"Who dares think they can stand against me?!" Tirek called out. "Show yourself to me!"
His answer came as something was flying towards his direction. As it got closer, he tried to identify what it could be, unable to do so until the thing stopped and landed on the ground before him. He stared at this strange thing, a new being like none he'd seen before, even in Tartarus. As for what it was, it was a non-pony being, something fairly rare in Equestria, but who it was wasn't recognizable.
Tails had landed on his feet, staring up crossly at the giant beast that dwarfed him in vertical stature. He could sense the power level Tirek had, a level that equaled the readings the alarm showed just a short time ago. Even though he knew that he was outmatched for one-on-one combat, the heroic fox remained unphased. His life has had him face greater challenges than this, most memorably the Metarex, and just like those times, he was willing to face the new foe and stop them from causing more harm than already done.
That, and if Tails ever learned anything from all the adventures he and his friends had shared, it was always to expect the unexpected, and that they could accomplish anything.
Moments of silence would pass as the two stood opposite of each other, only staring. The hero kept his cross expression, but the villain had a more unexpected, but intrigued, glare from his eyes. "So," Tirek said, "you must be the one that helped save Nightmare Moon." He was given no reply, just the fox's silent glare.
"I must admit, what you did was impressive, knocking me into the ground like that. You must possess powerful magic yourself to make that happen, as there isn't a pony left that could do that. And I can clearly see you are definitely not from Equestria, so that leaves to wonder- who are you? Where do you hail from?"
Tails remained unresponsive, glaring up at Tirek with an untapped rage to let loose. It remained this way for a few moments still, until the foe began to become impatient, so instead he prepared to attack the fox. "Not one for words, are you? Very well, then let me give you a reason to stay silent."
With a thrush of his arm, Tirek slammed a clenched fist right onto the fox, pounding him into the ground. The villain wore a smirk on his face doing so, but it disappeared when he felt his fist being pushed against from underneath, being lifted off the ground. From his height he couldn't get the right angle to see that Tails was lifting it up, staying on his feet even after the attack. With great force, the hero gripped onto the fist's giant fingers, spun the foe around in a circle once before releasing and causing Tirek to hit the ground and slide away.
Tirek was quick to get back on his feet, and went on to compliment this newcomer, but with a non-pleasing tone. "Very impressive. You are indeed strong, perhaps as strong as one of those pathetic alicorns," he said. "I'm sure you weren't around to see how one alicorn, with the power of all the land's princesses, matched against me, that is before I gained that magic through negotiation. Perhaps now you'd be willing to speak when I ask how you possibly think you can stand against me, the most powerful being in all of..."
"You attacked my friends... You threatened the life of a child!"
Tails finally spoke up, and at the same time let his energy channel through himself to give it its physical appearance as we went on speaking. His tone was filled with his growing anger, and he made sure to not show this enemy any holding back.
"You had no right to attack and steal from all the ponies! I could tell you did that when I saw my friends and sensed their depleted energy. But the fact that you took Nyx... that you took a filly... to use to make my friends surrender to you... is revolting! You were willing to take her life and not even care in the end!"
His energy then spiked to one of its higher levels, the same that he used earlier to help Cosmo get Nyx to safety. It showed after he exclaimed "And here's an introduction for you-
MY NAME IS MILES 'TAILS' PROWER, AND I WON'T LET YOU HARM ANYPONY!... AGAIN!!!"
As he exclaimed the last word loud and long, his body changed back to his golden Super Saiyan form, but he didn't let it stop there. He focused his power and channeled it through another exclamation, this time a strong scream, that caused his power to multiply again. What Tirek just witnessed was this fox unleashing himself into his solo most powerful state known as Super Saiyan 2.
"Incredible," complimented Tirek. "That power is an incredible magic you have, Tails. I can sense its greatness, and now I want to have a good display of it."
And with that an orb of energy glowed between his horns, only taking a moment to charge it enough to his satisfaction of usage. He sent a blast of energy right at Tails, believing to having the fox engulfed and harmed within it. It seemed to be the right level of energy to accomplish the objective, but the effort was proven to be underestimating what exactly was going on then.
As appearing with little effort, Tails used his hand to knock the incoming blast out of his direction and towards the distant mountains, causing one of the land's greatest formations to be nearly destroyed in the process. It wasn't as if Tirek's battle with Twilight did the land any fairer treatment, but this time, the levels were higher in destructive and dangerous measures. After his deflection worked, Tails stared back up at his opponent just as angry, not in any mood to play games, but just flexible enough to have some of a certain hedgehog's 'rubbed-off' confidence show.
"There's a lot more to me than you realize. I'm not here to be your new siphoning target, and I don't care just how powerful you are. I'm here to help make sure that you are stopped once and for all, and compared to what I fight for, you are nothing!"
Tirek, now enraged by such insults, replied to this with "We will see about that!" He then began to charge for the fox, his four feet stomping against the earth with the force of an entire nation of ponies. Tails shot himself into the air to counterattack the new foe, a fist clenched and an objective in his battle strategy. The two opposing forces clashed when coming in range, an occurrence that was as booming as thunder and as forceful as lightning, starting the new battle for Equestria-
Tails vs. Tirek.
Their first encounter was the clash of two fists hitting against one-another, a brief stalemate. The next was in Tails' favor, as Tirek's first move was thrusting his fist towards the fox. Being relatively the same size as Twilight, and learning some agility from his older brother Sonic, the heroic fox dodged the incoming blow and charged towards the foe like a golden dart. He struck against Tirek's chest hard at first, but quickly shifted into a swifter form of attack where he sped all around the foe landing as many blows as possible. This was a tactic borrowed from another friend, Shadow, who used this strategy against a Metarex warcraft known as Scarship several years ago. It proved to be effective, but to a different degree, as it just confused the evil titan as he tried many times to swipe his hand and stop the barrage.
After so many tries, Tirek used his powers to magically grab hold and stop Tails in his tracks. Like what he did to Twilight before, and what the fox did to him, he gave the hero a spin and threw him into the air. Unlike the purple alicorn, however, Tails had managed to regain control of himself and stop in place in the air once the spell had let him go. He then saw a blast of energy coming right for him, reaching too close to focus the right kind of deflection strategy, so he counterattacked with a blast of his own energy. The two blasts met just several feet in front of him, canceling each other out with a bright light. But once the light had faded, he noticed the foe having jumped into the air and charging right for him.
Tails quickly put his hands open in front of him to resist some of the impact as Tirek slammed against him with his head. The villain tried to grab him with his hands again, but failed again as if he had teleportation magic as well, the fox disappeared and reappeared above him, using his might to ram himself against the enemy's back, plummeting them both towards the ground. Just a few seconds before they'd both hit the ground, Tails stopped in the air, charged both of his hands with Ki energy, and began to throw shot after shot of an energy barrage. Tirek, however, hit the ground but recovered quick enough to only take the first few shots directly, using his own powers to form a shield around him afterwards. Each of the fox's attack still had enough force to push him back bit by bit, a strong force to accomplish.
Seeing the attacks doing no good, Tails stopped the barrage, and in turn having Tirek lower his shield. The powerful foe tried another tactic he used against Twilight, focusing his power to slam the ground and cause pillars to rise out of the ground. Unlike before, he put all the focus onto only one pillar, shooting up like a rock-made geyser. Clenching his fists together, Tails raised them in the air, and when the pillar came in near contact, used all his strength to smash it at its peak and send a crack from the top down in, shattering it to pieces.
The heroic fox charged at the foe again, flying through the falling fragments of the pillar, kicking some towards his target in the process. Tirek guarded himself with another shield, allowing him to see the fox's next tactic. Racing down, Tails held one fist down and another back, the latter being focused for a powerful blow one of his fighting teachers had taught him between Metarex wars. The fist began to glow with energy, appearing as if it had taken the shape of a strange dragon. The shield kept up when Tails made contact, exclaiming the technique's title-
"DRAGON FIST!"
The throw of the fist was incredibly powerful, hitting against the shield and causing a sound-waving boom and earth-shaking quake. Tirek had to focus more of his power to keep his shield up, and crossed his arms as well, all to push him back across the ground. That blow felt more powerful than Twilight's first blast of magic based on Tirek's judgment, but proved to be much more when he came to a stop, and part of the shield looked fractured and breaking apart. He let the entire shield down, and stood in his place firmly, but also collected. He saw Tails flying towards the ground below and remained unphased as the fox landed on his feet just meters away. Both would glare at one-another for a moment before the villain broke the silence.
"You know how to hold your own well," said Tirek, "even with my strength increased by the alicorns' magic. It is unlike anything other than myself that I've seen, even with my previous confrontation with Princess Twilight. Tell me, small Miles, what sort of magic do you possess that makes you so strong?"
Tails only stared up at the foe and replied "I'm using no magic against you. It is inner strength and energy alone."
Tirek refused to believe this and said "Don't lie to me. I saw that other strange creature..."
"Cosmo," the fox interrupted sharply. "Her name is Cosmo."
"...I saw that strange creature Cosmo make a weapon appear out of nowhere in a magical light. Surely if she has magic, you would as well. Now, show me your magic!"
Tails knew that Tirek's unquenchable thirst for magic wouldn't cease anytime soon, so in reluctance, he gave in. He reached his hand out in front of him, holding it open as if he was waiting to grab something. Not one second later did a quick flash of magical light appear, and out of that was a weapon similar to what Tirek had seen before. It was a long tool, held like a sword, but looked as if it was a giant key. The fox held his weapon tight in a fist, and decided to briefly describe it to the giant foe.
"The most magic I'll show you is this. This is a tool known as a Keyblade, a mystical sword that is connected with our hearts, and helps connect worlds together. Cosmo has her own, called Galactic Natura, and I have mine, the Kitsune Animulus. There are also others, superior to myself, who are the master wielders of the Keyblades. The magic through these is connected and channeled with our hearts, so as long as the wielder is one who stands for good and for the better of others... unlike you."
His Keyblade then vanished in another magical flash, the hand that held it switched to present his physical form more clearly. "And like I already said, what I use against you now is none of that. It is solely my own strength and energy, enhanced by ascension once only able to be done by another race." He then lowered his hand and addressed as sternly as he could "And that's all you need to know."
Tirek looked down at the fox, pleased with the idea of there being even more magic to take for himself. "How interesting. Perhaps there is a way we can make an exchange that will..."
"You will NOT be stealing any more magic from anyone, Tirek," Tails interrupted, "especially from me. I've come here to help make sure of that, so don't even bother try to threaten me. You'd regret the effort."
"Why you little pest!" Tirek yelled. "How dare you think that you can tell me what I can do as if you're one of the alicorn princesses! I have near all the magic of Equestria, and I'll make sure..." He paused when another idea came to mind, one that made him grin. If he couldn't negotiate for the fox's magic and power, then there were other options.
"Very well. You can keep your magic, as it would do you no good against me. I can seek magic elsewhere, whether it's that filly Nightmare Moon, or that Cosmo..."
Tails felt his rage build, something he had the hardest to handle at times. When anything or anyone would threaten his loved one, that was especially when he would have the hardest time controlling his temper, not after all the two have been through. He stood in place, but his power level surged around him in a strong wave during his next exclamation.
"You will NOT take any more magic again! NOT FROM NYX! NOT FROM COSMO! NOT FROM ANYBODY!!!"
"Then prepare to be mistaken!" Tirek exclaimed back, and charged a new sphere of energy between his horns, blasting it down at the fox.
Tails defended himself, surging Ki through his body and retaliate with a blast of his own. The two energies clashed together, causing an explosion that boomed a sound that would reach the farthest ends of Equestria.
/)∞(\
Twilight and the others felt the last explosion's shockwave through both air and ground from their distant location. They were now near the Castle of the Royal Sisters, and the gorge where the Tree of Harmony sat under the castle. It was the best place to stop as some of the group couldn't keep running for too much longer, especially Nyx. The filly ran as fast and hard as she could, but was exhausted by the time they had stopped.
But if it wasn't exhaustion that would give Nyx a hard time breathing, it would be her mother holding her. The moment they all stopped, Twilight wrapped legs and wings around the filly, part still relieved that she was safe, but a greater part nervous for any danger there could be next. Nyx wasn't particularly happy with being squeezed so tightly, but she didn't want it to end either. She felt safe again, and was hugging her mother in return.
The ponies noticed after a few minutes that the only one not appearing to rest was Cosmo. She was looking out at the distance, where the energy clash came from. In her hand was her Keyblade, in case she would need its magic to create a shield or attack with, seeing that nopony was able to do so themselves because of Tirek's siphoning. But what really kept her mind occupied was Tails and how to help him, to help their pony friends, stop the giant villain for good. They had to think of a new plan and fast, because there was a sad truth Cosmo didn't want to admit-
As strong as he was, Tails was outmatched in power. It's something that never stopped him before, but at the same time, Tirek had to potential to fatally injure her loved one.
"Be careful Tails," she thought to herself. "I know you know better, you always have. I just..." Her thoughts stopped as she remembered the events in the climax of the Metarex War. "...I just don't want to lose you, like how my decisions had you lose me..."
She felt a hoof touch her shoulder, and turned her head to notice that it was Applejack. The orange mare walked up to her when she was zoned out on the battle. "You're worried about him a might, aren't ya, Sugarcube?"
Cosmo shut her eyes and sighed to herself, perhaps an easy enough response to give. But she did speak and said "You never get used to it, I suppose, watching those you care about fight for your friends."
"But don't you do the same thing?" Spike asked, walking up to the two.
A small smile crossed Cosmo's face, along with a weak chuckle at just how true that was. "Yes, I suppose so," she replied, "but it never gets old with every new enemy." She looked out at the battle again, sensing the energies between the combatants. Her little grin faded back to a frown.
It was silent for a couple moments, most of the ponies unsure of what exactly to say next. Rainbow Dash broke the silence, saying "Well let's not just sit around and wait to see what happens with Tails or Tirek. We need a plan and we need it now!"
"But what... What can we do?" Fluttershy asked worriedly. "We don't have anything. We can't fly anymore..." Both the yellow and cyan mares looked at their wings, saddened at how their ability to fly was gone.
"Or earth pony magic," added a saddened Pinkie Pie. That sadness, however, jumped to confusion in her own little world as she pondered aloud "Wait, earth ponies have magic?"
Nyx leaned off from hugging her mother, looked around at everypony. For the first time she saw something different with them all. "Tirek..." she said, "he took all your magic away?" She saw how they all lost their cutie marks, and had glassy eyes that displayed emptiness within them. "But what about..."
The filly took a good look at Twilight, her eyes looking like glass and lacked her familiar six-pointed pink-purple star cutie mark with the five little white stars surrounding it. She then looked at the purple mare, her face saddened as Nyx made the realization of what had transpired before her appearance. "You gave up all your magic..."
Twilight frowned as she rubbed a hoof through Nyx's mane. The expression on her face was more than enough to be an answer, but a tear of emotional pain made its way out of her. Nyx sat there in a moment-long gaze, unsure of what to say next. The filly's face looked sad as well, but also traumatized at the same time. Twilight had given up her magic - her special talent in life - to save her friends, and was willing to give up the freedom of everypony of a nation, all for her.
"There's not much we can do, Nyx," Twilight said, "not without the right amount of magic."
"But what in Equestria can we do?" Rarity asked. "We can't leave Tails all on his own out there to fight a foe that isn't his."
"Well we have to think of something," Rainbow said, "or we might as well..." She then stopped speaking as her eyes fixated on Nyx, and then on Cosmo. They went back and forth in such motion for a few seconds before an idea came to her mind. "Cosmo and Nyx! They can help us out!"
"What are ya talkin' about?" Applejack asked.
"Both of them still have their magic. Cosmo with the magic that comes with that Keyblade thing, and Nyx with what she already has, plus what Tirek explained about before. Maybe we can combine them somehow, maybe even unleash all of Nyx's magic, and use that with Tails's power to take down that oversized freak."
Normally everyone Cosmo has fought with would contemplate if it was a plan worth the chance. The ponies, however, were more immediate with decisions, taking action the moment any kind of inspiration was found. But not even seconds after Rainbow said her idea did Twilight make her choice about it-
"NO."
Everyone turned to the alicorn after she said that, seeing an angry glare from what became cold eyes to look into. Just by her tone they could tell she did not like the thought at all, but her look made it scary.
"If you think that I'm letting Nyx anywhere near Tirek again, you're wrong. I'm not allowing her to potentially risk her life, not after having that ultimatum he made. She can still barely use her magic as it is, the best being able to divert objects that other ponies have tried to throw at her for her past sins! There is not a single way I'll let that plan happen!"
"But Twi,..."
"No buts, Rainbow Dash!" Twilight snapped. She jumped onto her hooves, and stared furiously at the cyan pegasus, their foreheads just a couple inches apart. "I won't let that happen! There has to be another way!"
Rainbow Dash stood in her feeling a little threatened by Twilight's anger. Perhaps her idea wasn't the best to go with. She just wanted to come up with something to stop the villain that's stolen so much from Equestria already.
"Twi," Rainbow said, starting to stutter in her speech. "I'm... I'm sorry. I just wanted to think of something." Unfortunately the apology didn't fully calm the purple mare down, but another pony stepped up and put a hoof to her side.
"Mom, calm down," Nyx said, getting her mother's attention. "I don't want to do that. I don't even know if Tirek was actually telling the truth about me or not. You said yourself that alicorn magic, as strong as it is, still takes time to build into the strong magic that it can be. Protecting ponies is my talent, as my cutie mark says, but I know I only have so many limits... for now at least.
"I won't risk myself like that, Mom, not that way here. I promise."
Hearing her daughter say that calmed Twilight nerves just enough, and wrapped a hoof around Nyx and held her close. Funny thing was how she had to calm Nyx down from the filly's occasional temper outbursts, but now it was the other way around. "Thank you, Nyx," she said, a relief sound in her voice as she feared of repeating of what she tried to argue with before.
She nuzzled the top of Nyx's head in a loving manner, and got a nuzzle in return. She turned her head over back to her friend and said "I'm sorry, Rainbow Dash. I know you were only trying to help."
Cosmo, Spike and the Mane 5 stepped around them, unable to argue against Twilight's opinion. They wanted this whole ordeal to end as it is, but none were willing to let such a little pony to play a possibly fatal role again. Cosmo was all too familiar with that herself, and kneeled down to Nyx's level, lifting the filly's head up to look back at her kind, smiling face.
"Nyx, we won't let you be used in such a horrible way. I risked my life to save those I cared about. You know the story I told you about with the Metarex and Galvatron, and how Tails and all my friends were heartbroken from it," Cosmo said, referring to a conversation from the not too distant past of her Equestria Games visit. She then gave a more determined look, but lacking the smile her beloved fox would have. "I wouldn't listen to a word that monster has said if I were you. He probably doesn't know what he's talking about, or who exactly he's messing with."
"You're right about that first part, Cosmo. He can be a liar," said a certain draconequus. She and everypony turned to Discord, who stood in front of the line of ponies and the Seedrian to speak a few words of his own.
"Tirek tricked me into believing that he could offer me something more valuable than friendship. But there is nothing worth more. I see that now." He held an item worn around his neck, given to him by who deceived him earlier, displaying it to the group.
"He lied when he said that this medallion was given as a sign of gratitude and loyalty. But when I say that it is a sign of our true friendship, I am telling the truth."
He took it off and placed the medallion around Twilight's neck, and remained standing before them solemnly. Just then, a rainbow of colors shined from the item, but not a typical rainbow aura. Cosmo and Twilight noticed this, both looking at the item given from Discord's honest gesture. The purple alicorn then had an insightful realization, stared up at the distant battle between Tails and Tirek, and her eyes returned to their full color, as if her magic was restored.
"Mom, your eyes," Nyx said, seeing what happened.
"Do you think that's the last one we need?" Applejack asked.
Cosmo then tried to ask "The last of wha..."
"AAAAAAHHHHHHhhhhh!"
A distant scream echoed from the very direction of the ongoing battle, catching everyone's attention. They recognized that voice, crying out in agony as if bones could've been broken, or perhaps worse. Cosmo's worry grew even worse as she knew that voice like none other, and clenched her hand over her heart as she felt a terrible pain.
"Tails!"