The Secret of Harmony

by Brassboy212

Chapter 1: A Mental and Magical Discovery

Footnotes are numbers inside parentheses. Example: (1)

Three months had passed since the beloved mane 6 defeated and imprisoned Lord Tirek back in the prison of Tartarus. Now the young princess, Twilight Sparkle, was having the pleasure of enjoying her new castle home. She walked throughout her new library double dusting off bookcases and checking to make sure every book was in the right spot.

Ever since they heard of Twilight’s house being destroyed in the battle with Tirek, ponies from all over Equestria generously donated books by the box loads to replace the ones that were destroyed. In a matter of weeks, she had nearly every book she once had and then some! Luckily, the larger space was more than capable of shelving them all. As she walked around, she gave another glance to a unique set of objects in the center of the room. It was a glass case containing perfect replicas of the Elements of Harmony; made by the Equestrian Historical Society as a gift to the princess. Sure the mane 6’s new “rainbow power” worked just as well, but these were the artifacts that brought them all together; the artifacts that helped show Equestria that friendship really is magic; the artifacts that freed Princess Luna from Nightmare Moon’s control and imprisoned the now free and reformed lord of chaos, Discord. Twilight began feeling the warming effects of nostalgia and decided to savor it as much as possible. She sat in one of the comfortable chairs in the room continuing to fix her eyes on the replicated relics. Eventually, she shut her eyes and began reminiscing the times she and her friends united to defeat their foes.

Each of the experiences created the same feelings in her mind. They all felt as if harmony was the most powerful thing in the world; a true taste of heavenly peace ending with a sense of cleansing as if all the evil brought upon by her foes melted away. However, there was something different about the sensations this time around. Every time she replayed that cleansing part of the memory, it always seemed like something was off. It was a very subtle feeling; so subtle she had to replay the memories numerous times to make sure she was thinking straight. A beautiful melody of images and feelings played in her mind, but every time, a singular note in the same spot was skipped, creating an awkward ending. She seemed to have uncovered a grey area within the recesses of her memories, but had no idea what it was or what it meant. After realizing this was a mystery she could not solve on her own, she decided to do the next best thing.

She called out to her dragon assistant. "Spike? Spike could you come here for a second?"

The little dragon came into the room. "What do you need Twilight?"

"I want to have a meeting with you and girls. Stay here and ready the throne room while I go round them up."

"Sure Twilight, what's the meeting for?"

"It's a long story. I'll explain everything when we're all together." Twilight immediately turned around and headed for the front door.

"Well, okay. See you later then!" Once he heard the front door shut, he grabbed the broom and duster and made his way to the throne room.

"So she's having a royal meeting and wants me on it as well." he said to himself. "I wonder what it's going to be about."

Twilight lifted herself off the ground and flew towards her friend Rarity's house first since she lived the closest to Twilight. "I don't know what this missing feeling is all about, but once I get my friends together, I know we'll be able to unravel this mystery!"

---

A large yet skinny demonic centaur slept in his enchanted cell within the confines of the ancient prison known as Tartarus. Believe it or not, this weak centaur nearly succeeded in stealing all the magic in Equestria, including alicorn magic, and becoming the most powerful being in the world. This creature's name was Tirek.

Now, back in prison after his second defeat, he did his best to get reacquainted with his cell and its hulking guard, Cerberus, the three-headed dog. His unpleasant nap on the cold metal floor was rudely interrupted by a light flurry of black fur falling on his nose causing him to sneeze and wake up. As Tirek propped himself up, he noticed that the hairs were coming from Cerberus eagerly scratching himself with his hind paw; completely oblivious to the stream of shedding fur drifting into Tirek's cell. He tried to call out to the dog, but his voice was too hushed an weak to be heard over the scratching. Seeing a pebble in his reach outside the cell, he picked it up and tossed it at Cerberus hitting him right on his middle head. Cerberus took notice of the pebble, stopped scratching, and turned around towards the prisoner. Tirek held up a fistful of the hair.

"Do you mind?!" he said as loud as his frail voice could let him.

Cerberus' middle head, named Julius (1), made a confused-sounding yelp with a matching facial expression in response. Luckily, Tirek taught himself to speak dog during the extended time of his first imprisonment (he had nothing better to do) so he could understand and communicate with the dog perfectly.

"Don't play Mr. Innocent with me Julius!" he said glaring at the middle head. "That's your brother, Orthrus' (2) job! How many times have I told you not to scratch your flea ridden body NEAR MY CELL?!"

The right head, or Tirek's left, named Augustus (1), snarled and gave out a series of angry barks.
Translation: "Quiet centaur! We don't take orders from incarcerated scum like you!"

"Said the ferocious beast who submitted to a pony in a matter of seconds!"

The left head, or Tirek's right, named Tiberius (1), barked back in a way that caught Tirek's attention.
Translation: "Hey! Fluttershy is the sweetest pony in Equestria! It's only fair that we repay her for her kindness!"

"Fluttershy? You mean that yellow pegasus was the one who tamed you?"

Tiberius barked once and nodded back.
Translation: "The very same!"

Tirek put a hand to his face as his frustration reached a whole new level from all the praise given to the ponies. "First I put up with Discord succumbing to them and now the beast who watches me 24/7 is part of it? I swear there's no escape from those insolent equines!"

Julius wagged his tail and growled at Tirek with a toothy grin.
Translation: Should've thought of that before you tried to take over Equestria!
Augustus and Tiberius snickered.
Julius gave another series of barks.
Translation: "Haven't you noticed that your resistance against friendship has only ended badly for you?"

"What?" Tirek growled.

Julius continued barking.
Translation: You go on and on about how friendship is meaningless, but at the end of your day, it becomes your downfall."

Augustus chimed in with more barking that sounded like sarcasm to Tirek's ears.
Translation: "Clearly your brother Scorpan was more in the wrong for befriending the ponies despite him being allowed freedom, unlike you."

The vision in Tirek's black and yellow eyes grew blurry as the rage in him continued to boil.

His throat stung as he shouted:

"Don't you DARE mention that traitor in front of me!!"

Tiberius barked back.
Translation: "And what makes you think we'll listen to you?"

More rage continued to fill Tirek from the insults.

His temper was as close to breaking as it could possibly be. "I swear, once I get out of here I'll make sure to have you neutered while you're awake so that all three of your slobbering heads can witness the whole thing!!"

Julius joyfully howled as a form of laughter and was followed by barks from Tiberius, and then Augustus. As this went on, the beast began walking away from Tirek's cell.
Translation: "Oh please, like I've never heard a threat like that before!" (3)
"Need we remind you that you're the frail centaur in a cage!"
"Indeed, even compared to us you're the weaker one. Nothing but a powerless criminal!"

That was it for Tirek. He could handle being called frail or skinny, he could handle being reminded of his imprisonment, he could even handle being called weak now and then, but never, NEVER in the history of his existence would he ever tolerate being called "powerless". Being powerless reminded him of the ponies, and he would never compare himself to the beings he despised most.

"I'VE MORE THAN ENOUGH POWER TO PUT YOU DOWN, MUTT!!!" he called back to them.

In a fit of his wild rage he focused his power to use his dark magic. He knew that his power would be weak in his state, but he didn't care. He wanted to show Cerberus that no one calls him powerless and gets away with it. After a great deal of straining, a baseball-sized fiery colored sphere appeared above his head and fired a beam at the dog's back, causing him to fall unconscious.

After Tirek collected himself, he saw how effective his magic really was. He was very familiar with how strong his powers would be in his current state and he never remembered them being this strong. However, upon further inspection, he started noticing some other strange things. For one, he noticed that his body was a bit bigger compared to the first time he was imprisoned. Since his size changed based on his power level, he knew something was up. He shut his eyes and accessed his inner self. It was his way of seeing how much magic he had inside. At first, all he saw was black nothingness, but suddenly, five faint beacons of magic appeared in the darkness. He immediately recognized the owners of each beacon and was quite surprised by this.

"How is this possible?" he thought. "Surely, all the stolen magic in me was taken after my defeat. How could I be able to retain some of it? I don't even possess an ability to do so." Whatever the case, he was more than pleased by the little miracle he was given!

Immediately, he decided to seize the opportunity to break out and planned to get some much needed revenge on Equestria. But the plan had to be good; something they would never expect; something that they could not possibly challenge. As he leafed through ideas, he remembered the words of the Julius head of Cerberus

"Haven't you noticed that your resistance against friendship has only ended badly for you?"

Friendship. THAT'S IT! Perhaps Tirek WOULD need to make some friends in order to defeat his foes. Perhaps the idea of having friends wasn't such a bad idea. After all, what better way to bring down his mortal enemies than to use their own idea of friendship against them? Now the question remaining was how would he get these friends. Obviously, he couldn't do much inside his prison cell, but once he remembered who the remnants of magic belonged to, he came up with an idea so brilliant that it made him smile more than he ever had in his life. Remembering that Cerberus would wake up soon from his "nap", he knew he had to put his plan into action ASA-Now! So after sitting down and cracking his knuckles, the centaur went to work.

---

Spike, just finished the last touches on the throne room he heard the sound of the front door open followed by numerous hoof-steps and the chatter of six familiar voices. Quickly, he put the cleaning supplies in the closet and headed downstairs to greet his friends. After their share of greetings, the gang headed upstairs and took their respective seats in the throne room.

Rainbow Dash was the first to break the ice. "Well Twilight, we're all here. What's this really important thing you wanted to tell us?"

Rarity spoke next. "Yes Twilight, do tell us. Is there a problem?"

After a minute or so, Twilight finally attempted to give an answer. "Yes....well, no....I mean, there IS a problem, but it's not REALLY a problem..." The difficulty of explaining the situation was so great that it was causing the purple alicorn to ramble.

"Oh, well that's good to hear, so why-"

Twilight cut off Applejack with more rambling before she had a chance to finish.

"At least, it doesn't SEEM like a problem....but, then again, it COULD be a problem....just not a MAJOR problem...."

Pinkie Pie stifled a laugh. "Man Twilight, you sound like me after the time I ate two-year-old Nightmare Night candy from the back of the cabinet.....It didn't end well."

"Don't you start too Pinkie!" Rainbow Dash ordered.

"Even though it doesn't sound like a big problem, it's easy to see this possibly small problem for the possibly big problem it may or may not possibly be..."

"Um...Twilight, you're scaring me." Fluttershy softly protested.

"HOWEVER, despite all the possible risks of this being a possible problem, we should, from here on out, keep to the possible theory that there is no problem at this very moment!!"

Everyone gave a sigh of relief thinking that her spastic report was over.

"But we should still keep the possibility of this being a possible problem on the table."

"TWILIGHT!!!"

"What?"

"Whether this is a problem or not, we need to know so we can help you." said Rarity. "That's what you brought us here for in the first place."

"You're right girls, I'm sorry. It's just that I'm so confused with what's happened recently. My head's been going in circles from thinking about it so much."

"Well, like Rarity said, if you tell us we can find a way to help you." replied Fluttershy. "Just start from the beginning. (4)"

"Yeah! Yeah!" responded Pinkie. "And when you come to the end....Stop! (4)"

"Alright," Twilight took a deep breath and made sure she was calm and collected. "It all started earlier today in the library..." and with that, Twilight began telling her story.

---

Tirek continued to concentrate his magic. The strain and the exhaustion was unbearable; unlike anything he had ever done in his life. The small fiery sphere of magic continued floating over his head as he waved his skinny arms around slowly, yet randomly, to control the magic.

"If only I were just one level higher, then this would be so much easier to handle!" he thought.

Suddenly, something appeared to him slightly above his forehead. He looked up as best he could, and saw what looked like a small colored beam of magic swirling inside the red and orange sphere. Then he saw another, and another, and another, until he counted four beams. Tirek smiled knowing that this ritual was so near completion.

"Now, the final touch!" he panted.

Tirek held his hands close to the sphere of magic and concentrated once more. The fifth and final beam appeared above the sphere; a beam much darker and more unstable than the other four. Then, in one swift motion, Tirek brought his hands together, locking the sphere and the five beams within his clutches. Hints of bright red and orange lights coming from Tirek's hands flashed around the cell. His hands started to shake from the sudden fusion of magic. To him, the magic felt like a bunch of tiny fish flailing around in a tiny puddle of water cupped between his hands. It also felt like one of the fish had teeth since he felt an occasional sting within his grasp. But, stinging or not, he knew he had to keep his hands together if he wanted to get this spell right.

After a few minutes of this phenomenon, the red and orange lights began to turn an ominous purple, Tirek's hands stopped shaking, and the "flailing fish" sensation he was feeling died down as well. Seeing the changes, Tirek slowly opened his hands and saw that the sphere of magic above his head looked as though it was a sphere made of purple fire. It trembled and pulsed from the overwhelming power it had just received.

Overjoyed at the next to last phase being a success, Tirek pointed his head to the shadowy corner of his cell and discharged the purple magic. A purple beam shot out and exploded when it made contact with the target. His sphere of magic turned back to it's normal color. Soon he was hit with blurry vision as a symptom of his exhaustion and collapsed on his side due to his body giving out. As the dust lifted and he regained his vision, his yellow embers for eyes widened from what he saw standing in the corner of his cell. He was speechless from disbelief. He even rubbed his eyes and squinted several times to make sure he wasn't hallucinating the five silent figures standing before him. The moment of silence was broken by a group of voices calmly yet chillingly speaking in perfect unison,

"Lord Tirek, we are here to serve you!" they said.

The demonic centaur was filled with elation as he looked upon his new "friends". With his spell a success, he knew for sure that this was the end for his rivals, the ponies of Equestria, and the rest of the world.

"You want to learn about friendship, my little ponies?" He said bellowing to the heavens. "I'LL GIVE YOU A FRIENDSHIP LESSON THAT YOU'LL NEVER FORGET!!!"

Tirek began to laugh maniacally and was joined by his band of 'friends'.

Author's Note:

Hope you guys enjoyed the first chapter because it only gets more exciting from there!

QUESTION TIME!: Who do you think Tirek's new "Friends" are? Leave your answer in the comments. (Don't tell them The Psychopath!!)

NEXT CHAPTER: Spike goes Socrates on his friends! The centaur gets even with Cerberus! TIREK'S NEW "FRIENDS" ARE REVEALED!!!

The Mane 6 will have a bigger sections in the next chapter.

I tried an experiment with Cerberus by giving his heads their own names and personalities.

Please let me know what you all think!

Footnotes
1. Cerberus, in real life, was a creature of Greek and Roman mythology. To play off this, his three heads are named after the three Caesars who ruled Ancient Rome: Julius, Augustus, and Tiberius Caesar.

2. In the mythology, Cerberus and Orthrus, the two-headed dog, were brothers along with other famous mythical creatures such as the Chimera, the Hydra, and the Sphinx.

3. Julius Caesar was arrested at one point in his early years. While being arrested, he told his captors that he would crucify them once he got out. And that's exactly what he did after his freedom. Since Caesar used a similar threat, the Julius head is well acquainted with that type of threat.

4. Referencing a small bit of dialogue from Disney's "Alice in Wonderland" (the older one)

Comments

[musicluvr1974]

Very nice start! I like clean Tirek stories, so I'm going to track this!

[Brassboy212]

5386498 Thanks! So, care to take a guess as to who Tirek's new "friends" might be? Also, what did you of Cerberus' heads having three separate names and personalities?

[The Psychopath]

"Need we remind you that your the frail centaur in a cage!"

*you're

Don't forget to separate dialogue from paragraphs and sentences.

This was very well elated and developped. It's promising! Best yet, you remind me of myself!

[Brassboy212]

5386637 Thanks! Yeah, I guess that little bugger did manage to slip under my watch.

[The Psychopath]

5386671 Oh, good. You didn't do it on purpose. Best put my skinning equipment away.

[musicluvr1974]

5386575 Tirek's friends? Changelings, maybe? As to Cerberus' heads, it reminded me a bit of the two-headed Orc Knights in Warcraft II--how they'd argue sometimes. "We're ready, Master." "I'm not ready!!"

[Phaedra]

Do his friends look anything like… this!

img3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20131005233606/villains/images/2/2b/The_Supreme_Fairy_Council.jpg

I thought not.

[Brassboy212]

5387429 You're half right. I'll give you that. When concealed, they're completely wrapped in shadow, but you can still kind of make out what species they are.

[Alchemystudent]

Hmm, very interesting. While Twilight's psychosis seems overblown, the rest of it has a nice bit of intregue that keeps me going and want to see wher the rest of this leads.

[Brassboy212]

6381647
The slight OTP psychosis was more for comedic purposes. Especially her constantly usage of the words 'possible' and 'problem'. Plus, if I'm not mistaken, she's never really dealt with a problem like this before.

[verypeeved]

i keep reading that as "streets of harmony" and thinking for a moment that it's a streets of rage crossover.