Several months later…
The earth cracked as if yielding to his steel hooves. The air around him wavered with heat emanating from the hellish power within him. The grass in his wake died as if snuffed out of existence by the mere proximity of his black heart.
Even without alicorn magic, Tirek was nearly at full power. He had consumed nearly every drop of magic in Equestria. The centaur was so close to ultimate power, he wouldn’t let anything stand in his way. Not the ponies and their friendship. Not poor deluded Discord. Not even Equestria’s newest little princess.
Only one remained. One alicorn left to consume and he would be unstoppable.
“Princess Twilight!” the centaur bellowed. “You have something that belongs to me!”
He swung a hammer-like fist around and smashed it through a tree, sending splinters scattering like embers over sand. Charging his magic, Tirek gathered his power into an orb balanced between his horns and unleashed a beam of fiery destruction. It cut a clean swathe through the ground, starting a small wildfire that spread over a small knoll.
Through it all it was a miracle anypony could hear the screams of despair coming from the citizens of Ponyvile. But over the racket of destruction a single, clear voice cried out and caught Tirek’s ear.
“Hey, fuck-face!” it yelled without breaking or wavering. “Over here!”
Turning, Tirek looked towards a field on the edge of town. Standing there as if she had appeared out of thin air stood a single pony, fearlessly answering his challenge.
She was puny by comparison to the princesses Tirek had sent to Tartarus. Even more so in Tirek’s looming presence. But she did not falter. She even wore the faintest glimmer of a smirk.
The small lavender alicorn lit up her horn. The purple light spread in little bioluminescent slivers, sliding down across her coat and connecting to her cutie mark which began to glow with the intensity of a sun.
Then they appeared. A second skin the shade of her dark made slid across her body, wrapping around her neck and covering her down to her hooves. The armored plates followed suit, materializing out of thin air and interlocking to leave only gaps where her body needed the articulation. The eldritch suit of matte purple was completed by several segments of armor sliding over her jawline, folding across her muzzle to hide her smirk, wrapping up around her temples and covering her head, leaving only a gap around her eyes and some space for her horn to protrude from the forehead.
A jigsaw of glass built up over her eyes before the screen polarized to gold, sealing the young princess in a sleek suit of armor; transforming her into part tank, part warrior goddess.
Finally an MA5C assault rifle popped into existence by her side, and Princess Twilight Sparkle gave the charging handle a telekinetic yank.
“Let’s dance, fucker.”