//------------------------------// // 254. The Kingdom of Friendship - Part 3 // Story: Blaze the Pony Tale // by Wolven5 //------------------------------// "Give up our magic?!" Midnight was aghast, for it seemed Celestia was just full of insane ideas lately. "You can't be serious!!" "Tirek will undoubtedly come for us once he's done stealing magic from all the other ponies," Luna spoke up, "and with Eris's help it won't be long until he has enough to overpower us." "When he comes for us, we cannot have what he seeks," Sombra agreed. Twilight quickly jumped on board, "I am more than willing to do my part in giving up my-" "What you're suggesting still doesn't make sense," Midnight interrupted, "because even if we do give up our magic, it has to go somewhere! All the alicorn magic in Equestria?! It's not just something that can disappear into thin air." "Which is why somepony must keep the magic safe," Shining Armor answered and Cadance stepped forward. "And that somepony is the both of you, Twilight and Midnight." "Why us?!" Twilight felt the familiar pressure of the weight on her shoulders, while Midnight stood at attention. "Since the two of you are the newest prince and princess in Equestria, we are all but certain Tirek is unaware of your existences," Celestia explained, "If we transfer our magic to the two of you, he will not know where it has gone." "Do you understand what we are asking of you?" asked Cadance. "I would never agree with a plan like this if there wasn't an alternative," Shining Armor sighed as he stepped forward and gave his little sister a hug and then looked her warmly in the eye. "But the situation is dire, and sometimes so are the options." "I understand, it's just... I'm just getting started on learning to control my own alicorn magic!" Twilight fretted as she flexed the wings she wasn't born with. "To take on more..." "Twilight, you represent the Element of Magic," Cadance reminded her before she looked to Midnight, "and you embody Faith, Midnight! If there is anypony who can handle this task, it is you two." Seeing the other alciorns nod in agreement, Twilight and Midnight shared a look, and both nodded. "This task may very well be the hardest I've ever had to undertake..." "...but we'll get through it together!" "And our friends will surely be there to-" "I'm sorry, Princess Twilight," Celestia interrupted, "but you must keep your task and the power you and Midnight are about to take on a secret. If your friends are made aware of the situation I fear it could place them all at great risk." Midnight gave Celestia a razor-sharp glare, and for a few moments he said nothing until he amended, "For now. But if it comes down to it, we will ask them for aid." "This is the role we are meant to play as monarchs of Equestria," Twilight agreed, "but it's our friends that have helped us at every turn. Even so, we will do our very best." "Very well. then let's begin. Alicorns, take your places," Celestia instructed, and Sombra and Shining Armor stepped up to stand at Celestia's right while Luna and Cadance stood at her left. Al ost immediately did the air grow heavy as each of the alicorns sans Twilight and Midnight light up their horns and concentrated the full of their powers to the tips, holding it to be sure all of it reached that point... until they let it go! Five beams of power ignited and rose up, colliding into a blazing star of pure magical power! Twilight watched in awe as it grew bigger and bigger until it resembled the sun itself. "Twilight..." She looked to her left and saw Midnight, looking hesitant before furrowing his brows, "Prepare yourself..." She nodded and they stepped forward, ready to accept this burden, and then focused their horns as the magic poured down like a cascade as vast and unstoppable as Neighagra Falls! In the streets of Canterlot, Eris ignored the ponies' pleas for mercy as Tirek stole their magic away. Ever since she'd begun helping him rustle up these whiny equines, she'd taken quite a pleasure in watching ponies rendered powerless. But it soon became apparent that all this stolen magic was agreeing with Tirek, to Eris's liking as all this power made itself known the way it filled him out- "Whoa-oh-ooh!" All of a sudden, Eris felt a disturbance in mystical force, muttering, "That was strange..." "What was strange?" Tirek growled, his horns growing longer and more demonic. "Oh! Uh- Nothing, carry on," Eris waved it off, and Tirek set his sights on Canterlot Castle. The de-powered alicorns groaned as they stood up from the floor, and all gasped to see Twilight and Midnight! The two young alicorns gave off a heavenly radiance, floating a hoof or two off the floor, their manes waving out as though they were underwater and giving off phantasmic shimmers... before Midnight seemed to regain his wits and rein in the power he'd been given. He looked to Twilight, and worried as she seemed too dazed to come out of this sudden supernatural high! "Twilight!" He reared up and gently placed his hooves on her cheeks, "Focus!" The others worried as power crackled around Twilight but it appeared Midnight reached her as she closed her eyes, the power dimming, and her mind cleared as she settled back onto the floor. Midnight gave her a nuzzle, which she warmly returned when she noticed Celestia's flank was blank! Her heart all but breaking, she hurried over to give her mentor a hug, as the other alicorns sadly glanced at their own blanked flanks. "It is done..." Celestia stated, and Midnight came over too, the both of them sharing a look before they hugged as well. "We won't let you down." "I know you won't." Teleporting back to Ponyville turned out to be even easier than regular teleporting, and Midnight and Twilight found themselves in front of the Library. Twilight sighed, a crackle of power around her horn, and a nearby lamppost began to float away, that Midnight quickly set it back into place, and looked Twilight in the eye, "Twily, focus! We now have al the alicorn magic in Equestria! Our very emotions could yield magical effects without us even intending it." "Oh, all this power and it feels like-like... trying to interact with a world made of glass!" Twilight worried but kept her head on straight. "One false move and-" "I know, and that's why you must keep yourself calm and focused at all times," instructed Midnight in a calm and clear voice. When he noticed the clock tower, he flinched! "Uh-oh! The sun is supposed to be up, it's already six in the morning!" "But shouldn't the Sisters have...!" Twilight facehooved, remembering what had happened yesterday. "I'll take care of this, but we should do this inside so nopony catches on," Midnight opened the door and gestured Twilight in. They carefully took the stairs up to Twilight's room and found Spike snoring away in his basket. Despite their tip-hooving... "You guys weren't gone very long. Does... that mean everything's okay?" "Yup! Everything's fine!" Twilight nervously fibbed, her emotion crackling out and causing a book or two to fly out of a shelf. Midnight gave her a look and a gesture of his hoof that easily said 'calm down'. "In that case, I'm going back to bed..." Spike replied with a sleepy voice as he snuggled back in, "Sun's not up ...and neither am I." "Shhh," Midnight held a feather to his hoof and gestured toward the window where they could see the moon shining its gentle guiding glow. "Can I help?" Midnight looked at Twilight and saw a giddy glimmer in her eyes, "I've always wondered what it would be like to move the sun or moon!" Sighing but giving her a light chuckle, "OK, I'l lower the moon, you raise the sun, but remember. Keep calm and keep focused..." "Right!" Twilight saluted with her wing, and she watched as Midnight took a deep breath... His mane flowed ever so gently in a phantom breeze and gave off a distant glow, and Twilight watched as Midnight's turquoise aura enveloped the moon and let the moon down nice and easy. This however left all of Equestria in virtual darkness, only a few stars giving any light at all, and he gestured to Twilight that it was her turn. She stepped up before looking at Midnight, "You've done this before, haven't you?" "It's how I earned my cutie-mark, remember?" chuckled Midnight. "Truth be told, lowering the moon is much easier than raising it. Now, deep breath..." Twilight inhaled. "Let it out slowly..." Twilight exhaled, some of her stress going with it. "Envision the sun, how bright it is, how warm..." Twilight did so, imagining the sun, letting it fill her mind to where she could almost feel its touch, and her horn began to glow with power and her own mane flowed while taking on the cosmic radiance of stars. "Now bid it rise!" Twilight willed it, and the sun whipped up at her bidding so quickly it surprised her and she lost concentration that the connection broke. The sun however had not completely risen and almost fell, that Midnight quickly stepped in and caught it in his magic before it vanished over the horizon, and shakily set it up where it belonged. they both phew'd and Twilight gave her beau an apologetic look, but he smiled at her. "Not bad for your first try." Meanwhile, back in Canterlot, Shining Armor and couple unicorn guards had noticed the sudden and odd movements of the rising sun. Even without magic, Shining Armor was able-bodied enough to do his duty, and wore his old Captain of the Royal Guard uniform as he led a patrol. He was no longer the captain of the Royal Guard but was allowed to keep it as an honorary title whenever he was in Canterlot. However, the sun made for a distraction as the guards behind him suddenly floated upwards like bubbles, and- *FLASH* Shining Armor gaped to see Eris beside him, wearing his helmet, "Shining Armor, honey, what's a princey like you doing in a place like this?" Shining Armor angrily pushed Eris off and flared his wings, "Keep your claws off me, traitor!" "The only one Eris betrayed was herself!!" interrupted a harsh and brutal voice and Shining Armor looked on in horror to see who could only be Tirek as the monster stole his guards' magic! "Abandoning his true nature to make 'friends' with weak-minded equines who could offer him nothing!" "And nothing is what you'll get from me, Tirek!" Shining Armor faced the demon centaur bravely, even knowing he stood no chance. "We shall see...!" Tirek sneered as he grabbed Shining Armor by the muzzle and inhaled with a monstrous thirst for magic!!! ... ... ... No magic? "Wha- What's going on?!" Tirek took his hand from Shining's muzzle to his throat and lifted him up off of his hooves, "Where is your magic?! TELL ME!!!!" "Somewhere you'll never get it!" Shining Armor struggled pathetically in the centaur's grip "RRRRAAAUUUUGGGHHH!!!!!!" Tirek roared as he swung around and gave a mighty heave of a swing! Eris looked on in horror as Shining Armor was sent hurtling through the sky. Did she get that right?! Shining Armor didn't have his magic? If so then he wouldn't be able to...! "Come Erissss....!!!" Tirek snarled angrily, "Celestia and I are due for a word..." Tirek began to stalk away and Eris, seeing Shining Armor was falling to his doom...! *snap* "ERIS!! Hurry along, it is time for us to take our revenge on these pitiful creatures." Eris hesitated but followed after, her conscience alleviated by a conveniently giant gelatin that suddenly had Shining Armor filling. The doors to the throne room were thrown open with such force they were torn from their hinges as in stomped Tirek, roaring, "CELESTIAAA!!!" The four remaining alicorns looked on defiantly at Tirek as he approached, "I have waited centuries for this moment! Ah, and is that Sombra with you? Another force of power laid lo." "Love is a greater power than you will ever be, demon..." Sombra glared Tirek in the eye. "What's wrong, Tirek? You don't seem to be in a particularly conquering mood," Luna goaded. "A mood I can assure you is about to improve, moon princess!" Tirek willed Celestia forward and inhaled to drink her magic... only to gain nothing. Again! "...what?!" He tried again, with each of the other alicorns in turn, and recieved bupkus from all of them. his horns lit ablaze with his fury as he roared, "WHERE. IS. YOUR. MAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGIIIIIICCCC!?!?!?!!? The door to the library opened and out walked Midnight, who then gestured Twilight to follow, "Baby-steps... baby-steps!" "I get it...!" Twilight irritated but kept it together, "I have to practice to get better control, but I can't do it here." "The gorge around the Castle of the Two Sisters will work," agreed Midnight, "but at the very least we should tell everypony something about what's going on." "Maybe if we see them on the way, c'mon!" Twilight hurried past Midnight, who flinched with worry as he ran to catch up. "Twilight?! Midnight? Where are we going?!" They looked to see Spike was tagging along, and both shared an uncomfortable look, "Oh, uh- Hi Spike..." "We gotta go... somewhere else!" Midnight answered lamely, and Twilight spread her wings to take flight... *FWAM* And what a takeoff! "TWILIGHT!!!" Midnight took off after her, the force of both takeoffs knocking Spike off his feet and throwing him for a loop. "Whoa-OOOAAAAA!!!!" Twilight hollered as she struggled to straighten herself out, flying so fast she left a sparkling trail of dark purple-blue and magenta, Midnight flying after her equally as fast, leaving a trail of smoking black and blazing blue with cindering embers. At that moment, Rainbow and Soarin and Thunderlane were keeping lookout- "*FA-WHOOOSSSSHH/WHOOOOOOOSSSSHH... FWOOOOOMMM* "WHOAOAOAO!!!" they all yelped, after blurs sped them by and a short vacuum wave of air sent them spinning in the wake of the two sudden passersby. Straightening themselves out, Thunderlane flabbergasted, "Who the hell was that?!" "i think that was..." Soarin and Rainbow shared a look and both thought the same. "Twilight and Midnight?" Rainbow was first to investigate, Soarin and Thunderlane quickly after, and on the ground, the rest of their friends all nodded and followed, and saw where Twilight came down for a less-than-graceful landing, Midnight landing beside her, asking, "Are you alright?!" "I'm fine! Nopony panic, heh-heh!" Twilight announced nervously as she noticed their friends converge on the scene. "By the Goddess, Twilight! I wager my horn that you could have given Stormbreaker Himself a challenge!" Blueblood gave voice to everypony's thought. "Jumpin' june bugs, Twilight, where'd you an' Midnight learn to fly like that!?" astonished Applejack. "I must've... caught a particularly strong breeze," fibbed a nervous Twilight as though by reflex she suddenly Flashed behind the others, all of them turning to look at her as she gave a nervous chuckle. "Or something," Midnight said lamely. "Must've been 'or something'," Rainbow Dash spoke up. "Yeah, because there wasn't no breeze in the air," Thunderlane added. "Guys, as much as we'd like to explain, Twilight and i have to look into some research," Midnight got everypony's attention, thankfully diverting it from Twilight as she gave a jolt of power itching to get out. "Tirek remains at large and we need you all here to watch over Ponyville." "Get the word around that until the threat is over, that everypony should remain indoors," Twilight added. "In the meantime, Midnight and I are going to look into something over at the Castle of the Two Sisters. Be safe, everypony." Deciding a quick teleport would be less problematic, Midnight placed his wing over Twilgiht and they were gone in a flash, leaving their friends shared uncomfortable looks. "Getting rid of your own magic to insure I could not steal it?!" Tirek sat upon Celestia's throne while Celestia, Luna, Cadance, and Sombra were sitting before him, Eris to the side as she took in the show. "You must have been utterly desperate to resort to such cowardice!" Sneeing at their looks of defiance, Tirek stood up to gloat as his horns seared with power, "How does it feel... knowing that before long, every pegasus, unicorn, and earth pony" he conjured burning red spheres with outlines of the three mentioned ponies - "will soon be submit to my will, and that there is NOTHING" - he crushed all three spheres between his hands in a violent clap - "that you can do to stop me?!" "In the end... you will never prevail," Celestia narrowed her eyes at the monster. He was every bit the power-hungry despot he was over a thousand years ago. "Give my regards..." Tirek snarled as he opened a rectangular portal of blistering energy, "to CERBERUS!!" And by his mental command were Celestia, Luna, Cadance, and Sombra sent to Tartarus, the looks on their faces Tirek made a mental note of to relish for as long as he would remember. Sneering with satisfaction, Tirek crossed his arms when- "You meant, our will, did you not...?" He looked to see Eris twirling her finger around at one of the stained glass windows that presented her old self as Discord tugging at puppet strings conencted to the three ponies beneath them, as she raised her brow at the centaur. "Oh but of course, my dear Eris," Tirek gave a gentlecoltly bow before he removed the triangular golden medallion hanging around his neck, "and as a token of my gratitude and loyalty to you, I present you with this!" "Ooh...!" Eris gave it a closer look as Tirek explained: "This was given to me long ago by someone I cared deeply about, and I must say, my dear Mistress of Chaos..." Tirek fastened the cord around Eris's neck, "It suits you well, a sparkle to complement a ray of shining creativity." "Oh my...!" Eris marveled at the medallion. It was radiant and had an archaic design but nonetheless beautiful. "You... think I'm creative?" "Why just look at your work," Tirek swept his arm at the stained glass windows, each displaying a few... changes Eris had made. "Such artistic expression! Alas, a quality frowned upon in this pathetic society that so values peace and quiet... "Now come! We have so much to do, and with the alicorns out of the way, we have all the power in the- !!!" Tirek noticed one of the windows, this one displaying two alicorns he'd never seen before, a lavender mare and a sapphire stallion. "Is this meant to be HUMOROUS?!?!" "Oh-ho, no! I haven't redecorated that window yet," Eris chuckled while admirign her new accessory. "There are two more alicorns and you did not see fit to inform me?!" Tirek was irked. "Oh Tirek, baby!" Eris floated over, runner her talon down that big strong chest, "Can you blame a girl for wanting a little assurance in this relationship of ours? Well, this little gesture on your part" - she held up the medallion - "was just what I needed." "Well then where can we find these two alicorn whelps?" Tirek all but demanded, resisting the urge to take Eris by the throat, "Where is their castle?!" "Castle?! Oh-ho-ho gracious, no!" Eris wiped away a tear of amusement, "Princess Twilight lives above a library in Ponyville, and Prince Midnight on a farm of all things!!" Growling with anticipation of this new chance to claim alicorn magic, Tirek sneered, "Not for long..." As he stomped off, the window depicting Twilight and Midnight melted away by Tirek's fury. Back in Ponyville, after the friends had gone around warning everypony, the streets were eerily empty, doors barred and shutters shut, even a tumbleweed a'blowin through, as Blueblood declared, "Well, fillies and gentlecolts, it appears our work is done. Everypony has been warned and are safely hidden away in their homes." "Well, i'm sure Eris will catch Tirek and this will all be over soon," Fluttershy had full confidence in her friend. "I'll bet she takes her sweet time..." Rainbow Dash was less than convinced. "Well, perhaps these things just take time, colors!" Everypony looked down the street to see Eris, her arms held out as she gave a warm look to Fluttershy. The yellow pegasus flew over to give Eris a hug, "You're back! And just in time for tea." "i have the hors d'ouvres ready!" Eris conjured a platter of vittles... only to deliberatly spill them at Fluttershy's hooves, much to her confusion. "I imagine they'll be your last decent meal for quite some time..." She snapped her talons, a cage appearing to contain the friends and even little Spike! "What is the meaning of this?!" What's going on?!" Let us out!!" "You backstabbing snake!" "Eris, what're you doin'?!" "And voila!" Eris zoomed around the cage, everypony following her and gasping to see who could only be Tirek stomping over, glaring down cruelly at them. "Is this all of them?" "I got them, my pretty, and her little dragon too!" Eris mocked, avoiding Spike's mouth when he tried to bite her finger. "Why are you doing this?!" Fluttershy teared up as Big Mac held her comfortingly in his forelegs, "I thought we were friends...!" "'Were' being the operative word," Eris huffed, "but Tirek offered me so much more than" - she scoffed with derision - "tea parties! You really didn't see this coming?" "I didn't! I really didn't...!" Fluttershy sobbed into her husband's chest, Big Mac glaring reproachfully at Eris. Tirek sneered as he willed the cage to rise up in his searing magic, everypony crying out in pain at the burning of the metal, as Tirek inhaled, breathing away their magic. For some reason however, Eris... looked the other way, and flinched at the heavy crash of the dropped cage, and watched as Tirek burned with more power and grew, his arms swelling with muscles so vast they broke the metal manacles he'd long carried from his time in Tartarus. Sighing from the surge of power he looked to Eris. "You are certain they will come?" "If magic is what Midnight and Twilight have, it will soon be yours, now that you have their friends," Eris assured in a slimy manner as she peered smarmily into the cage at the depowered ponies, "and before long there won't be a single earth pony, unicorn, or pegasus to stand agaisnt us." "What do you mean 'us'?" Eris turned to look at Tirek who sneered as his horns lit up with his demonic aura, willing her up to his face. "B-but- You said-" Eris tried to say. "You helped me grow strong, provided me the means to claim the magic of Twilight and Midnight," Tirek sneered before he spoke with a voice cruel and unfeeling, "so I have no need of you any longer..." Tirek opened his maw again and Eris couldn't even writhe in pain as she felt her magic ripped away from her! Once it was all gone, Tirek swelled up higher than the Ponyville Clock Tower and dropped Eris like a broken toy he'd grown bored with as he stomped off for his next meal... "Wha... but... you said..." Eris held up the medallion, struggling just to prop herself up on her arms, her voice weak and pitiful. "You said this was... a token! of your gratitude and loyalty... a gift from someone close to you!" "My brother who betrayed me," Tirek answered in his thundering voice without even looking back, "it is as worthless as he was..." And as Tirek stomped off, Eris felt an awful pain in her chest as she stifled a sob and... were these... tears? She'd never cried before, not out of pain, like this! "Surely you saw this coming..." commented Soarin from the cage behind her, Eris glancing back. "I didn't...! I-I thought he...!" Eris began to cry. Somewhere just beyond the Castle of the Two Sisters, Midnight and Twilight sat in front of each other while holding hooves, as they began a mana-channeling meditation at Midnight's suggestion. It was rather similar to the kind of meditation Twilight once learned from Zecora, as giant boulders enveloped in their mana slowly orbited around them. "Clear your mind... forget what you think, discard your doubts... reach out, and feel the energies that surround us day and night, every animal, every plant, feel the energies that move them, gives them life... Now look deeper... It is not only the animals and plants that thrive with power. Yes... you feel it, don't you...?" Twilight shuddered as her awareness extended and brushed with every bird, every tree, every beast, every flower, even the flows of the distant rivers and streams, but it was what lay underneath all that... Some inner instinct cried out, warned her to proceed no further, but curiosity was so often the easiest motivation. But as she ever so carefully dared to reach further...! "PRINCESS TWILIGHT!!!!" "Eep!" Twilight snapped out of it, the meditation disrupting as she did and several of the boulders she and Midnight had been levitating lost the mana that had suspended them, creating several dozen might thuds and crashes all around them. "PRINCE MIDNIGHT! The two of you have something that belongs to me!!!" Standing up, the two alicorns looked out and saw the demon centaur Tirek, standing on the cliff on the other side of the gorge, a ball of fire blistering between his horns before it launched straight for them in a beam of fiery death! "Take to the sky!" Midnight yelled, and they both zoomed up in different directions before converging down and forward towards Tirek. The centaur held out both palms, concentrating his wicked mana to both before unleashing twin beams of energy, which they quickly dodged, only for the beams to bend and follow! "Evasive action!!" Midnight yelled to Twilight, and the two of them flew to and fro, swerving and diving, making sharp turns, nothing worked! The beams followed with unrelenting accuracy, always at least a tail-length behind them. Midnight found it challenging but kept his cool but he knew Twilight must be feeling pressured as she'd never flown like this before, so her desperation to live must have been the only thing keeping her ahead of the beam behind her. ordinarily, she would have conjured a shield spell or teleported, but if she paused for even a second to focus, the beam would get her. Taking a sharp turn, Midnight noticed Tirek, his eyes furrowed with concentration and he realized, He's open! He flew after Twilight, managing to catch up to her and he shouted, "AFTER I MAKE MY MOVE, FLY STRAIGHT FOR TIREK!!!" "ARE YOU CRAZY?!?!" Twilight yelled but flapped harder as she was certain she'd felt the tips of her tail hairs singe. "JUST TRUST ME!!" "OHHH!!!" Twilight started making left turns to keep Midnight and Tirek in her line of sight, as she watched him fly straight for the monster. Tirek had been focusing on his energy beams to zero in on the two alicorns, but it had required immense concentration, as he wanted to get this done with quickly, and the power of these beams would cripple these insects! But leave them alive for him to suck dry of their magic. Then... he noticed the blue one, Midnight, flying towards him. Does he really think I'll fall for this obvious trick?! He flies at me, my energy beam on his tail, and at the last second he makes a sudden turn and I get hit by my own attack? Foolish boy! It was difficult dividing his attention between the beams and Midnight all at once, but Tirek readied himself, pulling his arm back, his hand feeling grabby... Once the fool was within range, he'd snatch him and hold him up for his beam to pulverize him! Five hundred meters. Four hundred meters... Three hundred. Two Hundred! One Hundred...! Tirek lunged forward, his fingers exerting, just barely feeling midnight's fur in his grasp- *PHWOOSH* "WHAT?!?!" Tirek roared as Midnight appeared to vanish in a puff of smoke- *SIZZZAAAAPPP* "AAAAAUUUUGGGHHH!!!!!!!" Tirek raged in pain as he felt his hand take his beam... when he saw Twilight fly past him, "WHA- AAAAAUUUUURRRRRGGHHH!!!" The beam following Twilight got Tirek too, this one in the shoulder, and he threw his infuriated glare around, looking for them, and when he didn't see them, he reached out with his own mystical senses. There they were! He looked in the direction he'd come, and saw it led to Ponyville. The sneaky little cowards had run home to hide under their beds! Embracing the pain, leting it fuel his anger, he concentrated another fireball to his horns and launched it! Gasping to see the ball of death coming through her telescope, Twilight quickly teleported and not a moment too soon, as the fireball hit its mark... and incinerated the library in a terrifying explosion! Twilight screamed as she, Midnight, and Owlowiscious were sent hurtling through the air, surrounded in a protective bubble of mana, and when they landed, they both looked on in heartache to see the smoldering ruins of the Golden Oaks Library. Burning books and scattered pages fell and flittered about as the fire crackled and smoke rose up from the ashes. Twilight fought back the tears and looked at Owlowiscious who looked at her with eyesful of sad, and she felt Midnight's arms tighten around her as she sent Owlowiscious off to find safety. "I'm so sorry, Twilight," Midnight was dispirited to see the library gone too, but as he helped Twilight to her hooves, he noticed the fury on her eyes. "Let's end this...!" she spoke and she enveloped them both in teleportation, taking them back to face Tirek. In the air, Twilight reached out to Midnight with her hoof, and he took it, the both of them nodding as they span around while flying straight for Tirek, and they both concentrated the full of their magical might! It exploded in a spiraling radiant beeline straight for Tirek, who felt a twinge of danger and rose up his arms, a shield of his burning mana rising up to protect him, as the combined attack hammered at him before it burst with intensity! Like an unstoppable flood, the torrent of power pushed Tirek back, and had he not angled his shield to deflect it it would have broken through his defenses. It ran over him and blasted into a distant mountain behind him, causing it to explode into dust! Looking up, he saw them land not far in front of him and sneered with realization. "Now I understand what your fellow alicorns have done!" Narrowing their eyes, the prince and princess launched with the force of a sonic boom and zoomed for Tirek, who responded with his own energy beam! Midnight rose up another bubble-shield, this one stronger while Twilight quickly teleported them both right in front of Tirek, who was taken by surprise as they both launched beams straight into his eyes, which he only managed to avoid but still got struck all the same. Roaring with fury, Tirek reached out with his mind to ensnare them before whirling them about and sending them hurtling into a mountain! They crashed but thankfully, Twilight had literally cushioned their impact with magic, even though it did hurt. But Tirek didn't let up as he launched himself right at them, the force of his assault pounding them all straight through the mountainside and out the back. Twilight and Midnight groaned as they found themselves on Tirek's shoulders, but thinking quickly they conjured a cord of mana and ensnared Tirek around his throat, pulling in opposite directions and causing him to fall flat on his face and choke! Tirek gasped for breath a few times before a vein pulsed on his forehead and he engulfed himself with magical fire, forcing the two alicorns to break their spell and retreat. Taking advantage even as he struggled to catch his breath, Tirek singled out Twilight and used his right hand to magically force her down to the ground, as though gravity was pulling her down with several thousand tons of pressure while he rose up his left hand to conjure a spear of fire! It wouldn't kill her though, Tirek still wanted that magic. Unfortunately, for a moment, he forgot about Midnight. "CITO AGMINE INFERNO!!!!!" He saw a vast and furious blazing blue wheel of fire, that quickly dispersed to reveal Midnight. Then he heard something heavy and burning fall to the ground beside him, and when he looked down at his hooves he saw it was his severed arm and it was on fire. It was at that point, he felt the searing agony!!! Tirek roared with excruciating fury as he clutched his stump, which had been cauterized by the attack, and it was in that moment of his pain-distracted mind that he noticed his arm all-too quickly burn to ashes, bones an' all! Unmitigated fury didn't come close to the red Tirek was seeing as he let unrelenting hate fill his mind, which made itself known in the flare of hellish radiance between his horns, as he unleashed it all upon his first target: Twilight! It flew like a burning meteor promising extinction, and Twilight froze at the sight of it. Somehow, it invoked a primordial fear within her being that disrupted any cognitive thought or even instinct of self-preservation. In some corner of her mind, common sense screamed at her to move, to fly, to teleport, to do something! And yet... all she could do was stand there in the face of impending obliteration. "TWILIGHT!!!!" Something snapped her out of it as she felt a frantic push, and as she was thrown safely out of harm's way, her heart skipped a beat as she saw Midnight, his eyes watching her soar to safety. And he smiled... before he vanished in a flurry of burning destruction! Twilight tumbled back in the dirt, and bolted up in time to see the power Tirek had unleashed tore across the landscape for perhaps a mile or three, until it stopped at the base of a mountain, and then exploded! The force was so intense, Twilight felt the earth beneath her shake, and she screamed, "MIDNIIIIIIIIIGGGGGGHHHHTTTT!!!!!!!!" At first, she saw only smoke and dust and fire... when something rose up out of the smog, and for a moment Twilight felt relieved. For a moment. Despite the distance, she saw him as he was sent skyward... and his body burned away into ash. No! There was nothing. She couldn't feel him! He can't be! She'd seen it with her own eyes, her mind ran over the facts. I won't let him go!!! But her heart, scarred and bleeding, refused to accept it. "Damn it all..." That voice caused Twilight to turn almost in daze to gaze towards Tirek, who was still clutching his stump and seething as he glared at Twilight... until one corner of his mouth pulled back into a depraved and mocking smirk. "I killed him, along with the alicorn magic he carried. So now I'm going to have to be much more careful so that I can take the magic within y-" Twilight teleported straight above Tirek's head screaming in grief and vengeance, "YOU'LL PAY FOR THIIISSS!!!!!!!" She summoned the full of her might into her next attack and launched it straight down upon Tirek, an explosion burying him with rubble. Twilight landed, and a beam of incinerating power rose up and encircled her, to her surprise, when she felt the ground beneath her shift, and Tirek rose up and somehow managed to throw the large piece of earth with Twilight upon it. She managed to evade danger and began to fly back after Tirek, who roared as he punched the ground, channeling his power to cause a labyrinth of stone spikes and pillars to rise up, Twilight evading them, blasting a few to smithereens but didn't slow down as she again unleashed the force of her fury, and Tirek did the same! The two powers collided and resulted in a vast explosion, reshaping the land around them both, and Tirek groaned as he pushed off a boulder from debris that had fallen upon him... and heard soem hoof steps, and looked up to see Twilight looking upon him with unforgiving hate! "It appears we are at an impasse." "No..." Twilight began to concentrate for her next attack, catching Tirek's bluff, "We're not!" Narrowing his eyes that Twilight had seen through him, Tirek quickly considered his options. He had more magic than Twilight on her own but his condition made for a very convenient handicap that tipped the odds in Twilight's favor. Not to mention, he was actually feeling afraid. She was going to kill him, of that he had no doubt. Thankfully, the demon centaur had his trump card. "In that case... how `bout a trade, Princess Twilight?" Tirek snapped his fingers and Twilight gasped to see bubbles appear over his head, each one containing one of her friends. And Eris. "Don't try anything foolish, Twilight, or I'll crush them into a very messy pulp!" Tirek demonstrated by slowly curling the fingers of his open hand and the bubbles responded by contracting, everypony crying out in alarm as their prisons closed in on them from all around. "No!" Twilight stopped her spell, and Tirek smiled with wicked satisfaction. "I'll make this simple: Their release for all the remaining alicorn magic in Equestria..." Hearing the centaur, all but Eris shouted to Twilight not to give in, not to submit. Equestria needed her. "Going once..." Twilight felt her heart ache as though Tirek was exerting the same pressure into her chest. "Going twice!!" "DON'T DO IT, TWILIGHT!!" Soarin yelled. "We aren't worth it...!" Fluttershy added. "But you are, Fluttershy..." Fluttershy looked to her left and saw a despondent Eris, looking oddly pale as she lamented, "It was you who taught me that Friendship is Magic. I had magic and friendship but I didn't appreciate what I had been given... until I lost them both." "ENOUGH!!!" Tirek stamped in fury, annoyed by this prattle, "I want an answer and I want it NOW!!" Twilight looked from the monster to her friends, and then... each of them, even Eris and Spike, within their bubbled prisons, gave off a brief yet clear reflection of color, and in that moment Twilight understood what she had to do. Hesitating at first, she answered, "I will give you my magic, in exchange for my friends." Everypony gasped in horror, and Tirek sneered, "As you wish..." With a snap of his finger all but Eris's bubble dropped and popped, releasing them all, and Twilight made herself clear, "ALL of my friends." "After the way she betrayed you, you still call this simpering worm a friend?" Tirek growled, actually baffled for a moment, as Eris looked away in shame. "Release her!" "You can have her! She's more pathetic than the rest of you worthless creatures," Tirek snapped his finger, dropping Eris to the ground. Without her magic, it actually hurt. Stifling a groan, she looked up to Twilight and meekly said, "I don't deserve it, but thank you." She then peered over to Fluttershy, "I am so sorry..." "I know..." Fluttershy shed tears. "YOUR TURN," Tirek snarled as he then inhaled, Twilight crying out in pain as all the alicorn magic she carried, including her own, was stolen away! He felt it! The power he had long dreamed of, inflaming every fiber of Tirek's being as it swelled his titanic might for all to gaze upon and know despair!!! Everypony gathered around her as Spike placed his hand on her withers, "Twilight, what were you thinking?!" "Tirek tricked me..." Everyone turned and gasped to see Eris! She wasn't just pale, she was transparent! They could literally see right through her! "He led me to believe I could have something even better than Friendship, but... I see now that there is nothing more special in all the world. Had I only realized that sooner..." She removed the medallion from around her neck, the cord slipping right through her like air, and she stifled a grunt of pain and fell to her knees. "Eris!" Fluttershy and even Pinkie, Cheese, and Soarin hurried over to help Eris up... only for their hooves to go right through her! "What?! What's happening?!" Eris held up the medallion, knowing her time was short, "He gave this to me, saying it symbolized his gratitude and loyalty. Unlike him, I swear the honest and sincere truth when I say to you, I hope you will accept it as a token of our friendship..." She placed it around Twilight's neck and everypony looked on in heartache as Eris began to fade away, Fluttershy crying out, "Eris, no! Please don't leave us!" And the last thing they heard her say, even as it sounded like an echo from the distance, "Forgive me..." And then she was gone, like dust in the wind. Fluttershy broke down in heart-wrenching sobs, Big Mac pulling her into a big and warm hug, everypony else shedding tears as well, and Twilight held up the medallion, wishing with all her might that none of this had ever happened... when she saw the medallion give off a faint shimmer of colors. What...? The tree. You must go to the tree! Those words echoed into her mind as Twilight realized what had just happened, that there was still hope! "Twilight...?" She looked to see all of her friends looking at her, having noticed the look in her eyes, as Applejack asked, "Is tha'...?" "We have to get to the chest, hurry!"