In full awareness, Discord could finally confront the spectral intruder with something akin to his usual calm scrutiny. Being awake had failed to erase the undeniable impact from the night fright, which continued to propel tingling aftershocks through his already frayed nerves. However, the simple sight of the Tree of Harmony—each Element vibrant and in place—reminded the chaos spirit his friends must have been safe at home and warm in their beds. It was dark outside, yet not long before Princess Celestia should raise the sun.
Perhaps the shadow might melt in the first rays of dawn, although Discord suspected the matter would be so simple to resolve. He felt the magical imbalance caused by the shade, keenly as he had known the release of power when it burst free from in his dreams. Somehow, it had carried away a portion of his own magic—and Discord’s lion paw, as with his wings, felt quite weak now.
Just like a leech.
Discord hated leeches.
“Free at last.” The Tirek-shaped shadow threw back it head and belted out an exaggerated laughing fit that turned the draconequus’ stomach, and this must have shown on his face. “My, what an angry expression.” The creature exclaimed in mock surprise, despite its glower and a voice thick with sarcasm. When the centaur moved, it was like watching smoke shift—based around the blaze of the creature’s red upper body. The smoke itself seemed to drift everywhere in the cave, and Discord noticed with a prickle of concern that some of it was twining about TOH, who was producing low chimes as if echoing his worry.
“Is that any way to treat an old friend?” The shadow taunted.
“You were never a friend to me.” Discord’s retort cracked as a whip amid the tension-thick air, white tail bristling in agitation. The chaos spirit manifested between the centaur and TOH, creating a fan to blow away the gaseous tendrils. Unfortunately, this seemed to have little effect against them. Swatting them did no better. “Besides, I have my doubts you are who you appear to be.”
“Oh? But you said it yourself. Call me ‘Tirek’.” Tirek, for such was the only name Discord had to know him by, leaned forward in a way both menacing and self-satisfied. It practically pressed the latter against the surface of TOH. The smell of sulfur invaded Discord’s nostrils, making his eyes water. “What makes you think my appearance is in any way deceitful, huh? I am right here before you.”
Before Tirek would come any closer, the draconequus did the next best thing he could devise. He blew green flames into the shadow’s face, causing it to flinch back.
“You should know as well as I how the ponies banished Tirek to the depths of Tartarus about a week ago. Of course, that was before stripping him of his energies and releasing Equestria from his oppression.” Discord used his griffin claw to whirl up a recap of the event, played upon a small cloud. The imagery and action came out choppy, however, and it was hard to continue until the end. That wasn’t a good sign. It meant the centaur had taken enough of his magic to make creating things problematic. Still, he pressed onwards. “Even when Tirek managed to escape the first time, it took him months to muster enough energy to begin draining ponies.”
“I suppose you believed that was supposed to make everything better, especially for some pony like you?” Tirek’s eyes bore holes into Discord’s soul. “The pony who chose a being such as me over friendship, in accordance with his true nature?”
This stung.
“I learned my lesson.” Discord returned. “In the end, I even helped provide a key to your defeat—not that you would understand its significance.”
“There is no escaping what you are, ‘Lord of Chaos’.” Tirek was bearing down on him again. “I’ll bet your so-called friends thought you could change for good when the weak little Pegasus ‘reformed’ you. Ha! But you still betrayed and left her in tears, didn’t you?”
The memory of Fluttershy—sweet, innocent Fluttershy—sobbing at Discord’s actions smacked him like a blow to the stomach.
“Why are you doing this?” Her words had echoed in the chaos spirit’s mind. “I thought we were friends.”
“I have grown stronger by feeding on your thoughts and remembrances, fears and failings.” Tirek interjected. “And do you know what I’ve found? Your magic, and everything you are, can amount to nothing but anguish for any pony who gets close to you. Look at how powerful it has made me.” The smoke from Tirek was surrounding Discord, choking him. “No matter how hard you try, there is no running from who you are in the end. You will always ‘turn the world upside down’ and cause nothing except trouble. That is your purpose.”
“It can’t be true. I—” Why was he blabbering?
Tirek whacked Discord off to one side, approaching the Tree of Harmony with obvious cruel intent. The tendrils were beginning to curl around the branches.
“Now that I am so mighty, I will use your magic to punish you and take my revenge—by getting rid of your ‘friends’ one by one, and reducing you to nothing in the same way.” Tirek cackled. “That will prove how much use your magic is to any pony.” By the way the centaur said this, it was clear he believed that Discord’s was no good at all.
What could Discord do? If what Tirek said was correct—and he could feel the flow of magic—then the shadow commanded a great deal of the chaos spirit’s abilities. It was indeed pulling his magic, even now. When the villain was at large in Equestria before, he had used his own kind of magic after stealing energy from various ponies. But this Tirek seemed focused on taking Discord’s powers, slowly, tormenting him all the while.
What couldn’t TOH repel this threat as she had others?
“My shadows will corrupt the Tree of Harmony given enough time.” Tirek indicated the dark tendrils. “And in case you are wondering, your magic gives me all the protection I need to do as I wish.”
Ah. So that was it. Biting his tongue, Discord tried to think quickly.
What could he do against his own magic?
“I could speed up the process, though, with some direct contact. Should I start with your favorite little pony?” Tirek’s sharp red finger hovered over the pink butterfly-shaped Element on TOH, and Discord felt something snap inside him.
How dare he!
Laughing manically, the centaur reached towards the Element—
To get driven back by a candy corn hailstorm from Discord.
“Argh.” Tirek tripped in the flowerbeds against the cavern wall, but Discord continued his volley without remorse from a portable cannon. It was really a miniature version of Pinkie Pie’s party cannon. The chaos spirit had taken to borrowing the device for just the right occasions.
He often used it for having some fun.
Today was different.
Discord still had his doubts about the identity of this shadow, and questions. For the moment, though, all he wanted was to get rid of it.
“This time—” Discord pounced, tail snapping. “I’ll send you straight to Tartarus, or wherever you came from, myself.” He bound the creature up in chains and padlocks, with all the trimmings. Tirek would see what his magic could accomplish. He wrapped the centaur so tightly it should have been impossible to budge.
Yet then Discord heard a series of snaps, and the bindings turned into poppies in a bright flash of star-shaped light.
His magic in action.
Then Tirek exploded from the flowerbed, ramming Discord hard in the gut.
Things were quickly escalating into a violent struggle.
Discord only hoped it was one he could win.
***
From her home high in the clouds above Ponyville, Rainbow Dash was deep in an awesome racing dream. She had almost made it to the finish line ahead of all her competition (with a mile lead, of course) and could see Captain Spitfire waiting with a golden trophy that had Rainbow’s name escribed across it. Her fellow Wonderbolts were cheering, as where the rows of fans in the spectator stands on either side.
Her pals were in the front row off to the right, holding up signs and screaming praise for Rainbow Dash. She even got a glimpse of a sign held by Applejack that read:
Rainbow Dash: #1 Athlete in Cloudsdale and Ponyville
Oh, yeah. In approximately two seconds she would get carried by a crowd of adoring ponies.
Rainbow Dash snuck on a pair of black sunglasses, ready for the onslaught. She had almost touched the finish line—
When the nudge of a cold turtle head startled her awake.
Rainbow Dash lay there for a moment, staring at the wispy white ceiling—feeling the race leaving her behind.
“Oh, come on.” The blue Pegasus cried out, squirming beneath the covers of her bed. She might have protested further, but Tank chose that moment to land on her belly. The turtle wore a magical propeller strapped to his back at all times, since the turtle couldn’t walk on clouds like his owner. Yet he was cool enough not to care about this fact, and Rainbow Dash immediately softened.
“Don’t tell me it’s 0500 already.” Rainbow Dash said, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. “I guess we ought to get started on our early morning practice training session, shouldn’t we, Tank? We have to clear the skies above Ponyville, because it’s going to be a sunny day, and every pony is counting on us.”
Tank simply bobbed his head, yet rather than drift to the spacious corner where they usually did their stretches together, the turtle flew to the window and landed on its ledge.
“Hey, where are you going?” Rainbow Dash made her bed in record time, and zipped over to her companion. “I know you’re eager to get a move on, but we have to stretch first.” Then she paused, noticing dense cloud patches over the Everfree Forest. Normally, any clouds above these woods would move and sometimes coast into Ponyville, which made for excellent practice on the side. But these particular ones were still and somehow clumped up.
Now that Rainbow Dash thought about it, the Everfree Forest (in general) seemed frozen and strangely faded. This could have been a mistake, but she didn’t forget such details.
Then came the oddest thing of all.
Bursting up through the clouds, farther back in the forest towards Princess Celestia and Princess Luna’s old castle, was none other than Discord—as if he had been blown back by a fierce gale. The draconequus summoned (or whatever Discord did) a whole slew of thorny vines and sent them sailing down into the open ravine near where the cavern holding the Tree of Harmony stretched out.
What was that goofy guy up to now?
But then the thorny vines reared back, forcing Discord to dodge their grip. Rainbow Dash stared, mesmerized, as another figure emerged and grappled with the chaos spirit.
It couldn’t be. Yet Rainbow’s eyes didn’t lie.
Tirek?
“Go get the others, Tank.” Rainbow Dash instructed the turtle, not waiting for him to salute before speeding off towards the fight.