Avatar: Legend of Diamond Tiara. Book 3: Tirek

by Jeweled Pen

Chapter 23: War

Diamond stared into the wind, letting the air flow around her and send her mane in all different directions. Far below, the world flew by. Another airship voyage. She wondered if this one would end in just as much disaster as so many of her past ones. She swore she could feel Twilight cringing in the back of her mind everytime she stepped a hoof on one.

Then again, this one was already beginning with disaster. Acrylic and Button were gone and there were still no leads on where they were. The last pony to have seen them was Scootaloo. They’d never made it to Silver, as far as anypony knew. She’d have suspected it was Meadowbrook, except the four had been identified in an attack during the same time. So her friends just disappeared into the wind.

Just like a certain daughter of the Avatar. If they’d had more time, they’d have sent search party after search party for them. But they just couldn't. All she could do was hope that they were okay and that they’d stay okay until AFTER this fight. Once this was all over, she promised she’d find them, even if she had to turn the world upside down to do it.

“You look awfully serious,” a voice called, making the alicorn jump. Diamond glanced back and smiled. “Silver… just… thinking. that’s all.”

The earth pony nodded, trotting forward to gaze out over the horizon. “We’re almost there. Nervous, I take it?”

“I feel like I swallowed a whole hive of bees and they’re flying around my stomach,” Diamond mumbled. “You?”

“Similar. I ummm… about earlier...”

“I know. Not right now, right? I understand, it--”

“No. Not that,” Silver said, moving closer and staring into Diamond’s eyes. “About what I said.”

“Huh?”

“About your destiny. Even if it IS your destiny, that doesn’t matter. What matters is who you are. Okay? Destiny, fate, all of that, it doesn’t mean anything. Even if you… so what if all the past Avatars were like that? Or had all these things that came up? They’re not you. You’re you. You’re the ONLY you. Even if that was the destiny of your past selves, that doesn’t mean it has to be your destiny. You can look those other destiny’s in the face and go ‘buck you, I’m Diamond Tiara and I don’t care’.”

“… What? What brought this on?” Diamond asked, a smile slowly forming on her face.

“I just thought about it, is all. After how you were so...”

“Whiny? Yeah. I know. I just… with Acrylic and Button missing, and everything coming up I just… I freaked out a bit. I guess. But I didn’t mean it. I wouldn’t run from this. No matter how hard or scary it is sometimes, I’m the Avatar. The world needs me. And if I mess up, or even if I die, I’ll keep being the Avatar no matter what. Even if there’s always a big bad monster or pony or even another Trixie on the other side, I’ll stare it down, then kick its flank until it runs home to mommy.”

Silver snickered and gave a small nod. “Of course. And I’ll be by your side every step of the way.”

Diamond nodded. “So… what made you come out here? New reports in?”

“… Yes. And it’s worrying,” the earth pony mumbled. “We’ve directed everything we could to this. We’ve sent out scouts, but there’s been no signs of them. As terrible as it sounds, even if the scouts didn’t return, that would tell us something. They should have been here, though...”

“Are we sure they’re going to the Earth Kingdom?”

“Of course, there’s really not much reason they’d be going all this way. They practically burned a giant arrow. They’ve gotten cocky, they don’t think we can stop them anymore. But they’re wrong.”

Diamond sighed, shaking her head. It had been a few days since the last attack. At the pace they were moving, they should have been arriving just a little behind them. While there were plenty of places for them to cross, this area was the easiest to slip through the border. And the entire border was on alert now. If they tried to go anywhere else, somepony would notice.

Even if one of the border guards went down, that would tell them something. But silence? That was just disturbing. “Is the nullifier ready to go?”

“Yeah,” Silver mumbled. “Once it’s up, there will be no way for them to teleport. We’ll have them. No escape.”

“… And if we can’t win?”

“We’ll win.”

“They’ve got a lot of magic.”

“We’ve got a lot of benders,” Silver said with a cocky smirk. “Some of the best around, in case you’ve forgotten? We’ll kick their flanks. And isn’t that supposed to be your line?”

Diamond snickered. “If only. I haven’t been feeling good to make that particular line in a while. After this, post flank kicking, I’ll try again. Promise. After some of the hoof prints on my flank heal,” she said with a small smile of her own. “It’s--”

The alicorn was almost knocked off her hooves when the ship suddenly turned harshly to the right. She yelped and gripped the railing, holding on for dear life. “What’s going on?!”

Silver braced her hooves, lowering herself closer to the ground. “I-I don’t know!” The ship turned fully, aiming back the way they’d come. Once the ship was steady, she turned and galloped back towards the bridge. “What in the world--”

“It’s Harmony,” Secretary cut her off, staring through the glass at the sky beyond besides Dr. Alicity.

“W-what?”

“An attack. No. A declaration of war,” she said gently. “They launched a full frontal attack on the city. Lava through the street. A sonic rainboom in the middle of the buildings. It was… It’s...”

“H-how? That’s impossible! They couldn’t have galloped that fast! They--”

“How else? Teleportation. This has all been a decoy,” the mare said, her voice icy cold. Diamond swore she could actually see anger in the other mare’s normally calm appearance. “We’re heading back now to plan.”

Diamond ground a hoof into the ground. Then she shook her head. “There has to be SOMETHING we can do! We can’t just let this end here!”

“We’re not going to,” Rainbow’s voice came from behind, making their heads whip around. Applejack, Rarity, Scootaloo, Sweetie and Applebloom were all standing behind her.

“What?” Diamond asked. “What are we--”

“We’re going after them, obviously,” Rainbow said with a smirk.

“And how exactly do you plan to do that?” Silver asked, unable to keep the frustration out of her voice. “They’re just four ponies. They--”

“We’re not gonna catch ‘em like this, either,” Applejack said, shaking her head. “We need tah trim down. We gotta move fast an’ hard. Just a hoofful of us. No big ships, no massive crews. We keep leavin’ ourselves vulnerable like this. Movin' too slow. Can’t get our forces goin’ fast enough. But if we move jus’ as fast? We can catch ‘em.”

“H-huh? We don’t even know where they are,” Silver said. “And we still need to--”

“We’ll find them,” Rarity said, shaking her head. “While I was opposed to this idea from the get go… this new development just shows that we have to strike hard and fast. We tried to outsmart them, but it didn’t work. Now, we need to move as fast as we can after them.”

Diamond nodded. “I’m all for it. But… how are we going to track them?”

The ruler of the Water Nation just gave a powerful chortle into her hoof. “Oh, darling. I spent YEARS tracking certain… ponies around. I have more than a few ways. In fact… I have a few ideas as it is.” She then glanced to Secretary. “We’re going to take one of the smaller boats. Once Harmony is secured, do what you can to aid them. And send reinforcements when you can. We don’t know if we’ll need them… but… The more ponies searching, the better.”

The alicorn nodded. “I… but what about the teleportation nullifier? We can’t just haul it around with us. We--”

“You can,” Alicity said, the first words he had said since they arrived. The coldness to his tone sent a shiver down Diamond’s back. There wasn’t an ounce of his normal happiness or glee. “It might not be exactly how you want it, but if we adjust one of the life boats, it should work for what you need.”

“Sir?” Secretary asked.

“It’s really our only shot,” the stallion said, turning and walking towards the exit. “Give us a few hours, please. We’ll have everything you need.” The serious expression on his face made the ponies merely nod.

Once he was out of the room, Diamond let out a low cough. “I… don’t think I’ve ever seen him look so… that...” she mumbled.

“… I never have,” Silver whispered. She shook her head. “I’m going to go help. You’ll need somepony who knows how… well, whatever we’re making operates.”

“Huh? You shouldn’t--”

Silver’s artificial wings crackled with electricity. “Also, you need somepony who can operate the nullifier. I can better than anypony else aside from my father. Don’t argue, I’m coming. And I can either come with you, or I can follow behind you at a good forty feet. Which would put me at more risk than--”

“Fine, fine!” the alicorn said with a shake of her head. “I wasn’t going to say that! I was going to say you shouldn’t forget that two of us will likely be flying, so go for speed over cargo space. Okay?” The alicorn gave a small smirk. “Besides. I’ve gone on enough adventures with you to know that there’s no way I’m going to be able to go off without you.”

“Huh, will you look at that,” Rainbow said with a snort. “An Avatar who remembers that basic rule. Maybe we’ve got a chance, after all. Ah, who’m I kidding? I’m here, we’re gonna kick their flanks.”

“Now don’t yah go countin’ yer eggs ‘fore they hatch,” Applejack said with a shake of her head. “We still gotta find ‘em. An’ even then, we gotta pin ‘em down. Yah all know how hard it can be tah do that with a small group. Then we gotta hope that special gadget of all theirs can stop them from teleportin’ all over the place. An’ then--”

“We get it, ugh!” Rainbow said with a groan. “It’s a million to one odds, all that stuff. Right? So what? We kicked Discord’s butt, we’ll kick this mare’s butt. They’re probably running scared right now. And once we find them? They’re toast.”

------

“I’m. So. Borrrrrred,” Shining said, groaning. “How long until they get here?”

“Can you shut up?” Dazzling asked, glancing over from his small game of solitaire. “We don’t know. We didn’t know five minutes ago when you asked. We didn’t know ten minutes ago when you asked. We didn’t know any of the hundred times you’ve asked. So will you please. Just. Shut. UP?!” he yelled, stomping a hoof down.

“Heh. You two are cute,” Hothoof said with a snicker. “You need to relax, they’ll find us. Any earth bender worth their salt could track us.”

Dazzling growled and flapped her wings, once. “Ughhhh. This is so boring! Why couldn’t we just keep doing what we were doing?! I wanna stretch out my wings! What’s the point of all this power if I can’t USE it?!”

“If you don’t stop complaining, I’ll make it so you can’t use your wings, either,” Meadowbrook said when she trotted into the room.

“A-ack! Heyyyy, Meadowbrook. How goes the plan?” Shining asked, giving a weak smile.

“Well. They’ll come,” the unicorn said, frustration evident on her features. The attack had been meant to lure Diamond to them, now that they were ready. To a place of their choosing. But she’d also been hoping to catch the Avatar of Discord away from the others, to get those remnants of power before facing the Avatar of Harmony. Instead, it looked like they were together. However, to her delight she had felt some small traces of the powerful spirit’s magic and had even been able to absorb some of it. Not all, but enough to know she was now strong enough she could. She’d even managed to, slowly, absorb the lingering fragments of magic from Starlight as well.

All that remained now was for the final battle to take place. If she could just get her hooves on the alicorn amulet, she could absorb them both. She glanced to his three minions and nodded. “Your job will be simple. Make sure nopony but the avatar and that other earth pony get by you. Everypony else stays out.”

“Yeah, yeah, gate keeper duty, easy,” Shining said with a sigh. “Total waste of my powers. And after…?”

“Once this is done, you three will gain more power than you’ve ever thought possible,” Meadowbrook said with a smirk. “After all, I’ll need avatars of my own once all of this is finished. Ones I can depend on. Ones that… don’t… annoy me...” he said, giving a warning glance to Shining.

“I know, I know,” she mumbled, glancing away from him. “I’m just tired of waiting. Why don’t we just run at them?”

“Because I can’t keep teleporting us away. They’ve probably got all kinds of defenses set up now, if we attack them,” Meadowbrook said with an annoyed roll of her eyes. “But they can’t bring those with them. So now, we just have to be patient and wait.”

Shining nodded, moving a hoof over her lips as if she were zipping them closed, then giving the unicorn a smile. Once Meadowbrook walked off, past them and into the other room to check on Starlight, she sighed. “She’s totally going to betray us once she kills the Avatar, right?”

“Definitely,” Hothoof said with a nod.

“Honestly, I’m surprised you picked up on it,” Dazzling said with a shrug. “But yes, in this you are correct. Ponies like that won’t give up power. Or… well. Whatever she is,” he said with a dismissive wave of his hoof.

“So… our plan, then?” Shining asked.

“Hope the Avatar wins?” Hothoof said, before snorting. “Nah. We’ll wing it.”

“Obviously, we run," Dazzling said, his hoof tapping the ground. "Once she’s started fighting with the Avatar, we deal with whatever… others there are. Then we run. Go our separate ways. We’re stronger than we’ve ever been and, despite how powerful she is, she DOES need us. Without us, she’ll be quite vulnerable. We could possibly trade information on her away for relief from our crimes. Well. You may. I have… other plans.”

Shining glanced back, her mouth falling open. “Wait, what? How much thought have you put into this?”

“A lot.”

“And that’s the best you could come up with?”

“It’s not like we have a lot of options. She’s far more powerful than all three of us. And each of us is worth a dozen benders by now.”

“I was worth a dozen benders before I got this power!” Shining snapped.

“Of course. But the point is, we run when she is at her most vulnerable. That’s all there is to it.”

Shining snorted, then shrugged. “Fine, whatever. First thing I’m going to do? Wipe out Cloudsdale. Gonna set off a rainboom. No, two. Right over the Wonderbolt facilities. Heh. Buncha failures, they couldn’t even hope to do what I can. Especially now. Wipe all of them out, one by one.”

“Mmmm hmm,” Dazzling said, before flipping over a few cards. “So much for keeping a low profile. You do realize she’ll come right after you. Right?”

“Meh. Without you three slowing me down, I can out run her. What do you plan to do, Hothoof?”

“… I think I’ll open a hot springs resort. For like. Dragons.”

Both ponies stopped everything and stared at him. After a few moments, Dazzling spoke up. “… Why… a hot springs? For… dragons?”

“Lava’s good for that. Dragons are cool. Maybe burn down that metal city of Big Mac’s, while I’m at it.”

Shining shook her head. “Well… o… kay then. How about you, tight ass? Any wild, exciting plans?”

The unicorn sighed. “You two will likely not be free for long, if you manage to escape. But yes. There are a few ponies I was supposed to kill, but never did. I hate leaving work unfinished...” Dazzling said before flipping over another card. “Other than that… I’m not quite sure. Perhaps I’ll pay the princesses a visit. Or maybe start a school. I always thought I’d make a fine teacher.”

“Pfffft, what could YOU teach a pony?”

“The same arts I know. Our country has a long, happy history with assassinations. It’s a shame that their highnesses are attempting so desperately to stamp it out. But the fact remains it is who we are,” he said, glancing up at her. “There are so many different ways to kill a pony, that will become lost if nopony steps in to teach them.”

“… You are so lame.”

“And you are tactless and crude. Your point?”

“Ughhhh...”

“Idiots...” Meadowbrook muttered, leaning against the door of the makeshift ‘dungeon’. She glanced to the embedded bars and the mare behind them. She cocked an eye at the bunny her captive was holding in her hooves. “Is that the same bunny we… no. Impossible. How are you feeling?”

“There’s a… cork in my… head.”

“… Huh. Okay, that actually is better. I wonder if that means you’re recovering?” she said before shrugging. “Either way… You’re no longer necessary to my desires. And I expect you’ll only get in the way, now. But you may still have a use.” She tapped a hoof and the stony wall behind the mare opened into the world. “Perhaps if you’re lucky, well… you’ll come across the Avatar and her friends on the way here.” A small, cruel smile formed on her lips. “My… I hope you’re lucky.”

Starlight blinked, staring at the other mare that wore her face. She then looked down at the bunny. It nodded and motioned. Slowly, she stepped out into the world, the bunny racing after and hopping onto her back. Meadowbrook shook her head and with a tap of her hoof, the wall closed behind the mare.

“And now, the final pieces are on their way...” she muttered, glancing to her hooves. “Let’s see what your chosen can do, shall we? It’ll be so satisfying to swallow those last vestiges of power of yours, my master,” she said with a smirk, before turning towards the other room. She glanced over the three, the final pawns of hers. Let them flee, she didn’t care. So long as she got the time she needed, it didn’t matter. Once she had the alicorn amulet, there would be nothing that could possibly stop her.

Author's Note:

And another chapter down! Stay tuned, we're near the end game!