My Little Pony: Tirek's Revenge

by Darkblaze15

Chapter 1: The Return of Evil

One beautiful day in Ponyville, the Mane 6 enjoy a lovely summer afternoon together with a picnic ina field outside Fluttershy’s house. "This is certainly relaxing, isn't it dears?" Rarity asks, peeking out from the wide brim of her summer hat.

"I'll say," Applejack answers, sighing heavily, "I haven't felt this at ease since Winona finally stopped barking at the rooster every morning on the farm."

"We should pack up soon, though," Fluttershy says quietly, "We need to get ready for the gala tonight."

"Oh, just a bit longer dear," Rarity says, "It's just so peaceful here." Just as the others are about to agree, however, the scene is abruptly interrupted by the Cutie Mark Crusaders racing over the hill on Scootaloo’s scooter and crashing into a heap in front of the group.

"Oops, sorry everypony!" Scootaloo gasps as she and her friends rise to their hooves.

"What's got ya'll in such a fit?" Applejack asks in her country drawl.

"Well, we just had to show all of ya first!" Applebloom replies excitedly.

"What in Equestria are you-" Rarity says when she suddenly notices something on Sweetie Belle's flank, "OMYGOSH! YOU GOT YOUR CUTIE MARKS!" and she immediately pulls her little sister into a hug; the others soon notice that Applebloom and Scootaloo possess similar cutie marks on their own flanks. They express their utmost pride in the fillies with congratulations and hugs all around; even Rainbow Dash scoops Scootaloo up in a hug and looks on the verge of tears herself.

"Well," Rarity says, "You simply must tell us about how you got them!" As the fillies explain their story, Twilight hears rustling in the surrounding bushes and notices some movement. She stares intently at the spot, trying to make out whatever it was that she saw.

"Are you alrigh', Twilight?" Applebloom asks, causing Twilight to whip back around.

"Oh, um," Twilight stammers, "I-It was nothing; just seeing things, that's all," she reassures Applebloom, who accepts her statement and hurries her along as the others make their way to Sugarcube Corner for a celebratory cute-cenara. As they leave, a mysterious hooded figure peers out from the thicket and unveils herself.

“Yes, enjoy your time with your friends, Twilight,” Starlight Glimmer says to herself. “It may well be the last time you see them alive,” then she disappears into the forest.

Later that day, the Mane 6 and CMC prepare for the Grand Galloping Gala at Rarity’s Carousel Boutique. "It certainly has been a while since we've been to one of these shindigs, ain't it?" Applejack asks her friends, who immediately agree.

"Quite so, my dear," Rarity continues, prowling through her extensive collection of dresses, "Time just flies by when a pony gets caught up in their affairs."

"Especially if those affairs include saving Equestria, like, a hundred times," Rainbow Dash brags.

"Even still," Twilight says, "I'm just looking forward to having fun with you girls."

"Did somepony say 'FUN'!" Pinkie Pie exclaims, bursting out of a pile of clothes and firing off her signature party cannon, showering everypony in confetti. The CMC share a hearty laugh as Rarity complains about confetti getting lodged in her mane after having it washed and stylized.

"Hey Fluttershy," Sweetie Belle asks, "Do you know if the Ponytones will be performing at the Grand Galloping Gala this year?"

"Well, I'm not sure," Fluttershy replies, "I haven't heard from either Torch Song or Toe Tapper in a long time." As everypony continues to chat about the Gala, Twilight cannot help but let her thoughts wander to the mysterious figure she saw in the forest, and what it could mean for Equestria.

In Canterlot, the Mane 6 and the CMC arrive at the palace for the gala, where they see a lot of familiar faces. Discord immediately teleports over to them and embraces them in a hug while keeping the Crusaders occupied with this levitation abilities. Fluttershy sees Treehugger among the throngs of ponies and rushes over to catch up on her latest adventures with the Equestrian Society for the Preservation of Rare Creatures. Rarity, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash spot their friends from the outskirts of Ponyville – John Darkblaze, Emily Flutterheart, Jenna Lightningstrike, and Jacob Braveheart – and trot over to greet them. Twilight wanders around the palace until she sees Princess Celestia sitting atop the staircase greeting other ponies and flies over to her.

"Greeting, Princess," Twilight says as they exchange formal greetings, "Is there anything-" she is about to ask when she notices that her former mentor looks more tired than usual. "Is something wrong, Princess Celestia?"

"Hm? Oh, no, I'm fine, my dear Twilight," Princess Celestia responds with a yawn, "Just a few late nights, as usual."

"Well, if there's anything you need, don't hesitate to call me over!" Twilight offers enthusiastically.

"Thank you, Twilight," Celestia chuckles, "That would be-" suddenly, the white alicorn seems to notice something in the distance; suddenly, she stares straight ahead, going into spasms and shaking uncontrollably.

"Celestia?" Twilight asks, tenderly tapping her mentor on the shoulder, "Are you alright?" As soon as Twilight touches her, the spasms stop and Celestia regains her composure; she is about to ask what happened, but Celestia trots away before she gets the chance to answer.

As the night wears on, Twilight tries to keep a watchful eye on Princess Celestia to make sure whatever happened before does not repeat itself. She follows her around, ignoring her friends’ offers to join them for a drink, and never allows her to escape her sight. Eventually, John ventures over to Twilight.

“Twilight, I know Celestia is your mentor and all, but following her around all night seems a bit extreme, don’t you think?” he says light-heartedly.

“You don’t understand. I saw something strange happen to Princess Celestia earlier tonight, and I’m making sure it doesn’t happen again,” Twilight responds.

“Something strange? Like what?” John asks.

“Well,” Twilight begins, “she started to shake and seemed rooted to the spot. She started to have what looked like muscle spasms.”

John suddenly becomes very serious, “Was it something like that?” he says and points over to the pale alicorn. Twilight turns to see Princess Celestia staring intently at the far side of the palace, shaking fiercely and going into spasms again. As Twilight approaches, Celestia screams “GET AWAY FROM ME!” and runs away; Twilight, shocked, follows her out the door, with John close behind.

Once outside, Celestia whips around, clearly seeing something that nopony else does, and shouts “This is not right. This cannot happen!” and runs around the courtyard trying to get away from something, all the while shouting at random. All of a sudden, the shaking and spasms stop again, and Princess Celestia stares around at the various looks of shock on the guests' faces. Tears forming in her eyes, she immediately flies away from the party and lands on the balcony leading into the throne room and rushes inside. Everypony wonders what happened when Princess Luna appears and addresses the guests.

“Please forgive my sister, she must have simply had something bad to eat. Please, return to the festivities and enjoy the rest of your night,” and flies away to the throne room. As the guests look around at each other, visibly shaken by the experience, the Mane 5 and company race over and try to get answers out of Twilight.

“I don’t know what happened or why it happened, but I’m going to find out,” she responds and flies away to the balcony where Celestia disappeared, with John extending his own hoof-crafted wings to follow.

Once inside, Twilight and John see Princess Celestia, the graceful ruler of Equestria, crawled into a ball like a filly in her throne, crying as Princess Luna stands over her grieving sister, trying to console her older sister.

“Why does this keep happening? When does it stop?” Celestia stammers through fits of tears. Hearing the despair in her voice and sensing the privacy of the conversation, Twilight suddenly speaks up.

“Forgive me, your Highness, but is everything alright?” Luna jumps slightly at their presence, but Celestia seems to have expected them.

“Hello, Twilight,” she says, sitting up straight on her throne, “I am sorry you and everypony else had to see that. I hope you can forgive my actions.”

“I’m not worried about what everypony else thinks, I’m more worried about you. Is something wrong?” Twilight ponders. Celestia, still unhinged by her experience, asks Luna to talk about the visions.

“For the past three nights," Luna begins, "my sister has been experiencing what we both believed were nightmares at first, but they soon turned out to be visions of something terrible.”

“What terrible things were you having visions of?” John asks Princess Celestia.

“Complete destruction,” she answers, “Visions of the future, in which chaos and disorder take over Equestria. We are not sure what they could mean, but what we do know is that dark times will be upon us soon.”

“So, how can we help to stop this from happening?” Twilight asks the royal sisters.

“Taking actions against this frightening occurrence, I fear," Celestia responds, "will only delay the inevitable. I believe it is not a matter of stopping whatever happens in the future; it is a matter of when it will happen, and if we will be prepared for whatever comes."

“Whatever happens, we must ask you to keep this between us. We don’t want everypony to panic until there is cause to,” Luna asks of Twilight and John, who agree to keep things hushed.

* * * *

On the opposite side of Equestria, in the dark realms of the underworld Tartarus, the once all-mighty and powerful Lord Tirek paces in his cell, reliving in his mind his glorious moments above ground in Equestria – until Twilight Sparkle ruined him with the power of friendship. Every day he sits in confinement, he longs for the day when he can escape into Equestria and exact his revenge on Twilight and her friends and rule Equestria as he was meant to do. However, he realizes that he was unprepared the last time, and vows to make sure he has enough force behind him to deliver a powerful blow to Equestrian society. One day, he listens to some of the other prisoners talking about their previous exploits.

“I would have had Canterlot all to myself and my precious minions,” Queen Chrysalis says to nopony in particular, “if it wasn’t for that pony Twilight Sparkle finding Cadence and ruining my plans.”

“Speak for yourself,” muttered King Sombra, whose cell was not far away from Chrysalis’, “I keep my crystal slaves protected from outsiders, and look how they repaid me – by sending me back to this dreadful place. And it’s all because of that lousy purple unicorn having her servant return the Crystal Heart.”

As Tirek listens, he realizes something that might help him escape and begins to formulate a plan. When the guard ventures too close to Tirek’s cell, he reaches out and grabs the guard with one hand and slams him into the bars of the cell until the guard falls unconscious. He then reaches into the guard’s pouch and pulls out the keys to unlock the gates of the cells. Once he frees himself, he stomps over to Chrysalis and Sombra’s cells.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Chrysalis asks incredulously.

“I require your assistance,” Tirek growls and unlocks their gates.

Lord Tirek, King Sombra, and Queen Chrysalis charge through the horrifying realm of Tartarus, battling monsters and anything else that gets in their way. When they reach the rock gates to the outside world, the trio encounters Cerberus, the three-headed dog that guards the gates between Equestria and Tartarus. Tirek, Sombra, and Chrysalis prepare for a fight while Cerberus bares its teeth at the group and prepares to charge; as it does so, however, it is suddenly lifted into the air by an unseen magical force before it can attack.

“Who has done this?!” Sombra demands disbelievingly, to which the other two do not respond; instead, they race to the rock gate and Tirek crumbles it with his fists.

When they first step out into Equestria, they hear somepony say “Like my magic trick?” and from the shadows steps Starlight Glimmer. Sombra and Chrysalis go into defensive positions and ask her how she knew they were coming, which she dismisses with “I had a feeling,” and explains her past accomplishments. They then rear up on Tirek and demand the reason for their escape, to which he replies.

“I believe we all share a common enemy – Princess Twilight Sparkle. Am I correct?” All three of them agree, and Tirek continues, “Last time we all attempted to rule Equestria separately, we were unsuccessful. But power comes in numbers, and I need all of you in order to fulfill my master plan.”

“What’s in it for us if we help you?” Queen Chrysalis asks skeptically.

“Your very own kingdom to rule over. Your choice, of course,” Tirek adds. After some consideration, Sombra, Chrysalis, and Starlight agree to join, and the quartet begins to discuss their plans for world domination.