Lost Magic And Betrayal

by Politicalunrest2400

Prologue: A Different Decision

Author's Note:

This is not a real 'cross-over' per-se, but rather a mirror of the how the Pony universe becomes similar to the 40K universe. As things progress i will post more info and lay it out as to which characters are to equate to which, on the chapter after they become mirrored. Obviously this is not going to be a short endeavor, and i hope that i will be able to post something new every week. Also if you would like to help out with this project please PM me, i really need and editor/ proofreader.

Twilight felt the power course through her. It was exhilarating, it was like fire coursing through her veins! She was alive, truly alive for the first time! She suppressed the feeling of adulation, and the feelings of fear that sprung up in her in response. She had a hard time not showing the second, as the other three princesses now exhausted, looked at her with an equal mixture of awe, concern, and fear...

Why shouldn't they fear her?! After all she was now more than the God that she had been, more than the now diminished Goddesses that now stood before her had ever been! She was power, she was magic incarnate! She suppressed the thought almost as quickly as it came, knowing how dangerous the thirst for power and magic could be.

Magic leaked from her eyes, but what once she would have seen as a dangerous leak of her magic uncontrolled into the world, she saw as nothing more than a drop in the sea.

The princesses spoke to her, they warned her, and they gave her instructions not to face the new threat, this Tirek under any circumstances as he would steal her magic and use it to destroy Equestria.

She remembered their warning as much as if they were screaming in a thunderstorm that drowned out almost everything… that is to say almost not at all. Then Celestia seemed to cut through the magical static that surrounded her mind with one last word of warning. “If you face him, you will undoubtedly lose. IF you lose, we lose Equestria, you me, my sister, and all of your friends and family…” motioning to Cadence and Shining Armor who stood off to the side of the throne. “Will die, magic-less, and none of us will have the power necessary to do anything about it. Now go twilight sparkle, and learn to control this new magic of yours that we have gifted you least He find you, and destroy us all.”
Obviously dismissed, humbled and with only a little static fogging her mind, Twilight opened a portal to home, and stepped through. The portal smashed shut like a thunder cloud, crackling with purple lightning casting the throne room in odd shadows.

Once the princesses were alone, Luna looked to Celestia and said, voice pouring exhaustion “She has proven worthy of every other task. But never have we given her such temptation, such raw power. Can she handle it without becoming corrupted?”

The question was legitimate as even Alicorns could turn dark, Luna herself was a prime example when her greed and lust for power and admiration had changed her slowly. The effect had only been enhanced by an evil spirit that had been attracted to her darkness, but she had been dark long before that.

Celestia felt a pang of guilt at the memory, as she had never given her sister her due when they had been younger, and she truly was to blame for the nightmare moon incident; even if Luna refused to admit it. “That is a good question sister” she paused thinking. “But I do not know a way other than this test that would allow us to find out.” Her sister’s expression turned to pure fear and outrage.

“You let a half trained Alicorn loose on the world with the cumulative power of four of us without anyway to know for sure?! Sister, you may have just doomed not just all of Equestria, but the whole world!” Luna now faced Celestia down, nose to nose for her foolishness.
Celestia kept her voice calm glancing at Cadence who seemed just as shocked as Luna was, but not nearly as angry; before locking eyes with Luna again. “Calm yourself Luna, There is one thing I can do yet that none, even you, know of.” Luna's expression evened as she gained control of her anger. The mares temper use to be legendary, and she had not shown it openly to Celestia sense freedom from the creature that had transformed her into nightmare moon.

Luna was exhausted, that was the only explanation. Not only had she just given over all of her magic, she had also just had perhaps the longest night sense her return. Dispelling nightmare after nightmare as filly’s and foals, and mares and colts alike dreamed of shadowy dooms that would grip them at night and suck their life away, their instincts knowing of the danger that He posed long before they knew of it. “I am sorry Luna, I know this must be hard on you.” Celestia’s voice was calm and filled with love for her sister. She put a wing over Luna and touched noses with her sister in a gesture of affection that was as old as time. It was something their mother had done to them when they were scared, tired or angry.

Luna let slip a single tear, then whispered “I love you too Tia, but you must admit it was wrong of us to do this without some kind of backup plan or knowledge that she would do as told once she had all of our magic, no mater what tricks you are hiding under your wing.” Celestia only touched the pendent that hung around her neck, a nervous tick, responding with a slight smile of apology; as if to say what other choice did I have? Luna pulled away and hurried from the throne room, no doubt to catch some rest before His inevitable arrival.

Celestia looked at Cadence who was pointedly looking at the stained glass window depicting the elements of harmony’s victory over discord. “They will be useless this time around. They were almost useless against discord when he returned, the girls only won by shear grit and determination. Look at the destruction that discord caused, and all he wanted deep down was attention and fun. Tirek however” she paused, thinking of all of the pony’s that had lost their lives at Tirek's last visit to Equestria and shivered slightly. “He will stop at nothing. All he wants is power, and he does not care how much blood he must wade through to get it. In fact, it was Luna’s observation last time we faced him that he began to enjoy the carnage almost more than the power he was able to steal.”

Cadince’s face flashed first fear, then anger, then resolute determination. She truly was a fully grown Alicorn now, something that felt so odd to Celestia who had practically raised the girl after she had been sent by Luna’s and her brother from the far frozen north. It had been the last anyone had heard of him.

“Do not worry, we will figure something out Cadince.” She took her seat again in between the other thrones. As the eldest of the surviving Alicorn's in Equestria it was her responsibility to ensure that all her subjects saw of her was dignity and power… even if she felt like throwing up from pure terror.

“You and Luna beat him last time didn't you?” Cadince's voice was soft, almost a whisper of hope.

“Yes dear, we did. But only at great cost and only with the help of the great Star-swirl the bearded who is now lost to time, and Tirek's brother Scorpan who was almost his equal in power, and who is now nowhere to be found. We once thought to find him, and sent our best tracker to his homeland, but he never returned from the far frozen north.” Cadince’s eyes went wide. “It was me and Luna’s younger brother that we sent. Your father Cadince.”

The young Alicorn’s eyes started to water slightly, but seemed to perk up as she thought about it. “So you finally found the time to tell me what happened to him. Thank you Aunt Tia.” Her smile was genuine as were her words, and Celestia put a wing around the younger princess’s throne in a gentle embrace.

“I should have told you sooner dear, but I just couldn't bring myself to break your heart again. It seems however, that fate has forced my hand. We never found him or any of his expedition of skilled flyers, so it’s possible he is out there somewhere. Though highly unlikely, more likely he was lost in those passes.”

The two princesses sat there on their thrones for a long time, chatting about who he was, what he was like and for Celestia remembering fond memories of his life. They didn't know, but Luna who also had never heard the story of her little brothers demise, having been imprisoned in the moon at the time, was listening and softly weeping for all the time, and people, and now magic that she had lost.

----

Twilight crackled with energy. It wasn't her fault, really. It was all she could do to keep it contained, she dared not use her magic even the smallest bit for fear that she would destroy something important, or some pony. She had already embarrassed herself in front of her friends, and nearly hurt a few people.

But she was so use to using her magic for everything that now that she tried to deprive herself of it she found it almost impossible. Bottling it up was not working, so as any good scientist would do she had decided to do small things and learn the limits of her power, to experiment. But only when away from other pony’s, even her closest friends.

All of her friends knew something strange was going on, and she knew that they knew. Twilight hoped however that they would attribute it to her new status as an Alicorn and not pry any more than they already had. She didn't want to hurt them by accident, or worse on purpose.
That was another side effect of bottling up all of the energy, she found. She became irritable and aggressive towards others, though she couldn't tell if it was coming from the magic its self or the simple strain of containing it.

Twilight heard a familiar popping sound behind her, and frowned. “So, twilight, all of the princesses in Equestria have gifted you their powers in order to keep them from Tirek have they? I bet they told you to stay away from him didn't they. That you couldn't simply obliterate him with the power you have, enough power to destroy the whole world if you really wanted, though who would do that? I mean this world is so much fun.”

“Discord” twilight said, voice warning and hard. “You need to leave, you know nothing of what is going on.” Discord huffed and flew in front of her.

“Oh twilight your so silly! Didn't you know that I come from the same land as this ‘lord Tirek’? In fact, I am a legend there among the magical beasts. I use to be known for my cruelty, whimsy, and all of the fun that I had, all the Chaos I created… I really miss those days…” twilight glared at him, suspicion plane on her face. “Oh I wouldn't go back even if I could though. I like Equestria much more than I do that dismal place. Besides, here I have friends! There is you, and Fluttershy, and Applejack... Oh Applejack. She will never really trust me will she? Sad…” his face drooped all the way to the ground pooling there, his Chaos magic evidently in use.

“I get it discord, your reformed” Twilight snarled through gritted teeth, forcing herself not to swat the pesky trickster from the sky and crush him with the Godly magic she wielded. Didn't he know that she could destroy him with but a wave of her hand!? Didn't he know that she saw him as nothing more than an annoyance, a fly to be swatted from the sky?! She shook her head, trying to clear it, desperately trying to regain control.

She heard a chocking sound coming from above her head. She turned and saw Discord grasping his throat, purple magic gripping and squeezing, preventing him from getting oxygen while his feet kicked uselessly and his eyes bulged in terror. Twilight sat there, shocked. Had she done that? Had she done that by accident?! Shaking her head to clear it again, she released the magic. “I am So so so so so so so so so sorry discord! Are you ok? Are you hurt?!” he fell to the ground coughing and gasping as his lungs filled with the precious air.

He waved her off of him as she tried to get a look at his neck to insure that he was alright. She knew some healing spells that might work on a crushed larynx after all… but his breathing started to normalize after a few seconds and he smiled at her knowingly, understandingly, caringly . “Oh twilight I know that wasn't you, that was the magic! You see, I know what it’s like to carry that kind of power around. Celestia? Lunna? Cadince? They don’t. They think they know what power is, what it’s like to carry that kind of responsibility, that kind of power. But in truth? They really don’t.” He shook his head as he continued talking in a soothing tone "twilight" he whispered "Do you remember when all of Equestria was turned upside down, Topsy tervy? after I had won and you were all defeated and I was siting on top of everything?" she nodded slowly, the feeling of powerlessness that she had felt at that point returning in her current predicament.

"There is something that you don't know about that time. As the chaos grew, as I used my magic to change more and more things, I became more powerful. When the Equestria was almost completely unrecognizable, I was nearly as powerful as you are now. Thankfully the elements of harmony worked on me and turned me back to stone! but the only reason they did twilight was because i had some good in me, some willingness to change." he turned away from her slightly, voice breaking as he spoke. " its the power sweet twilight? sweet and terrifying. i gave into it twilight because i was selfish. Slowly the power changed the good parts of me bad, and the bad things about me even worse. That's what you are fighting now isn't it?"

Twilight looked at him shocked, concerned and afraid for what she had done and tears started to roll down her face. “Exactly, it’s like the magic is taking over! I didn't even consciously attack you, I was fighting the urge to, but I didn't do it the magic did!” Twilight laid down on the ground and started to cry at Discords feet. The pain, fear and frustration of the past few days pouring out.

Discords face contorted as he patted her head, barely holding back the magic that leaked from her as she wept. It would have destroyed all of Poneyville and most of the surrounding country side if he had not.

"Twilight, I think you are different though. I think that you can use this power to help everyone, to save them from what is coming, both this Lord Tirek fellow, and other dangers that might have escaped from Tarterus; and even others that I know are coming from elsewhere in the world. You have proven yourself time and time again Twilight, no one can take those accomplishments from you." He said all of this whispering softly, “Not even Celestia…”

She sat and cried, as he tried his best to keep the strain of simply holding back the magic that leaked from her from his voice, as he whispered suggestions and flattering words of how things could be, twilight started to listen. Discord spoke of how strong he believed she was, and how If only she used the magic she now had for just a little while, she could make things safe, and make things the way she knew they needed to be. And of course, he would be there to help her, to support her, and to guide her all along the way.

As her crying slowed and his influence over her grew, Discord smiled... It was all according to his plan.