Of Heaven and Earth

by Garuda IV

Chapter 1- Tirek's Fall and Twilight's Revelation

Ponyville was a normally peaceful town where all kinds of ponies and non-ponies were welcomed, be they earth ponies, pegasi, unicorns, zebras, griffons, or even dragons. A place where everypony was happy, warmly greeting one another as the sun and blue skies showed overhead. However, today wasn't one of those days as the sky was blanketed in reds and oranges. It wasn't just in Ponyville though, but all over Equestria that was like this. All of it caused by an evil that had escaped from Tartarus. Today, the centaur demon, Tirek, had paid Ponyville a visit and drained its citizens of their magic. Now, there was only one pony left in Equestria who he needed to drain magic from... and he had just destroyed her home.

Twilight Sparkle, the newest Princess of Equestria, now stood alone before Tirek with righteous fury burning in her eyes. He'd attacked her friends, sent Princesses Celestia, Luna, and Cadence to Tartarus, stolen magic from everypony else in Equestria, and now, he destroyed her library home. It was with those thoughts that caused something in Twilight to snap, her normally happy and peaceful demeanor replaced with one of vengeance. With the power of four alicorns flowing through her, Twilight was determined to pass retribution unto him. Fury written on her face, Twilight flared out her wings before teleporting above Tirek and unleashing her amplified alicorn magic into a massive magical blast. While her initial blast was blocked by Tirek's magical barrier, Twilight didn't relent as she poured more of her magic into the attack, causing the beam to double in size as it consumed the centaur demon.

The attack passed by all around him, creating a large groove in the ground and exploding in the background behind him with a thunderous boom and a mushroom cloud of dust and debris. Annoyed and subtly surprised by the unexpected show of power, Tirek got back up and glared at Twilight. Though her power was unexpected and impressive, that show of force had just revealed to him the location of the magic that he'd been denied of when he visited Celestia, Luna, and Cadence in Canterlot.

"Now I understand what your fellow princesses have done," Tirek said with twisted glee.

That comment just seemed to fuel Twilight's anger as she charged her horn and immediately took to the air again. Readying for another attack, she dove down to attack Tirek, but he was quicker to react and fired first. His beam soared towards Twilight, but was blocked by a barrier of her own. She wouldn't let it last for long, though, as she teleported down on the ground in front of Tirek, surprising him before blasting him in the face with her magic. With a cry of pain and fury, Tirek grabbed Twilight with his magic and levitated her off the ground up to his face. Seeing the young princess flailing her hooves as she tried to free herself, Tirek slung Twilight around and threw her towards a distant mountain, who screamed in surprise as she flew backwards and crashed into the mountainside. Though she was laying in a small crater made by the impact, she was unharmed as she had encased herself in her own magical aura, absorbing any damage that might've been done to her. As the dust settled, she briefly looked ahead to find Tirek flying straight towards her, his head lowered and horns pointing directly towards her. Without any time for her to teleport away, Tirek made contact with Twilight, barreling her through the mountain and out the other side.

---

Hundreds of feet beneath the surface of Equestria resided a large, dome-shaped chamber filled with magma. It was there in the center of a small rocky island that a red crystal floated, held down to the rocky ground with enchanted golden chains. Even from that depth, the raging battle above ground could be heard reverberating through the massive room. The magma rippled, walls shook, loose pieces of rock fell from the ceiling, and the chains clanked as the crystal shifted. The crystal however, wasn't shifting from the commotion on the surface, but from what was contained within it.

Inside rested its sole occupant, a creature lost in time. Although he appeared to be dead, he was in fact very much alive. Despite him being frozen in crystal, the next set of vibrations sounding through the rock made his eye twitch, causing the golden chains to begin glowing in an attempt to keep him sedated. However, the enchantment was failing, and his eye cracked open with a violet glow.

---

Up on the surface, Twilight appeared to have the upper hoof in their fight, and Tirek knew it. His options limited, he struck a deal with Twilight. He had her friends and Discord captured, but was willing to trade their lives for all of the alicorn magic that Twilight possessed. With a bit of hesitance, Twilight accepted the deal. After Tirek released her friends, he wasted no time in draining her of her magic. Once he was finished with her and left Twilight laying exhausted on the ground, Tirek grew. More and more his body increased to compensate for the amount of magic he'd just stolen. And as he grew, he bellowed.

"YES!" Tirek shouted, feeling the surge of power flowing through him. "YES! RAAAAAAHHH!"

While Tirek was busy reveling in his newfound power, Twilight's friends and Discord ran over to her to check on her. With guilt overwhelming him, Discord apologized to Twilight and gave her the amulet that Tirek had given him as a true sign of his friendship to her. Upon receiving the gift, Twilight knew that this was the key she was missing to opening the chest. With haste, they left the giant Tirek and made their way to the Tree of Harmony.

---

The collection of power from above could be felt from the chamber down below. The chains holding the floating crystal rattled violently in their attempt to contain it, even as a large crack formed on the face of the crystal.

---

Back on the surface, Tirek was still relishing in his long anticipated victory. He continued bellowing in a manner that was mixture of laughter and war cry. After a few moments, he finally calmed down enough to take in his new playground that was Equestria. Seeing everything around him that he was now free to destroy, Tirek began joyfully laughing.

"Hahaha! This is even better than I imagined!" he laughed as he looked down at his hands. "So much power. Who would've thought that such small equines would collectively have this much power within them?"

With a look of triumph, Tirek turned to and his way back to Canterlot, eager to begin his new reign of terror and destruction. As he walked, the earth trembled with each hoofstep, leaving deep imprints in the ground as he continued onward.

Maybe I should bring back those three princesses when I get to Canterlot, just so they can watch me as I destroy their precious city, he wickedly thought. Besides, with nopony with any magic left to challenge me, this should be-

Tirek froze in place as he felt another power source. It was Equestrian magic, that much he knew, but what made him freeze was that it felt oddly familiar.

"Strange," he muttered to himself. "I feel like I remember this power, but I haven't felt something like this since..."

Tirek's eyes narrowed as he remembered who this power belonged to. His victorious grin turned into a hated scowl as he changed direction to the Everfree Forest. As he made his way through it, he mowed down the trees in his way to help clear out a path for him. Continuing deeper into the Everfree Forest, he soon spotted a crevice in front of a ruined castle. Taking another moment, he soon located the source of where his prey was coming from. It wasn't coming from the castle ruins, but rather from a cave located at the bottom of the chasm. Walking over to the cliff, rather than spotting his target, Tirek instead saw a strange tree sitting within it, but could still sense his magic flowing from around it.

"So that's where you're hiding," he snarled before taking in a deep breath to shout out to him. "Sol! I know you're hiding there, boy! You're going to pay for imprisoning me in Tartarus all those years ago!"

Tirek was about to start blasting everything in sight until he found what he wanted, but stopped when he saw a light in the sky. Shielding his eyes for a moment, he looked up to see Twilight and her friends floating in an orb of magic. Annoyed with himself for not having finished them off when he had the chance before, Tirek immediately fired a beam of magic at them. However, even with his immense power, his magic was easily blocked by the magical sphere. Shocked and confused, Tirek stood staring dumbfounded at them.

"How is this possible?! You have no magic!" he gawked.

While Twilight did give him an answer, he was so busy in his own thoughts that he didn't hear a word she said. It wasn't until six beams of magic arched out towards him and fused together as one did he snap his attention back to them. As the magic struck, he could feel his magic draining out of him at an alarming rate and cried out as he shrank back down to a diminutive size again. Then, just as quickly as it happened, it was over. The magic that he'd stolen was taken from him, and worse of all was that he found himself back in an all-too-familiar place. Apart from the new cage that he was in, one glance around showed that he was indeed back in Tartarus.

"What? No. NO! He was right there!" he shouted as he pounded on the metal bars.

Hearing him return, Celestia, Luna, and Cadence perked up their ears and smiled, happy to see that Twilight was able to defeat Tirek and send him back to Tartarus. Their smiles widened even more as the chains binding them faded, allowing them to finally leave this prison.

Seeing them leave, Tirek sat back down and gave a low growl.

"Don't think that this is over just yet. I escaped this place once before, and I can do it again."

---

Down in the chamber, all was quiet again as the magical collection of power from above was dispersed, causing the chains to cease their rattling and for the crystal to return steadily hovering in place once again. Within it, its occupant closed his eye shut as the magic put him under once again.

---

Up on the surface in Ponyville, Cadence and Luna returned to Canterlot to oversee the ponies there, while Celestia went to meet up with Twilight and her friends at her new castle. After some chatting with Twilight and her friends, and watching them break into song, Celestia pulled Twilight off to the side to talk to her in private.

"I am so proud of you, Twilight," Celestia praised with a smile.

"Thank you, Princess," Twilight thanked. "But in the end, it was all of us who defeated Tirek, not just me."

"That may be true, but that wasn't exactly what I was talking about. What I meant to say was that I'm proud of the choice you've made for your friends, despite how great of a risk it was. You've definitely come a long way since I first sent you to Ponyville."

"Don't forget about Discord," Twilight reminded her. "It was actually thanks to him that we were able to open the chest from the Tree of Harmony."

"Ah, yes. Discord," Celestia grimaced. "Although he helped you in defeating Tirek, he's also the reason why he was able to steal everypony's magic at such a rate in the first place. If it wasn't for his betrayal, then none of this would've ever had happened."

"True, but in the end, nopony was seriously hurt, Discord helped us save Equestria, and we unlocked the mystery of the chest."

Celestia walked away, pondering about what to do with him. She couldn't just let him go free after what he's done, but she also knew that Twilight was right in this regard. After thinking on it some more, Celestia turned back to Twilight.

"I've made my decision," she announced. "Everypony knows about Discord's part in assisting Tirek, and they'll want him to answer for it. So, I've decided that I'll have Discord placed under arrest."

"But, Princess-" Twilight tried objecting, only to stop as Celestia raised a hoof to silence her.

"And as for his jailor." Celestia paused as her once serious expression turned to a soft and somewhat mischievous smile. "How do you think about Fluttershy watching over him?"

Twilight looked back at Celestia in confusion. "What? Fluttershy?"

"Yes. I said that I'd have him placed under arrest, but I never said what kind," she smirked. "Besides, from what I understand, Discord has become rather close with Fluttershy, and will willingly listen to her. I will ask her if she'd be willing look after Discord during his sentence. What do you think?"

Twilight nodded, thinking that her idea could work, especially with how remorseful Discord was to Fluttershy.

"I think that she wouldn't mind looking over him. Besides, I have a feeling that they'll want to talk things over after what happened today."

With an agreeing nod, Celestia went over and gave Twilight a warming hug, happy and relieved that everything turned out alright in the end. As she broke the hug, she turned around and made her way to the door, but paused when she noticed Twilight standing unmoving in place.

"Is there something that you wanted to talk about?" Celestia wondered.

Twilight thought about it for a moment. She wasn't sure whether if what Tirek was shouting before was something irrelevant, or if it was actually something important. Either way, Twilight's curiosity got the better of her and she looked back up to meet Celestia's gaze.

"It's just something that Tirek said..." she cautiously began.

"It's alright, Twilight. I'm listening."

"Well... it's just that I heard him shouting about something. He was saying something about somepony paying for imprisoning him in Tartarus."

Celestia's eyes widened and her entire body froze in place. "Did Tirek say who?"

After thinking about it, Twilight gave a confirming nod. "I believe it was somepony named Sol. But I don't understand, Princess. I thought that you and Princess Luna were the ones who sent Tirek to Tartarus the first time?"

A sad sigh left Celestia's lips as she hung her head. Worried for her, Twilight reached up and put a hoof on her shoulder.

"Princess? Is something wrong?" Twilight gently asked.

"Tell me, Twilight, when I was telling you about Tirek, did I ever give a name as to whom it was that sent him there?"

Twilight opened her mouth to answer, but paused and brought a hoof up to her chin as she thought it over. Replaying her memory of the meeting over in her mind, Twilight's eyes widened as she looked back at Celestia.

"... no... you didn't."

"That's because it was Sol who sent Tirek to Tartarus, not me, Luna, nor Starswirl." Celestia sighed and shook her head. "That name, my dear Twilight, is something that should be left forgotten. By all rights, apart from Luna and I, nopony should even know that he still exists. This includes Sol's whereabouts."

"But then why not just say that you, Princess Luna, or Starswirl the Bearded did it so that you can still keep him hidden?"

"Because I will not take credit for something that somepony else did." Celestia placed a hoof on Twilight's shoulder while giving her a stern yet sad look. "I know that you're curious, Twilight, but I must ask that you forget about Sol altogether."

With a defeated sigh, Twilight reluctantly nodded. "Alright. It's obvious that this is bothering you, so I promise to not pursue it."

"Thank you, Twilight," Celestia said, her voice soft and grateful. "Now, why don't we go back and join the others?"

With a small smile, Twilight nodded as she followed alongside Celestia back to join her friends. However, as they rejoined everyone, despite her best attempts, Twilight just couldn't push what she learned out of her head. It was a habit of hers to try and investigate anything that piqued her interest, and despite Celestia asking her to stop and agreeing to it, this Sol had unfortunately become one of them and wouldn't easily leave her mind.

Author's Note:

Incase you didn't catch it before, if you go back and watch the Season 4 finale, you'll see that Celestia never did say who it was that had sent Tirek to Tartarus.

Comments

[Titan Commander Sebaste]

And so a new story begins.... one that may reveal who the pony in the crystal is.... and how he came to be sealed...

[Dark Nightshade]

So awesome!

[Magical Trevor]

You've defiantly come a long way since I first sent you to Ponyville."

I believe the word you're looking for is "definitely".

[Garuda IV]

8069901 Thanks. Gone ahead and fixed it.

[HoneyBadgerr]

where his pray was coming from

prey

With a defeated sigh, Twilight reluctantly nodded. "Alright. It's obvious that this is bothering you, so promise to not pursue."

This sentence needs a little TLC.

[ynfiltra]

nice cliff hanger that you made there!!!!

[Godzilladragon]

Just curious, when in this, Did Tirek say Sol? All he says is "He."

Damn pronoun game.

[Gravity012]

8024307
How dost thou know he's a pony? HmmhmmhmmhahahahahaHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

Edit:we say this because last time we checked, ponies eyes don't normally glow.

[Grizzly Nation]

8024307
#CaptainAmerica...
#OrIsItCaptainEquestria???

[Detsella Morningdew]

I don't know yet if I will love this story or not, but you at least earned a like. I especially like the motivation given to Tirek for burning the forest in anger.

That way, he didn't grow exponentially stupid with the power he received.

[Chaos Blitz]

Few bits need more showing, not telling but this is a promising start

[MattTOB]

I'm actually curious what the creature that locked Tirek away could've done to warrant his removal from recorded history.

[Mighty C]

10646733
Well considering Luna (not Nightmare Moon) was almost fully removed from history...
Ima say something pretty bad.

[TheScottishbroneyforlife]

Excellent story keep up the good work and I give this story a 10 out of 11

[Jayo Jack]

With a small smile, Twilight nodded as she followed alongside Celestia back to join her friends. However, as they rejoined everyone, despite her best attempts, Twilight just couldn't push what she learned out of her head. It was a habit of hers to try and investigate anything that piqued her interest, and despite Celestia asking her to stop and agreeing to it, this Sol had unfortunately become one of them and wouldn't easily leave her mind.

Twilight, Celestia is not going to be happy about you going against her back because of Sol. You know that, right?