Chapter 88: Chaos and Keys
Tirek had just finished draining the magic from another unsuspecting unicorn, he'd already regained a good amount of power. But his physical appearance hadn't changed, and he knew what that meant. "Curses, this is taking too long! At this rate, I'll never be back to full strength before the princesses find me and send me back to Tartarus!" He thought to himself. "I need to find someway to drain a whole bunch of unicorns all at once." However, it was then that the crafty centaur spotted an unusual looking unicorn, and he could sense that this unicorn was quite powerful. "Ooh, even better!" Tirek whispered to himself, as he slowly crept towards the mysterious unicorn stallion, hoping to catch the unsuspecting pony by surprise.
"The poor fool has no idea what's going to happen to him. I almost feel sorry for him. Key word: Almost." Tirek thought with a fiendish smile, as he closed in on his prey.
But suddenly, the pony spun around, and a familiar goat shaped face with two different horns greeted Tirek's eyes. "Ah yes, Tirek, I presume." The creature greeted.
Tirek was surprised for a moment, then he realized who this strange pony was. "Discord? You're free?" He asked.
"As a bird! Boy, you're really behind on the times, Tirek!" Discord laughed in reply, as he transformed himself into a bird that stood on a perch.
"Oh, well congratulations on your escape!" Tirek applauded.
Discord returned to normal, as he said seriously. "Well, I'm afraid the feeling isn't mutual. You're under arrest! You have the right to remain silent, anything you say can and will be used against you, yadya yadya yadya." He then slapped a series of cuffs onto Tirek's wrists. Tirek attempted to blast Discord in the face, but Discord split his face in two, and the blast past through, leaving him unharmed.
Tirek growled, as he tried in vain to break the cuffs. "Oh, I should've known you'd want Equestria all to yourself!" He hissed. "I suppose you're off to go take care of the princesses yourself."
But Discord laughed. "Ohhoho, Tirek, just how far behind the times are you?!" Wearing a police pony's outfit, including a hat, a badge, cuffs, and a nightstick (which he twiddled around as if it were a chain ball), the witty spirit explained. "The princesses are the very ones who sent me to track you down. I'm not really doing this for myself, I've got orders and I intend to follow them."
"What?! Do you seriously mean to tell me what I think you mean to tell me?!" Tirek demanded.
"That's right, I'm doing this for the ponies!" Discord boasted, and then he whispered. "Just between you and me though, it's mostly for Fluttershy. The others are... okay I guess, but they don't seem to trust me."
"Fluttershy?" Tirek asked.
"Surprise!" Discord replied, popping out of a giant cake. "Oh wait, wasn't that the name of one of those ponies that defeats you in the stories made up about you? I swear I've heard that name somewhere before."
"I don't know what the ponies have told you about me, but I assure you that any stories they've created about me are highly exaggerated," Tirek growled. "But I am surprised, Discord. Surprised that you do not see that this so called 'friendship' of yours, is but a new form of imprisonment."
Discord scoffed. "Pah, that's where you're wrong, Tirek! Now, are you going to come quietly, or do I have to take you in by force?"
Tirek simply replied by saying to Discord. "Let me explain this in a way your feeble mind will understand. Surely, in order to 'befriend' these ponies, you had to abandon your true nature."
Discord appeared to have a halo and play a harp, but he quickly made both things go away as he protested. "I have done nothing of the sort! Your words are nothing but empty threats."
That was when Tirek laughed. "Hear me out, Discord. These ponies have turned you into an obedient pet. You wag your tail at their command. But you hear it, don't you? The real you, locked away deep inside your heart. Scratching and clawing, trying desperately to break free once again. If we teamed up, you could have it all."
"As if, you'd just toss me aside the first chance you got!" Discord protested, then against his better judgement he added. "Why should I believe a word you say?"
Sensing a weakness within Discord, Tirek pressed his advantage, as he slyly said. "Once I've stripped these feeble ponies of their magic, nothing would delight me more than to see their world turned upside down. And who better to do so, than the master of chaos himself? Join me, Discord, and reclaim your greatness. Become the legend you were truly meant to be! That is of course, unless 'pony errand boy' is the role you've always wanted to play in Equestria."
Discord pondered Tirek's offer for a moment, eyeing the picture of him and Fluttershy that was perched atop a floating drawer. He thought deeply about what Tirek was offering him, and what he was going to lose if he accepted it. His thoughts turned to all his friends, including Fluttershy, the one who believed most firmly of all that he could be good. At last, Discord came to a decision. "You know, had you offered me the chance a few months ago, Tirek, perhaps I'd have said yes," He told the centaur. "But I've come to understand that I have real friends now, friends who at least accept me for who I am. Sure, perhaps I still delight in teasing and toying with them a bit from time to time, but it's all in good fun. I'm not about to just throw that all away, for the sake of helping you get what you want. Now, enough games! It's time to send you back to Tartarus, where you belong!"
However, it was at that moment, that the crafty centaur sprang his trap. "So, you really do care for those ponies, don't you?" Tirek asked with a smirk. "Well, what would you do if I were to say, hurt them? Think about it, Discord. You could send me back to Tartarus, but I've already escaped once. How do you know I won't escape again? And if I do, I know who I'll target first. Those so called 'friends' of yours."
That comment prompted Discord's eyes to light up in flames, as he growled at Tirek. "Don't you DARE hurt my friends, Tirek!"
"I'll spare your friends from my wrath, on one condition," Tirek promised. "Serve me, and help me to regain my strength. Otherwise, I can't gurantee your friends will be unharmed."
"You're bluffing! There's no way you're going to get out of Tartarus again, I'll make sure of that!" Discord vowed.
"That's what the princesses thought when they banished to that rotten place all those years ago," Tirek smirked. "But I escaped anyway. Can you really afford to make the same mistake they did?"
Discord wanted nothing more than to send Tirek back to Tartarus at the moment, and he was sorely tempted to do so. But a nagging part of his mind couldn't help but wonder. "What if Tirek's right? What if he really does find a way to escape? Perhaps he knows something even I don't know?" Against his better judgement, Discord looked at the centaur, and told him. "I guess I don't have a choice, Tirek. But if I join you, you have to promise to leave my friends alone. That's my offer to you, take it or leave it!"
Tirek smiled, and laughed fiendishly. "Excellent!" Shaking Discord's paw he then added. "You've made a wise decision, Discord. You won't regret it."
Meanwhile, at the Castle of the Two Sisters, Shining Armor and his friends were currently combing through the ruined remaints of the castle library. They'd been searching for a while, but so far they had nothing to show for it.
"I'm starting to think this is a dead end. Wherever Spike found that ancient spell book, it was probably just a fluke." Fancy Pants commented.
"We've practically searched this whole place from top to bottom twice now," Soarin added. "Maybe it's time to give up. Maybe the keys are supposed to come us, instead of us looking for them?"
Shining sighed. "I just know the keys are nearby, I can sense it. I swear, if they were snakes, they'd have bitten us by now. But for the life of me, I can't figure why I feel that way. It just doesn't make sense, why would the Tree of Harmony produce that chest if we weren't meant to open it?" Looking down at the desk he was seated at, Shining's eyes were drawn to the journal he and his friends had kept since that faithful night in the Castle of the Two Sisters just a few months ago. More specifically, the sections Discord had bookmarked (each with a colored bookmark that matched the coat of the pony who had written the designated entry). Skimming through them again, something suddenly caught his eye! "No, it couldn't be. Could it?" He thought to himself, and called for his friends. "Hey, guys. I think something just came to me. Something that's going to point us in the right direction!"
"What is it?" Big Macintosh asked Shining. "You find a clue about the whereabouts of them keys?"
"Sort of," Shining explained, as he presented the open journal to his friends. "Looking at the entries Discord has bookmarked, I've noticed something. In each of the entries, the one who wrote it faced a challenge in which living up to their designated Element of Harmony wasn't easy. For example, Fancy Pants' entry is about Suri, Coco, and Fashion Week in Manehattan. And Thunderlane's entry is about Sea Breeze and the Breezies."
"We all remember those moments, they were some of the toughest decisions we ever had to make," Braeburn commented. "What exactly does that have to do with the keys?"
Shining continued with his explanation. "Each of you had a moment of realization, where you knew what you had to do. And when you did so, you inspired somepony else do the same, and were rewarded with a special trinket. Fancy Pants got a spool of silk, Soarin got Spitfire's badge, Braeburn got Boneless a.k.a a rubber chicken, Thunderlane got a flower, and Big Macintosh got a bit coin."
"Wait, are you implying what I think you're implying?" Thunderlane asked Shining.
Shining nodded. "I think those items are either the keys themselves, or they're intended to lead us to the location of the keys. As strange as it may sound, I think Discord was onto something. He must've known what was special about those items, and was trying to point us towards them."
Everyone's eyes lit up! "Well, what are we standing around here for?!" Soarin asked outloud. "Let's get to the Tree of Harmony, and see if we can find those keys!"
The six stallions raced to the tree (after picking up the items designated in the journal entries), setting the items atop the mysterious chest. Shining examined them carefully. "Hm, I don't see anything on them that involves directions. But I also don't see anything that implies they might transform. There must be something that can explain what their purpose is."
Braeburn grabbed Boneless, and started shaking it up and down. "Come on, Boneless! Give us that key already, we really need it!" But nothing happened.
"I don't think that's going to work." Shining commented to Braeburn, before Braeburn furiously tossed Boneless towards the chest. Surprisingly, when Boneless got close to the chest, it was enveloped in a rainbow glow, and a key shaped like the Element of Laughter appeared in Boneless' place!
One by one, Thunderlane, Soarin, Big Macintosh, and Fancy Pants all held their items close to the chest, and each one turned into a key that was shaped like their respective Element of Harmony.
"Only one key left to go and that chest is finally gonna open!" Braeburn cheered.
"So, where's your key, Shining Armor?" Soarin asked the unicorn.
Shining hung his head as he sighed. "I don't have it. There;s nothing I have that could possibly be that key in disguise."
"Nonsense. I'm sure there is, you just haven't thought of it yet," Fancy Pants commented, and encouraged. "Come on, think for a moment, Shining. When did you complete a difficult magical task, and in doing so inspired someone else to do the same?"
"First of all, my element may be magic, but it's not magic itself, it's the magic of friendship," Shining protested, and glumly he added. "And second, there's never been a moment like that. If there was, I'd have written it down in the journal, and Discord would've bookmarked it," With a sigh, he then commented. "I can't believe this! So close, and yet so far!"
"Hey, cheer up, Shinin'," Braeburn encouraged with a bright smile. "I'm sure your key will turn up eventually. Heck, maybe one of the princesses will know where it is."
Just then, Spike came rushing up towards Shining, panting heavily. A scroll was tucked under his left arm. "There you are, Shining! Been looking everywhere for you!" Spike commented between pants, as he gave the scroll to Shining. "Urgent memo from Canterlot! Better take a good look at it, I don't think you'll like what it says."
Shining enveloped the scroll with his magic, and read it carefully. When he had finished, his heart sank, and his entire body filled with dread. "Oh no!" He cried.
"What?! What's wrong?!" Big Macintosh asked.
"It doesn't say, it just says something's gone wrong and I'm needed in Canterlot at once!" Shining replied dramatically. "Sorry guys, looks like that last key's gonna have to wait! This is an emergency!" Then with a flap of his wings, he was off! All the while, Shining thought to himself. "Please don't let this be about Tirek! Please!"
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Epic. And i so love what you did with Tirek. Now instead of just being a silver-tongue, he can plant the seeds of doubt in others in such a convincing way, it'll make them fear what he might do. And the fact this Discord really does care for the ponies makes it feel legit. Now it's really gonna feel like when Jafar had control of the Genie from here on.:)
8187014 Funny you should mention that considering what I'm planning for Tirek and Discord later on. I'm not gonna spoil it, but if you've seen the sequels (or at least heard of them) you may know what lies in store.
8187114
Oh. My. God. That is going to be so MAGNIFICENT, I CAN'T WAIT!
I mean that would make sense that fluttershy has a great great grandmother in the mlp 1st generation I mean that's just another theory
Ahhh i see hIs gonna do this im going to go after your love ones That's a number 1 villain 101 Try to take avantage of there friends Curse you tirek 😡
Actually he will because you're gonna double cross him anyway you jerk 😡
Actually I like the idea of Tirek Threatening to hurt discord friends most importantly fluttershy If he doesn't comply hes demand Even though that's the most cheapest dirty trick ever but It makes sense for discard for betraying the ponies