The Return of Tirek
He never liked traveling at night, but this was the fastest way to get home. A young unicorn with a brown coat, white mane and tail, and three pixel orbs as his cutie mark rested on his flank. His horn glowed with a bluish aura, levitating a barrel of oranges. The area grew darker as he walked pass an alleyway, soft pale fog surrounded the place. All that was heard was the soft galloping of his hooves…and rattling.
The unicorn turned around, his heart beating in fear, until he saw an empty can roll out from a pile of boxes near the garbage cans. He sighed in relief and continued on his way…only to be stopped by a mysterious cloaked figure. The figure's face was completely covered by a dark hood, and his breath could be seen.
"Very sorry. You came out of nowhere." The pony said kindly. He figured this was simply a lost old stallion. His heart raced as the figure spoke in a slow, calm but also somewhat scary voice.
"Is he friend of is he foe, the pony wonders…"
The unicorn looked at him in confusion.
"I can assure you, I am no friend…"
The unicorn caught a glimpse of the lower part of his face, seeing his dark red skin, brushy beard and apparently had human arms and hands, only unlike the humans he was now used to seeing, this stranger had four fingers instead of five. Suddenly, the unicorn felt something strange, his horn's magical aura began to fade away, its sparkling magical essence literally lifting away from his horn. The pony felt as if something was being ripped away from his inside. His eyes widened, his pupils shrunk as his magic was slowly leaving his body. His eyes began to turn pale, his cutie mark fading.
"And I will take what should have been mine long ago."
The stranger had his mouth open as the magic began entering his mouth. The unicorn felt weak, powerless. The oranges he was levitating fell to the floor and he collapsed. His eyes were pale, almost white and his cutie mark was completely gone. The stranger in the cloak suddenly grew a few inches in size, his body briefly glowing orange as he did. The weak unicorn saw the stranger smile wickedly, his sinister yellow eyes glowing as his sinister laughter echoed in the alleyway.
"Who..who are you?" the poor pony asked.
"I am your worst nightmare come true…I am Lord Tirek."
Once again, Korra woke up in the middle of the night screaming. However, unlike her previous nightmares, this one was nothing like the others. She had never had a dream like this before…
Or was it even a dream?
(~)
Things were peaceful at Air Temple Island. Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie were with Jinora, training the airbenders while Meelo and Ikki instructed a few younger airbenders. It's been six months since Korra had gone, and even Twilight was away for a long time.
"Put your backs into it!" Meelo commanded, once again trying his hardest to behave like a real commander.
Inside, the dinning hall to be precise, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo were sweeping the place and cleaning the tables with cloths. Sweetie Belle swiped with her broom, and was surprised to see a pair of feet. The pony slightly lowered her ears as she look up, seeing the tall combustion woman. P'Li had been living at Air Temple Island for the past few days. She smiled at the filly.
"Want some help?"
The three ponies looked at one another unsurely, they did not exactly hate her, but they still didn't entirely feel all that comfortable with her just yet. Apple Bloom was the first to respond, "Uh, no thanks. We're good."
Sweetie and Scootaloo nodded their heads for emphasis, grinning nervously as they did. P'Li lowered her shoulders sadly, she should have known that they wouldn't be comfortable around her after just a few days.
"Oh…okay."
Suddenly, a loud but happy voice was heard when Rainbow Dash's head stuck out of the window. "Hey, guys! Tenzin's gonna make an announcement! Come on outside!" her head zipped out of the window and the crusaders all eagerly ran outside to hear what Tenzin had to say. P'Li hesitantly followed.
Once outside, the airbenders and ponies all chatted happily amongst themselves, until they saw P'Li. The woman looked at them all with a look of worry and fear as they all looked at her with disapproving glares. She might as well have been heading into a wolf pack covered in meat sauce. While they knew that the Alicorns, and even Korra, had given her a second chance, they were still unsure if she could be fully trusted. She sure didn't seem to be trying to harm anyone, but they preferred to be safe than sorry. The woman didn't move from where she stood, the looks she received from the airbenders made her palms sweat. She spotted the hyperactive anthro pink pony, waving happily at her direction.
"P'Li! Over here!"
The woman smiled, at least someone was being nice to her. As she approached the pony and the rest of the Mane Six, minus Twilight who was still away at the Crystal Empire, she could hear the airbenders whispering amongst themselves, glaring at her as she passed. Not long ago, P'Li wouldn't think twice about blowing them out of the sky with her combustion attacks, but that was before, when her mind was not in the right place, now the idea of blowing them away just seemed wrong and unnecessary. They had every right to be mad at her, who was she to believe she knew better than they did? Once she reached Pinkie and the rest of the ponies, she sighed sadly.
"Did every airbender on the island show up?" she asked sadly, only to have Fluttershy placed a kind hand on her shoulder. Their attention turned to Tenzin, along with his daughter Jinora.
"Hello, everyone. I am sure you're all wondering why I asked you all to come here. Well, I have some news that I believe you all should hear." however, his expression was far less than happy or thrilled, "I have recently received word from the South Pole, and it would appear that Princess Korra…won't be returning tomorrow as planed."
The airbenders and ponies all gasped in shock and worry, chattering amongst one another, asking what could have delayed her stay.
"Why isn't she coming?"
"You think she's gotten worse?"
"Did something happen?"
"When will she be back then?"
Tenzin rose his hand to silence them. "I do not know exactly when Korra will return. But in the mean time, we shall keep our promise and keep things in order until she comes back. I miss her as much as you all do, but we must remain strong for her. After all, we wouldn't even be here is it wasn't for her. She will get through this."
The news only made P'Li feel even worse. She was a part of the group that tried to take Korra out. She may not have been there for when she was poisoned, but that didn't make her any less guilty for trying to kill her. Her heart raced and her cheeks turned red with embarrassment when, once again, all angry eyes fell on her. She knew what they were all thinking: If it weren't for her anarchist group, Korra would have been back by now. The woman covered her face with her hand, not wanting to make eye contact with anyone.
(~)
Rainbow Dash petted the head of a sky bison while P'Li raked the hay for the large creatures to eat. She basically took every shore at the temple in hopes of clearing out her name. As she worked, she sighed sadly, "Uh, I'm never gonna live this down, am I?" she asked the ponies, who were all caring for the bisons.
"Well, you and the Red Lotus were pretty bad with Korra." Fluttershy pointed out as she fed a baby bison.
"No kidding." said Rainbow Dash, "We weren't the ones being poisoned, and yet we could feel that stuff stinging from inside of her! It aint no picnic!. And let's not forget that your ex-boyfriend clipped both hers and Twilight's wings, rending them nearly completely powerless. Ow!"
The pegasus pony received a good whack on the head by Rarity, "Rainbow Dash, she already feels bad enough, she doesn't need you bringing it up again."
Rainbow rubbed her head, still feeling the sting of the slap, "Sorry, but it's true."
"No, she's right." said P'Li, "If the Red Lotus hadn't done anything, Korra would still be here. I still can't believe that after everything I've done she was willing to give me a second chance."
Pinkie Pie said, "And especially after you tried to eliminate all of the airbenders back at the air temple with your combustion blasts." Leave it to Pinkie Pie to add even more salt to the wound.
Rarity smiled sympathetically, "Oh, darling you have us. And we too have forgiven you for your past…*ahem*, boo, boos." her eyes shifted to Rainbow Dash, glaring at her. The pegasus crossed her arms and groaned.
"Yeah. But I'm still pretty ticked Korra hasn't come back yet. I get she's upset and all, but is being away from all of us really going to help? And what about Twilight? I haven't heard a word from her since she went to visit Cadance."
"Sometimes a little time alone is what one needs." said Applejack.
"Oh yeah? What ever happened to 'friends are always there'? or 'we'll stick together through the hard times'? Just because they're upset it doesn't mean they have to go through this alone. I get they need some space, but too much space isn't right either."
The girls had to agree that Rainbow Dash did make a good point. They knew that Korra and Twilight both having some time to themselves was what they needed for a while, but did they plan on handling this whole thing on their own? Just because they didn't think their closest friends would understand?
Suddenly, Bolin came rushing towards the group, "Guys! Mako called! We've got to get to the police station!"
(~)
The Mane Six, even P'Li included arrived at Headquarters, entering the interrogation room, where they stood before a two way mirror, looking at Lin and Mako interrogating a male unicorn with a brown coat and white mane and tail. The ponies arrived to see Asami and Flash standing outside before the window, listening through the intercom what they were saying.
"What's going on?" asked Rainbow Dash.
"Last night, a pony was attacked." said Flash Sentry, "Listen."
Lin spoke to the stallion, who's eyes were pale in color and had bangs under his eyes. "Okay, just explain to us exactly what happened."
"I…I was heading home when, when I saw this stranger standing before me. Next thing I knew…my magic was gone. And so was my cutie mark."
The others on the other side gasped in shock. His magic was taken away? And his cutie mark was gone? As they got a better view of the pony sitting on the chair, they indeed noticed that his flank was completely blank.
"Did he say anything to you?" Mako asked.
"He said; 'he will take what should have been his'"
"What did he look like?" Lin asked.
"He, he looked like he had hooves…and hands. I don't remember much after he took my magic, but I also noticed his skin was red."
This made Mako and Lin even more curious. A creature with hooves…and hands? How was that even possible?
The unicorn could no longer sit up and he fell down from the chair, nearly passing out. Mako assisted the poor creature and placed him on top of the table. "He's even weaker than when he first came in." said the firebender, noticing the unicorn's pale blue eyes, "He needs medical care."
"I'll make sure he gets it." Lin said, "Right now, I need you to figure out what is going on."
Mako nodded and exited the room, seeing his friends…and P'Li.
"How could someone, or something possibly take away magic.?" Asami asked.
"I'm not sure." Mako responded honestly, "But I think I know where we can find out. Come on, Flash."
The two boys headed out the door. "Where are you going?" Bolin asked.
"To see our bosses."
(~)
The large doors of the throne room opened as Mako and Flash Sentry entered the grand room where the three alicorns stood.In Equestria all ponies maintain their pony forms, and only gain anthro when in the human world. The boys kneeled before them.
"Your majesties," Mako spoke first, "I apologize for the inconvenience, but we have come with disturbing news."
"I am well aware of it." said Leilani, catching the two boys off guard. "Come with us. We have something very important to show you."
"Where's Princess Twilight?" Flash asked with concern.
"We tried to contact her, but she would not respond. So, we need you to give her this information."
The alicorns led the two boys into the royal library, where Luna levitated a book from a shelf and placed it on a table for the others to see. The book was brown in color, decorated with golden edges and the image of a golden colored unicorn was imprinted on the cover. The sun princess approached the book, her expression was stern and even…angry, which was very unlike her usual self.
"The story we are about to tell you is one we have long avoided." said Celestia in a very serious, and sad tone, "A memory that still brings pain to our hearts, even to this day."
The firebender and pegasus pony looked at the princess with sympathy and sadness. Just what happened in the past to make her seem so broken and hurt inside? Apparently, Twilight and Korra were not the only ones who had been through a terrible experience they wish they could forget, but seemingly can't for some reason. As Celestia opened the book, showing illustrations of two strange looking creatures. One had the upper body of a muscular man with horns sticking out of its head, and a horse-like lower torso, while the second looked more like a humanoid monkey bat with a lion's tail. The two boys looked at the illustrations as Leilani narrated,
"This story is of Tirek. He was a creature from a distant land. He and his brother Scorpan one day came to Equestria, intent on stealing the magic of our home. However, Scorpan soon came to appreciate the ways of Equestria, even befriending a young unicorn wizard." as she flipped the page, Flash pointed with his hoof at an image on the page.
"Hey, isn't that Starswirl the Bearded?"
"Indeed. He and Scorpan were the best of friends. It was his friendship that truly made Scorpan realize the error of his ways. He urged his brother to abandon their plans. When Tirek refused, Scorpan alerted me and White of Tirek's intentions. But sadly, Tirek had already managed to achieve most of the magic in Equestria, increasing his power and strength. White and I fought hard against him, but he eventually managed to overpower us, threatening to hurt our daughters."
The queen took a brief silence before she continued. This next memory was one that remained with her for the remainder of her long life.
"White fought valiantly, but he couldn't bare to allow Celestia and Luna to parish in the hands of Tirek. He made the ultimate sacrifice…He willingly rid himself of his magic in return for our children. Tirek kept his end of the bargain, but White was now powerless. I tried to help him, but he demanded I take the girls somewhere safe….that was the last time we ever saw him."
The two princesses hung their heads in sadness, their ears lowering as silent tears rolled down from their eyes. This was truly a heartbreaking story. Tirek had been the one to take White away from them. Without his magic, White was powerless and could not fight. Believe it or not, they could all relate. Even though Korra and Twilight did not die, if they had it still would have been a traumatizing moment for them. The girls were lucky, but White…
"Once the girls were safe, the loss of my husband was too much for me. But then I remembered, he would never have wanted me to give up. He would have wanted me to keep going. And so I did. With the love I had for my family, and the love I received from my subjects, I found the magic within me to defeat Tirek. Stripping him of his magic which then returned to their rightful owners. Scorpan returned to his own land, and Tirek was sent to Tartarus for his crimes."
Leilani closed the book and the two males looked at the closed book in complete shock. "But it appears he has found a way to escape." Celestia stated.
"We believe it happened when Cerberus left his post at the gates." said Luna. Cerberus was the three headed guard dog who kept a watchful eye on Tirek, but now it was clear that the evil creature had managed to escape his prison and was on the move.
"But that was a long time ago." said Flash, "Why is he just now starting to steal magic?"
Leilani walked towards an open window, looking out at the castle garden. "His time in Tartarus left him very weak. He has just now gained enough strength to use his dark powers."
"But with each passing moment, he grows stronger still." Luna said with a stern look on her face.
"Then how do we stop him?" Flash asked, "We have to contact Korra at the South Pole and Twilight at the Crystal Empire."
Suddenly, the alicorns looked at the young stallion with matching looks of confusion. "What do you mean?" Luna asked.
"Twilight send us a letter saying she was staying with Cadance and Shinning Armor."
This news only confused the alicorns even more, "We had recently spoken with Cadance and Twilight's not there." Luna said and Flash and Mako looked at oner another, sharing expressions of complete shock and confusion.
Twilight Sparkle…lied to everyone.?
"But, if she's not at the Crystal Empire, then where is she?" Mako asked, already starting to grow worried about his friend's whereabouts. Flash was slowly growing anxious as well, but tried his best to maintain his composure as he took in deep breaths.
"Okay, calm down, calm down, I'm sure the girls can locate her via the Elements. I know Twilight, there's no way she could have gotten that far."
"We have to find her and warn the others about this Tirek guy." Mako stated.
"But even with the girls, their Elements are useless without Korra, who's still at the south pole and can't walk."
"Flash is right, Mako." said the alicorn queen, "So, I'm afraid we've had to call in another to stop Tirek. One who will be able to sense when he will strike next…."
The name that came out of her mouth shocked them all.
"..Discord."
(~)
"Are you crazy?! You call on Discord?! Of all people?! I mean, you're seriously going to trust him on this?! What is wrong with you?!"
Once Mako stopped his angry ranting, his friends; the Ponies, Asami and Bolin, even Spike, all looked at him with arched eyebrows and Rarity was failing her nails, not even paying attention. Asami asked the question, "Are you done?"
Mako had his hands half clenched and was taking slow deep breaths before hanging his head and slumping his posture in surrender.
"Yeah."
"They can't be serious." said Applejack, "You sure we're talking about Discord Discord?"
"Unless she was referring to another spirit of chaos with the habit of being an annoying pain in the backside, then yes."
"I don't think it's that big of a surprise." said the kind-hearted Fluttershy, "He can be very helpful." however, the looks her friends gave would have said otherwise. "I mean, he did warn Mako about Harmonic Convergence. Sort of. And he did give some good romantic advice."
Mako had to admit, the pegasus did make a good point, "Well yeah but…Discord? The guy doesn't exactly have a clean record. Sure he helped once but it was a messenger job, this time the alicorns are trusting him with locating some crazy magic stealing bad guy. I'm just saying I wouldn't put all that much faith in him yet."
"I agree with you, bro." said Flash, "But he can sense when there's a magical imbalance. The next time Tirek steals magic, Discord will be able to track him down. Besides, with Twilight and Korra gone he's the only other option we've got right now."
"I still can't believe Twilight would lie like that." Spike said in disappointment, his ears lowering as he looked down at his feet. "It's not like her."
Rarity kneeled down and embraced him in a side hug, "I'm sure wherever she is she's alright."
"Maybe we can try and locate her with the Elements." Rainbow suggested. "I have a feeling she didn't go that far off."
"I agree." Rarity said.
"Then, what else are we suppose to do in the mean time?" Asami asked.
Mako sighed and shook his head downcast, "I don't know."
P'Li bit her bottom lip before shyly raising her hand. "Um, I'm not sure if this will help but…" the woman reached into her pocket and pulled out a familiar looking diamond shaped box. Mako was the first and by far the only one who approached her. His eyes on the chest in her hand.
"Why are you still carrying that?"
"The alicorns trusted me with keeping it safe. This might be a stretch but, maybe there's something in this box that can help."
Rarity arched an eyebrow in curiosity, "What do you mean, darling?"
"I don't know why, but I know this chest contains something important. Maybe it can help defeat Tirek, or maybe…it can help Korra and Twilight with their situation. I know it sounds naive, but I really don't know what else to do. Maybe I'm wrong."
Mako gently took the chest from P'Li, smiling as he did, "No, I think you're on to something, P'Li."
P'Li smiled in return. "Really?"
"The Tree of Harmony gave you girls this chest for a reason, that much I'm sure of. If none of you managed to open it now, maybe now we can."
"How are we going to figure that out?" Asami asked curiously.
"I don't know." Mako said before he began walking away from the rest of the group.
"Where are you going?" his little brother asked.
"Back to Headquarters. Maybe I can find at least something new on this Tirek guy. I'm not on board with fully trusting our 'friend' to find him." her used air quotes when he said the word friend.
"Oh, you're talking about me I presume."
Everyone then looked up, seeing a familiar mix-and-match creature flying towards them, wearing a top hat, scarf and caring a suitcase while holding an umbrella. Once he landed, Applejack crossed her arms in disapproval.
"How'd you guess?"
"My ears were burning." Discord said, his ears literally on fire but he showed no visible signs of pain. He extinguished the flames by splashing his face with a glass of water. Everyone else, minus Fluttershy, looked at the draconiquis with disapproving glares.
"What are you even doing here, Discord?" Rainbow asked, judging by the tone of her voice, she did not like having this 'friend' being here at all.
Even Flash Sentry, though he had only met him once before, looked at him like he had just committed a crime. Which in fact wouldn't have been that big of a surprise right now. "Yeah, shouldn't you be looking for Tirek like the alicorns asked you to do? Or are you just slaking off?"
"Relax, don't get your wings in a bunch Flash Drive, I'll get to that."
"I's Flash Sentry." the anthro pony said dryly.
"Whatever." said the former spirit of chaos as he flipped through the pages of the friendship journal the Mane Six and Team Avatar had kept, while placing some spectacles over his nose. "I was just doing a bit of light reading before I head off on my extremely important mission." he then suddenly changed into a military general's costume and pulled down out of nowhere the famous poster with the Crest of Equestria; which depicted a yin and yang like image of Luna and Celestia around the sun and moon "I suppose you all know that I've been tasked to capture a certain escapee."
"Big deal." Spike said unimpressed.
"You're right, Spike. It is a big deal." Discord flew on his pipe, which caused a bubble to blow up, trapping the little dragon, floating him up high. The bubble popped and he was immediately caught by a concerned Rainbow Dash.
"Seems I possess a magic that gives me quite an important role in Equestria. Maybe they should make me an Alicorn princess."
With a flash of magic, Discord gave himself false pink wings and unicorn horn and wore an exaggerative royal king crown on his head, blowing kisses to an invisible cheering crowd. No seriously, there really was cheering coming from thin air.
"Mmwah! Mmwah!"
"In your dreams!", Rainbow Dash flew up at Discord, slapping the crown right off of his head.
"Oh, I never dream of such things." he said as he made the wings and horn disappear. "Ask Princess Luna."
"Don't you have a creepy magic-stealin' villain to track down?" Applejack asked rather impatiently. A feeling shared by most of the group.
"Yes, yes, yes, of course." Discord then zapped himself and reappeared standing behind his 'buddy' Mako, placing his lion paw on his shoulder, "It's just that I couldn't help but notice that you still haven't yet opened this little chest of yours." he emphasized this fact by just taking the box from Mako's hand and zapping a few feet away from him. The firebender glared at the creature.
"And about your previous theory, I agree. What if what's locked inside is something that could help Korra and Twilight out of this funk their in," he spun the chest on his finger like a basketball, "maybe prove their worth and even bring your little group of friends back together. I know you've all been missing them so much recently. And Mako here, bless his little sole, has been writing sweet love letters to Korra for days on end." he then pinched Mako's checks, while dressed up as a grandmother, "Poor boy, lost and alone without his true love."
Mako grunted in annoyance as he rubbed his cheek and snatched the chest away from Discord.
"Wait a minute! How do you know how he was feeling?!" Pinkie asked accusingly while pointing a finger at Discord, who began to speak in a mocking tone while pretending to be sad.
"Oh, my. Is eavesdropping not the way you're supposed to find out what your best pals are up to? Woe is me. Will I ever learn the intricate nuances of being a good friend?"
Once again, Discord got nothing but disapproving glares from everyone minus Fluttershy. P'Li was honestly neutral since she did not know this creature very well, but could already see why the others did not truest him very much. Seeing that none of them would be amused at all, not like they ever would anyways, Discord got back to business.
"Well in any case, I suppose now is as good a time as any for me to make my exit." he said as he mounted a purple and blue spotted moped and rode away, magically zapping away from existence.
Applejack shouted, "And good riddance!"
"You said it." said Asami, only to then shriek when Discord'd head suddenly manifested upside-down in front of her, holding the journal. "AH!"
"Oopsie-doopsie, I almost left with the little journal you've all been keeping. What a fascinating read. Haven't you girls just learned so much? I've bookmarked a few of the more interesting passages. You really should take a look!" the spirit balanced the book on Asami's head and the heiress took it into her hands, while glaring at Discord. Indeed, some of the pages were bookmarked with various colored ribbons.
Discord then whispered to the pink maned pegasus, "We're still on for tea later, aren't we, Fluttershy?"
Fluttershy smiled kindly at her friend, "I wouldn't miss it."
Discord then spoke in singsong as he opened a door that appeared out of nowhere, "Well, I'll bring the cucumber sandwiches…!" he closed the door and disappeared from existence once again. P'Li arched an eyebrow with her arms crossed.
"I can see why he bugs you guys." she said.
Applejack face palmed herself, "Tell me about it. Sometimes I think the 'reformed' Discord is more obnoxious than the 'before-he-was-reformed' Discord."
"Indeed." Rarity agreed, holding her nose up in the air.
"But he could be right, couldn't he?" Bolin asked and pointed to the chest Mako was holding, "What if there really is something important in that chest?"
His older brother kept his gaze on the chest. With Twilight and Korra gone, there was no one else to turn to in this case. So, if they were not here, it was time to take matters into their owns hands…and hooves…and claws.
"There's only one way to find out."
(~)
And so, the group of friends headed to the only other place where they knew they could have a better chance of uncovering the mystery of the chest.
The Castle of the Two sisters.
Mako was the first to enter as the others followed. The old library was still as grey looking as ever, spider copper webs decorated the ceilings and doors, but ever since the Ponies had visited the place the castle was a bit more clean than it was before, but that still didn't remove all of the insects within. At least it was cleaner than Wan Shi Tong's library with the lack of vines. It didn't take long for the Mane Six, Spike, Team Avatar, Flash and even P'Li to begin flipping though the pages of any book they could find. Only an hour passed and so far, no one could find anything in any of the books they were reading. Mako sighed impatiently after closing another book, once again having no luck in his search. He turned to the others with a hopeful look in his eyes.
"Anything?"
Everyone gave the firebender looks of regret and apology, all sharing various 'no' answers. Mako then began flipping through the pages of another book, "There must be something in this library that can help us figure out how to open it. The answer's in one of these books. I just know it." he placed the book aside and looked around looking for another he had yet to read. His eyes landed on one book in particular.
The Journal.
As much as Discord annoyed him, he supposed it didn't hurt to at least check out the pages he had marked. Mako began on the first page he found, which was a friendship letter that Rarity had written from when she took that trip to Manehatthen. Mako read the story, even though he had already heard of it before, it was still a very touching message none the less. He continued with the next story which was of Rainbow Dash.
Suddenly, his detective instincts kicked in
(~)