//------------------------------// // Chapter 3. Altering Destiny. Nergigante and Twilight vs Tirek. // Story: The Elder Dragons of Equestria // by FanboyGamer3E //------------------------------// 3rd Person POV ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Twilight sat upon a cliff thinking of her current situation. She had the power of her other princesses combined, she might have been able to handle the responsibility if she had her friends to confide in. But Celestia had said that telling them of this secret would put them in danger. Not only that but three of the most dangerous creatures in Equestria has face have joined up with him. The only one who knew as much as she did was a dragon she had only just met a day ago after seeing him fall from space on a ball of fire, she still didn't know how he was still alive after falling from orbit. Her train of thought would have continued from this but she was interrupted by Nergi landing next to her. Actually "landing" was putting lightly, the spiked dragon dived into the ground next to her with enough force to nearly bring the cliff down. Nergi shook the dirt from his face and frantically said. "Twilight he's here, Tirek is here and shit has hit the fan, we have a code red, the shit has hit the fan and it's viscus and bloody, we're talking night after TacoBell shit here, I'm making a lot of unneeded analogies to with shit in them but I don't care, it's bad." "Nergi calm down, and for the love of Celestia stop cursing. What's going on?" "Tirek is here, he's taken the girls and spike hostage, and also stole the powers of Discord, Sombra, and Chrysalis. Called it by the way. Now he has complete control of the Changeling army, and can copy the abilities of his former henchmen. I tried to fight him but I got my ass kicked, and my face to, there was a lot of kicking. My body was just too weak." "Did you transform into your full size to fight him?" "No. Why?" "You're power is reduced to a 10th of what it usually is when you're in this form. Wait, why am I explaining this to you, we need to save my friends." "Hold it, if we're doing this we need a plan, actually we might not but I still would like to have a plan on hand." "Alright, what did you have in mind?" ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 15 minutes later ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tirek stood in the middle of town square waiting for the final group of ponies to be delivered. So far nearly every pony in the town had been easy, but he chocked it up to there only being a few note worthy ones there. "Lord Tirek." A Changeling said as he entered the room. "We have brought you the last of the ponies." Behind the first one, five more Changelings forcefully dragged the prisoners towards their master. "Ah, so you are what is left." Tirek said standing over them. "Big Macintosh, you are by far one of the largest and strongest ponies I've encountered, your only second to this one muscly pegasus I noticed when the wonderbolts tried to bring me down. Trixie the trickster, those firework spells are certainly loud, I could hear them from all the way over here, sadly they lack the force it takes to keep a Changeling down for long, much less a swarm of them. The Cutie Mark Crusaders, who could have guessed that three school fillies without their Cutie Marks could give a platoon of Changelings the runaround, frankly I'm disappointed in them for taking so long, but credit where credit is due you put up a good fight, bravo. Zecora, long way from your homeland aren't you Zebra, It took some time to find you out in the Everfree, and even more to corner you. And last but not least, wait who are you?" The final prisoner was wearing a cloak that covered their entire body. "Drones, disrobe them." Tirek said pointing to the cloaked figure. As soon as the Changelings got near, the figure broke the rope holding him and bashed their heads together before ripping off his cloak to reveal himself as Nergi. Tirek was a bit surprised but kept his composure saying "Well, well, looks like you've regrown your back-bone along with your spines. So first of, I have to ask, how did you hide your horns underneath that cloak? Secondly, what gave you the idea that you can face off with me again?" "To answer your first question, I broke off my horns and regrew them as I was taking off the cloak." Nergi said proudly. "As for why I'm about to fight you again, that first round was only a practice, this is the real thing." "Really? And what makes you think you can win this time?" Nergi smirked and said "Because this time, I'm going all out." Before clapping his paws together. His body became engulfed in purple lightning, as the energy pulsed trough him his body began to change, his muscles grew bigger, his wings became broader, and his tail became longer and thicker. When the lightning stopped he was three times the size of his pony form. "BEHOLD, THIS IS MY TRUE FORM, MY TRUE BODY." "Shapeshifting?" Tirek thought to himself. "No, he called it his true form, which means that his puny pony sized body was some sort of repressed state he enters when there's no need to fight, it's like a the opposite of what Pufferfish or Cobra do when threatened, while they make themselves bigger to intimidate foes, he choses to make himself smaller to be more approachable. Not only that, but I can sense his physical and magical prowess has increased, interesting." "I'm gonna give you one chance Tirek." Nergigante said. "Give back what you've stolen, or else I'll put a hole the size of my arm right in your chest cavity." "Oh really? Hmph, alright then, LET ME SEE YOU TRY!" Tirek shouted while charging forward. Nergigante grew out the spikes on his arms as well as his claws and shouted. "DECIMATION CLAWS," Before jumping forward and slashing at Tirek with both claws. Tirek blocked both attacks and grabbed the dragon by the arms before asking, "What do you have to say now?" Nergigante smirked and shouted "DOOM SHAFT," Before attempting spear Tirek in the stomach with his tail. Tirek managed to block the attack by creating a crystal from the ground which forced him to release Nergigante's arms. The dragon straightened his fingers and grew out his claws making them turn black before shouting "PERDITION'S HAND," and impaling the crystal with his claws. He then rose his arm above his head while growing a row of spines on the side of his arm and shouting "EXTERMINATION'S EDGE," before attacking Tirek with a karate chop. "SHADOW SHIFT." Tirek shouted phasing his body into his own shadow. Nergigante's attack struck the ground, missing Tirek but landing where his head faded into his shadow. The shadow moved away from the dragon and made it's way over to a building and moving up onto the wall. "Whoa, that's new?" Tirek said stepping out of his shadow. "Now where's that dragon?" "OBLITERATION'S FOOTFALL" Nergigante shouted as he slammed his feet into Tirek's lower back from above, making him scream in pain. The dragon then jumped off Tirek's back and off to the side before charging towards him, bearing his horns and shouting "ERADICATION VANGUARD" before flinging him into the Library, making the tree explode into splinters upon impact. "HEY TIREK." Nergigante shouted. "I'VE DECIDED TO RENAME MY DIVE-BOMB ATTACK." He then began to fly up into the air before asking "HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THE NAME DEVASTATION'S THORNS?" Before growing out his spines and swooping down to attack. "ENOUGH" Tirek shouted as he expanding in size to grab Nergigante in both hands, by now he was half the size as he was when he absorbed the Alicorn magic. "I'll admit you where a powerful opponent. But I have risen far above you, what made you think you could defeat me?" "I wasn't trying to defeat you. I was just to by time for Twilight to charge her attack." "WHAT!?!" Nergigante smirked and shouted, "DO IT NOW TWILIGHT," before making his spikes burst off his body. Tirek clutched his hand in pain before looking up to the sky where Twilight was about to fire a beam of magic. Twilight blasted a massive beam of magic towards Tirek. "I can't dodge this, I'm too big. Looks like I'll have to use my new ability." Tirek thought to himself before shouting. "NOW, MAGIC SPONGE." The beam made contact with Tirek's body, and in a flash of light the energy from the blast absorbed into his body surprising both Twilight and Nergigante. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1st Person POV ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "WHAT THE ACTUAL HELL?" I think to myself. "He didn't have that ability in the show, maybe me being here fucked with the timeline, that would explain why Chrysalis and Sombra where with him. Or maybe this is a parallel timeline and the Tester sent me here to save it. OH SHIT GIANT FOOT." As you can tell from my last statement, Tirek nearly squashed me under his massive hoof. "What was that?" Twilight asked. "A little trick I developed in Tartarus." Tirek replied which reducing in size. "The demon guards would blast us with magic every time the other prisoners would try to escape and even if they did escape Cerberus would simply chase them down, so once Cerberus left his post I began to create this ability. I created the spell by merging my absorption spell with my body's own natural ability to absorb radiation. As the name implies the spell turns my body into a sponge which absorbs any form of magical energy, adding it to my own power." "What about physical attacks?" I ask. "The spell will only absorb the energy you infuse into the punch, while the momentum will still exist. But enough of these formalities, let's get down to brass tax." Tirek said before snapping his fingers and teleporting the girls, Spike, Discord, Chrysalis, and Sombra around him, each where in a kind of bubble prison. "Now, give me the Alicorn magic or else, well, you do know what happens when you crush a grape, don't you?" "DON'T DO IT SPARKLE" Chrysalis shouted "HE MUST NOT BE ALLOWED TO GET ANYMORE POWER" Sombra added. Gotta say I wasn't expecting those two to be the "selfless" kind, I expected Chrysalis to beg Twilight to do as Tirek said while Sombra just sat in his bubble and sulked like Discord was doing. Maybe things are more different in this timeline than I thought, or maybe being double crossed by Tirek somehow changed them, well not so much "change," it's more likely they've realized that if Tirek becomes a God things are gonna go to hell real quick. Either way it was a surprise to me. Twilight looked at her hooves before saying, "I will give you my magic for my friends." "As you wish" Tirek said with a grin before lowering Spike and the other Element Bearers to the ground. "All of them." "You can't be serious. After the way Discord has betrayed you, you still call him your friend. Those other two were never even your friends to begin with. From what I've heard Chrysalis tried to take over the whole kingdom by mind controlling your brother and taking his fiancé's place, you've never even had a proper dialogue with Sombra." "I don't care, release them." "If that's what you want." Tirek said while lowering the villain trio to the ground. "Now for what I came for." An orb of orange and black energy formed in between Tirek's horn as he inhaled Twilight's magic from her horn. I had seen it in the show but I wasn't prepared for seeing it in person. When all of her magic was gone Twilight fell over, I managed to catch her before she hit the ground. "Don't think I've forgotten about you Dragon. I'll leave you with your power, after all what's the point in depriving myself of another battle with a worthy opponent." "But I'm not a worthy opponent, not that you've gotten your hands on the Alicorn magic." "HA, do you really think I can't sense it, the latent power coursing. You are too young to harness it now, but as you age you will grow stronger and stronger, until you possess the power to fight me, only then will I relinquish you of your power. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a war to wage with the dragons." I didn't know what he was talking about, but I didn't want him think I was stupid so I let him walk away. "Twilight what were you thinking?" Spike asked as he rushed to mine and Twilight's side along with the girls. "What was she thinking indeed." Sombra said as he approached us along with Discord and Chrysalis. "You could have let Tirek do what ever he wished with us, so why make him free us?" Chrysalis asked. "Because you didn't deserve it." Twilight began. "I may not have forgiven you for your past crimes, but that doesn't mean I should turn a blind eye to your suffering, everypony deserves a second chance." "What about a third chance?" Discord asked solemnly. "Tirek tricked be into believing he could offer me something more valuable than friendship, but there is nothing worth more, I see that now. 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, I am telling the truth." Discord placed the medallion around Twilight's neck, and for a brief instant I saw a pastel rainbow glint across it. "You think that's the last one we need?" AppleJack asked. "The last what?" Chrysalis asked "Only one way to find out, we have to get to the chest." Twilight said before running off. "What chest?" Sombra asked. "Just come on you two." I say grabbing them by the necks and running after the group. When we reached the chest at the tree of harmony I saw Twilight rest the medallion on the key hole, and just like in the show it transformed into a golden key and made it's way into the lock. "Uh guys, not to break up the friendship moment but we should probably stop the power hungry monster from getting too far away." I said in a rushed tone. "Nergi's right." Twilight said. "Let's do this together." The mane six each turned the keys, opening the chest. Once opened, a pastel rainbow erupted from the box and charged the elements of harmony with power which then flowed into the bearers of the elements granting them what I like to call their "Super Charged Forms." It was at that point I realized something I should have earlier. "Oh SHIT." "What, what's wrong." Chrysalis asked. "Tirek can absorb attack based magic, and with the amount the girl are about to blast him with he'll be ten times as powerful as he is now." I reply before flying upward after the girls. "HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE? YOU HAVE NOW MAGIC." I hear Tirek shout from above. "You're wrong Tirek, I may have giving you my Alicorn magic, but carry within me the most powerful magic of all." Twilight responded proudly. "TWILIGHT STOP." I franticly shout. "DON'T YOU REMEMBER, TIREK CAN ABSORB MAGICAL BEAMS, OF YOU USE THE POWER YOU GOT FROM THE BOX HE'LL JUST ABSORB IT AND GROW TEN TIMES MORE POWERFUL." "Well what do you think we should do?" Rainbow asked. "I have a plan, just buy me time and make sure he doesn't move from that spot." I say before flying up into the sky. I indeed did have a plan, granted it was a half baked plan that I expected had a slim-to-none percentage of success, but it was a plan none the less. The basic idea was that I was going to redo my entrance into this world by flying up into the upper atmosphere and turn myself into a living meteor, like I said it was half baked but it was all I had. As I flew higher and higher into the sky it became harder for me to breath, nevertheless I pushed trough it and pepped flying. At this point the sky was beginning to get dark, either because I was getting close to the outer atmosphere or because my brain was dying from lack of oxygen, either way it was about time to go back down. I performed a corkscrew and turned down to dive-bomb as I did my best to make myself as aerodynamic as possible so that I was able to accelerate. As I felt myself break the sound barrier a single thought popped into my head, one of the most well known events in my planet's history, the extinction of the dinosaurs. And that's when it came to me, the perfect name for my ultimate attack. I grew out the spikes on my right arm and got ready to punch. As I fell through the clouds I saw that Tirek had grow quite a bit and was trying to swat down the mane six who where currently zipping around him. I clenched my spiked fist and shouted the name of my attack with a righteous fury. "METEOR OF EXTINCTION" ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3rd persom POV ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tirek turned to where the voice had come from to see Nergigante falling from the sky in a ball of fire. He barely had anytime to reach before the dragon was mere feet away from his chest. In a single second Nergigante had punched through Tirek's body and had crashed in the field behind him, leaving a massive hole in his chest. Magic energy erupted from the hole, Tirek desperately tried the hold it in shouting. "No no no NO NO." But before long he exploded, which released the magic in a massive wave that spread across Equestria. The magic flowed back into its original owners, giving them back their powers. Nergi, now in his miniature form got up from the crater to see a rainbow shoot out from the tree of Harmony. He smirked and said to himself, "Well looks like the castle's here, guess I should go check it out, heheheh god everything hurts. Good thing I didn't grow out all my spikes, otherwise I would have leveled this entire area. I wonder what Tirek was talking about with my "Latent powers." Maybe he meant the power I would get when I become Tempered like the Elder Dragons do in the game, guess I'll never know. Wait, the hell is that?" The "that" Nergi was referring to was in fact the spot where Tirek was standing when he exploded. As he approached the epicenter he noticed a trail of blood going off into the woods. "Y'know I'm sure this is gonna bite me in the ass later on, but I'm just gonna not tell anyone about this, he'll probably bleed out anyways so what's the point? Then again if he does survive, nope nope not gonna think about that, that's a problem for future me, future me can deal with it on his own." Nergi spread his wings and took flight towards the castle. As he landed he noticed Chrysalis and her Changelings moving towards the castle. He charged through the doors of the castle and ran to the council room, as be opened the door he grabbed everypony's attention by saying, "Uh guys we might have a problem." He lead the group to the door to meet the Changeling army at the door, with Chrysalis in the forefront. "Hello there." Chrysalis said with a calm smile. "What do you want Chrysalis?" Celestia asked with a stern tone. "First off, I'd like to make something clear. I am not sorry for what I've done in the past, not for kidnapping Cadenza and taking her place, not for brainwashing Shining Armor, and not for taking over Canterlot. If there's one thing I AM sorry for, it's underestimating you all. That being said, the reason I am not sorry for my actions is because I did them for the good of my hive, my changelings need love to survive, I merely saw Canterlot as a source of food my hive. However I now see that love cannot just be taken, it must be given, my pride blinded me to that fact. I now see that the best life for my Changelings to have is one of peace, not conquest. And so, against my own pride and better judgment, I am surrendering myself, you may do with me what you wish, all I ask is that you give my Changelings a chance for a better future." Celestia remained silent for a moment before saying, "Very well then, you are hereby pardoned for all previous crimes against Equestria, however I am unsure if the ponies of Canterlot will be as accepting and forgiving as I, so with Princess Cadence's permission I would like to move the majority of the changeling population to the Crystal Empire, with several small bands of Changelings being relocated to various towns across the land save for Canterlot." "I suppose they would have an easier time gaining the trust of the Crystal Ponies, but Chrysalis herself will have to be monitored around the clock by my Royal Guards." Cadence said, not happy about the arrangement. "If we're really doing this than there'll have to be a structure of order." Twilight added. "If I had enough time, I could work out some kind of system of ambassadors which have a conference with the mayor of each respected town once a week." "I personally don't care." Nergi said bluntly. "But since we're discussing plans for the future I should also mention that creature from my world are libel to start showing up in this one if they haven't already so we should probably do something about that, also where's Sombra?" "He said something about searching for an army to reclaim what he had lost." Chrysalis replied. "Well that's ominous as fuck, doesn't help that Tirek might still be alive." Nergi said startling everypony. "Y-you can't be serious, we saw him EXPLODE." Twilight said in disbelief. "Not just get caught up in an explosion, I mean actually explode in a blast of magical energy. "Well I don't know what to tell you, I saw a trail of blood leading into the woods from where Tirek was standing, he might bleed out with that hole in his chest, and even if he does survive he probably won't be able to absorb magic for a while without it leaking out of him." "Still, we should remain on high alert, for both of them." Celestia said calmly. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Meanwhile In the Everfree forest ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sombra strode through the Everfree, thinking back on what had happened. "It seems that dragon had more power than I expected," He thought to himself. "Even with all the power Tirek acquired, the dragon was able to dispatch him in an instant. Not to mention the latent power Tirek spoke of, I managed to sense it once my magic returned. It almost seemed other worldly, similar to the dragon itself. Quadruped dragons like him don't usually have such broad wings or massive horns, and they certainly don't have the power to grow out their spikes, that black dragon is truly one of a kind or if there are others like him they're not from this world." Suddenly Tirek grabbed Sombra from behind and began to drain his magic, Tirek had nearly drained Sombra of all his magic before the power erupted from his chest and returned to the pony. Sombra jumped away from his would be parasite and turned towards him in a combat stance. Tirek was on his knees coughing up blood, he was also the size as he was when he escaped Tartarus, and had a two inch wide hole going right through his chest. "Look at you." Sombra said bitterly. "To think not even a half hour you had the power to reshape the world in your own image, now look at you, a coughing sputtering mess in the middle of the woods. I'd kill you right here if you didn't look so pathetic right now, but if you try this again you will not receive the same mercy again." Sombra then faded into the shadows of the forest, leaving Tirek alone. Tirek clutched his chest in pain. "Curse you Nergigante, curse you you damn dragon." He said to himself, "I had it all, all the power of the alicorn magic, the power of a god in my hands, and now it's gone, ripped from me by a dragon of all things, a savaged lizard which barely have any form of civilization." "Your mistake is comparing Nergigante to the dragons of your world." A voice called out. "WHO'S THERE, SHOW YOURSELF." Tirek called out. "Unfortunately I am unable to do this." The voice said calmly, "Like you, I have been stripped of something, not just my power, but also my physical form itself. I now exist as ghost, a wandering spirit with no substance, like air inside of a nonexistent empty shell. However like you I still hold a small fraction of my power." "Enlightening." Tirek said in a deadpan tone. "Why tell me this?" "I believe we can aid each other. I can give you the power to store energy without it leaking out of your body, in exchange I request that I use you as a host, until the time comes when I am able to reform myself, at which point I will leave you and pursue my own ambitions. So what do you say, do we have a deal?" "First answer me this. How do you know about Nergigante? What is your connection to him?" "He and I are from another world. In the past one of his kind tried to keep me from forming, but was killed by an ignorant human obsessed with hunting and killing the monsters of our world. His body has now been possessed by a wandering spirit from yet another distant world. The spirit appears to have forgotten his own identity, and has taken on the mantle of my old enemy. Are you satisfied with that answer?" "Yes. Alright then, I accept your offer. Come into me and give me what little strength you have left." Tirek felt a splintering pain come from the hole in his chest, which soon turned into a wave of constant pain. As the pain continued he felt his body grow until he was the same size as he was when he stormed Canterlot, the hole in his chest had been filled in my a light blue crystal. The crystal was smooth and was in the shape of a four pointed diamond. Tirek clenched his fist and punched a tree to test his physical strength. The tree splintered a bit upon contact but was otherwise structurally stable. Tirek turned his I to another tree and fired a beam of magic at it, the beam seared away the bark of the tree but did not majorly damage it. "I see, so despite my size I am still inherently weak. I am going to have to remedy that." Tirek said before striding deeper into the forest.