Avatar: Legend of Diamond Tiara. Book 3: Tirek

by Jeweled Pen

Chapter 27: The bad guy

Tirek couldn’t believe his luck, victory was so close he could taste it. He watched the two fight, his eyes never leaving Discord’s chosen. His final victory was at hand. He couldn’t defeat them individually… but when they fought each other? He’d have them crushed.

All he had to do was get a hold of the Alicorn Amulet. If he could just get it off her neck, then his victory was assured. Centuries of plotting, of scheming, of vengeance filled thoughts flowed through him. He idly wondered how he’d spend the first century or two. Maybe he’d keep the two avatars as pets. They were amusing, in their own ways. And watching the two chosen of those respective spirits tear each other apart would be almost as amusing as watching their creators do the same to each other. Besides, if he wanted, he could always remove them later if the mood struck him.

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Diamond tapped her hoof and skidded it forward, sending three large rocks at the earth pony. Despite the fire on her horn, she refused to use it. Refused to burn Silver. Through the tears, her friend, no, ONCE friend was a gray blur. She felt as if her heart was being torn apart and stomped on. How could Silver have betrayed her like this? She wanted to believe there was a reason.

But there couldn’t be. She knew the stories of Discord. The legends. She could feel it burning in her heart, in her power. Discord was the antithesis of everything she was. The way he twisted and abused ponies. The way he hurt them. The way he tore them apart for the sheer humor of it. Was that all this was to her? Had all those talks, all those kind words been a trick? That advice all just been a way to manipulate her? Had everything they had worked so hard for just been a lie?

She wanted to scream and throw things, so she settled for kicking another boulder at the mare, though it didn’t seem to do any good. Silver deflected them all with a strange, purple magic that she just couldn’t identify. Chaos magic, she supposed. No, of course it was chaos magic. That’s what her friend was. An agent of chaos. Somepony sent to trick her. To make her believe they were friends. That she cared. To tear her apart from the inside.

And it hurt more than any wound she’d ever suffered.

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Silver stumbled back, narrowly avoiding another boulder. When more flew at her, her magic erupted yet again and the paths of the boulders were caught on a sudden shifting wind, or would lightly bump into each other and go akimbo or would have their balance lost and veer in a different direction. Chaos magic had its uses, she supposed. There was always something that could throw things off.

Though she felt as if her heart was being torn apart, tears to match her friend’s… ex-friend’s were coursing down her face. She’d messed up, she knew that. But she’d really believed that Diamond would forgive her. Would accept her for what she was. That she didn’t have to be Discord’s puppet. For a moment, she really believed that they could shake this destiny. Now she felt like an idiot. How did she really believe she could be forgiven?

She jumped backwards, her body twisting like taffy while she nimbly avoided another large boulder. She wanted to throw herself at the other mare, to beg forgiveness…

But the echoing laughter of Trixie told her that could never be. As badly as she wanted things to be the way they were, they couldn’t. Everything had been shattered. Regret soured her heart and made it burn worse than anything she’d ever felt.

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“Those spirits?” Diamond asked, wiping the tears from her eyes. “My cutie marks. Were those you? Did you… did you send those against me?”

“… Yes. And I’m sorry. I--” Silver yelped, ducking under a stream of fire.

“How could you?! I TRUSTED YOU!” the alicorn screamed before running at the other mare. Her right hoof shot out, connecting with the earth pony’s face. She tackled the other mare, knocking them both to the ground. The other mare’s metallic wings shot out, connecting to her side and electrifying her. She screamed in pain, but brought both hooves down, fire on them, and shattered the wings at the base. “I believed in you! I thought you were my friend! H-how could you betray me? How? How...”

Silver stared up at the hurt, twitching alicorn. She bit her tongue, before shaking her head and speaking. “I… I thought I had no choice. I just… I’m sorry, I thought--” Her words were cut off by a blow to the face from Diamond’s hoof, making her head spin.

The two froze in place, staring at each other. For the longest time, neither could move, afraid of what would happen if they did. Finally, Diamond spoke up. “No… more lies. I won’t… I won’t be a pawn in your game… Discord,” she whispered. “I won’t be tricked. Or lied to. I won’t be used.” She pulled her hoof back for another strike, though she hesitated this time.

Silver didn’t. Her back hooves kicked up, striking the alicorn in the stomach and hurtling her up into the air. She rolled to her stomach, the artificial horn on her head glowing with a purple light. The magic gripped Diamond by the tail and slammed her down onto the ground. “FINE!” she yelled. “No more lies. You want the truth? I’m Discord! I’m the big bad, I’m the monster at the end of the adventure!” she yelled, running forward and slamming into the dazed Diamond, tossing her into the air and making her crash to the ground, rolling a few feet and giving a soft groan.

Silver closed her eyes for a moment, when they opened they had come beady, red eyes surrounded by yellow. “No more lies? No more trickery? Very well. Allow me to put it in a way you’ll understand.” She snapped her right hoof and music began to drift through the trees.

“I’m not the damsel in distress...” she sang, watching the alicorn get to her hooves. “I’m not your best friend or the frightened heiress.” When Diamond started to step forward, the grass under her became super slippery, making the alicorn stumble and crash to the ground. “I’m not a little earth pony who needs your help to fight. Nope. I’m the bad guy...” she sang, circling around her former friend.

“All those former villains that you fought?” Silver said, ducking under another ball of fire. She twisted and turned, bucking out and kicking the Avatar in the whithers, sending her flying. “Each of them with shaking hooves would kneel before me. So I’m not your teammate or your partner in harmony. Who am I boys?”

“She’s the bad guy,” the rocks nearby sang in unison.

“Oh it’s magic,” Silver sang, smirking when Diamond landed in a bush. “To watch you all bend to the will of my dice.” A tree fell on top of the alicorn, then a second and third. Moments later they turned to butterfly’s, scattering and leaving Diamond in a dazed, confused sprawl.

“Oh it’s thrillin’, to be the villain. I twist your dreams and then I watch you cry,” Silver said, giving a light chuckle when Diamond flapped her wings and took off at her like a bolt. She lifted her right hoof.

Then the ground under her shifted, throwing her balance off and making her stumble. “W-what?” She caught sight of Sunburst out of the corner of her eyes, his wicked smirk, moments before the hooves of the alicorn collided with her. She shrieked and flew back, the Alicorn Amulet flying off her neck to land on the ground a few feet away.

She groaned and stared at Diamond, before both leaped and tried to get their hooves on it…

Only for the amulet to fly through the air, gripped in Sunburst’s magic. He laughed, taking the amulet and wrapping it around his throat. “Cause I’m the bad guy!” he sang with a low chuckle. His body began to glimmer with light and with a flash of white fire, the pony disappeared, replaced by a massive red centaur. The music instantly died as his eyes fell over them. “Yes. And now… grk!” he started, stumbling back. His hands reached up, gripping the amulet, a look of pain on his face.

Silver chuckled, wiping the blood from her mouth. “You really are a foal, Tirek...” she said, before glancing to Diamond. The alicorn amulet appeared on her throat again. “Sit down,” she said, her eyes glowing purple. The grass around the mare suddenly sprang up into big, green, stretchy ropes, coiling around her.

“W-what? L-let me go!” Diamond shrieked, fire enveloping her but not burning through them quickly.

“H-how… w-what did you… d-do? What is this?!” Tirek asked, his hands gripping the amulet and yanking on it, trying to get it off.

“The amulet cannot be forcefully removed,” Silver said with a smirk, stepping towards the spirit. “Did you REALLY think your old master didn’t have some plan in store? That she was going to just fight you fair and square?” she asked. She then hmphed. “You really were a foal. And now? You’re a dead foal.”

Tirek screamed, the amulet around his throat glowing red. His mouth opened and light flowed out from his throat, scattering in all directions before veering around and joining with Silver. The mare took a long, slow breath.

“Oh, you did gather so much for me, didn’t you?” she asked, shaking her head. “I’ll need to separate it later. Or maybe I’ll just keep it all. What do you think, Diamond? Oh, who cares what you think,” she said with a giggle, before stomping her back hoof. Rocks rose up from the ground, wrapping around and encasing the alicorn moments before she could break the grass ropes.

Tirek soon was on his knees, panting and twitching. Little more than a frail, hollowed husk of his former glory. Slowly, he looked up. “N-no. Please. M-mercy, my master. I-I can serve you. I can--”

“Oh, as you did last time? And the time before that? No...” Silver said, wiping the tears from her eyes. “You’ve done enough damage. I won’t absorb you. I won’t let you linger, even locked away.” She snapped her hoof again and the amulet around his throat began to glow red.

Tirek screamed, shaking his head. “No! Please, my master, please! NO!” he roared, thrashing around and tugging at his throat. The glowing only intensified, searing through the skin.

“Goodbye, Tirek,” she said. The glow intensified until both ponies had to look away, a loud explosion tearing through the air. When the ponies looked back, there was nothing but scorched marks across the ground.

Silver sighed, staring at the empty space he had once stood. Then, slowly, she turned to Diamond. She felt another small pang of pain in her heart. “I’ve… won, Diamond. You’ve lost.” She had to stop herself from saying sorry. She was the bad guy. She had won. She had finally defeated her enemy, after so long. “Harmony loses. Discord wins. The end. This is my world now,” she said softly.

“I-I won’t...” the Avatar said softly. “I won’t give up. I won’t lose. Even if… if you kill me… the next Avatar will win. Or the one after them. Or the one after them. Or--”

“No. That’s where you’re wrong. I won’t kill you. I… can’t kill you. I wasn’t kidding about what I said before. I didn’t want to fight you. I still don’t… so… I’ll end the cycle. Harmony… is done,” Silver said, before thrusting a hoof at the other mare. The Alicorn Amulet glowed with a brilliant light. “And you’re free. There’s no more destiny of the Avatar for you to worry about. So… enjoy the time you have now.”

Diamond screamed.

Author's Note:

Sometimes... things just all go wrong. And Tirek really should have known better than to think defeating Discord would be so easy... Over confidence is always the downfall, it seems.

Tune in tomorrow for the finale and the end of Book 3 of Diamond Tiara's adventure.

PS. Hope you guys liked the song reference. Oh my gosh that song is one of my all time favorites.

Comments

[CrystalMaster76]

I’m nervous, but not for the reason you’d think, if Silver becomes one of the, or the, bad guys of Season 4, that will be terrible for the story.
The main appeal of this premise will be seeing the world react to the chaos Avatar and Silver adapting to it, if Silver is still in bad guy mode next season you shoot that idea, and the story in the foot