//------------------------------//
// Lies Overcome? 
// Story: TiM: A Tyrant's Words 
// by Twidashforever 
//------------------------------//


Warclaw


“I told you we need to expand the irrigation channels to water the crops. I don’t understand why you feel that the livestock should have the greater priority. They'll all starve if we can’t grow anything.”

“What’s the point of growing crops if we all die from starvation when we don’t have enough to eat? The livestock has to come first!”

Icarus rubbed his temples as the argument carried on in the griffin court. On and on it went, a useless parade of griffins coming in here and wanting him to use his authority to deal with whatever petty problems they could not solve for themselves. No griffin seemed to take into account that they were still rebuilding from a bucking war. No griffin seemed to care that as emperor, Icarus might have slightly more important things to do with his time. The greatest sin was that none of them seemed to notice that right this second was the WORST time to bother him.

These two griffins were in here every single day making the same damn argument every time they came in. They were both right and wrong at the exact same time. The worst part is they solved this argument before. Aurora came up with the plan to ensure that both the food and livestock would get the water they needed, and while it was not as much as these two wanted, it was ‘equitable’ as she put it. These two were simply here trying to take advantage of the other now that she was gone. The stress was really getting to him today. Today there was not a set of hooves rubbing his shoulders and whispering that he should not bite their heads off. Icarus was missing that kind smile. He was missing all of that she was, and needless to say, he was NOT happy about missing her.

Sadly, for these two idiots, they did not seem to notice that her absence was not a good thing for any griffin.

“Branthor! Shiden! Both of you need to get the buck out of here before I order the guards to cut your bucking heads off.” He growled beneath his breath. Icarus did not shout, but the message got across all the same.

“Emperor,” Branthor bowed, “We cannot simply ignore this problem! Without more water we will not have any crops for next year.”

“I believe I have made it perfectly clear that I want you two gone. Now get the buck out.”

Neither of them turned to leave. They were testing him. Over the past few months, Icarus’s reputation softened with his subjects. They found that the griffin emperor was actually approachable. However, that newfound reputation did not seem to take into account that it was because of a certain pegasus by his side. Now? Now they would find out exactly what it meant when she was not there.

“Emperor, be reasonable! You know the livestock has to come first!” Shiden said to him.

“Reasonable huh? You want me to be reasonable?”

‘Now they not only disobey, they also back talk? I don’t think so.’ Icarus thought to himself.

He glanced around at the guard to his left. They would carry out his order without question. That was too easy; he needed to set an example. He was never the sort of ruler that refused to get his own claws dirty, or bloody as the case may be.

Icarus flew to the side of the council chamber and grabbed a spear from the guard there. He turned around and pointed it at the two griffins that now, began slowly backing away. Fear was evident in their eyes. They each turned to the other, their earlier fight all but forgotten in the face of a pissed-off emperor.

“Oh, no… It’s much too late to back away now. The penalty for disobeying a direct order is death. I think both your heads will look great on pikes.”

“ICARUS!”

‘Crap…’

That one voice instantly extinguished his rage. Looking at the situation he was in, he knew that he was in the wrong. Icarus did not intend to take it this far, not at first anyway; however, these two idiots pushed all the wrong buttons today. Icarus could only watch as Siros flew down from up high. 

His dad always commanded the respect of every griffin when he spoke. In truth, Icarus believed that it was only Siros’s force-of-will that gave his rule any credibility. If it was his dad’s wish, there was no doubt in Icarus's mind that he would still be in charge. If Icarus were being honest with himself, he would gladly give it back to him. Being emperor was way more trouble than it was worth.

The old griffin turned to the two in court. “Maybe tensions are running a little hot today? How about you two come back another day and we can deal with this in a more civilized manner?”

“Sounds good to me.”

“Me too.”

They both bowed to the former ruler and turned to leave. Siros thought for a second before adding one more detail to the two as they left the chamber. “Make it about a week.”

‘Aurora should be back by then.’ He remembered.

As he watched the two leave, each grateful to simply be alive; Siros turned to the ‘other’ problem in the room, his son.

“What was that about?”

Icarus suddenly found the carpet very fascinating as he dropped the spear on it. He was never shy about fighting with his old man before… before her, but now? Now it seemed shameful. He could see that his actions were wrong. He knew that she would not be happy about what he almost did.

He actually did not want to have this conversation in public, even if the only griffins around were just the guards.

“Can we talk about it in private?” he asked his father. A note of pleading resonated in his voice.

“Sure, let’s go to your chambers.”

As they made their way to his chambers, Siros could not help but notice a look of defeatism in his son. It seemed that something weighed heavily on his mind. Even on his best days, Icarus was always rash and impulsive, but lately he had been getting better, until today that is. Something was bugging him in more ways than one. Siros could only hope that Icarus would talk to him about it.

...

As Icarus shut the door behind them, Siros glared at his son. “And what was that about?”

“Those two are simply a waste of space, dad. Trust me; I'd be doing us a favor.”

“A favor? Really? Never mind that between those two ‘wastes of space’, as you so elegantly put it, those two feed all of Warclaw. Tell me, when their heads are on spikes, just who would take over?”

Again, Icarus found the carpet very fascinating.

“Now tell me… what was that really about?”

“I miss her.”

“Come again? I'm getting old son, I can’t hear that well anymore.”

“I said I miss her.” Icarus raised his head to meet his father’s gaze with his own. “Ok, I miss her. I miss her being around. I miss her calling me an ass. I miss… I miss everything about her.  I… I never thought it would feel like this.”

Siros smiled at his son. In truth, he had felt the same in his day, it was love. He saw that clear as day. Siros felt the same way every time he looked at Rainbow Dash. Her brazen nature, and take life by the balls way of living never failed to inspire him. Sadly, his was a love that would never happen, Rainbow found her soul mate in Twilight Sparkle. While Siros did move on, that spark he felt for Rainbow never went away. She would always be his one, his one that got away. He was happy that his son would never know what ‘that’ felt like.

“Icarus… son, I understand. However, she is a Princess of Equestria. She has duties to fulfill over in her own land, duties that will pull you two apart at times. We cannot have a ruler who threatens to cut his subject’s heads off every time his marefriend has to go home. Besides, she's only been gone two days.”

Icarus laughed at that. “Two days, might as well be two years.” He smirked. “You’re right… It’s just hard, ya know?”

Siros laughed a little at that last comment. “Trust me, I know all too well.”

“I mean, I don’t even know if she'll be able to come back.”

Siros grinned at his son; it seemed Aurora had yet to tell him her little secret. However, it was not his place to break ‘that’ news to him. “I promise you son, she'll be back.”

“How do you know?”

“Call it, a random twist of fate.” Siros smiled warmly towards his son. “Let’s you and me spend the rest of the day together. I’ll tell the guards to cancel the rest of the meetings.”

“Really?”

“Really, what can I say, you’re right. They’re largely a waste of time anyway.”

Siros watched the smile light up his son’s face. It reminded the wise old griffin of happier times, times before his wife passed on. It seemed as if there was still some of his son in there, a part of that carefree boy that he loved did still exist. It was something else he owed to Aurora, revealing the truth that his son was still buried somewhere beneath his bravado. Siros resolved to spend the rest of his days getting to know that part of his son again. After all, now that he had a grandchild on the way. Siros could not think of anything more important than family.

…………………………………………………………….


Appleloosa


Blood Dawn struck out to end this before Night could cast anything. He shot out with a blade-hoof directly at her head.

Shimmering Night grabbed Blood Dawn’s blade before it reached her. As he struggled to pull it free from her grip, the blade cut into her hoof, causing blood to drip down her hoof and pool beneath her. The pain only served to strengthen her resolve. The hatred in her eyes told the story as clear as day. Yes, this creature injured her. Yes, it was her fault that he was like this; had she bothered to look into it more, maybe, just maybe, she might have prevented this. None of that mattered right this moment. Whatever he was, whoever he was, he made the mistake of threatening her mom, Rainbow Dash. Night resolved to make him pay a thousand times over for that alone.

As he struggled to pull free, the blade cut deeper into her hoof. She did not care. Night lowered her horn and channeled all the pain and rage she felt into it. She aimed it directly for his chest and let the magic go. With a force of a thousand earth ponies kicking out at once, the magic energy beam slammed Blood Dawn through the ceiling of the cave, causing the black pegasus to scream in pain as he rode the magic energy out into the atmosphere, trailing drops of blood along the way. Shimmering Night took wing, her intent to finish off this creature evident in the determination on her face. The blood lining the walls indicated that she hurt it. However, such beings did not die easily. She would chase him down and end him herself.

Her heart told her that Bright Dawn was gone. She could not save him for there was nothing left to save. Looking back on it now, Blood Dawn’s play was obvious. She knew the creature had not lied when he spoke; it was too painful to be a lie. He was gone; there was no way she could get him back. The best she could do for him is to stop this creature from using his body for its purposes. It was the only way to honor his memory and apologize for failing to save him, for failing to be there for him.

Night closed her eyes as she left the cave. The bright light of the sun would have blinded her otherwise. As soon as she shut her eyes, Night felt the presence of a strong magical force coming from Appleloosa. Even with her limited ability to sense magic, she could tell it was not Ataxia’s power, which meant trouble with a capital T.

Squinting, Shimmering Night looked in the direction of Appleloosa. What she saw horrified her to no end; Lord Tirek was growing to twice the size of the largest building in the town.

“Ataxia!”

Worry and panic forced their way into Night’s chest. Her thoughts about Blood Dawn left her immediately. She would deal with him later. For now, her friend needed her help. Night mentally cursed herself for leaving Ataxia to deal with Tirek herself. Ataxia did not know what he was; she did not study up.  This was Night’s fault and she would make it right, regardless of the cost.

……………………………………………

Ataxia smiled as she lay on the ground. She did it; she found a way to beat her destiny. Even as Lord Tirek started walking to her, she still found the energy to laugh about it.

“What’s so funny, little pony?”

“I did it; I won’t be the one to kill my friends, to kill the alicorns.”

“Yes you did, congratulations, you managed to escape your fate. Too bad theirs remains the same.”

Even though she was completely exhausted, Ataxia questioned his comment, she did not understand what he meant. “What… What do you mean? I won’t kill them now.”

“You’re right, you won’t kill them. ‘YOU’ will not, but with the power you so willingly gave me, I will. I must thank you, the last time I felt anywhere near this powerful was when I drained all the alicorn magic from  Princess Twilight Sparkle. However, even your little gift won’t stop me from killing you.”

Ataxia laughed a little.

“What’s so funny?”

“You are. You still think alicorn magic is a big deal.”

Tirek paused at that. “The only magic stronger than alicorn magic was yours, and you gave that to me.”

Ataxia laughed a little louder. “Oh my, and ponies say I’m not that bright.”

“Enough of this little pony, you will die here and now!”

She smirked, while there was nothing she could do about it, it did not change the fact Rainbow could make mincemeat out of this demon when she was called in. “You will be joining me soon enough.” Ataxia spoke her last words.

Tirek raised his left hoof to slam it down on the arrogant unicorn with all his might. That was the plan anyway. Just before it made contact, a purple energy beam slammed into Tirek while he was off balance, causing the giant to fall onto his side. A searing pain lanced down his right flank.

Shimmering Night landed next to Ataxia. She was not sure what in the name of Hades just happened, but it was a safe bet that it was somehow Ataxia’s fault; history taught her that much. While she wanted answers, she would not take her eyes off the demon.

“Hey Night…”

“What did you do?”

“I did it, I beat my destiny.”

“Ok, you need to explain that right now, cause from where I’m sitting, we’re both going to die.”

“He showed me, it’s my destiny to kill the alicorns, to eliminate harmony from this word. I… I couldn’t let that happen, so I let him have my power.”

Night’s eyes went wide; she turned from Tirek and faced her friend.

“You did what?!”

“I beat my destiny.”

“Ataxia,” Night facehoofed. “How do you know he wasn’t lying to you?”

“He… He showed it to me; he showed me what Discord said.”

“Sweet Luna… Ataxia, using magic I can show you anything. You can use it to make anything happen. Why did you believe him?”

“You don’t understand…”

“What I understand is that Tirek now has all your power. If we do not stop him here he will proceed to drain the magic from every pony left in Equestria until Rainbow and Twilight are all that’s left to stop him.”

“But this way I won’t kill everyone.”

“Even if that is somehow your ‘destiny’, what does it matter? He will kill everyone. Death is death, all we can do is put it off as long as possible.”

“But…”

“No buts Ataxia. I can’t bel--”

Night did not get to finish that sentence. A powerful beam of magic caught the alicorn on the flank and sent her flying into the distance. Tracing the beam to its source, Ataxia saw Lord Tirek standing up.

“How many alicorns are there now?” He asked as he readied another magic blast and ran forward in the direction he sent Shimmering Night.

Ataxia thought about Night’s words. ‘Was she right? Was it all just a lie?’ She could not believe that, it felt real, she knew it was real. It hurt too much to be anything else.

‘But what about what she said, if they die here and now… what difference will it make?’ Her thoughts began to betray her actions. Ataxia was never a thinker, never a pony who considered the long-term consequences, but she could not help but wonder what the consequences were this time, and who would end up paying the price for her rash decision.

‘Did I just screw up? What if it was a lie after all?’

…

Shimmering Night rolled off the magic energy. She extended her wings and caught herself in an updraft after falling more than a couple of hooves towards the ground.

‘That bucking hurt,’ she thought.

Wincing in pain as the bruise on her right side reminded her that this was still a battle; albeit, one she knew she could not win. Tirek was stronger than she was. However, that did not matter. Her parents had fought plenty of battles with far stronger opponents in their time. The key was to find their weakness and use it against them. Even the strongest opponents had weaknesses; all she had to do was find Tirek’s.

She could not think about it much longer. Her rampaging foe jumped with all his might and sought to impale her on his horns. A quick teleportation spared Night that fate, but Tirek was quick; he spun around and sent another magical blast right at her.

Night ducked under it, but only just. The magic energy came dangerously close to causing her to lose her tail. Night took advantage of her ability to fly in order to out-maneuver the larger target. She fired back. The blast struck true, causing the monster to crash into the dirt.

Her smile faded as Tirek dusted himself off. He was shaken but unfazed by the attack.

“Your magic feels familiar to me, Tell me alicorn, who are you?”

“Why should I tell you anything?!”

“It is a mark of honor to know your foes name before you kill them.”

“So in your mind you already won? Getting a little ahead of yourself, aren’t you?”

“Well, I need something to write on your tombstone. When I place it next to Twilight Sparkle’s”

“No one hurts my mom!” She flew directly at him, the thought of this creature getting anywhere near Twilight filled her with an all-consuming rage.

Tirek smiled as she took the bait. ‘I knew it.’ He thought. The magic this alicorn had, it possessed an all too familiar feel to it. While it was nowhere near the level of Twilight’s all those years ago, he would never forget what that felt like. How much those shots had hurt.

As she got in range, Tirek backhanded the alicorn,

For Night’s part, she realized her mistake all too late. That was the second time today that a foe threatened her parents. The second time someone talked about killing one of them. After the event with Blood Dawn in the cave, she would not stand for it anymore. She flew at Tirek only to have his fist collide with her side seconds before impact.

Night felt several bones give when she took that hit. She crashed, hard, in the center of Appleloosa. A trail of dirt formed from where she impacted on the ground and skid to a stop. She could barely raise her head as she watched the demon began his trek over to her. Testing herself, she looked back, relieved that both wings survived the hit. Only her back left leg was broken.

“You are the daughter of Princess Twilight Sparkle.” Tirek stated, it was not a question. “The one who used the magic of friendship to defeat me last time I was here. I will take great pleasure in presenting your head to her when we next meet.”

The ground shook with his footsteps.

“To think, one such as I could ever have been defeated by her. When I have your power combined with the dragacorn’s, I shall be more powerful than ever before.”

Night could feel the vibrations grow as he got closer. Every one of his steps caused her teeth to rattle in her skull.

“This time, there will be no 'rainbow power' to foil my plans. For you are alone, little alicorn, and I shall enjoy myself before ending your life.”

Tirek stopped walking forward and readied his magic. Shimmering Night tried to stand but her leg would not support her weight. She was too tired to fly. There was nothing she could do to stop him; Tirek picked her up in his magic. “Alicorn magic, it goes down so smooth…”

“EAT THIS!”

Ataxia jumped from a nearby roof onto her foe and stabbed the demon in his back with her horn. The pain of it caused Tirek to lose his magical grip on the alicorn. Seeing Ataxia risk her life like that while completely drained of magical power caused Night to find her resolve. She teleported directly over Ataxia and reached out to grab her friend with her hooves. A magical shock from Ataxia caused her to pull back suddenly. She retreated to a safe position, readying to help her friend as soon as she could.

Tirek swung his arms wide in an attempt to dislodge the unicorn from his back. Ataxia grabbed onto him with all her might, unwilling to let the demon go. Unfortunately for Ataxia, it was not a bull she could ride for long. After one nasty hit, Tirek sent Ataxia flying into the air. Shimmering Night caught her friend and blasted the injured Tirek away; the blow sent the wounded demon to the other side of Appleloosa. She knew it was just temporary; he would not be down for long.

She placed her friend on the top of a nearby building, relieved that there did not seem to be any lasting damage to Ataxia. Her concern immediately went to frustration and then anger.

“What do you think you're doing?!”

“Helping.” Ataxia looked confused; she did not seem to understand what could have happened there.

“You don’t have any…” Night could not finish that sentence. She could feel a magical pressure from the mare.

“I know, I don’t have magic, but I couldn’t just let him do that to you.”

“Ataxia… you do still have magic…”

“No, I let him take it.” She stared at Night, confusion written on her face.

“Ataxia, I can sense it in you, and when I tried to reach you before, something... something stopped me…”

That alone spoke volumes to Ataxia. Of all the things Night was good at (and there was quite a lot on that list), sensing magic was never one of them. If Night could still sense some magic in her… “What are you saying, Night?”

“I don’t know how, but he didn’t take everything you have.”

“But… But he caused me to transform back…”

Night just stared on, shock written on her face. ‘How's it possible that Tirek did not take everything? Was this just power she did not have access to until now? If so, how strong is she?’ The greater ramifications would have to wait for another day. They still had Tirek to deal with after all.

“Try and transform again.”

Ataxia stood up and backed away from Night. She concentrated hard on her transformation. Attempting to access whatever it was that Night sensed in her. As to punctuate the urgency of the situation, in the distance Night could see Tirek standing up.

Nothing happened.

“Ataxia, you’ve got to try harder.” Desperation rang out in Night’s voice. She saw Tirek ready a magic blast at their direction, it seemed the demon no longer cared about getting Night’s power. He simply wanted to end the life of the two mares that injured him.

Ataxia struggled with all her might, her concentration evident by the sweat purring down her face.

Night saw that she was not going to make it, and stood up on her three good legs and raised the strongest shield she could. The blast hit seconds later. Magic energy washed over the shield. It held, but barely. She could not stop it a second time.

Tirek noticed it too. The demon readied another blast.

Ataxia poured everything she had into it. “How are we doing…” She grunted through her concentration. Whatever Night sensed, she could not find it.

“Fine…” Night lied. She could not stop Tirek; her shield would not save them again. There were no options left. Their only hope of victory lay with Ataxia pulling off a miracle. With no options remaining, she put herself directly in front of her friend and the demon. Whatever happened here, she knew that she could not stop Tirek. Only Ataxia had that sort of power, she just needed time to find it. Sadly time was the one thing they did not have.

Tirek fired off the next blast. Night strengthened the shield as much as she could, it was not enough; it was not anywhere near enough to stop this.

Ataxia opened her eyes just in time to see the blast approaching, Shimmering Night, her lifelong friend, was standing between her and certain death.

“NIGHT!” Ataxia screamed.

……………………………………………………………

A smile crossed Tirek’s face as he watched the shield collapse and a cloud of dust cover the building. “Shame to waste all that power.” He said.

His smile turned to ash as the dust settled in the distance. The building stood. On top of it, the dragacorn wrapped its tail protectively around the alicorn.

“Impossible.” Tirek could not believe what his eyes saw. Somehow, the dragacorn found enough power to transform again.

Night opened her eyes and stared at her friend. “You... you did it.”

Ataxia looked at herself. “I… I don’t know how. When you were going to take the hit for me, I… I found it.”

She smiled at the dragacorn. “It doesn’t matter; you did it in the end. Now let’s finish this together.”

Ataxia smiled back. “Together.”

The two friends took wing. Tirek launched several more blasts at the two, but Ataxia was easily able to brush them aside. As soon as the demon was in range, she readied her flame and shot out with all her might.

Shimmering Night concentrated all the magic that she had left on the area right in front of Ataxia’s mouth. She cast an enhancement spell and focused on doubling, then tripling, the magic energy Ataxia was about to unleash. Ever since the incident with the Titan, she had been learning quite a lot about her special talent. Night put that knowledge to use now.

As Ataxia’s energy passed though the portal Night created, it increased in power exponentially from Night’s special talent. Ataxia’s aim was true. Her flame impacted against the strongest shield Tirek was able to create.

The shield held. 

For a few seconds anyway. It collapsed shortly after impact. The demon cried out in agony as he roasted alive from the dragacorn’s flame. His flesh went first, boiling off in the magical heat, followed closely by his muscles and internal organs. During it all, he never stopped screaming.

When it was over and the flames exhausted themselves, all that was left of Tirek was dust in the wind. Not even his bones survived the magical dragon fire he was doused in. The magical energy the demon stole coalesced above him. In a flash, it was gone. A large portion of it returned to Ataxia, back to its rightful owner. The rest seemed to disperse in the air.

Ataxia turned to Night. “I’m sorry.” For the first time in her life, Ponyville’s biggest troublemaker actually meant it.

“No, I’m sorry; I shouldn’t have left you alone like that.” Night laughed a little at that. “I... I almost lost you. Hunts are two pony teams for a reason.”

“Where did you go anyway?”

“I’ll tell you on the way home.” Night fell a few hooves in the sky, she did not have Ataxia’s reserve of power to draw from, and was quickly feeling the effects of fatigue, the day’s events were coming back to haunt her. Ataxia swooped down and caught her in her claws.

“Alright, but I’m flying.”

“Sounds good to me.” Night replied. “I told you it was just a lie.”

“As you say.” Ataxia sped off back to Celestia’s Palace in Canterlot. While the hunt was definitely unconventional, they could at least report that it was successful, even if the two of them were too late to save the town.

A final thought crossed her mind as they left Appleloosa. ‘Was it just a lie?’

………………………………………………

Grim Night smiled as he watched the two fly off. He still could not believe how close a call it had been. If they were unsuccessful in killing Tirek, he would have had to step in and finish the job himself. Still, the dragacorn did not disappoint, and the other, Shimmering Night, had an ability of great interest to him. He had to admit, despite a few hiccups, everything still went just as he planned.

“That sucked!”

Well, almost everything… Blood Dawn was still alive.

Blood Dawn landed next to his brother. His wings torn and frayed from the impromptu ride he took on his wife’s energy blast. Though they were quickly healing, it was obvious that they were still hurting him.

“Grim Night, that is the last time I take a dive. Got it?”

Grim Night smiled. “Understood, Blood Dawn.”

“Tell me it at least worked.”

“I’m putting the finishing touches on it now.” Grim Night dug into his repertoire of black magic. Finding the spell he was looking for, the revenant drew upon the excess magical energy released from Tirek’s death. The demon had been useful, very useful. Tirek was one of a few beings that could draw the magic energy from others. It was a simple task to feed the demon just enough energy to begin the process and then let him loose. Grim Dawn armed him with the knowledge that if he killed his victims after taking their magical power, he would never lose it. The silver tongue Tirek then preceded to do what he did best.

Grim Night did not exactly lie about that last part. It was true, if the magic had nowhere to go, it would stay with him. Unless he died that is. Then, without a host, it would simply disperse over the land. It made for prime pickings for someone to come along and take it.

As Grim finished his spell, the energy coalesced around him. Empowering the revenant with all the magic the demon just lost. Every cell in his body felt energized. His body began rebuilding; his cells were regenerating from their decayed flesh to the looks of a stallion in his prime, one that easily looked no older then twenty-five.

“So, what’s next on the agenda, brother?” Blood Dawn asked his companion.

“What’s next you ask?” Grim Night laughed at that. The next part of his plan easily began taking shape in his mind. “The next step is to pay my mom a visit.” His smile grew wicked at that thought.

Three months later