//------------------------------// // A Rook in Check // Story: Cozy Glow: FIENDship is Magic // by RainbowDoubleDash //------------------------------// Today For the first time in more than a thousand years, everything was turning up Lord Tirek. Raw magical energy slid into his mouth and filled his body. The taste was indescribably good, but that was only a secondary benefit. He could feel his body growing, not merely in size but in ability as well. Muscles bulged, his horns grew, and every movement because easier and easier as centuries of enforced lethargy and feebleness finally slipped away from him. All the aches and pains of his age were just gone, leaving only vitality – puissance – power! He finished his meal and took a moment simply to revel in it, feeling the wind flowing through once-more thick hair atop his head, feeling the warmth and glow of sunlight after so many long years inside of the dark depths of Tartaros, feeling raw invigoration! This! This was why he had learned at the hooves of Sendak the Elder, this was why Tirek and Scorpan had left the kingdom of Gar-Centauria and come to these realms so long ago…he and his brother had… …his brother… Tirek scoffed and brushed aside the sting of betrayal that welled up from within him as easily as he ignored the ponies that now lay listless and weak at his hooves. He was careful to avoid stepping on them but otherwise paid them no further mind as he walked forward and into the center of the park in this pony city, which featured a wide fountain. In it, he saw his reflection, and had to fight off a small urge to kiss it. I missed being me, he thought. Aloud, he continued in his wonderfully restored deep timber, “are you sure this is all the adults?” There was a flash, and Discord, the Lord of Chaos, was within the fountain, or at least his reflection was. “Bloo blout blee?” He asked, sounding like he was truly underwater. Discord rose from his own reflection and spat out a mouthful of liquid. “Really, Tirek, a little bit of professional courtesy is all I ask for.” Tirek found himself stroking his beard as he gazed around at the city that he could see beyond the park. “Forgive me,” he said, “it is only that this ‘Fillydelphia’ is so much bigger than any city I’ve ever seen. So much has changed since my immurement.” “Ooh, a vocabulary challenge?” Discord asked, now wearing some kind of suit and a pair of glasses and standing in front of a podium. “Immurement. I-M-M-U-R-E-M-E-N-T. Immurement.” A bright light shined behind the Lord of Chaos and there was the sound of a bell. He pumped at the air with his lion paw. “Now then, Tirek, your word is athragared.” Tirek felt his teeth grinding together. “What are you doing?” Discord blinked, appearing in his true form. “What, did you not invent languages while you were imprisoned? I did. I even invented one that didn’t have the verb ‘to be’ as a challenge. It went well until I tried to translate Haylet.” Tirek had no idea what that was. “Well, nevermind then,” Discord said. “To answer your question, yes, Tirek. Every single adult pony in the city was brought to the park. Remember who I am!” He leapt and floated backwards in the air, holding up his eagle claw. “One snap was all it took – ” He snapped his fingers. There was a flash, and a brown-coated pony appeared, looking around in panic. Discord, meanwhile, looked flabbergasted, and stared at his claw like it had betrayed him. Tirek stepped forward to the pony even as he eyed Discord. “One snap, eh?” He asked, reaching down and grabbing the pony before he could scamper away, ignoring its protestations as he opened his mouth and called upon his magic… …but then the pony stopped struggling, instead smiling as his eyes took on a familiar set of yellow-and-red colors. “Just kidding,” Discord said as he dropped the disguise, appearing in Tirek’s grasp. He effortlessly slid out of it, to the applause of the other Discord that still remained. “I even had me fooled!” That Discord exclaimed. Tirek looked at his now empty hand, then clenched it into a fist. He almost exploded before remembering who he was talking to – and how much he was depending on Discord right now to enable his rapid absorption of the power of ponies. He let out a breath. “I think,” Tirek said, folding his hands carefully behind his back, lest he start throttling one or the other Discord, “that we have been indulging in me too much.” The two Discords looked to Tirek curiously at that even as they became one again. “Oh?” “Yes,” Tirek said. “After all, you agreed to aid me because you wanted to be free again, correct?” Tirek gave a slight bow. “You have been at the beck and call of these insipid ponies for far too long. It would hardly be in keeping with what I promised you to expect you to simply serve my every whim.” He spread his hands wide. “Why don’t you go and indulge yourself? Take a break and just go and be the Lord of Chaos again.” Discord stroked at his own smaller goatee. “Hmm…I have been wanting to see about redecorating Manehattan. I’m thinking frogs and pigs. And if I can make it there, I can make it anywhere.” “I will still want to absorb all the magic there, of course,” Tirek added quickly, “so in the spirit of our alliance I do ask that you don’t do anything permanent to anypony there.” Discord put a hand to where his heart may or may not have been. “Permanent? You wound me Tirek. Still, you do make a wonderful suggestion.” He pulled out an odd hat that consisted merely of a cap and a sun visor, setting it on his head, and was suddenly adorned in pants and a jacket that was festooned with bright patches and buttons. He held a suitcase filled to the brim with knickknacks and stuck out his lion paw, thumb raised. “I’m off! Discord Takes Manehattan!” A large cart appeared from nothing and Discord climbed aboard. “I’ll be back in a few hours!” The cart sped off about six inches before disappearing in a flash. Tirek let out a long sigh of relief, rubbing his eyes. Finding Discord had been a stroke of luck. Convincing the Lord of Chaos to aid in his efforts to take the magic of Equestria into himself had been a masterpiece. But putting up with Discord was…trying. Extremely trying. Discord was best experienced directly in only small doses. Still, he finally had a little bit of time to himself, and he took the time to look around the park. Well-tended grass, patches of flowers everywhere, trees to provide ample shade, artificial ponds and streams…it was quite lovely to look at. Ponies were not lacking in their decorating ability. Well, except for the fact that the park was positively littered with the scattered, fallen forms of ponies too weak to do much more than crawl around, and even that only with extreme effort. Ponies were not good decorations. Grunting, Tirek snapped his fingers himself, conjuring bubbles around the ponies in groups of several dozen at a time, the bubbles depositing the ponies out of sight elsewhere in the park. It was a minor feat of magic, given the sheer amount that he had already absorbed. His labor done, Tirek once again folded his hands behind his back and started trotting down one path in the park, looking it over. There were animals aplenty here, squirrels and chipmunks and birds that had no fear of ponies but were still trying to assess whether or not they should be afraid of him. He closed his eyes as he stepped, just listening to the wind, the birds chirping, the crunch of the dirt path or grass beneath his hooves… …the simpering of a pony that was panicked and trying to hide and remain quiet. Two ponies, actually. Tirek paused in his trot, opening his eyes. His aimless walking had taken him to a small plaza of cobblestone, adorned with tables. The surface of each table was adorned with a black-and-white tile pattern, and every table had a collection of game pieces set upon them…chess pieces, Tirek realized. His brow raised at the sight. So even after a thousand years, chess was still played? That was comforting to know. The simpering had stopped, but with Tirek now standing in the middle of the plaza he didn’t need it anymore. The plaza was surrounded by thick bushes, to give it a bit of privacy and separation from the rest of the park. Those bushes would also make for an excellent hiding spot. Tirek breathed in deep, then let out a contented sigh. And then he charged straight at the bush, horns down, smashing through a table without even slowing down as he went. There was a scream and the sound of scampering hooves. He continued his lunge through the bush and out the other side, though only for a few feet as the bushes were further surrounded by a stone wall. The tips of his horns collided with and dug into the wall. He could have kept going, but he stopped instead as he saw what was in front of him, trapped between his horns, the wall, and Tirek himself. Tirek smiled as he looked over his brow. “What have we here?” he asked, tilting his head slightly. “A little filly?” Indeed, he was looking at a young female pony, with a pink coat unmarred by a cutie mark, and a blue, curled mane and tail, each with bows in them. Her red eyes were wide open and staring at him in complete, total terror. Then she bucked Tirek in the face.