratitude.
It was yet another reminder to Apple Bloom of just how much things had changed. Sure, their family often had large clusters of relatives visiting off and on, but with so many more mouths to feed now on a regular basis, the barn was now largely doubling as a mess hall.
“See ya,” she smiled back sadly as she began to walk away.
“Hey,” he called out to her, causing her to stop, “Are you okay?” he asked with concern in his eyes.
“Sorry,” she apologized as her ears folded back against her head, “I just never thought it would be so hard without our magic. I mean, Granny Smith always told me just how much our earth pony magic helped us out, but I guess I always figured that she was just exaggerating.”
“And the pegasi and unicorns ain’t doing much better,” she continued. “What if we never get our magic back? What if nopony figures out how to stop Tirek? What if…” she was cut off as she felt a hoof on her shoulder and looked up to find Soarin giving her a reassuring smile.
“I know it’s hard right now,” he began solemnly, “but don’t give up, okay? Somepony will think of something. It may just take a while, so try and stay strong, okay?” He asked with a hopeful smile.
Apple Bloom blinked and then returned his smile, albeit with a somewhat weaker one. “Okay, I’ll try.”
Soarin nodded happily as she began to walk off again.
Soarin’s words had reminded her of one of her days at Twilight Time. Her potion making lessons hadn’t gotten off to a great start and she had found herself becoming quickly discouraged. She was reminded of a particular exchange with Twilight.
***
Apple Bloom looked despondently down at her latest failed attempt at potion making.
“I don’t know Twilight,” she began, “maybe I ain’t cut out for potion making after all. I mean, I ain’t a unicorn, or even a zebra.”
“Apple Bloom,” Twilight said consolingly, “you don’t need to be a unicorn, or a zebra, for potion making. In fact, being an earth pony gives you a bit of an advantage.”
“What? How?” Apple Bloom asked incredulously.
“Because,” Twilight continued while smiling brightly, “earth ponies have a strong magical connection to all things earth related, and a large amount of ingredients in most potions come from the earth.”
Apple Bloom considered what Twilight had said. Though while it sounded reasonable, she still had her doubts.
“But ain’t unicorn magic stronger?” The filly asked.
“Ugh… Speak for yourself,” Sweetie Belle said while rubbing her sore neck. She was still having trouble keeping her neck muscles relaxed while attempting to lift heavier items with her magic.
Having heard the conversation, she and Scootaloo had decided to take a break from their own training difficulties.
“Not necessarily,” Twilight smiled as she continued her explanation. “Pony magic in general is fairly strong, but the strength varies both between the pony tribes, and the individuals within those tribes. Some unicorns could use magic to manipulate the weather, for example, but most pegasi can already use their own magic to do so with much greater ease.”
“And as for individuals, most unicorns can use telekinesis, but far fewer can teleport.”
“Oh, oh!” Scootaloo began, “You mean like how most pegasi can fly, but not every pegasus can do a Sonic Rainboom! Right?”
“Exactly!” Twilight beamed.
The conversation wasn’t exactly filling Apple Bloom with encouragement, however.
“It still don’t sound like earth ponies can do all that much with their magic,” Apple Bloom added glumly.
“Apple Bloom,” Twilight said consolingly, “an earth pony’s magic may not always be as obvious as something like telekinesis, or manipulating the weather, but it’s much stronger than you seem to realize in other areas.”
“For example, even those few pegasi and unicorns that have green hooves rarely manage to grow much more than a small garden. It’s earth ponies that tend to have far greater results when it comes to growing large crops. And earth ponies tend to be far stronger as well. And in both cases, it’s earth pony magic that gives them an advantage in these areas.”
“Yeah, Apple Bloom,” Sweetie Belle began, “remember when you tried to keep your brother from running off by tying him to a small house and he started dragging the house with him?”
Apple Bloom wilted at the reminder of yet another of her potion making attempts. Sure, the potion had worked, but the results weren’t exactly what she had in mind.
“And your sister once used her earth pony strength to stop a carriage bus from going over a cliff,” Twilight continued.
Apple Bloom seemed to consider what the others were saying. She still had her doubts, but maybe they had a point.
“And then there’s Maud,” Twilight mumbled a bit more to herself, though it was still loud enough for the others to hear.
“Who’s Maud?” Scootaloo asked.
“Oh, isn’t she Pinkie’s sister? I think Rarity once mentioned her.”
“Is she really strong?” Scootaloo asked.
“That’s… a bit of an understatement,” Twilight replied as she began to relate an incident that still troubled her greatly given how close she had come to losing one of her friends that day.
“Not very long ago, while her sister was visiting Ponyville, Pinkie got her hoof caught between some rocks as she was climbing a pony-made rock mountain. But before Pinkie could free herself, a large boulder from the top of the mountain came loose and started falling directly toward her.”
The fillies gasped at the tale.
“Wh-what happened?” Sweetie Belle asked fearfully.
Twilight gave the fillies a reassuring smile, and decided to continue the story in a manner not unlike one of her Daring Do novels.
“Maud dashed forward in the blink of an eye, made a huge leap over Pinkie and was headed straight at the boulder that was nearly about to strike her sister.”
Twilight then stopped in order to leave the fillies in a moment suspense.
“A-and,” Apple Bloom finally spoke back up, having remained quiet for much of the conversation.
“And she used her forehooves to pummel the boulder into tiny pieces before it could strike her sister!” Twilight finished brightly.
“No way!” Scootlaoo said awestruck.
“Really?” Sweetie Belle asked in amazement.
“You… you ain’t just making that up?” Apple Bloom asked in mild disbelief.
“Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye,” Twilight replied while making the necessary gestures.
“Awesome!”
“Amazing!”
“Whoa!” Apple Bloom finished, clearly impressed by the tale.
Seeing how caught up the fillies now were in her favorite topic, Twilight then began to briefly expand on the many intricacies of magic. She continued by comparing pony magic to the magic of other creatures, and the various strengths and weaknesses of the magic within each different creature, including ponies.
She was more than happy to see the fillies continue to be gripped by the discussion. And she was especially happy that Apple Bloom seemed to have come around some regarding her own magic within herself. Though it was also clear that Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo had also gained a new appreciation for pony magic.
“Wow,” Scootaloo exclaimed, “pony magic is even cooler than I thought!”
“That’s right,” Twilight agreed, “pony magic is a special kind of magic.”
Twilight then turned back to a now much less pessimistic Apple Bloom.
“So don’t be too quick to give up, okay? Even if you’re having a bit of a rough time. Believe me, I had a few of those when I was a filly,” Twilight finished with an encouraging smile toward the filly.
Apple Bloom quickly returned Twilight’s smile. “Okay!” She replied with far more determination in her voice than earlier.
***
Apple Bloom sighed at the memory as she continued walking through the orchard.
If only Twilight had mentioned centaurs when she had told them about the strengths and weaknesses of various other magical creatures. Then maybe she might have some idea about what weaknesses Tirek’s magic might have.
Apple Bloom abruptly stopped, her eyes going wide as an idea suddenly came to her.
Maybe Tirek did have a weakness!
She contemplated her idea as she recalled Twilight’s lessons on magical weaknesses. And the more that she thought about it, the more it seemed as though her idea wasn’t completely outside the realm of possibility.
Sure, her idea might be a long shot… okay, maybe a BIG long shot, but could it actually work?
What was once the premier destination of the city, once bustling with activity, was now a place that few dared to approach since the kingdom’s new ruler had taken up residence there.
After stealing the last of the pony magic in Equestria, Tirek had retaken a smaller form in order to enable him to fit more comfortably into his newly appropriated castle. Though he made certain that his size still towered over his subjects.
Far fewer guards and servants could be found now at the castle. A number of them had fled the services that they had once taken pride in. Some in trepidation, others in the hopes of forming some type of underground resistance.
Most of those who remained did so in the vain hope of keeping their current ruler appeased in any way that they could in an attempt to keep him contained within the castle walls, and not rampaging through the cities in order to remind his subjects of his power and their proper place.
But keeping their ruler appeased was a monumental effort, and as a result, a decent number of guards and servants now occupied the dungeons for various ‘affronts’ to their ruler over the inadequate quality of their servitude.
Tirek waited at the head of his banquet table for his servants’ latest pitiful attempt at providing him with a satisfying afternoon meal, with numerous serving carts waiting near the other end of the table.
A single guard stood by the room’s entrance for little other reason than to deter any arriving pony from interrupting their ruler’s mealtime.
Tirek watched with a bored look as one of the servant mares wheeled one of the serving carts over toward him.
Just as she was about to remove the cover from the food and reveal the meal to him, something else caught his attention.
At the other end of the table, he spotted a small foal attempting to dash away from the remaining serving carts, and he quickly noticed something hanging from the foal’s mouth as she made an obvious beeline for the room’s exit.
“STOP THAT FOAL!” Tirek shouted to his guard.
The guard quickly, though reluctantly, blocked the foal from vacating the room as the centaur angrily walked over toward the two of them.
As he approached the foal he increased his size even more in order to further intimidate her as she turned to look up at him fearfully.
Looking more closely at the foal now, he could see that she was a small yellow filly with a red mane adorned with a large pink bow. A napkin was dangling from her mouth, which clearly had something wrapped within.
He narrowed his eyes at her. “Drop it!” He ordered.
The filly nervously lowered the napkin to the floor and then slowly backed away from both it and him.
Tirek reached down and picked up the napkin. He opened it to reveal a small cupcake. Clearly the filly had swiped it from the dessert cart.
He glared down at the filly. “You dare try to steal from me?” he angrily asked her.
The filly shrank back as she stammered out a reply.
“I-I just wanted to g-give my sister s-something for her birthday. I-I d-didn’t think you’d m-miss one. I-I’m sorry!” she pleaded.
The guard’s heart was racing as he looked between the centaur and the small filly. He readied himself to move. If Tirek tried to harm the filly, he would move as quickly as he could to push her away and he would likely end up taking whatever damage that was meant for her in the process.
He realized that this could very well be his last day of service, but he assured himself that there were far worse ways to go than by saving a foal’s life.
Tirek glared down at the filly, then looked briefly at the cupcake that was still in his hand. He then smirked down at the filly as he popped the cupcake into his mouth, slowly chewed it, and then swallowed it with satisfaction.
He then menacingly stomped a forehoof, causing cracks to appear in the floor, as he glared down at the filly.
“Get out of my sight now, or I’ll be cleaning you off the bottom of my hoof!” he roared at her.
The filly desperately rushed out the door, leaving the guard to silently thank the sun, the moon, and the stars above that both he and the filly would live to see another day.
The ruler headed back to his meal, feeling especially pleased with himself, and not even bothering to give a thought as to whichever servant he presumed the filly might belong to.
***
Tirek roamed his castle grounds, with a long red royal cape draped across his back that he had taken to occasionally wearing, as he considered how he would spend his time this week.
As much as he reveled in ruling Equestria with an iron fist, he was finding one unexpected and recurring downside to being all-powerful.
Boredom.
While he did still enjoy paying an occasional visit to some random pony city to continue to instill fear in the masses, the truth was that he had weakened his new subjects to such a point that there were times where it felt only slightly more satisfying than lording over a colony of ants.
Most of his subjects had also wised up enough to avoid coming to the castle and making any pleas to their ruler, as such pleas were usually met with him sending such ponies to the dungeon for having the audacity to ask him for anything.
One such pony had pleaded with him to provide rain for the farmers crops as food supplies imported into the city were steadily decreasing. Tirek had made sure to put that pony in a particularly damp dungeon.
If the farmers needed water, they could deal with the problem themselves.
His subjects should be thankful that he was still rising and setting the sun and moon, even if it was for no other reason than that he actually missed the cycle of day and night after being locked away in Tartarus for so long.
As he continued to think on what to occupy himself with this week, he thought back to a large dragon that he had stumbled upon on the outskirts of one of the distant pony towns.
It was a full grown adult dragon, and upon seeing a chance for some possible amusement, he had persuaded the dragon into a battle with just a bit of antagonizing.
The dragon was slightly taken aback when Tirek had grown back to his new gargantuan height, but the dragon quickly dismissed his surprise and earnestly fought the centaur as they wrestled with one another.
There was never any doubt of the outcome in Tirek’s mind. His new magical strength was now so unsurpassed that even a fully grown dragon had far too little of a chance against him. But still, he had enjoyed the brief skirmish greatly.
He especially enjoyed the look of despair on the defeated dragon’s face as Tirek stole the dragon’s magic as his victory prize.
Tirek chuckled to himself at the memory. Without his magically enhanced teeth, that dragon would no longer be snacking on any delicious gems.
He pondered tracking down another dragon for another impromptu wrestling match, finding the idea to his liking.
He was drawn away from his thoughts as he came upon a croquet court upon the castle grounds. He had always found such games to be silly and pointless, but for some strange reason he found himself curiously intrigued by both the game and by his actually considering to try it out.
“I must be even more bored than I thought,” Tirek muttered to himself.
He quickly ordered some nearby guards and groundskeepers to fetch the needed game equipment, informing them that they would be playing a match against him for his amusement.
Though surprised by the orders, the ponies quickly obeyed to appease their ruler.
Tirek easily won the first match.
Too easily.
Concerned that the ponies may have allowed him to win, Tirek made it clear that they best provide him with more of a challenge, and that if he so much as suspected that they weren’t giving their best efforts, that the dungeon would get more crowded come nightfall.
To his subjects’ credit, the ponies quickly upped their game, though it seemed to make little difference as Tirek still managed to win each match, leaving the ponies worried about their ruler’s reaction.
After four straight victories, Tirek smirked in satisfaction over the trouncing he had delivered.
He was surprised at how much pleasure he had derived from the silly game, but it was clear to him that he had a knack for the game.
While basking in his last victory, he casually hit a few balls off in various directions of the castle grounds. The last ball he hit came rolling to a stop by a pony that was trimming some hedges.
Tirek began walking up to the pony as he curiously observed the pony’s activities.
The pony nervously attempted to feign obliviousness to his ruler’s scrutiny as he continued with his work.
Tirek finally narrowed his eyes at the pony. “Give me those!” he order to the pony while gesturing toward the pony’s trimming equipment.
The pony quickly acquiesced, turning over his tools.
Dropping his croquet mallet, Tirek quickly grabbed the trimming equipment and took a moment to study the hedge before him.
After a moment, he quickly set to work upon the hedge, deftly trimming away various parts here and there as a shape quickly began to take form.
Upon finishing his work, Tirek folded his arms and looked at his work with a satisfied smile.
The hedge was now a perfect likeness of his head.
“Much better!” Tirek stated approvingly.
He was broken out of his thoughts, however, when he felt an odd tugging of his tail, causing him to look behind himself.
“Hmm?” Tirek muttered in confusion as he found the croquet mallet gripped within his tail. He could have sworn that he had dropped the thing, but before he could ponder any further on the subject, his tail swung the mallet hitting a nearby ball, which he then found himself involuntarily chasing after.
Once more, the ball came to a stop by yet another hedge, and once more, Tirek found himself quickly trimming the hedge, this time into the likeness of a swan.
The ponies within the castle grounds watched in confusion and disbelief as the scenario continued to repeat itself a number of times.
A flamingo, a dolphin, and a peacock quickly joined the various works of topiary, as their ruler seemed unable to stop himself.
Tirek desperately tried to stop himself, but no matter how hard he willed himself, nothing came of his efforts. He even tried to summon his magic to force his body to stop, but his magic seemed to slip from his grasp each time that he tried to wield it.
“What’s happening to me?” Tirek cried out in panic, as the castle ponies continued to watch the spectacle with dumbfounded looks upon their faces.
“It’s called Cutie Pox,” a nearby voice replied, causing Tirek to turn his head toward the speaker.
“What are Cutie P-?” Tirek broke off as his sight fell upon the pony who spoke.
It was a foal, a young filly sitting on her haunches a short distance away, that had spoken.
The very same foal from earlier that day who had tried to steal the cupcake.
The cupcake that he ATE!
“YOU!” Tirek roared at the foal as he quickly began to surmise his predicament. “You cursed that cupcake that I ate! HOW?”
Tirek was truly curious as to how any pony had managed to curse him, as the curse that he was currently under was obviously quite strong, and as far as he knew, even minor curses were quite difficult for the average creature to inflict upon others. How any pony had managed to find a curse this powerful to inflict upon him surprised him greatly.
“It ain’t really a curse,” the young filly replied, “it’s more an illness.”
“Impossible!” Tirek retorted as his body continued to act on its own accord, “I have more magic than your entire race plus four alicorns combined! I’m far too powerful to fall prey to a mere illness!”
“Maybe,” the young filly began with a shrug as she stood up and began casually walking toward him.
Tirek glared at her as she approached him, but he found himself still unable to control his body. As she drew closer to him, the foal continued.
“But Cutie Pox is a magical illness,” the foal continued, “and it’s one that strongly affects pony magic. And like you just said,” she paused as she grabbed ahold of the royal cape draped across his back within her teeth and gave it a sharp tug.
”You’ve got a heckuva lot of pony magic in you right now,” she finished as the cape was removed from him.
Tirek’s eyes widened in shock as he looked back at his now exposed flanks. There were two of those absurd pony marks now adorning his flanks. One a picture of a croquet mallet, the other a pair of hedge clippers.
Transfixed by the marks, he barely noticed as the foal walked back over to her previous location and sat back down to continue watching him.
Several of the castle ponies began to curiously gather behind the foal that seemed to know what was going on as they too looked at his flanks in shock.
Before he could tear his gaze away from his flanks, he watched in horror as a third mark suddenly appeared. This mark being a picture of a vaguely cylindrical wooden container with a rod sticking out of its top.
The next thing he knew, his magic had summoned such a container as he then found himself involuntarily beginning to churn butter.
He quickly turned his head to glare at the foal.
“Give me the cure now, or both you and your family will suffer greatly!”
The foal just sat there smiling serenely. She briefly closed her eyes and gently shook her head “no” in reply to his demand.
Yet another mark appeared on his flanks as he quickly pulled out a hoop which securely held a piece of taut cloth.
“Alright, alright,” Tirek relented as he quickly began embroidering the words 'Kneel Before Tirek' onto the cloth, “just give me the cure and all will be forgiven.”
“Nnnnnoooope,” the foal replied as she continued smiling.
Several more ponies from the castle grounds continued to gather behind the foal to watch the spectacle, as yet even more ponies started filing out of the castle to see what all the commotion was about.
It wasn’t long before even some of the servants foals had joined the crowd to watch the spectacle.
More than a few spectators even began to laugh and giggle somewhat as they watched the tyrant that they had served these past weeks run about haphazardly with no apparent control over his actions.
Tirek was truly starting to panic now. Threats and offers of clemency, no matter how unlikely he was to abide by the latter, we’re getting him nowhere. He had to think of something else.
Once more, he found himself distracted yet again as another mark appeared.
The crowd of ponies watched as a grass skirt appeared around Tirek’s flanks and a lei appeared draped around his neck.
The foals within the crowd began giggling uncontrollably while their mothers quickly tried to shield their foals’ eyes as Tirek began to rapidly shake his grass skirt with his flanks while swaying his arms back and forth.
Several of the adult ponies couldn’t help themselves from joining in the laughter of the foals.
Tirek glared angrily at his subjects' merriment at his predicament, before he shifted his gaze back upon the foal that had done this to him.
She still just sat there quietly, watching with a simple content smile upon her face.
Yet as angry as he was with her, he still needed to figure out how to persuade her into giving him the cure.
Finally, he thought of something, and was a bit annoyed with himself for not thinking of it sooner.
Bribery!
“If you give me the cure,” he began, “I’ll give you your own city to rule over!”
The laughter within the crowd quickly ceased as they heard the offer the centaur was making to the filly.
“Every pony in your city will have to do as you say. Serve your every whim, day and night. I’ll… I’ll make you a Duchess!” he finished with a tiny bit of desperation creeping into his voice despite himself.
Tirek and the crowd anxiously watched the filly. She turned her head upward as she put a hoof to her chin in thought.
“Hmm…” the filly muttered.
After a moment she looked back down at Tirek with a smile.
“Naaaaah!” she exclaimed while dismissively waving a hoof in his direction.
More than a few ponies, some guards in particular, let out a sigh of relief as others began chuckling at the filly’s ruse.
Tirek looked in surprise at the filly who had declined his offer, as he truly began to grasp the severity of his situation.
She wasn’t going to give him the cure! And worse, he was beginning to feel the onset of exhaustion, despite the fact that his body wasn’t slowing down in the slightest. If anything, the symptoms were getting worse!
He glanced back at the filly.
She was still just sitting there. Smiling.
She was going to just sit there and watch until he finally collapsed from exhaustion! And that was assuming the blasted curse even allowed him to collapse!
That last thought caused him to recall what the filly had told him.
“It ain’t really a curse, it’s more an illness.”
“Cutie Pox is a magical illness, and it’s one that strongly affects pony magic.”
“You’ve got a heckuva lot of pony magic in you right now.”
Of course! The illness was affecting the pony magic that he had stolen, which meant that to beat the illness he needed to… release his stolen pony magic.
A frown of disgust formed upon his face at the thought of giving up the magic that he had stolen. Though maybe he didn’t need to get rid of all of his stolen pony magic. Maybe if he only got rid of a portion of it the symptoms might lessen enough to give him back some control over his body, then he could force the filly to give him the cure.
Besides, he could always steal the magic back later. He could just try giving back a few ponies magic at a time until he regained enough control of himself.
Still, despite his desperate situation, the thought of giving back his stolen magic still sickened him.
Once more, another mark appeared on his flank.
Tirek found himself placing a green hat with a red feather upon his head. He then brought his hand up to the side of his mouth while taking a deep breath before bellowing:
“Yodel-Lay-Yodel-Lay-Yodel-Lay-Hee-Hoo!
“Yodel-Lay-Yodel-Lay-Yodel-Lay-Hee-Hoo!”
“Yodel-Lay-Yodel-Lay-Yodel-Lay-Hee-Hoo!”
The nearby crowd laughed uproariously.
Tirek again glared at the crowd before again turning his gaze upon the foal who was still sitting quietly with her insufferable smile.
Oh, was he going to make her pay for this! Maybe he’d even figure out a way to give her this wretched illness.
Actually, he rather liked that idea. And the foal did say that the illness affected pony magic. Maybe there was a chance that if he restored her magic she could catch the illness.
He didn’t know just how likely that outcome was, in fact, he was a bit skeptical of the idea, but it would certainly be worth trying if it ended up working. In fact, if he did manage to infect her it could end up providing incentive for her to reveal the cure.
Finally relenting in his decision, Tirek turned his head toward the foal and tried to release some of his stolen pony magic, only for his body to continue jerking him in numerous directions and breaking his concentration.
He tried yet again, only to find himself still unable to grasp his magic.
“No!” he mentally scolded himself, “Don’t try to grasp your magic, just release it!”
He managed to look back at the foal, and he found his gaze falling back upon her ever present smile. The longer he looked at that smile, the angrier he became, and he again found himself unable to focus on releasing his magic.
“Focus!“ he mentally screamed at himself, “Release! RELEASE!”
Finally he managed to release his magic at the foal, but his eyes widened in horror as he felt his slim control over the release immediately slip away.
The crowd of ponies cried out in fear as a monumental blast of energy escaped from Tirek’s mouth and headed straight for them, causing them to all quickly clamber out of the way of the incoming blast.
The smile fell from Tirek’s true target, and her eyes widened as the intimidating looking blast headed straight for her.
Having no time to dodge the formidable looking blast, the young filly instinctively closed her eyes and raised her foreleg in front of her face in a meager attempt to shield herself.
The blast reached her quickly, but to her surprise, the frightening looking blast didn’t seem to hurt at all. She felt no physical impact, or burning sensation from the blast. In fact, it felt almost… welcoming.
It felt like a blast of warm air from a hearth washing over her after coming inside from a deep cold winter night. It soothed her weary body, and began to fill her with strength again as the blast continued to wash over her.
Finally, the blast ended. And she found herself feeling better than she had in weeks.
She slowly lowered her foreleg and cracked open one of her eyes to peek at what was awaiting her.
There, a short distance away from her, a strange form was lying sprawled out upon the ground.
The form wasn’t moving, and she didn’t quite know what to make of it.
She slowly walked up to the form on the ground and looked down upon it as she began to take in its features.
Her eyes widened as she finally recognized the strange form for what it was. It was a centaur! It was… Tirek?
She had heard various rumors about Tirek, one of which being that Tirek was far smaller without all of the magic that he had stolen, but she had never expected him to look quite so small, or so frail, without his stolen magic.
A weak groan escaped the centaur as she watched it strain to open its eyes and barely find the strength to lift its head and look up at her in confusion.
He looked delirious to her.
“Who are…?” he began to ask her, only to stop himself as a look of recognition came over his face. The look then slowly changed to one of disbelief and bewilderment.
“Who ARE you?” he finally asked her incredulously.
She found herself taken aback by the manner in which he had asked the question. He clearly seemed to recognize her after somewhat shaking off his disorientation, and she didn’t think that he was simply asking for her name either. It was like he was expecting an answer that was somehow grander.
She really wasn’t sure how to answer him just then. She wasn’t a princess, a guard, a spy, or even a mage. Well, she supposed she was an alchemist in training, but even that was being a bit generous in her opinion.
She found herself thinking over everything that had led her up to this point, with Zecora, Twilight, and Twilight Time seeming to encompass much of her thoughts.
She then found herself thinking back to an entry that she and her friends had made in the friendship journal, and something they had said in that entry. It was such a simple statement, and while she doubted it was the answer that he was looking for, for some reason the answer just felt right to her.
“I’m…” she began answering quietly, “I’m a friend of Twilight’s.”
The centaur just looked at her quizzically as what little strength he had remaining finally left him and he collapsed back onto the ground falling unconscious.
She looked down at him sadly. Despite everything he had done, and all of the trouble and pain that he had caused, he looked so frail and withered right now that a small part of her couldn’t help but feel sorry for him.
“Apple Bloom?” A familiar voice called out, causing her to turn around. She smiled brightly as her eyes fell upon the speaker.
“Applejack!” She cried joyously as she quickly headed over to her sister.
She didn’t know how her sister had tracked her down so quickly, but despite knowing that she would get an earful from her sister for sneaking off, she couldn’t remember the last time she had been this happy to see her.
“Applejack, I did it!” she cried happily as she rushed over to her sister, “I got Tirek to give back every… pony’s…?” she broke off in confusion as she drew closer and found herself actually looking down at her sister.
“Applejack?” Apple Bloom said in confusion. After a moment, a thought suddenly came to her, “Did… did you run through some Poison Joke again?”
The orange mare simply blinked for a moment as she took in her sister’s question. She then lowered her head with a sigh.
“Sugar cube,” Applejack began, “I ain’t the one that’s changed.”
“Umm… what?” Apple Bloom asked in confusion.
Sighing yet again, Applejack turned to the crowd of ponies still gathered nearby.
“Anypony got a mirror?” Applejack asked the crowd.
Apple Bloom suddenly had a sinking feeling as she finally noticed that Applejack wasn’t the only pony that she was looking down on. Now that they were brought back to her attention, she noticed that ALL of the ponies in the crowd also looked smaller to her. In fact, she seemed to be towering over them.
One of the castle maids brought a mirror over to the two sisters, and at Applejack’s direction held it so that Apple Bloom could see herself.
Apple Bloom’s eyes widened as she saw her reflection. Instead of finding a filly’s reflection in the mirror, all she could see was the reflection of a mare. A mare with a horn!
She then gulped as she seemed to glimpse something else in the mirror and then turned her head to look at her sides which she found were now adorned with a pair of wings.
