//------------------------------// // Chapter 7: Attack on Tirek // Story: Sundered Universes // by Super Ponyman //------------------------------// (Canterlot Castle, Celestia's Room) Celestia had been sleeping very lightly since the recent attack by a copy of Nightmare Moon, and she often woke up late at night, worried that this Midnight Sparkle would send another copy her way. If she could send a near-perfect copy of Nightmare Moon, what else could she send? Replicas of Chrysalis? King Sombra? DISCORD?! She didn't know, and it terrified her. It shook her like how a tree shakes in a powerful storm. there was no denying that for the first time in a long while... Celestia felt truly afraid of somepony. She was Up now to raise the sun, as she did every morning. She groaned and slid out of bed, slowly dragging her hooves to the balcony door. She said to herself in a quiet voice, "What did the other world version of me do to cause Twilight to develop this... monster? What did I do to cause so much pain for him? Whatever it was, it must have been devastating for the two of them." Celestia open the balcony door and nearly screamed in shock, barely holding back her voice. Sitting on the balcony railing was Burning Star! His mane alight and he was chewing on a piece of cake, her cake! Burning Star smirked and said, "Good Morning sun butt. Nice day today, isn't it? Up to raise your glorified heat lamp into the sky?" Celestia shouted in her Royal Canterlot Voice, "How in the name of myself did you get here!? This is my private quarters!" Burning Star dropped his cake off the balcony in surprise, it landed with a sad squish and left a depressed look on the Alicorn of Fire's face. That cake was his favorite flavor Peanut Butter and Chocolate Ice Cream Cake... And Celestia just ruined it! Burning Star snorted, "Hey! You made me drop my cake! What are you so huffy about me being here? I did your job for you, so shut it. Also, to answer your question of how did I get here? I'm an Alicorn, Celestia. I have wings, just like you. I flew down here and tested to see if your balcony door was open." He put his hoof on the handle and pushed the door in. "Why is it that no pony but me ever locks their doors at night? You risk the chance of invaders and assassins attacking you while you rest." Celestia looked at him, now a little angry that he willingly invaded her BEDROOM, and her temper got worse as he ignited his horn, and raised the sun over the horizon, making Celestia's jaw drop. Her eye twitched as she said in disbelief that she now had competition for raising the sun, "How did... what... how dare you raise the sun without my permission, Mr Burning Star. Why must you antagonize me so much?" Burning Star narrowed his eyes, and got off the balcony railing before saying, "Because, oh sweet Celestia... I've got something to tell you about me, mainly why I'm angry at you." Celestia sighed, "Ok. Please explain yourself then." Burning Star started to walk towards Celestia in a threatening manner, causing her to back up inside. He said while walking slowly towards her, "Princess, has anypony ever tried to defeat you, or are they too scared to take you on? Hm? After all, that's how you enforce your rule, rule by fear. I once knew a pony who did the same thing..." Celestia snapped at him, "I do not rule by fear! Why do you think I do? Who are you talking about anyways?" Burning Star growled, "Don't play dumb Celestia! Who is the only life form in history that has been known to rule by fear and actually succeed for a long time, until you destroyed him?" Celestia shrugged, "Uh... is it Discord?" Burning Star laughed a deep chuckle, a grin on his face, "Hah! Let me give you a real big hint, and you will know who I'm talking about immediately." Celestia watched as Burning Star was engulfed in a bright red light, when it faded, she gasped in horror. Before her stood a dark gray unicorn stallion covered in silver armor with a spiked crown on his head. His normal unicorn was not a spiral shape, rather it was a red curved horn, sickly green light and purple smoke came out of his eyes and his mouth was filled with sharp teeth. Before her stood the Shadow King, King Sombra! Burning Star spoke in the kings twisted voice, "Hello again, Princess of the Sun... Yes, Celestia. We share more in common than you think. we both rule over kingdoms, we both have god like powers, and most importantly, we both rule by FEAR. You know it, I know it, and I'm sure Midnight knows it as well... in fact, she may already have somepony ready to attack you now." King Sombra's form disappeared and Burning Star's form returned, he had a grimace on his face. Celestia managed to get out a sentence, "You are a madpony, Burning Star. You need help, serious help." The Fire Alicorn responded with a snarl, "No Celestia, I'm not crazy. I'm just fed up with ponies like you. I'm fed up with politics, and the Ponies that want to manipulate others, just as you have done to Twilight... that's what created Midnight FYI. YOU FAILING TO UNDERSTAND HER!" Before Celestia could respond, the black Alicorn took off, turning away his sorrow filled face, leaving her alone on her balcony, trying to figure out what In Tartarus just happened. Celestia sat on her flanks, thinking to herself, "Was it me, or was Burning Star... crying? What happened to him?" (Canterlot Castle, Dining Hall) “All right, then. Explain to me just what happened again.” “All right, look. I was just taking a shower--” “Thou didst willingly take a shower?” “I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that. Anyway, I came out after this shower you insist I didn’t take and there was this sudden...thing.” “This sudden thing?” “This sudden thing.” “You’re the most specific pony I’ve ever known in my life, you know that?” “Look, it was this...weird...wobbly feeling. Like my insides and my brain were tossed in a salad bowl and I was all woozy. And I muttered “I have a bad feeling about this” to myself because it felt like something bad was about to happen.” “So I wasn’t the only one that felt something off after all.” “No you weren’t.” “I also felt something off,” Quickfire interjected into the conversation between the two Guardians of the Sun capable of speech. “It...it felt like something big was about to happen. Something bad. I felt like my horn was about to crack in two. It's the same feeling I get when I sense Midnight around.” “That’s exactly how I felt like!” Noble said, pointing at Quickfire. “My body forced itself into a cautionary state,” Hiller said in utmost monotony, looking like he’d rather say anything else than that. “I thought something was off right about then. I had a flashback dream last night, I guess that was a warning sign to this bad feeling? I don't know, I don't know much about magic!" It was at that moment that Burning Star flew through the window to the great hall, a great gust of warm air followed him, where the rest of the warriors were having breakfast. “Morning, What were we talking about?” Burning Star asked mildly. “When we all woke up today we all felt really apprehensive about something,” Hiller reported. “We all felt like there was uneasiness in ourselves about something or other.” “That's a coincidence, I felt shaky when I woke up today,” Burning Star replied. “But that’s about it. So, what's for breakfast?" “I felt like there was something behind it,” Noble said. “I thought that something was angry, and was trying to get us to go somewhere.” “Midnight Sparkle, it must be her." Quickfire instantly said, buttering a slice of toast. “Who else but her would toy with violent and dangerous emotions?” “But where was the feeling coming from? I know I'm a pretty angry pony, but this was like... unfiltered rage. Like somepony had opened the gate to oblivion and let something really angry out. What could it be?" Burning Star asked Noble Blade. “My head pointed north,” Noble said. “And when I did that, I felt certain of myself. I sincerely feel like we need to go north.” A sharp laugh of disbelief escaped from the mouth of the Black Alicorn “That’s utter crap.” Burning Star replied to him. “Your feelings are vague and undescribable. It needs to be a feeling you can describe. If you can’t describe a feeling accurately, it’s not real. Don’t listen to false feelings. Or better yet, bury them like I do." “Describe the taste of salt,” Noble said instantly. Burning Star blinked. “Excuse me, What?” “Describe to me how salt tastes like,” Noble Blade said, lifting the saltshaker on the table over to Star with a bit of his magic. “It should be easy enough for you to do it. It’s real enough, so it’s describable. Do it.” Burning Star was thrown off by the sudden question. “Well, uh… Fine." he started out. He looked at the suspended saltshaker and tasted some by shaking some into his mouth. As he smacked the taste around in his mouth he tried to describe the taste. “It, uh...It tastes...salty--no, no, uh…” He smacked himself in the forehead and thought some more. “It’s...not sweet. It’s the opposite of sweet.” “That tells me nothing. What is sweet?” Noble asked. “And you only told me what the taste isn’t. Tell me what the taste is.” Burning Star felt his irritation with Noble Blade rise, but he decided to withhold his anger. “It’s, uh...granular. Granular and, uh...bitter. Yeah, bitter.” “Bitter is yet another taste,” Noble said to him. “And you can’t describe a taste with other tastes. You can do better than that.” “It’s a biting, sharp kind of taste, kinda like my temper now” Burning Star said, his Mane starting to emit smoke. “Pretend I’ve never tasted salt in my life before. I don’t know what a biting or sharp taste is like. How do you describe that?” “All right!” Burning Star threw up his hooves in disgust, his Mane now fully ablaze. “YOU HAPPY NOBLE?! You win! I can’t describe salt’s taste, but that doesn’t mean it’s not real!” “It means that there are some things in the world that simply can’t be described properly,” Noble finished for him. “But that doesn’t mean they aren’t real.” Burning Star glowered at him, his mane extinguished and his dark blue eyes narrowed like slits. “You’re wrong on that too, Knight. You’re using that as a basis to justify the fact that you have no solid argument against me." “Then how come you felt it too?” Noble said equally. “You say it’s false until you have that feeling as well. Then do you continue to deny that it’s false, even though you know in your heart that your words meant nothing?” At that moment the door to the throne room burst open and in came Burning Star’s least favorite alicorn. Celestia came down to the opposite end of the table and sat herself down, holding a hoof to her head. “Oh, don’t tell me you had it too,” Firestorm groaned. Celestia looked up. “Had what?” “This weird...thing.” “Weird thing?” “Yeah. A weird thing.” “Like a headache?” Celestia asked. “Yeah! A headache! See, normally the first headache for everypony else is when I first open my mouth and start talking, but today, we all got a synchronized headache like somepony was trying to get us to notice them. You think that worked? I can’t tell, since we’re having this conversation about having us notice them, but I need to be certain.” Now Celestia’s headache was even worse, but she sighed and said, “Yes, Firestorm. That weird feeling...I felt that too. It felt like it came from…” She turned her head to the side before locking her head in a certain direction and nodding. “It came from the north.” “Could it The Crystal Empire? If I was Midnight Sparkle, I think taking out the largest source of light magic would be first on my list.” came Quickfire’s voice. Everypony at the table turned to face Quickfire with looks of horror on their faces. The assassin shrugged, "What? I'm just saying what I think Midnight would do first. Is there a problem with that?" Noble Blade nodded, "Yes. The fact you had that idea scares me..." “I don’t think so. If you assume this is being sent by Midnight, we also know that she wants to hurt as many concentrated ponies as possible in a single area. And the Crystal Empire’s large, but it’s not as heavily populated as…” Noble broke off of his train of thought and widened his eyes. “As Manehatten!” Celestia stood up. “Go, my Guardians. Go to Manehatten and stop her attacks. Take the Star Hunters with you too.” “We were already planning on taking them,” Firestorm said, putting a hoof around Quickfire’s shoulder. “They’re our friends, after all.” Quickfire looked up suddenly at the word friend. What? Why were they suddenly friends? They had only met by bumping into each other in a cave, friends don't work like that, right? He was a bit rusty when it came to how to make new friends... “I mean, why wouldn’t we take them?” Firestorm was saying. “Look, they weren’t planning on staying here in the castle anyway. Especially mister discount fire-themed name over there. He hates your guts. Like, REALLY hates your guts.” He lazily waved a hoof at Burning Star. Before Burning Star could say anything to comment on that he resumed speaking. “And they’re super powerful anyway, so why wouldn’t we make them stay when they’re so willing to go and fight Midnight? It’s not as though something’s gonna crop up while we’re gone, right?” Burning Star silently screamed in his head, "NEVER SAY THAT! Now something is bound to crop up!" (Canterlot Castle, Celestia's Room) As soon as the train containing the warriors disappeared into the horizon, heading for Manehatten, Celestia, watching from her balcony, felt apprehensive about something. A sudden jolt of alarm, as if the warriors shouldn’t go. Not because they couldn’t handle the threat, but because they needed to be...somewhere else. Not in Manehatten, but somewhere else. “Why?” she whispered. “Why would Midnight be so obvious in her presence in Manehatten?” “A trap, perhaps? She is, or at least was Twilight Sparkle. She is pretty bright.” came an all-too familiar voice. Celestia groaned inwardly and turned around. There he was. There was Burning Star, near Celestia’s door leading outward. He had on a nonchalant smirk on his face and his large wings flared to make himself look bigger. “Burning Star,” Celestia said in a slightly annoyed tone. “Why are you here? Shouldn’t you be with the others?” “Yeah, I had the same feeling you did,” Burning Star told her without looking at her. “I felt like it was pretty stupid of Midnight to be so obvious in her presence. So I made the illusionary copy of me going onto the train and I slipped away when I got the chance. Trust me, They won't know I'm gone. Not that you’d understand, you know. You’re never an opportunist. You never take the chance when you get it. You would prefer to wait it out, while Midnight is plotting something that concerns not only your world, but my world as well." Celestia kept her outward calm look. Star was at this point just trying to antagonize her on purpose. “And you didn’t tell the others?” “Why should I tell them? They didn’t need to know. For all they know is that I'm sitting next to Noble talking about our plan when we arrive.” “I think that they should have,” Celestia said. “If they knew, they would have all followed you back here.” “And I don’t want that, Celestia.” Burning Star replied. “I’m as good as all of them combined; you know it and they know it. Besides, I don’t…” He trailed off for just a second. “I don’t want them to be hurt.” “The Star Hunters?” Celestia asked, referring to the name Star had chosen for his own group of warriors. “Well, yeah, but also the Guardians of the Sun,” Burning Star said quickly. “They’re too invaluable to be replaced in a short amount of time. You need some ponies to act as your own little bodyguards and toys because you apparently need the extra help, and they’re the perfect ones for the job. You’d never find any others like them anywhere. Trust me, I have a bodyguard of my own at home who is just as unique, but his story is for another time." Celestia retained her calm composure. Why was he so willing to make jabs at her for no reason? “Is that the only reason, Burning Star?” Burning Star shook his head. “Because... well... they’re my friends. I've never gotten many chances to be a friend until recently, so I'm concerned for them." Celestia raised an eyebrow. “And yes, I’m including Firestorm in that mix as well,” Burning Star said with a heavy sigh. “Firestorm was right, you know. Earlier today. He said we might as well work together to do this thing, and that we need to get along together.” He let out a chuckle. “But I still don’t love him like a brother like that knight Noble Blade does.” “You need to always love your neighbor,” Celestia said, coming over. “But that doesn’t mean you have to like them.” Burning Star blinked. “That makes no sense, Celestia." “You have to show sympathy and love to every pony in the world, Burning Star--even the ones we don’t necessarily like.” Celestia smiled. “For example, I think it’s a mutual agreement that you and I don’t get along very well.” The Black Alicorn chuckled, “That goes without saying. You constantly stationing an ENTIRE SQUADRON of the Royal Guard outside my room is a testament to that. And me landing on your balcony, eating your cake and reading YOUR sun must have really annoyed you, huh?" “But I think it’s time that we need to improve our relationship with each other,” Celestia said. She put a hoof over her heart. “How do I start to improve our relationship?” Burning Star blinked in surprise and grinned sheepishly. This princess Celestia hadn’t done anything personally to him. The princess was willing to make the first move to reparations, even though she hadn’t technically done anything? It seemed like her behavior had rubbed off on Noble Blade. No wonder he didn’t really like the knight all that much at times. “No, no, Celestia. It’s not you that needs to apologize. It’s the Celestia on my world that needs to apologize for what she did. Do not bear her burden for yourself." “So what can I do?” Celestia pressed. Burning Star, realizing her close presence, moved away hurriedly. “You can start by making sure you’re not so close to me,” he snapped. “I don’t want you anywhere near my presence. My fur is black because it's coated in magic oil, you touch me, it might combust and harm you." And he realized what he had said. He didn’t want to harm her? That was a change of pace. And then he encountered another unexpected truth: this Celestia had nothing to change about herself to apologize to Burning Star. How could he demand for her to change and apologize when she had committed no crime like the Celestia in his own world? He couldn’t, is what he realized. But how could their damaged relationship change for the better? How could Burning Star be helped to not be angry at Celestia when Celestia hadn’t done anything to hurt him? ...He...was the one...that needed to change! And as soon as he realized this profoundly depressing and hurtful truth, his thoughts were unexpectedly and suddenly broken as a loud, tremendous roar shattered the otherwise still air in the overcast skies in Canterlot. Celestia looked haunted all of a sudden. That roar of rage brought back memories...painful, dark memories of being locked in a cage in the darkest pits of Tartarus by-- “Lord Tirek!?" Burning Star exclaimed, leaping a foot into the air. “I know that roar; we’ve beaten him multiple times in my own world! That centaur has been a frequent thorn in my side since I hit stallionhood." “Multiple times?” Celestia asked hurriedly, running to the edge of her balcony and searching the city for the monster. “I thought the underworld was safe for him! He broke out of his prison multiple times? And he just doesn’t stay dead?” “Apparently not, Celestia." Burning Star agreed, also coming to the balcony. “Nothing can contain him, not even death itself. We can make it longer for him to return, but... he is immortal just like the two of us." The Black Alicorn thought to himself, "So Midnight sends Tirek now? She must really be scared such a heavy hitter." A loud buzzing sound came from behind them, and they turned around hurriedly. They had just enough time to see a red laser stream, Tirek's signature Horn Hyper Beam, cut through the bottom through the edge of their balcony, near the entrance inside the castle. They had only enough time for the two of them to flap their wings and get in the air before the entire balcony collapsed and fell to the ground below. Right below them, revealed after the balcony was out of the way, was Lord Tirek himself, a scowl on his red face. He was already almost as big as a castle turret. “Whoa!” Burning Star cried, flapping upwards. “Where’d you come from?” Tirek, in lieu of answering him, fired his horn at him with all the rage he could muster. Celestia and Burning Star split aside, and the beam sailed past where they had been just a second ago. Burning Star dropped and flew like a missile at the massive red centaur, igniting into flame right before he impacted. He roared out, "Flame Drill!" Tirek stumbled backwards as Burning Star hit him straight in the stomach, spinning like a drill, he crashed into the outer wall of Canterlot, then reached out and picked him out in his hand like a bug on his body. Looking upon him in disgust, Tirek began to squeeze him. Burning Star heard a voice cry, “NO!” And suddenly his slowly closing hand was forced open, surrounded in a yellow aura. There was Celestia, floating in the air, an expression of determination written across her face. Burning Star took the opportunity to fly out of his grip and circle about close to Celestia. “All right, sunbutt! Listen to me! If we’re together he can take us both out in one swoop! I’ll take him down from the left, and you attack him from the right! Put some of that power you have to good use for a change!” And he flew off to Tirek’s left. Celestia, a little unadjusted to taking orders, followed to the right. He said a one liner as he charged toward the massive monster, "Time to wreck the Tirek!" Burning Star circled to face Tirek on his left and fired a long stream of flame out of his horn. He saw, to his satisfaction, that Celestia was also finally using her power to use her magic beam of her own. Caught between the two powerful alicorns, Tirek spread out his hands to the side to catch the hot beams of energy. They coalesced into balls of bright, shining, ethereal power in the palms of his hands, allowing him to fire his own blast of power first at Burning Star, then circle his head to face Celestia. The path his magic beam made through the capital city was erratic and thick. Both of the alicorns managed to evade his magic, but at the expense of losing their attacks. Tirek was now no longer under attack by them, and he swatted at them in the air like annoying flies. Shwing shwing shwing Thud thud thud And Tirek roared and clutched at his eye. Three metal feathers, as small to him as eyelashes, were embedded in the iris of his eye. Burning Star and Celestia wheeled around to face the pony that had fired them. The pony in question was squatting atop a nearby building. The pony was in a trench coat, allowing no features of her--for it was a her, judging by the shape of her hips--to be seen apart from the unnatural yellow eyes she had, sticking out from a mask shaped like a skull. To the side, a long pair of metallic wings jutted out, shining like a sword and sharp as a spear. On her hooves were clawed boots and clawed gloves, crackling with electricity. Burning Star looked to the side, facing Celestia. “Who the... Uh Celestia, She with you?” Celestia looked confused. “I thought she was with you!” The pony leaped into the air with a powerful puff of her wings and shot forward at Tirek’s face as he struggled to get the things out of his eye. Once in range she started to slash with her wings like swords at his face, causing deep gashes to be opened in his eyes and forehead and chin and cheeks. Rearing in the air and raising her crackling hooves high, she smacked them into his face with all the force she could muster. Ribbons of yellow electricity coursed all over Tirek’s body, and he stumbled, roaring in rage. “Now, Sunbutt! Fire!” Burning Star ordered. Both of them in synchronization flew above him and blasted him hard with a takedown of yellow magic and crimson fire, causing him to put his hands over his face, stumble over himself, trip, and fall down with a tremendous shudder on the elegant streets of Canterlot, collapsing several nearby marble buildings and causing a plume of foggy debris to rise into the air. The metal-winged pony flew high up into the air, spreading her wings with a sound similar to a sword’s scraping against a sheath, then hurled spinning to the ground. Celestia and Burning Star landed next to Tirek’s face. It was unnervingly still. Both of them coughed from the smoky air. Atop Tirek’s face, in a look of triumph, was their unexpected ally. Both of her wings were stuck inside Tirek’s skull to the wingtip. It was her finishing blow. “Get off of him!” Burning Star coughed in the air. The figure let out a chuckle. “Were you the one trying to hunt down these creatures Midnight Sparkle has been sending our way? First Nightmare Moon, then this abomination? You got some balls, Burning Star." She tapped the fallen centaur’s head. Celestia, recognizing both the voice and the appearance, snapped, “Reveal yourself, then, for you are on our side!” The figure let out a small grumble, but looked Celestia square in the face and with a mighty squelch ripped her wings out of his head and used her blood-soaked wing to pry away the face mask she had. It was an orange pegasus pony with yellow eyes and a long, unkempt fuschia and red mane. Her appearance looked altered surgically to appear different than she really looked, but once she started to talk Celestia knew exactly who she was. She was a nightmarish, grown-up version of a filly she knew. “I’m looking for Midnight Sparkle,” Scootaloo said. “And that idiot Quickfire, as well. He’s got a lot of explaining to do after the mess he pulled in our universe. Ponies call me, Crimson Mane." Burning Star stood silent, mouth agape, before he said something that got a bit of a laugh from the Sun Princess. "I hate other timelines..."