//------------------------------// // 26. - Tirek // Story: This Nose Knows // by Irrespective //------------------------------// Bean snorted when the train rattled to a stop, and he rubbed his eyes quickly. He hadn’t remembered going to sleep, and he groaned in both pain and annoyance with himself as he stood. “Fine leader you are, Bean,” he grumbled while he flexed his injured fetlock and walked to the door. “Just had to fall asleep at a critical time and leave your work to others. It’s a wonder they bother to follow you at …” Bean stalled out as he pushed the train door open and beheld the scene on the platform. At first glance, it appeared that every pony in Ponyville had somehow crammed into the small area, and hundreds of eyes turned to him in an instant. A confused chorus of voices then broke out, each overlapping each other with enough worry and volume to prevent Bean from hearing them clearly. He didn’t really need to hear them, though; he could guess what they were asking, and why Tirek was still on the loose. It would be what Bean would ask, if he were in their place. “My apologies, My Prince,” Sergeant Pokey offered from Bean’s left. “I flew ahead to advise the town to evacuate, but they gathered here instead. Maybe you can convince them to disperse.” “I can try, I suppose. Everypony, please!” Bean held up his front hooves, and the crowd slowly grew quieter but still restless. “Is Tirek still loose?” a pony shouted from somewhere in the back. “He is,” Bean replied, and a wave of murmurs cascaded across the crowd. “Everypony! Listen, please! For your own protection, I need you to evacuate the town. Tirek is on his way here, and if he finds you he will steal your magic too. Sergeant Pokey and Clover can lead you all to safety, but you must leave now! Do not worry about your belongings; the threat to your welfare is too severe.” “Where’s Princess Celestia?” another pony shouted out. “She should be protecting us!” “Yeah, and Princess Luna!” a third voice added, and murmurs of agreement passed between the crowd. “The Princesses are …” Bean hesitated. He wanted to tell the anxious faces before him that his beloved wife was doing everything in her power to protect them, or that a brilliant plan had been set into motion that would solve all their problems. But the lie just wouldn’t come. “I don’t know what has happened to Princess Celestia, or to Princess Luna. I am acting against their direct orders. But I do know you are all in danger here, and that you need to evacuate.” “How do you, the Prince of Equestria, not know what has happened to the Princesses?” The voice was young and comically squeaky, but the command behind those words were enough to silence the masses. The eyes of the crowd then turned to the source — a little dark blue colt with a pair of menacing, piercing amber eyes — but Bean simply groaned and rubbed the side of his head with a hoof. “Flint!” a soft indigo mare pushed her way through the crowd, and in one swift move she scooped him up by the nape of his neck and deposited him firmly between her front legs. “My apologies, my Prince,” the mare, clearly the former dragon lord’s pony mother, bowed. “He’s just a little scared—” The colt didn’t break his stare with Bean, and he visibly bristled in defiance at the mention of being afraid. “—like we all are,” she quickly added. “It’s alright, I can—” Bean began to reassure her before once again being cut off by the little cretin. “Answer. The question.” Bean realized that the little beast would know where and how to strike, and when it would be most advantageous for him. But, even for his brash lack of social decorum, Flint’s words seemed to be resonating with the crowd. The silent question that was on everypony’s mind, expressed by their waiting and pleading looks, weighed down on Baked Bean until he felt the world shrink down to the point on which he now stood. “The Princesses…” he began before hesitating, “are doing ...” He couldn’t do it. As much as he might want to excuse away the actions of his wife, the growing confusion and fear mixed with the looming danger that was the Lords of Destruction and Chaos demanded Bean tell them what they needed to hear: the truth. “Princess Cadence, Princess Luna, and…” he hesitated, swallowed hard, and forced himself to finish the sentence “and Princess Celestia are no longer able to help us.” How it was possible to hush an already hushed crowd Bean would never know, but it needed to be said, no matter what. “I don’t even know what has become of them, at this point.”  Bean’s throat was dry, and his posture was beginning to strain as he forced himself to stand taller than he ever had before. “But I refuse to allow Tirek to continue stealing magic unopposed. Ponyville stands alone as the last location of magic, and I will do whatever I can to protect you and to defeat him.” The citizens of Ponyville glanced at each other and began to murmur, but the moment was summarily broken by a cold chortle that turned into a derisive laugh. “Is this funny to you?” Bean asked the maniacal foal. “Just can’t wait to watch me fail?” Flint’s chuckles subsided with a sigh before he once again snapped to his default anger. “Hardly. I was promised vengeance, Highness, and now your wife has denied me my chance. Is it not rather odd how she seems to be useless when any sort of problem arises in her kingdom? One would almost think she fears dealing with things herself.” “Stop it,” his mother scolded him. Despite the obvious shock on her face, it was clear she was as used to chiding her young troublemaker as she was breathing. The admonition seemed to have no effect, until she added a soft and plaintive “please?” Her overture of desperation caused him to crane his neck to face her, and Bean felt a small smile tug at the corners of his mouth. It was small, and short lived, but Flint’s hard expression changed, ever so slightly, into tenderness and concern for his mother. Celestia’s ability to read a pony’s body language was rubbing off on Bean, it seemed. “Look, these are desperate times.” Bean found his voice and began addressing the crowd once more. “I don’t think any of us have ever experienced such a threat to our lives, and had things be so uncertain. I wish I had some magic words, or some sort of spell that would take care of everything, but I don’t. All I can do is offer my best efforts to protect you, flawed and faulty as they may be.” There was a pause as the town contemplated his words, and Bean could hear hooves shuffling across the timbers of the platform. Inwardly, he begged for just one pony to leave, for if one did than the rest of Ponyville would too. “This is...Ponyville, Prince Bean,” said a gray earth mare from the crowd. “We don’t need to be protected. We live near the Everfree.” “We played host to Nightmare Moon’s return,” said a brown coated stallion with a green tie. “We also survived the Parasprite epidemic,” said a red maned mare, a spark flaring to life in her eyes. “Got through the return of Discord,” a mint green unicorn mare added, a laugh accompanying her own intense and defiant expression. “Twice, even!” “We even had a regular pony become a princess, right here in our town.” A wall eyed pegasus mare added with a smile. “And ah couldn’t help but notice,” the familiar twang of Applejack’s voice cut through the air while she stepped up. “Princess Twilight was not in the list of defeated Princesses!” Murmurs of agreement and pride began to swell through the crowd while Applejack stepped forward and stood beside the Prince. “Truly. We are down three princesses, but we still have ours,” Rarity proudly added while she joined Applejack and Bean. “And we have a Prince!” Pinkie added with a quick bound up to her friends. “A Prince who cares about us just as much as the Princesses do,” Fluttershy added meekly, but her head was held high and proud as she, too, stepped forward. “A wonderful prince who just needs a little help from his friends.” Bean had no idea how it happened, but the formerly shivering masses were now a foaming mass of hope and determination. How did that happen? Why were they all looking at him? Rainbow Dash then soared above them all in her typical dynamic fashion. “Yeah! Tirek wants Equestria? He’s gotta go through us!” “Yeah!” hollered a hulking pegasus from the back, and he thrust both hooves into the air. That was the tipping point, and Bean sat in dumbfounded confusion as the town erupted into cheers. “No! No! You all need to evacuate! There is no telling…” Bean’s words of protest faltered and failed. Somehow, by some inexplicable means, his little rebellion was spreading and growing like the break of dawn. With a shake of his head in disbelief he scanned the crowd of ponies, but he saw the same thing, no matter where he looked. Each and every pony held their own sense of purpose, pride, and … Yes. There was hope. These ponies really believed they could stand up to a fanatical monster and win. Bean’s eyes moved back to Flint, but when their eyes met, the colt’s bemused expression tuned into a devious smirk. Had the former dragon overlord planned this? Had he known that his words would embolden the population? “Well, sir,” Wysteria said with her own contained smile, “it appears we have an army. What are your orders?” Bean glanced back to Flint, and he shook his head when he saw the little miscreant’s smile grow from smug to diabolically delighted. He had one on him now, and Bean simply nodded. Much as he might regret it, he knew he owed Flint a solid, and that there was no way Flint would forget. “This just keeps getting better and better,” Bean muttered. “All right. Let’s get to work.” Ponyville’s Town Hall - or, ‘The Super Fortress of Freedom,’ as Rainbow Dash had insisted it now be called - proved to be an ideal watchtower and staging grounds for the upcoming fight with Tirek. Bean, Quillpoint, Wysteria, and Trixie had taken up positions in the cupola of the building, and each of them kept a silent vigil over the road to Canterlot. There was nothing for Bean to do now but wait and sip the tea that had been provided by Mayor Mare. Wait, and worry, and second guess the decisions he’d made. It was easy to do, really, since he had no combat or leadership experience. He’d snapped off orders and made assignments, but were they any good? What if everything he had done was making it easier for Tirek to get what he wanted? There was a small part of him that hoped he was wrong. He wanted everything that had happened to be just one big misunderstanding on his part, and that somehow all of the reports that had come in had been inaccurate, or that perhaps he had heard wrong. He was asking ponies to put their town, their businesses, and their very lives in harm’s way, and the thought of what damage could be wrought made his stomach churn in pain. “Still no word from Twilight?” Bean asked in an effort to relieve the tension. “Nothing, sir,” Wysteria replied while she looked out over the empty fields with her employer, taking a quick sip of her own tea. “Nopony knows where she disappeared to, and nothing at the Castle of the Two Sisters has been disturbed. If she does have the Princess’ magic, it’s possible she’s gone somewhere remote to practice controlling it.” “I’m sure that’s what she’s doing,” he replied softly. “You and Trixie were probably right about the amulet, anyway.” “And don’t forget it,” Trixie added smugly while Sergeants Pokey and Clover dropped down out of the sky, landed, and saluted. “Sir!” Pokey spoke first. “Operation For Ever Free is good to go, sir. We await your signal.” “For Ever Free?”  Bean raised a brow at the sudden addition before smirking. “Rainbow Dash, again? “Yes, sir.” “She didn’t pick a name with ‘Awesome’ in it?” “Yes, she did, sir. Twice, actually. But we made her change it.” “Right.” “We await your signal.” Bean nodded, but then he gave a cold and blank chuckle. “Heh, I didn’t even realize it.” “Realize what, sir?” Clover asked. “Five friends: Clover, Pokey, Trixie, Wysteria, and Quillpoint. It’s like I tried to recreate the Elements of Harmony, but I pulled the souffle out of the oven too soon. That would make us, what? The Elements of Kinda Harmony? The Wannabe Elements?” “Given what we’re doing, I’d go with the Elements of Disaster,” Quillpoint offered. “We’ll go with that,” Bean nodded sadly. “Let’s see. Wys, you can be the Element of Nausea, and Trixie, you’ll be the Element of Pride. I can be the Element of Cowardice, I suppose.” “What if I want to be the Element of Cowardice?” Trixie asked. “I’m just as afraid as the rest of you. Besides, you’re bound to be the Element of Idiocy, Your Highness.” “Who’s the more foolish, the fool or the fool who follows him?” Bean asked. “Besides, I called dibs. And now I’ve lost my place.” “To be fair, we’re all idiots for going along with this, sir,” Quill offered. “So I’ll take Idiocy.” “Confusion,” Clover said quickly. “It’s alliterative.” “Pokey, how about Stubbornness?” Bean offered. “That seems to be up your alley.” “Stubborn it is, sir,” Pokey replied with a nod, and his wings flared out with Clover’s. “We’ll see you on the other side.” “Quill, are your unicorns in position?” Bean asked while the two pegasus guards took flight, and Quill nodded. “Yes, sir. Ready and waiting, sir.” “Wys, last chance. We can still get you and Trixie out of here.” “Not happening, sir. When I get done with Nausea I’m claiming Stubborn all to myself.” “Hey, no stealing Elements,” Bean said with a mirthless chuckle. “You’d better get into position, Corporal.” Quillpoint snapped a quick salute before he trotted to the stairs, but Bean couldn’t help but notice the way Wysteria’s eyes stayed focused on him. She appeared thoughtful, and perhaps a bit forlorn, and it only took a moment for Bean to realize what Wysteria was thinking. There was a chance that it would be the last time she saw him. “So, Wys, how is your relationship with Quill, by the way?” Bean asked gently, once Quill was out of sight. “It’s getting better, sir. A lot better. I just need to work a few of those odd quirks out of him, and then I might be able to make something out of us.” “You do you realize he’s a stallion, right? A mare weds a stallion because she thinks she can change him, and a stallion weds a mare because he thinks she will always remain the same, and they’re both wrong.” “We’ll see,” said Wysteria while pressing a hoof against her side. “It’s good for a couple to smooth out those little quirks together.” Bean offered a smile that was the exact opposite of what he felt. “Maybe I should try something like that with Celly, then. I’m bound to have a few quirks that need to be removed.” “A few?” Wysteria winked at him while she took another sip of tea. “Curiously, I believe she would be rather disappointed if you did get rid of them, sir.” “How so?” “For the vast majority of her life, Celestia has had everything a pony could ever want, and then some. With a nod of her head, the world would be laid out at her hooves. She has power, prestige, fame, and popularity. The most exquisite food and succulent drinks a pony could dream of are always at her beck and call. Really, there is but one thing she’s never really had. Love.” Bean shook his head. “All of Equestria loves her.” “All of Equestria loves Princess Celestia,” corrected Wysteria. “You love her. The mare inside the golden cage, the golden runny egg yolk in an over-easy egg.” The secretary took another longer drink of tea and swallowed hard. “Excuse me, sir. Junior doesn’t like eggs.” “The uncommon love of a commoner,” Bean noted, and Wysteria nodded. “And with that, honesty. Loyalty. Devotion and dedication in the most genuine sense of the words. You give her things the nobility could never provide, even if they went insane and decided they wanted to try. Your quirks prove that there are no entanglements, no backroom deals, no smoke and mirrors, and no underhooved plans waiting to be put into motion. Perfect cannot exist in her world without deception and duplicity. To her, your impurities mean you are pure.” Bean contemplated what Wysteria had said. It was something so mundane, perhaps too mundane to be true.  But with her putting it out there, it was enough to give him a sliver of hope that he truly was overrea— “Here he comes,” Trixie casually said, and she pointed out Tirek’s position on the horizon. With the serenity of the moment now irrevocably broken, Bean swallowed and forced himself to behold his doom. Bean’s stomach twisted at the sight of him.  His massive bulk did not match up with the pictures that the book had shown Bean, but then again, the pictures had been nothing more than sketches. Were Bean to walk straight up to him, he would probably stand at half his height, based on the outline that he could see from such a distance; the result from already stealing the magic of countless ponies, without a doubt. Bean felt his anger overriding his nervousness. Tirek had the magic of his ponies, his friends, and his family. He began to seethe as he thought of his parents, scared and huddled together under one of the tables at the Zuerst, wondering why their son and their daughter-in-law had allowed this to happen. “I suppose it’s safe to say our secret is out,” Bean said without his eyes leaving the massive wall of mean coming into town.  “Has anypony seen Mayor Mare?” “Right here, your Majesty.”  The silver maned pony stepped up from the stairwell. “Everypony is in position and ready for your signal.” “I wish I had something inspirational to say,” Bean remarked. “Something that would inspire courage and proud defiance.” “You already did, sir,” Wysteria pointed out. Bean smiled softly to that. “I suppose I did. C’mon, let’s get this over with.” Bean, Wysteria, and Trixie then quickly made their way downstairs, out of the building, and across the main plaza without a word. Once they reached the edge of town, they all simply stood in the middle of the road and waited. “So, how long do you think it’ll take him to overpower us?” Bean casually asked while Tirek continued his steady approach. “Trixie actually believes we have a fighting chance, Your Highness,” Trixie replied, and Wysteria nodded in agreement. “You two need to quit being so optimistic. It’s infectious.” Bean replied with a short chuckle. Nothing more was said, and Bean closed his eyes. He thought of the soft warmth he had come to enjoy during the daily rising of the sun, and how perfect the world was when he felt the downy softness of her wing pulling him into her silken coat. He remembered her laugh, and how it always managed to cure any ill he had been feeling. Mostly, though, he remembered her eyes. He had to fight back a soft sob while he recalled the depths of emotion that were forever in her magenta perfection. He had heard the eyes were the windows to the soul, and her soul would was always one of concern, of dedication, of cheerfulness and of love. He wished he could see them now. Just one glance would give him enough courage to attack Tirek by himself. Bean didn't need to see Tirek's approach due to his earthshaking tread, but he knew when the abominable monster had halted his forward motion. His eyes slowly opened, and then they traveled up. He swallowed hard, and he made a mental note to have a word with the illustrators of that book. Their proportions were all wrong; he’d be amazed if he managed to reach Tirek’s knees. “Prince Baked Bean,” Tirek stated flatly, his arms crossed. “Tirek, Lord of Vordak and Haydon ... good afternoon. As the duly designated representative of the Kingdom of Equestria, I hereby order you to cease any destructive activity, return all illegally obtained pony magic, and return forthwith to your place of imprisonment.” Trixie scoffed. “Yeah, that oughta do it. Thanks very much, Bean.” Tirek’s low and amused laugh sent some loose stones near Bean’s hooves to jumping. “You dare to tell me what I can and cannot do? Who are you to deny me and my right?” Bean squared his shoulders and he gave what he hoped was a defiant stare. “I am a Prince of Equestria, Stallion of the Sun and the Beloved of Celestia. Her word is my word, and my word is hers. Return what you have taken, and we will be lenient with you.” Tirek outright laughed at this statement. “You are an even bigger fool than I had supposed.” “Return the magic, or I will be forced to take it from you.” Tirek’s smile flipped upside down, and a large sphere of magic began to build in between his horns. “I fail to see how you will achieve your goal.” Bean smirked. “You may have all the magic of Equestria, making you the most powerful centaur on the face of the planet, but we have something you will never possess.” “I have more power than you could ever imagine. What do you have?” “We have a Flint,” said Bean right before a furious blur of fighting foal launched out of a nearby bush and clamped down on his ankle. “Die, you tyrant wannabe!” screeched the former dragon king through a mouthful of ankle hair. “I’ll rip your leg off!” Tirek glanced at the the small attacker, then fixed Bean with a skeptical glare. “You must be desperate. You intend to defeat me with him?” Bean shrugged. “No. I just wanted to distract you.” A high-pitched whistle then split the air, but before Tirek could react, a large purple-tailed firework slammed into the side of his head and exploded in a cascade of blue sparks that looked suspiciously like Trixie giving a smug grin. “Ha! Did you see that?!” Pinkie Pie shouted with a snorting laugh while Tirek staggered and roared in fury. “Quill got him right in the ear!” “You dare to—” Tirek’s declaration of impending destruction was cut off when another firework, launched from somewhere in town, hit him in the chest and forced him back a step. “Last chance, Tirek!” Bean shouted, but the would-be overlord simply whirled and glared at the small yellow pest. “I will make you pay for this insult!” “Always the hard way with villains, isn’t it?” Bean shook his head. “Fine, I’ll pay. Open fire!” Five firework rounds then slammed into Tirek, hitting him in various points on his chest and along his barrel. A battle-cry of deep defiance then rang out, and before Tirek could properly process what was going on, he found himself in the middle of an onslaught. For a bunch of peasant ponies, they were surprisingly accurate and extremely well armed. Fireworks continued to scream into him, exploding in a colorful array of lights and thunderous waves of sound when they did so, but they were joined by a barrage of cupcakes that splattered in his face and rendered him blinded by frosting for a moment. Pinkie Pie chortled and giggled like a maniac while continuing her assault, and Bean wondered where she was getting her ammunition from and how she managed to throw so quickly. Bean, Wysteria, and Trixie were forced to retreat when Tirek stumbled forward, but Bean pumped a hoof in the air while he did so. “Big Mac! Now!” “EEYUP!” Big Mac and three other stout earth ponies then rushed Tirek’s position while pushing green snowplows, and in quick succession, the four of them crashed into the back of Tirek’s legs. The action quickly reduced the plows to scrap, but it was enough to knock off Tirek’s balance and send him crashing to the ground. Bean’s hopes rose with his adrenaline levels, and as Applejack ran by him with a rope as thick as his leg and long enough to wrap around Applejack’s barn twice he quickly followed to assist. Before Bean could blink, Applejack had one of the massive hooves wrapped up, but as they both ran the rope to the next one, Tirek stood and forced the two to abort their attempts and retreat. “You infernal ponies!” Tirek bellowed, but the rest of his rant was cut off by a barrage of large apple pies, each somehow managing to hit him right in the face. Tirek quickly wiped away the sugary mess with both hands, and he prepared to incinerate the several pieapults that had appeared from nowhere, and the ponies who were reloading them as well. They managed to fire again before Tirek could finish working his magic, and Bean could feel Tirek’s headache forming in his own head with the distinct ring of a hard metal object reverberating through the air on one of the impacts. “Pinkie! Where did you get an anvil?” Rainbow Dash asked. “Where do you get all these pies from?!” Pinkie replied with an accusing stare. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you’ve been saving all the ones I’ve been giving you!” “Heh, what?” Rainbow replied while Tirek shook off the attack and blocked a firework with his hands. “I just happened to have a lot of extra pies lying around, y’know?” Bean then let out a sharp whistle while running sideways, and he yelped in alarm as the hairs of his tail begin to burn while he outran the destructive beam that Tirek had aimed at him. “Salsa Picante! Now!” There was a sharp twang, and a bright red splat of every extra hot salsa, burning spice, and flaming pepper on hoof in town suddenly appeared on Tirek’s face. He shrieked in pain while stumbling backwards again, but this gave Bean the opening he wanted. Bean quickly rushed forward to again grab the loose rope, and while Tirek rubbed his eyes and shouted unintelligible threats of death and revenge, he moved from the front hoof to the back. “Darling, quick!” Rarity called out, and Bean felt the weight of the rope lighten a little with her levitation magic assisting. “Let’s teach this brutish oaf some manners!” Bean and Rarity managed one wrap around Tirek’s rear leg before they were sent flying by a surge of red magic, along with all of the other exposed ponies in town. “I HAVE HAD ENOUGH OF THIS INFERNAL NONSENSE!” Tirek roared, and with one quick blast, he reduced the pieapults to rubble. “You will give me your magic! NOW!” “No way!” Bean hollered back. “You didn’t say the magic word!” “Then I will rip it from your cold, lifeless—” Tirek, once again, did not get to finish his sentence. A lightning bolt hit him right in the flanks, and just as he reached back to swat at the cause of the pain, another bolt hit him in between the shoulders. “Let him have it!” Pokey called out. Tirek then found himself underneath the most intense lightning storm Equestria had ever seen. Dozens of clouds, each steered by two pegasi and ‘coaxed’ into unloading their stored energy by two more pegasi jumping on the tops in unison, rained down an electrifying torrent of pain that could not be avoided or negated. Tirek simply hunched over and huddled in on himself while the bolts continued to unleash into his hide, and more fireworks began to join in with the assault, turning the bolts the most intense shades of blue, green, and orange that had ever been seen. Bean was sure he was just about as shocked as Tirek was, but only in a figurative way. The attack seemed to actually be working, and Tirek had been fought down to a standstill! Once again he rushed forward, and this time he found both Wysteria and Trixie beside him on the rope. A short smile was shared while they ran to the next hoof and dodged the stray bolts that didn’t quite hit their mark, but they had to hesitate when they found Flint still attacking Tirek’s ankle. “Flint! Get out of here!” Bean ordered. One glance from the berserk colt and Bean knew he wasn’t going anywhere. Flint instead took a brief moment to climb up to Tirek’s hock, produce a potato peeler from his mane, and then he resumed his attack with furious, repeated stabs. “Forget him!” Trixie shouted. “He wants to get zapped, let him!” Bean shook his head and grabbed the rope, content to let the ‘king’ have his moment. Soon, all four hooves were securely tied off, and one step would send Tirek face first into the ground. Bean and the two secretaries then retreated, but once they felt like they were a safe distance away Bean turned to look at the chaos he’d created. Sparks were flying from the lightning bolts and the fireworks, another large red splat had appeared in Tirek’s face, Flint was shouting his own threats and promises of vengeance if anything happened to Celestia, and several ponies were moving new pieapults into position and loading them with fresh boysenberry bullets. “We’re doing it, y’all!” Applejack’s twang rang out above the din, and Bean’s heart swelled with joy and the hope that maybe they could stop Tirek. “Keep it up! He can’t fight us all off at once!” Bean should have realized right then that such a hope was based on nothing more than illusion. His joy and elation quickly turned to horror when Tirek straightened, opened his mouth wide, and swept a beam of un-magic across the pegasi operating the lightning clouds. With one rapid inhale, the magic of the attacking pegasi and the magic they’d put into the storm clouds was drained away, and he cried out in alarm while they all tumbled to the ground en masse. A few more pies were launched, along with another firework barrage, but Tirek simply stood and took the abuse with a smile while he grew even larger from his newly acquired magic. Then, with nothing more than a glance, his magic lashed out in large bolts, striking the pieapults and igniting the caches of fireworks, forcing the ponies who had been using them to flee and cover. “No, no!” Bean shouted, and he ran over towards one cache that had not fully been destroyed. A bright flash then pulsed through the whole town, and in an instant, everypony found themselves locked within large iron cages, unable to do anything more than shout and scream. “Well!” Discord announced, while he strode onto the scene and wiped his paws. “I do have to admit that was delightfully chaotic, but I think we’ve had quite enough now. Except for him,” he pointed to Flint, who had lost his potato peeler and had reverted back to chewing on Tirek’s leg. “That is just too hilarious! I just have to let him keep going!” “Discord!” Fluttershy cried out. “Why are you doing this? I thought we were friends!” “Oh, we were. But Tirek offered me so much more than tea parties. Surely you saw this coming.” “I didn’t!” Fluttershy sobbed while Applejack held her in a comforting embrace. “I really didn’t!” Tirek then chuckled with wicked delight while his magic levitated the cage that held the Elements of Harmony. It took only a moment to drain away their magic, but as he did so, everypony noticed that Discord looked away. Tirek then cackled slightly while he grew even larger, and he threw the cage with the now powerless ponies at Discord’s feet. “Do you really think she’d do anything for them?” “If Twilight has magic to give, it will be yours. Soon, there won’t be a pegasus, earth pony, or unicorn who will be able to stand up against us.” “US?” Tirek replied while his magic surged to life again. “Who said anything about us?!” “You did!” Discord pointed out with wide-eyed surprise, but Tirek’s magic seized him and hoisted him into the air. “You helped me grow strong,” Tirek said with wicked glee. “You have provided the means by which I can obtain Princess Twilight’s magic. And now, you are no longer of any use to me.” The collectively imprisoned ponies gasped and cried out while Tirek tore the magic from Discord with a glint of pure evil in his eyes. It only took a moment for the dastardly deed to finish, just as it had been with all the others, and once he was done Tirek simply dumped Discord and began to walk away. “But!” Discord called out while his trembling talon took Tirek’s medallion in hand. “You said this was a sign of your gratitude and loyalty; a gift from someone close to you.” “It was my brother’s, and he betrayed me,” Tirek replied with a sneer before looking over his shoulder. “It is as worthless as he is.” “Surely you saw this coming,” Applejack called out to Discord from within her cage. “I didn’t!” Discord replied forlornly, and he gazed at the medallion in horrified wonder. “I truly didn’t!” Tirek then began to walk away, but a whistling shriek pierced the air just before one last firework exploded across his lower back. With a stomp of his forehoof, Tirek rounded on the cage where the blast had come from, and he glared furiously at the defiant yellow pony within, who was attempting to light one more firework. “YOU!” Tirek roared, and he ripped open the top of the cage. “I have had enough of you!” Bean then suddenly found himself within the clutches of Tirek’s beefy hand, and movement became impossible from within it. Bean gagged and gasped for air, but Tirek’s grip was unyielding, no matter how hard Bean pushed against his crushing grip. He was determined to fight to the end, however, and just as Tirek brought him up to eye level Bean bit down hard on Tirek’s hand. Tirek simply chuckled in satisfaction, and Bean realized he’d have more luck trying to bite a rock. This was it: the end had finally come. Tirek possesed the magic of the Element Bearers, and all chaos magic now.  His plans had failed. He had failed. “You’ve proven yourself to be tenacious, I have to admit,” Tirek said while a ball of magic formed between his horns. “But you never had any chance of defeating me. You’re just a pony, after all.” Tirek then opened his mouth, and Bean shuddered and sputtered while his magic was taken from him. It felt like Tirek was removing everything that made him Baked Bean all at once, and he was helpless to stop it. All of his energy, all of his drive and motivation, even his very core felt like it was ripped clean out of him, leaving nothing but a cold emptiness inside. “How does it feel, Prince Bean?” Tirek mocked while he grew even taller and stronger with a crackle of energy. “I have taken everything you hold dear. Your wife, your loved ones, your friends, your magic, and your citizens. Everything you’ve ever cared about is gone, and you’ll get to die knowing that it’s all your fault.” Tirek then hoisted Baked Bean into the air, so that all could see how far the former chef had fallen. “Behold! Your Prince!” Tirek thundered, his voice seeming to echo throughout the whole of Equestria. He then drew back, and with a smooth, swift pitch, Bean was sent flying. Time seemed to slow for Bean while he sailed through the air, but he had to smile. He had heard that a pony’s life would flash before their eyes just before they perished, but the only memory that was coming to him was the flight he had shared with his beloved during their first visit to Salt Lick. He could feel her soft arms around his chest, and hear the beat of her wings that matched the beating of his heart. He could feel her breath in his mane, and he heard her perfect laugh in his ears. He then frowned as he realized his own impending end was not what frightened him. As his trajectory turned downward, he found that the thought of never seeing his beloved again was the most horribly frightening thing he could think of. Tears streamed from his eyes while he watched the ground grow larger beneath him, and he had three words upon his lips that he wished he could share. “I’m sorry, Celly.” And then he hit the treetops.