My Little Pony, Friendship is Magic: Stallion Edition

by SuperPinkBrony12

Chapter 91: Canterlot in Chaos

Discord had reluctantly sided with Tirek, convinced it was the only way to protect his friends and hopefully give them enough time to track down that final key. But with every passing second, a nagging part of him couldn't help but wonder if he was making the right choice.

While Tirek was busy draining a few insignificant unicorns of their magic, Discord felt a sudden tingle run down his spine, and he started to shake all over. "Wait, that can't be right." He murmured to himself.

"What can't be right?" Tirek asked, his voice having changed from low and raspy to deep and booming with his change in height. By now he no longer had his cloak on, he had two giant, black horns, and dark red fur. Not to mention a tuft of white for hair.

"Oh uh, nothing. Absolutely nothing," Discord hastily responded. "No need to worry yourself."

"You'd better not be lying to me, Discord!" Tirek warned in an ominous tone of voice. "Bad things happen to those who betray my trust."

"I assure you, it's nothing. What I thought I felt couldn't be possible." Discord replied, opting the most convincing smile he possibly could.

If Tirek suspected Discord was lying to him at all, he didn't show it. He simply nodded and turned away, likely to admire his newfound power.

Discord was more than a little concerned by what he'd felt. "A transfer of power doesn't make sense. Even if the princesses know I'm coming, why would they store all their magical power inside Shining Armor? He couldn't possibly handle all that alicorn magic." He thought to himself.

"Something on your mind, Discord?" Tirek asked, turning around.

Discord shook his head. "No, nothing, just wondering if maybe my senses are on the fritz again," Quickly changing the subject he asked Tirek. "So, where to now oh fearless leader?"

Tirek grinned rather fiendishly, and a twinkle seemed to come into his eyes. "Why to Canterlot of course. It's time for me to reclaim my birth rate and take my rightful place as ruler of the world," He cackled. "And this time, no one is going to stop me!"

"Shining, wherever you and your friends are, I hope you're searching for that final key!" Discord thought to himself, as he went off with Tirek. "I can't keep Tirek in the dark for much longer!"

---

Flash Sentry was pacing back and forth on the bridge between the castle towers, keeping a close eye on the city. His trusty spear was clutched firmly in his hooves, as he kept watch for any sign of trouble.

All of a sudden, a voice cried out. "Flash Sentry?! What are you doing here?!"

Flash spun around, finding himself face to face with none other than Discord. "You!" He hissed, pointing his spear at the spirit. "How dare you show your face in my presence, traitor!"

"You don't understand!" Discord pleaded. "It's not what it looks like, I swear!"

Flash only shook his head. "Please, don't insult me! You betrayed us all, how can you look us in the eye and say you're proud of that fact?!"

But just then, Tirek appeared! His presence announced by the thunderous stomping of his hooves. "The only one that Discord betrayed was himself," Tirek growled. "Abandoning his true nature in order to make 'friends' with weak minded equines, who offered him nothing but the empty promises of 'friendship'. And just so they could tame him and turn them into a weapon for their own desires. Well, not anymore!"

Flash immediately rushed towards Tirek, screaming at the top of his lungs! But Tirek easily caught Flash, and pulled him close. "You didn't really think that was gonna work, did you?" He taunted, and drained Flash of his magic, dumping the brightly coated stallion onto the ground.

With his cutie mark gone and the color in his eyes having faded, Flash looked at Discord and weakly he muttered. "How could you? Why?" And then he collapsed.

Before Discord had a chance to truly reflect on what he'd seen, Tirek put a paw around him and said to him. "I've got pressing business to attend to with the princesses, but I shan't need your help dealing with them," Pointing out at the town of Canterlot itself he added. "Why don't you go and have a little fun? I won't stand in your way."

"Uh... sure thing, whatever you say." Discord hastily replied, as Tirek stormed off to find the princesses.

---

Princess Celestia was sitting all alone in the throne room, when she heard the doors fly apart with a deafening crash! "He's here." She said weakly to herself.

Sure enough, Tirek came barging into the throne room. Every step he took shook the floors, until at last he and Princess Celestia were face to face. "Hello, Princess," He hissed. "Bet you thought you'd seen the last of me, didn't you? Well I'm afraid not," Grabbing the princess with his magic, he then added in an oily tone of voice. "Now, let's not beat around the bush. You know what I want, now give it to me!" Tirek opened his mouth to drain all the magic from the princess, only to find nothing would come out. "Argh!" He growled. "So you're going to be stubborn, huh?! Fine then, I'll take that magic even if I have to yank it out by force!" And he opened his mouth again, trying harder to drain the sun princess' magic. But nothing happened. "What have you done?!" Tirek demanded, as he continued to try again and again to absorb the magic, only to find that there was none to be had. "WHERE IS YOUR MAGIC?!" He cried, carelessly tossing Celestia to the floor.

Celestia simply smiled, as she looked up at Tirek and told him. "It's gone, and you're never going to get your paws on it."

Tirek sat down on Celestia's throne, and eyed the princess as if he were throwing daggers at her. "I see, getting rid of your magic so that I cannot take it from you?" He commented. "How very clever, princess. But you know as well as I do that magic can't just vanish, especially not magic as powerful as yours. Now tell me, what did you do with your magic? Who or what did you give it to?"

"And what makes you think I'd tell the likes of you? I may not have magic, but I am still a princess!" Celestia said seriously. "And as long as I still draw breath, Equestria shall never be yours!"

Tirek only growled, angrily pounding his fist down on the throne. "You'd better tell me, princess. Because otherwise I'll tear your miserable little kingdom apart piece by piece until I find the magic," And then he added in a rather malicious tone. "In fact, I think the heads of your beloved subjects will roll, figuratively and literally. After all, I have Discord on my side now. Boy were you dumb to send the spirit of Chaos and Disharmony off alone to face me," Picking up Celestia, he pulled her close and said as clearly as possible. "So, either tell me what I want to know, or get ready to see your precious kingdom burn!"

But it was at that moment that Discord called out. "Don't bother with her, Tirek. She won't tell you, and neither will either of these do gooders!" In a blinding flash of light, Discord appeared, dressed in what looked like a bug catcher's outfit. Inside a giant net, were none other than Princess Luna and Princess Cadence, both of whom were deposited on the floor next to Celestia.

Tirek smiled, rubbing his paws together. "Excellent work, Discord. I knew I could count on you." He proceeded to pick up Princess Luna and Princess Cadence, hoping to drain their magic to use against Princess Celestia.

"Don't waste your time, their magic is gone too. And they're as tight lipped about where they've hidden it as old sunbutt is," Discord commented. "They must've known we were coming."

"Ah, I see. I should've known it wouldn't be this easy," Tirek grumbled, before he moved to sit back down on Celestia's throne, and eyed the three princesses with a sinister smile on his face. "Tell me, how does it feel?" He asked them. "To know that soon, every last unicorn, pegasus, and earth pony, will bow before my magnificent will? And that there is NOTHING any of you can do to stop it?!" He waited for a little bit, but none of the princesses said a word, they were just content to stare and glare at him. "What's the matter? Got nothing smart left to say?" He teased, hoping for some kind of reaction. "No dramatic or witty comeback? No heroic speeches about how evil never wins? Nomore words left to fail? Not even an offhoof remark about how evil I am?"

Celestia looked up at Tirek, and with the most serious expression on her face, she told him. "Mark my words, you will not prevail, Tirek."

Tirek just scoffed at Celestia's comment. "What a load of heroic but utterly pointless nonsense," Then he growled, as he used his magic to open up a portal and in an ominous tone he added. "Give my regards to Cerberus, and tell him I said 'Hi'." And with that, he tossed all three of the princesses one by one into the depths of Tartarus. Then he sealed the portal shut.

"Uh, you meant our will when you were talking about the ponies. Didn't you?" Discord asked Tirek, as the spirit was busy playing with a redesigned stain glass window that showed him dangling the three princesses over a pit of fire.

"Oh of course, of course," Tirek answered. He proceeded to approach Discord, while clenching a golden, jewel encrusted amulet of some kind. "In fact, here, I'd like you to have this," Tirek went on, and put the amulet around Discord's neck. "This little trinket was given to me by someone very near and dear to me. And now, I give it to you as a sign of our trust."

Discord eyed the amulet, admiring how beautiful it looked. "Ooh, I do so love a good accessory," He commented, then he put a paw to his chin as he said to himself. "Huh, I suppose that's Rarity and Fancy Pants' influence rubbing off of me." And he felt his heart sink a little, even as he tried to convince himself he was still doing the right thing. "Anyone in my situation would've done the same, right?" He mentally pondered.

Meanwhile, Tirek was looking at a stain glass window, depicting himself wielding a sword, and Discord wielding a loaf of bread. The two were positioned, so that Tirek's sword was slicing through Discord's bread loaf. Tirek couldn't help but chuckle at this display. "Very amusing," He commented and cleared his throat. "But we have no time for games, Discord. Now that the princess are out of the way we must...." But the rest of his sentence was cut off, as the crafty centaur's eyes fell upon the stain glass window depicting Shining Armor's ascension to alicornhood. "Is this meant to be humorous?!" He complained to Discord.

"Dang it, I knew I was forgetting something!" Discord thought to himself, and hastily answered with a nervous laugh. "Oh no, I haven't actually touched that one yet."

"You mean that there is a fourth alicorn, a prince no less, and yet you did not tell me?!" Tirek demanded, his eyes narrowing in anger.

"I was going to tell you eventually, honest," Discord insisted. "I kept this secret from you as an insurance policy, in case you tried to double cross me. But, now that I have proof of your trust, I see no need to hang onto my bargaining chip. That is Prince Shining Armor, the husband of Princess Cadence."

"Ah, I see," Tirek replied, his mood changing from fury to satisfaction. Even so, he pulled Discord close and demanded. "Tell me where his castle is, so that I might go and pay him a visit. If he has all the alicorn magic in Equestria, he could pose a threat to our plans!"

But Discord only laughed. "Castle? Oh, that's too funny," He then explained to Tirek. "The young prince only has two places he calls home these days, and as luck would have it, he currently resides in his home away from home, the Golden Oaks Library in Ponyville."

A fiendish smirk formed on Tirek's face, as he used his magic to make the stain glass image melt and be replaced by one depicting the triumphant centaur. "Not for much longer," He commented, as he rubbed his paws together. "Come, let's pay Ponyville a visit. I'm sure the prince and I can have a nice, civilized chat about his magic."

Discord gulped, as he reluctantly followed Tirek. All the while, he was mentally pleading. "Please, Shining Armor! You and your friends had better find that last key! I can't stall Tirek any further!"

Author's Note:

Since Shining Armor is taking Twilight's place in the story here, I decided to have Flash fill the role Shining Armor played in the show canon version of the story.

As for Princess Cadence, if you're wondering, Discord caught her just before she could leave Canterlot (he extracted the information from Flash Sentry).

Next chapter comes the betrayal, and you'll be surprised at how it plays out.

Comments

[Comickook]

Hey there. I've been reading (and liking) these chapters, but have, admittedly, just been too lazy to respond until now. I DO, however, have a possible idea for the next chapter:

At the appropriate point, Tirek can comment "You were willing to betray the ponies, Discord. It was only a matter of time before you betrayed me too. I simply beat you to the punch. I learned from the mistake I made with my brother, after all."

Plus, I have a few ideas for later in the story (not necessarily the next chapter):

1. At an appropriate point, the following exchange can take place:

Tirek: I can sense that we are too evenly matched. So, we can keep fighting until literally the end of time, or you can surrender your power in order to save (holds up a cage containing his friends) your friends.

Shining: Considering you'd probably kill my friends anyway once I gave you the power, I would say the "'keep fighting until literally the end of time'" option would be the smarter pick.

Tirek: And what makes you think I would kill your friends anyway once I got the power?

Shining: You're not exactly the kind of individual that any sane sentient being would trust even one-tenth as far as they could throw.

Tirek: Point taken. Anyway, the offer is still on the table - for now -

Somebody of your choice: Don't do it, Shiny. Don't surrender the power. We are not important enough to be worth such a frankly idiotic sacrifice.

Somebody else of your choice: Yeah. Even if you DO only have enough power to fight him to a stalemate, it's still better than creating a scenario where nobody stands ANY chance AT ALL against Tirek.

Somebody else of your choice: Yeah. What would we do if you gave up the power? Try to fight him with nothing but brains, courage and teamwork and pray it's enough? This isn't the movies OR a comic book.

Shining: Release my friends - ALL of my friends - unharmed first and then leave them alone. If - and ONLY if - you do that, I'll give you the power. But, even THEN, I won't do it until AFTER my friends are safe - not even one fraction of a second BEFORE.

Tirek: And what assurances do I have that you won't break your promise once I relinquished my bargaining chip?

Shining: You're more likely to break your promise than I am.

Tirek: Unfortunately, that's true, but that doesn't answer my question.

2. As punishment for his betrayal, Discord could have his power drained into an orb also created by the Rainbow Power. Discord would then need to regain his power little by little through the performing of good deeds (i.e. he gets one percent of his power back for every one hundred good deeds he does). In other words, he has to work VERY hard to regain his friends' trust.

3. At the very end, somebody of your choice could comment "Okay, I mean, yes, we got the final key out of the deal, but what if we didn't? We trusted FAR too much to luck this time around and it bit us in the flanks in a major way. It was only by a major miracle that trusting so much to luck did NOT doom us all." with somebody else of your choice putting in "Well, even if Discord WEREN'T stupid enough to trust Tirek, it is still pretty likely we would have had SOME adventure that would have resulted in us getting the last key. Like, say, stumbling on to some weird town of brain-washed ponies by accident and teaching them about REAL friendship."

Of course, I can completely understand if you don't like the ideas and will profusely apologize for wasting your time if you don't.

[kahnac]

Very awesome. I do love the reluctantcy, and hesitation in Discord. You can clearly see he is NOT having any enjoyment from what he's basically being forced to do. He's just trying to minimize damage, and ensure Tirek is delayed long enough for Shining, and his friends to find the key. You did really good with his characterization in such a regard. Not to mention Tirek's interactions with everyone. In the show, he had to play the trickster game to keep Discord from turning on him - here, he really feels in charge of EVERYTHING. Even Discord is intimidated by him. And at least he's smart enough to know the nature of magic as well as the alicorns. He really is smarter than one would think. Now i eagerly await the next chapter........and to see how the Betrayal goes down.:D

[Yoshifan30]

oh boy Hes going after shining armor and his friends and probably twilight and her friends as well oh dear It looks like They're gonna find out that this discord betrayed them