He had been so close. I had been watching the boy for months now. He had not been quiet about his quest so his exploits had gained the attention of many a mortal. Eventually even my Legendaries were following him. The boy had sought to free me from my prison.
In a vain attempt to battle and capture me obviously,but the insult of being challenged by a brat barely out of his teens would be a small price to pay for my freedom.
He had been so close! Until that damb cult got involved. Team Eternity.As I think about them the space around my body heats and vibrates in response to my anger. They seek not to control powerful pokemon,or to increase their own status in the world. No they have a more down to earth goal.
THEY SEEK TO MAKE THE WORLD UNCHANGING AND TO FOREVER ENSLAVE MY POKEMON AS THEIR PETS AND SERVANTS! THEY AIM TO TRAP MY LEGENDARIES WITHIN THEIR HELL SPAWNED FOREVER BALLS! IF I EVER GET OUT OF HERE I WILL PERSONALLY ROOT THEM OUT OF EVEN THE DEEPEST PITS OF HELL ITSELF! THERE WILL BE NOWHERE TO HIDE FROM MY WRATH!
In space just beyond the Earth's outer atmosphere a distortion of space,time and antimatter warped the empty void for a moment so brief it went completely undetected.
Twilight Sparkle's key levitated to its lock on the crystal chest.The six mares, Spike, and Discord watched as the last hope for Equestria was about to be unleashed.
Just as the key was about to reach the lock it was pulled away by a firey red aura. It flew over their heads and into the hand of Lord Tirek. They all gasped as the villain examined the key.
"So this is some great secret weapon is it? " he held it up close for a better look. He was going to snap it in two, but stopped when he caught the rainbow gleam of magic.
Tirek opened his mouth to eat the magic. At first it seemed not to work, but then a thin wisp of multicolored light flowed from the key. When its magic was consumed the key crumbled to dust.
Tirek laughed, and laughed again at the looks on their faces. "What? Don't you have anymore last lines of defense? " Pinkie shook her head. "No? " Tirek arched his eyebrows in mock surprise. "Too bad. " he fired a magic blast at them.
They all jumped out of the way, but Pinkie Pie's nose had twitched and itched making her sneeze. The blast was on a direct path to her. When she looked she saw nothing but red. She blinked.
"Oof! " She had expected searing pain, or at least the smell of burning hair. Instead she got the wind knocked out of her, and was thrown sideways across the cave floor. Following that was the sound of a small explosion.
Standing wobbly to her hooves Pinkie found herself several yards away from where she had been. In her place, slumped against the crystal chest was Discord with a large burn on his side.
"OhmygoshDiscordjustsavedmylife! " Her face pulled back from the g-forces as she rushed to his side.
The others were only slightly shocked by the sight of her hugging and kissing the draconequus. He had just saved her life after all.
Fluttershy smiled and tapped her on the flank. "Uh, Pinkie Pie, I think that maybe, if you don't mind, that I should check to see if he's okay. "
"Oh, allow me. " Discord was levitated up to Tirek for inspection. The evil centaur looked Discord up and down, then roughly poked a finger into his victim's wound.
Discord barely managed a weak groan "ooh" , but it was enough to pain the hearts of the six mares. Tirek was disappointed, and tossed Discord over his shoulder.
Discord landed in a heap, his bat wing dislodging and fluttering of by itself. His left eye slowly opened. In place of his normal red and yellow eye was a swirling pattern of six different colors.
Applejack threw rocks at Tirek shouting the whole time. "Ya dirty rotten no good low down scoundrel son of a..." The next rock was blasted from her hoof.
Looking down on them with disdain Lord Tirek motioned for them to move away from the chest. "Stand aside and you will be allowed to live. " he walked forward with a charged blast ready.
They couldn't actually do anything to stop him, and a with shame on their faces they backed away. He leaned down, opened his mouth and inhaled. Magic from the keys, locks, chest, and tree flowed in a multicolored light. As Tirek ate the tree began to lose its lustrous glow.
Something zipped in front of Tirek's face briefly interrupting the flow of magic. He did not seem to notice. Twilight however noticed a thread thin stream of magic running along the cave floor. Following it with her eyes she was led to Discord's bat wing trying to reattach itself.
She nudged Rarity, and Fluttershy and jerked her head in Discord's direction. They got the message and sneaked their way to him. Twilight then showed the others what was happening, and motioned for them to help her distract Tirek.
Before any of them could do anything else Pinkie Pie was suddenly on a unicycle wearing a clown hat and juggling rubber chickens. Tirek squinted an eye open and quickly snapped it shut before he could lose concentration.
"Pinkie Pie? " Rainbow Dash asked. "Where did you get that stuff? " She would normally not ask so as to avoid a headache, but this was a distraction.
"I've got party supplies stashed all over Equestria. " She threw all three rubber chickens into the air, and balanced on the seat of her unicycle. "How else do you think I restock, and reload my party cannon so fast? " She shrugged, and lost balance.
Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Twilight Sparkle watched as the unicycle flew off behind her. It bounced off the cave wall, flew into the air, and hit the rubber chickens. The objects seemed to target the centaur, and with a smack smack smack wirrr the chickens hit him in the face one after the other as the unicycle spun around on his horn.
Tirek's eyes snapped open. Rainbow Dash fell over with genuine uncontrolled laughter. Applejack held her breath to keep from giggling only to release it as one loud HA. Tirek closed his eyes and covered his ears so he could concentrate on draining the tree.
Twilight tried, and failed to calculate the odds of that happening. Leave it to Pinkie to still be random and unexplainable after having the magic drained from her. She just stood there and watched the unicycle continue to spin on his horn.
Tirek was losing patience with these annoying ponies, but he had to concentrate on draining the tree. It was taking a long time. Suddenly the flow of magic increased in speed, though he thought it felt odd.
Rarity had missed the comedy due to her and Fluttershy struggling to catch Discord's wild wing. They were slapped, whacked, spanked, tripped, and even had their manes ruffled.
Rarity finally lost her temper, and tackled it out of the air. She landed on Fluttershy and pinned the wing between them.
"Oh, I'm sorry, I know he isn't doing this on purpose. " Fluttershy said causing Rarity to roll her eyes.
They each grabbed the wing in their teeth and brought it to Discord. As they got closer to him Discord's wing started to struggle. It slipped from Rarity's grasp and double slapped her on both cheeks.
While her friend was stunned from the attack, Fluttershy had managed to get closer. The bat wing was random, erratic, and chaotic. A pony would have to be as strong as Big Macintosh to keep control of it, but Fluttershy could be strong when she needed to be.
Now she needed to be strong. She held the wing in her hooves above the shoulder joint. It pulled hard enough to lift her off her hind hooves.
"No! " she stared, and summoned her hidden strength. "For my friends. For the princesses. " she thought to herself.
"For him! " she said aloud. Rarity raised a brow at that but stayed quiet.
There was an audible click, and a small starburst flash of white as the wing was reconnected. The magic flowing into Discord spiraled, and increased in speed.
He was healed. He levitated into the air, spread his arms wide with claws upturned, and grinned. When he opened his eyes Rarity, and even Fluttershy backed up. His eyes were swirling vortexes of HIS magic. Chaos.
"Oh, the irony of chaos fueled by harmony. " he thought to himself.
Discord floated along the top of the cave, coming up quietly behind Tirek. The centaur was now larger than any dragon that Discord had ever seen. The Tree of Harmony had nearly been drained.
Discord hovered near Tirek's horns, took note of the unicycle still hanging from one, and tapped a talon on his chin. "I don't know what this will do to Equestria, but Tirek won't stop with just part of the planet that's for sure. " he nodded having finished the thought.
He grabbed the unicycle, and raised it over his head. He shook it once, twice, three times tuning it into a sledgehammer, giant oversized mallet, and finally a tiny little bell hammer. As several mares face hoofed at his choice of weapon he wrapped his snake like coils around Tirek's head blinding him, trapping his hands, and more importantly cutting off the magic.
He had a time of it but held on as Tirek spun shook, and bucked. He raised his tiny hammer and brought it down on Tirek's head. BONG! Repeatedly. BONG BONG BONG BONGITY BONG BONG BONG! Each strike released more and more of Tirek's magic which Discord then drained into himself.
Everypony else was cheering Discord on except for Twilight. She looked only at the Tree of Harmony. As the last of its lustrous glow faded, and its magic was depleted she remembered the visions that Zecora's potion had given her on the night of the plunder vines.
(Princess Celestia stood before the Tree of Harmony with Princess Luna. Celestia told her sister "The Tree of Harmony possesses powerful magic. As long as that magic remains Equestria is safe. ")
"Oh no! " Twilight's ears drooped. "Girls! " she yelled and ran around in panic. "We have to help Discord finish off Tirek so he can put the magic back into the Tree of Harmony before something bad happens because it can only protect Equestria if it has its magic and it's empty now which is bad, really bad, really bad, really really really bad! "
Applejack bit onto Twilight's tail, careful not to hurt her, but stopping the panicked mare. "Calm down Twi." she let go and pointed with her own tail. "Discord has it handled. "
The farm mare would not have given Discord credit for anything other than trouble just and hour ago, but she had just seen him display the elements of kindness, and loyalty in him. "Ya just saved one of my kin ya big trouble maker, and I won't ever forget it. " she promised silently.
Discord stood tall over the defeated Tirek who had reverted to his weakened form. "I'm in possession of all the magic in Equestria. " he spoke aloud. Holding out his talon and paw he formed a small star.
Twilight was impressed by his control over the magic. "Uh, Discord? " she waved to him. "Could you put back the tree's magic now? "
"Oh, I'm sorry princess, but the tree is dead. " he was completely calm, and just played with his star.
"WHAT! " Twilight looked back to tree. She was horrified. The Tree of Harmony was gray, and cracked with pieces falling off.
Spike finally decided it was safe to stop hiding. Normally he would be right there beside the mares if he could help it, but honestly this time he was just plain terrified. He got worried when he saw Twilight. Her face was somewhere between a rage shift and her crazy overreaction face.
The others looked almost as bad. Under normal circumstances he would avoid taking to Discord, but with how the mares were acting it seemed safer.
Given that, and the fact that the Tree of Harmony looked (well he had never seen it before but it looked) bad, Spike chose to talk to someone he had very good, and recent reasons to fear.
"Um, Discord, do you think you could rescue the princesses, and maybe send this, " he gestured to Tirek "back to Tartarus. "
"Of course Spike. " Discord snapped his claws, and the princesses appeared.
Celestia stood between her sister on her left, and her niece on her right. She took in the scene before her. Twilight and her friends were in near hysterics, Tirek was thankful defeated, and Discord appears to have all the magic in Equestria. WHAT!
Luna felt her sister tense up, and decided to speak before she could explode. "Hello everypony, did we miss something? "
They stopped freaking out, but couldn't seem to answer. Except for one. Pinkie Pie had vanished after Discord beat Tirek. Now she returns, pulling a rather large wooden crate by a single rope she held with her tail. After placing the crate in front of Tirek (who suddenly found his hooves chained) she faced the princesses and explained.
"Discord trapped us in a cage and let Tirek eat our magic then got his magic eaten too and then Tirek had a big battle with Twilight but he cheated and used us as bait so she traded her magic for us Discord included. After that Tirek followed us to the Tree of Harmony and tried to blast us after he ate the magic from Twilight's key and everyone jumped out of the way but I sneezed and would have been hit if Discord hadn't pushed me out of the way. " she inhaled for a five count.
"So Discord got hit instead and he was hurt really bad and I said OHMYGOSHDISCORDJUSTSAVEDMYLIFE so I hugged him and kissed him " Celestia shared a raised eyebrow with Luna "but he was unconscious so he didn't notice. Then Tirek was a big meanie and poked Discord in his burn before tossing him over his shoulder. Then he started draining the magic from the tree but what Tirek didn't realize was that part of his magic was still chaos cause you can't just get rid of chaos so Discord was powered up a tiny bit. " another inhale.
At this point the royal sisters were simply flabbergasted. Cadence made the very wise decision to stop listening, and go comfort her sister-in-law.
"So it was up to us to distract Tirek while Discord recovered which is how I ended up hitting him in the face with rubber chickens. " Pinkie Pie smiled proudly. "Oh hang on I'm forgetting something important. " she tapped her chin in thought.
She held her thinking pose for quite a while. Everypony knew it was no use talking since she would just interrupt them. Rainbow Dash however lots patience, and said "...
"Oh! Now I remember. " Rainbow Dash face hoofed. "The tree is dead. " she pointed a pink hoof at it.
Discord watched the scene play out, but his mind was elsewhere. He knew there was no stopping what would happen. His chaotic mind was powerful enough to see into other universes under normal conditions. Now he could see into multiple,versions of the past, present, and future of multiple universes.
Celestia approached him, and he felt bad because she had been weeping. All of her little ponies were in danger, and he knew he was partly responsible.
"Would you mind opening a gateway to Tartarus so we can lock away the filth. " she practically growled as she spoke of the centaur.
Without speaking Discord grabbed at the wall behind Tirek, and pulled open an actual door. Celestia was about to turn around, and buck Tirek back to prison but was stopped by Pinkie Pie.
"Wait! " Pinkie pulled a cord on the crate making the sides fall away revealing "Use this. " a gigantic party cannon pointing directly at Tirek.
Nopony moved as they tried to figure out if it was even small enough to fit in the box it came in. It didn't look it. Tirek however had a different problem.
The centaur was desperately trying to release the chains from his hooves, but they were enchanted or else just to strong for his weakened arms. "Damb ponies. " he muttered. He fell flat on his face. He hadn't tripped, his chains had pulled his hooves out from under him. He glared at Discord, and was met with a sneer.
The silent unanimous decision was made that this time the bigger the party cannon the better.
Pinkie Pie walked to the best spot in the cave to see the show. She wished she had pillows or something for everyone to sit on, but no sharp rocks under your plot would have to do. Reaching into her mane she pulled out a remote control with a single red button. "First pony to reach me gets to do the honors. "
One moment of hesitation. Followed by a short stampede.
Twilight, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Luna all watch jealously as Spike holds his claw over the control.
"So, Tirek, " Spike cocked an eyebrow "any last words? "
The evil centaur stood straighter, raised his head high, and said "I BOOM! which is how he got a mouth full of confetti and glitter. As he flying back to Tartarus he heard the small dragon shout "Sorry, I couldn't hear you over the sound of a party cannon exploding in your face! "
Celestia wished she could laugh at that, but the situation remained the same. Getting her little ponies attention "While it would normally be a cause for celebration that our enemy has been defeated, I am afraid that Tirek has left a permanent scar on our world. "
Six friends, a young dragon, and a princess listened carefully as the royal sisters explained. "The Tree of Harmony was just one of many powerful artifacts placed at key points around Equus. " Luna continued "These artifacts served the purpose of absorbing negative magic, and putting out positive magic. "
Celestia spoke "They are all connected, no matter how far apart by ley lines. " She stopped them from interrupting, and continued. "Ley lines are alignments of numerous key points across the globe. One ley line alone would circle Equus either vertically or horizontally. "
"One by itself can provide enough magical energy to perform certain high level spells. " Luna explained. "Where two meet however is a place of very powerful near limitless magic. "
One young mare figured it out. "So if these artifacts absorb and contain negative magic, "Twilight added up the information "and they are all connected by ley lines then that means that all that negative energy that the tree had absorbed over the centuries would have to go somewhere. "
"Yes Twilight, so what would happen if that energy went into the ley lines? " Celestia waited for her former student to solve the problem.
"Well, if that much negative energy were to simply explode outward it could deviate an area the size of the Everfree." Twilight did not like where her mind was taking her. "So if it spread through the ley lines to the other artifacts it could flood them with bad magic and break them, releasing what they had absorbed. "
Rarity shuttered as she imagined that "I'm hardly an expert when it comes to the laws of physics, but if all these artifacts were to break and release their bad magic into these ley lines, would that not be bad for the planet? "
"Indeed," Luna had a single tear in her eye "our world will become uninhabitable, and nopony will survive."