//------------------------------//
// Tirek Arc; Down but not Out 
// Story: Logan and Carol; The Wolves of Equestria 
// by JNKing 
//------------------------------//

Logan wasn’t sure where he had ended up. One moment, he was struggling with Tempest, shrouded by smoke. The next, what felt like a magical grip had encompassed his entire body. 
But the last time he had been held like that, the magic was firm and concealing, like a bubble. This one was more like a river. Logan’s vision turned orange, and the world seemed to bend around him and Tempest as they were yanked along like a current in a river. Logan struggled to move; his entire body felt numb. Had someone snapped his back again. It didn’t feel like it; Luna wasn’t here! 
Logan made out a wide dark hole ahead of him, and before he could even think, “Well I’m not going in there,” he was sucked in. A dull drone hummed in his ears. The magic grip turned from a current to an ocean in a storm. Logan was tossed back and forth, different grips seizing him and flinging him like a tennis ball in a sadistic game of catch.
Logan struck out with claws he couldn’t even feel. Faces swept before him. Unicorns, pegasi, earth ponies. Stallions, mares and foals. All of them screaming in confusion and fear. But Logan couldn’t scream with them. He needed to find a way out! He needed to get back to Carol!
Logan wasn’t used to swimming, but this ‘ocean in a storm’ was no mere water and currents; it was magical auras, all swirling together in a vast emptiness. It took concentration, but Logan envisioned his claws, grappling with any auras that came his way. They were zipping around in confusion, looking for an exit they could not find.
Calm down! Logan snarled through his pack link, seizing the nearest aura and forcing it to remain still. What happened?! Where are we?
Don’t know! The aura whimpered. Scary centaur! Threw me here! Want to go home!
We will go home, Logan declared. But not if you panic.
The aura shivered, but started to slow, listening to Logan. However, that only set it up for another aura to crash into it. As Logan’s brief ally spiraled away back into panic, Logan saw a white hole open above them.
The auras of magic around him didn’t notice; they were too scared. But Logan was no pony. His magic curled up, and launched him towards the shimmering light. Yet, as he drew closer, he made out… a familiar hive.
“What madness is this?” a familiar voice raged. Queen Chrysalis came into view, along with her changelings.
“I’m sorry, Chrissy,” Luco’s voice bemoaned, though he didn't sound too sorry. “But, well…”
“With the spirit of Chaos at my side,” Tirek’s voice boomed. “I don’t need any of you!” 
“Traitor!” Chrysalis declared. “Seize him!”
The changelings rushed at him, hissing in anger. Then Logan saw the orange aura surround them. If he still had eyes, they would have widened in horror, because every changeling in that hive suddenly got another aura like the ones below sucked out of them. They began to crumble, while their magical auras zoomed towards Logan like water from a busted dam. 
Logan tried to ready himself to block, but he had no arms to shield him. He had no jacket to protect him. 
Just before the auras hurled him back into the depths of this magical prison, he caught sight of Discord and Luco, standing off to the side. Discord was chuckling, while Luco was staring on with worry and… even a bit of concern.
But Logan didn’t care about what the human was feeling. If Logan had teeth, he would have bared them in hatred. 
Whatever Tirek had done, Logan wasn’t going to let it keep him down. As he fell back into the bottomless void, he kept his sights set on the slowly disappearing white hole.
I’ll get out of here,  Logan vowed. And then? Discord, Luco… you both better pray!

#

Back at the Tree of Harmony, the mares had laid out five items before the chest; a spool of rainbow colored thread, a rubber chicken, a gold bit, a flower, and a Wonder bolts pin. 
“Okay, so… I’m not getting this,” Applejack said. “How’s a flower gonna be a key?”
“It’s not just any flower,” Twilight insisted, turning to Fluttershy. “Fluttershy, that’s the flower Sea breeze gave you after you realized the only way to show kindness to his people was by forcing them to leave your home.” 
Fluttershy nodded sadly. “The looks on their poor little faces,” she murmured. “But I knew that, difficult as it was, pushing them away was the kindest thing I could do.”
Twilight turned to Applejack. “And Applejack, the gold bit is the one Silver Shill gave you when you had to tell every pony that tonic the Flim Flam Brothers were selling didn’t work.”
Applejack grimaced. “How could I forget,” she said. “It was one of the hardest things I ever had to do. But in that moment, I knew I had to be honest. But what does that got to do with opening the chest?” 
“All of you had tough choices to make,” Twilight explained. “But when you made the right one and embraced your element, it helped some pony else make the right choice too.” She indicated the items. “These are what you received from the ponies whose lives you helped change. And I know it sounds crazy, but maybe there’s something special about these objects that can lead us to the location of the keys. The chest is connected to the Tree of Harmony, the Tree is connected to the Elements and the Elements are connected to all of us.”
“And again,” Rainbow Dash added. “How is a flower… a key?” She looked at the rubber chicken. “How is a rubber chicken a key?!”
Twilight started to speak, before pausing. “I have absolutely no idea,” she admitted. 
Pinkie Pie pounced on the chicken. “Come on, Boneless,” she snapped at the chicken. “Give us the key!” 
The chicken just squeaked. With a huff, Pinkie flung the chicken at the chest. But the second it touched the silver metal, the chicken transformed into a key with Pinkie’s element on it. The mares gasped, before cautiously pressing their own items to the chest. One by one, the items changed into keys with their respective marks, fitting easily into the locks. All too soon, however, they found themselves staring at the very last empty key hole. Twilight’s reflection gazed sadly back at her.
“There’s still one key missing,” Twilight moaned. “The key that represents the Element of Magic. My Element.” 
“But I’m sure that if we’ve gotten our keys, you have too, Twilight,” Fluttershy insisted.
“Think, Twilight,” Rarity encouraged. “When have you completed a difficult magical task, and in doing so, encouraged another to do the same?”
Twilight pondered it, but before she could speak, she was cut off by a howl. 
The mares stared out at where the howl was coming from. Fluttershy’s ears flattened. 
“Is that Logan?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“It’s Carol,” Fluttershy said, panic already spreading across her face. “But Logan used that tone before…” She raced out, followed closely by the others. 
The howl rang long and loud, allowing Rainbow Dash to take to the air and follow it. Her eyes widened as she caught sight of the wolves.
Carol was limping back towards Ponyville, stopping every once and a while to bay her sorrow to the sky. And right behind her, Logan padded along, watching her with dull, feral eyes like she was a rather interesting cloud. 
Rainbow Dash’s ears flattened. “Uh, oh,” she mumbled.

#

Twilight pushed open the doors to the Canterlot throne room. Her head was hanging; the image of Carol sobbing into Applejack’s shoulder burned into her mind. Along with the sight of Fluttershy hugging the de-powered Logan, who simply accepted it like a normal dog would accept hugs. Nothing like how he would normally pretend to endure her hug while grinning in love. There had been no sign of Discord, meaning Fluttershy not only had to contend with one of her friends getting his mind taken, but also the possibility that Discord had suffered an even worse fate.
Twilight could barely lift her head to acknowledge the princesses as they gazed upon her.
“Twilight?” Celestia asked. “What happened?”
Twilight lowered her head again. “Discord and Logan failed,” she whispered. “Tirek did something to Logan. He’s barely more than a domestic dog now.”
Cadence and even Luna gasped in horror; neither had many positive interactions with the wolf, but Twilight’s description was not something they would have wished upon the canine. Celestia, however, hid her grief for the wolf with a sigh.
“I’m afraid that Discord more than failed,” Celestia said. 
Twilight looked up. “W-What do you mean?”
Celestia tried to speak, but her words died in her throat. Luna gave her a sad grimace before continuing.
“Discord has betrayed the ponies of Equestria,” she said. “And joined forces with Tirek and the human.” 
Twilight gasped, before her eyes narrowed in anger.
“You mean that Discord was involved in whatever Tirek did to Logan?!” she said, an angry snort escaping her.
“It is very likely,” Celestia admitted.
“And with the magic that Tirek has stolen, ponies will no longer be in control of the world,” Luna added. “That power will belong solely to Tirek.”
Twilight sat down. How could this all have gone so wrong! Not only was a power-crazed creature destroying her land, but now, Twilight didn’t even have Logan! She remembered the aid he had given her against Sunset; the support he had shown her against the plunder vines… even his help with Daring Do against Ahuizotl. 
How am I supposed to do this without him? Twilight thought hopelessly. She almost missed the rest of the princesses’ words.
“But there is one solution,” Celestia said.
Twilight perked up. A solution, she thought. Yes! The Princess has a way to fix all this! She listened to Celestia intently.
“We must rid ourselves of our magic before Tirek has the chance to steal it from us.”
Twilight’s hopeful grin turned into a slackened jaw of shock. 
“And some pony must keep it safe,” Luna continued. 
Cadence put a hoof on Twilight’s shoulder. “That some pony is you, Twilight.”
Despair and terror gripped her heart. 
“Me?!” Twilight stammered. “But… why me?”
“We do not believe that Tirek is aware that a fourth Alicorn princess exists in Equestria,” Celestia replied. “If we transfer our magic to you, Tirek will not know where it has gone.”
Twilight wanted to just accept this plan; to put faith in her mentor, friend and surrogate mother. But she couldn’t.
Logan may not have been there, but a small part of herself heard his voice… and repeated his words out loud.
“But… Discord knows,” Twilight pointed out. “And he joined Tirek. What would stop him from just telling Tirek about me?” 
Celestia gaped at Twilight, her stoic façade crumbling entirely. Twilight’s ears flattened, and she shrunk down.
“I-I’m sorry,” she stammered. “I just thought it, and…”
“No, Twilight, you are right,” Celestia assured her. “Just…” her head bent. “It was the only plan we could think of. But you’re right; with Discord aligned with Tirek and the human…” 
A crashing sound emanated from the outside. With slowly dawning horror, the alicorns raced to the outside… and Twilight whimpered as she saw Tirek bashing down the gates to Canterlot. The centaur had grown larger and stronger; his sickly frame was beefed out with muscle, and a pair of sharp horns had appeared on his head. Strangely enough, every time he absorbed magic, Twilight swore she saw something silver around his mouth; almost like claws trying to force their way out.
Logan? Twilight thought, before a familiar cackle distracted her.
Discord flitted about Tirek like a fairy, cackling in glee as he added small bits of chaos magic, driving ponies out into Tirek’s waiting clutches. And on the ground, Luco fenced with a royal guard, holding his bat like a rapier, before just bashing the guard’s helmet and golf-swinging him right into Tirek’s grasp. 
“Princess Celestia!” Luco called. “It is my great honor to introduce you to the new…” he paused, balancing his bat on his arm before swinging it into the chin of an attacking pegasus. “Conquerors!” Luco declared. “Of Equestria!” He burst into song:

Lord T. Rex!


Yes, he just wrecked


All of your home lands!

Tirek snarled. “Lord, TIREK, you imbecile!” he growled.

“Read our lips,” Luco sang over him. 


And come to grips 


With reality!


Yes, meet a blast from the past. He scratched his head.


I think; for centuries, you did last


Until you met your precious LORD T. REX-HEY!” 

The last part was due to Tirek snatching the human up and pitching him across Canterlot. 
“AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!” Luco squealed like a little girl as he soared towards the mountains. 
Discord gave Tirek a miffed look before snapping his fingers; the mountainside Luco was seconds away from crashing into turned into a large banana cream pie, which Luco hit hard enough to splatter frosting over Canterlot with. 
“Thank you!” Luco called, while Celestia turned away from the sight.
“We’re out of time,” she mumbled. She turned to her guards. “Hold him back as long as you can.” She turned to Twilight. “Twilight, you must escape with our magic! Use it to unlock the Tree of Harmony if you have to.”
“But I…” Twilight tried to interject, but Celestia gripped her chin with her hoof.
“Princess Twilight,” she said desperately. “You represent the Element of Magic. If there is any pony who can hold our magic and use it to find the gifts the Tree has left us, it is you!” 
Twilight still whimpered, as the sounds of combat drew closer. Celestia’s voice took on a pleading tone. 
“This is the role you are meant to play as Princess of Equestria,” Celestia insisted.
Twilight forced herself to calm down. She took a breath.
“Of course,” she said. “I will not fail to do my duty!”
Celestia turned to the others. “Then we must begin at once!” 

#

Logan battled against the stream of magic as best he could. Outside the white hole, he could faintly see Canterlot, but it was clogged with the constant auras that were being forced down Tirek’s throat, trying to wash Logan away with them.
But Logan did not give up; he learned how to grab the auras with claws made of his own aura, and used them as stepping stones, jumping up and keeping as close to the mouth as he could get. 
The hole kept opening and closing, but Logan hoped to be able to get close enough to jump out the next time it opened. As he fought past the latest aura to get swallowed, he looked through the hole… and noticed something was going on at Canterlot castle. Why were the windows glowing? And why did it keep getting closer?
Another aura smacked Logan, nearly throwing him into the now bloated stream of auras below him.
Don’t get distracted, Logan, he reminded himself, pulling himself up further. Get out of here first, bite everything with hooves later.

#

Back outside, Luco raced back over to Tirek. The guards were attacking in force now, but none of them could get close without getting their magic sucked out. 
As Luco returned to Discord’s side, the chaos spirit gave small shudder and glanced up at the glowing windows of the palace.
“That can’t be right?” he muttered. 
“What?” Luco asked, before Tirek glanced over as well.
“Yes, Discord,” Tirek growled. “What can’t be right?”
Discord pondered the glowing windows for a second, before shrugging. “Nothing,” he replied, before his sight got set on a familiar white unicorn leading the last charge of guards. “Why, Shining Armor!” Discord greeted. “Whatever are you doing here?”
“Back off, traitor!” Shining Armor growled, blasting a bolt of magic at the chaos spirit. Luco leaped in the way, batting the magic aside with his bat.
“Traitor?” Luco asked. He tsked and wagged his finger at the unicorn. “Now that’s just harsh! I’ve known Discord for far longer than you ever did.” He chuckled. “At least, I do just because you never gave him the chance,” he added in a darker tone.
“And I can see it was for good reason,” Shining Armor replied, as he and Luco circled each other. “He betrayed Equestria. He betrayed my sister!”
Meaty red hands suddenly closed around Shining Armor’s neck, lifting him into the air.
“The only one Discord betrayed was himself,” Tirek snarled, while Luco spun on the remaining guards. “Abandoning his true nature to make friends with weak minded equines who offer him nothing!”
With that, his jaw unhinged, and Shining Armor’s magic went down his gullet. Luco paused, cocking his head as he noticed a silver claw reach out from Tirek’s throat. However, Tirek’s jaw snapped down, and the claw faded into sparkles. 
“Discord,” Luco noted. “Did you…” He turned, only to see Discord looking down in doubt on the de-powered Shining Armor.
“How…” Shining Armor moaned weakly. “Could you do this?”
Discord looked away, that doubtful expression on his face, but Luco just knelt before Shining Armor.
“I think T. Rex made it pretty clear, boy,” Luco said softly. “It was a choice between equines that either pretend to like him or just straight out hate him, or the chance to be himself.” He lifted Shining’s head to whisper in his ear. “I don’t know about you, but the choice seems kind of obvious to me.” 
Tirek glowered up as the glow up at the castle faded. He turned to Discord, who hid his doubt with a grin. 
“Why don’t you go and have a little fun?” he offered. “I won’t stand in your way.”
Discord giggled in glee, and teleported away, while Tirek stormed the castle. The last of the guards quickly fell without their commander. Luco trailed behind, grinning darkly at Tirek’s flank. 
“Soon,” he promised himself. “Soon…”
With a roar, Tirek grabbed the doors of the royal palace and ripped them off their hinges. He tore into the throne room, where Celestia, Luna and Cadence all sat. Luco tilted his head as he noticed a battered and weakened look to them, along with the lack of a certain fourth princess. Tirek, however, saw nothing but his next prize, seizing Celestia and dragging her to his mouth. 
Yet, when he inhaled… only that silver claw came back out again, causing Tirek to gag in surprise. Luco and Celestia gasped as Logan’s head briefly reared in Tirek’s mouth, only for Tirek to snap his mouth shut again with a panicked look. He gave Celestia another glare.
“What have you done?!” Tirek demanded. 
Celestia simply smiled coldly at him. Tirek threw her aside, and seized Luna and Cadence. Again, no magic came from them. Instead, Logan’s aura forced it’s head out, howling in agony.
“Logan?” Luna declared. “Lone Wolf! Fight him!”
But Tirek breathed in and snapped his jaws shut, and the Lone Wolf once again faded from sight. Tirek ground his teeth in fury, and even Luco gasped in realization.
“No…” Luco breathed, while Tirek hurled the princesses down with a roar of fury.
“WHERE IS YOUR MAGIC!?!?” he bellowed. 
Luco’s eyes narrowed, and he left the throne room. 
“Discord,” he called. “I need your heavenly guidance!” 

#

Carol paced through Ponyville. She couldn’t bring herself to go back to Fluttershy’s cottage. Logan was there; sleeping on a pet bed when he normally would have scoffed at such things. Sure, Fluttershy was taking care of him, but Carol still couldn’t stand to see him this way. So… innocent and subservient. The way he walked after her or Fluttershy with that… childlike love in his eyes. It was all so wrong. 
Carol looked up with a growl. Tirek… whoever was involved in making Logan this way, she vowed. I will find you. And I will make you pay.
Carol was jarred from her venomous thoughts as a streak of purple suddenly zipped through the air. Twilight’s shriek slammed into Carol’s ear drums, seconds before a crash sounded further away.
Carol sprinted after the purple, noticing the other five mares converging on its landing sight. From a small trench carved into the groudn, Twilight staggered to her hooves, electricity sparking across her fur, and her wings extended.
“Oh, my goodness!” Fluttershy whispered. “Are you alright?”
“Jumping June bugs, Twilight!” Applejack exclaimed. “Where’d you learn to fly that fast?”
“T-Tirek,” Twilight mumbled, flinching with every crackle of electricity. “Attacked Canterlot… Took the princesses…!"
Fear began to show on the five mares faces; even Rainbow Dash started to look worried.
“Wait,” Carol said. “Tirek’s at Canterlot now?!”
“He got the Princesses?” Rarity asked in horror.
“Not their magic,” Twilight said, a hint of a smile showing before it vanished with another crackle of electricity. “Not their magic… safe…” she patted herself before flinching at another crackle.
“Twilight?” Carol asked. “Are you…?”
“We’re running out of time,” Twilight stammered, turning to her friends. “Tell every pony to stay indoors, hide themselves well and don’t come out for anything! Then meet me at the Castle of Two Sisters! Key or not, we need what’s in that chest!” 
The mares all looked flabbergasted, but the wild look in Twilight’s eyes dissuaded conversation. 
“You can count on us, Twi,” Applejack declared, and the five mares, dragon and wolf scattered, while Twilight disappeared in a flash of purple towards the Ever-Free.
Carol found herself running alongside Applejack.
“I can get the ponies near the farm,” Carol told Applejack. “You go warn your family.”
Applejack gave Carol a thankful look.
“Much obliged, Carolina,” Applejack replied, before racing for her home with a burst of speed.
Carol herself shot towards the house closest to Applejack’s farmland. A simple straw building, but oddly quiet. Shouldn’t ponies have noticed the dread in the air? Unless they were already hidden.
Part of Carol felt tempted to just let that house be. But then a scent hit her nostrils; a very bad scent for a pony to be having in their house.
“Hey!” Carol yelled, hitting the door with her shoulder and then her back legs. “Anyone in there! Hello?!”
A small shuffling sounded, but it was wrong. There was only one pair of footsteps, not two pairs like normal ponies. Carol’s ears flattened, and she hit the lock with a burst of lighting, bashing the door open...
And promptly getting floored by a hit from a baseball bat.
Carol’s back hit the ground, her claws clutching at the welt forming on her head. Before she could regain her senses, a blanket fell over her body.
“Go to sleep,” Luco’s voice crooned, before he promptly dragged her inside, shutting the door with a click.