When Balance Slays the Demon
Tirek, the newly crowned god-tyrant of Equestria, was in ecstasy.
During his short time in Equestria, the titanic centaur had tasted all the different flavors of magic. He’d supped on the raw, intrinsic power of Earth Pony magic. He had guzzled the electric jolt of pegasus magic. He’d slurped up the crackling buzz of unicorn magic. And when he’d drained his former partner, Discord, he’d sampled the primal, untameable power of chaos magic. All delicious. All empowering.
But compared to alicorn magic, they were stale bread and water. Consuming the collective magic of four alicorns had been an almost orgasmic experience. It was like there was a caged star in his chest, nourishing him with its glowing flesh.
A ball of destructive magic formed between Tirek’s horns. With a thought, the tyrant hurled the ball into a patch of the Everfree forest, turning trees to ash and earth to blackened glass. Like a foal trying out his new toy, Tirek reveled in his stolen power. He’d never felt so alive! With a stomp of his hoof he could crack a mountain in half. With a wave of his hand, he could will a storm into existence. Even the sun and the moon were under his power.
For the first time in a very long while, he was happy.
With a wave of his hand, Tirek expanded his now god-like awareness over all of Equestria. Though he had drained many a town and city of magic, there were still plenty of locales left untouched. It’d take him a while to drain them all of magic.
It didn’t matter. It wasn’t like there was anypony who could stop him. Not anymore at least.
Tirek let out a laugh that could easily be mistaken for thunder. The only being who’d stood a chance against him had been that alicorn, Twilight Sparkle. She’d had more power than any creature in recorded history, perhaps the only pony who stood a chance of stopping him... and she’d given it up for her husks of friends and that worthless traitor of a draconequus. Friendship over power. How pathetic
“Hear me, Equestria! ” The god-tyrant’s magic carried his words all over his new domain. In every corner of Equestria, ponies heard the centaur’s words as if he was right beside them, yelling it into their ears. “This land is yours no longer! From now on, it all belongs to Tirek!”
-
As the God-tyrant revels in his new power, six mares make their way through the Everfree forest, struggling to stay on their hooves.
It’s not easy. To a pony, being drained of magic is like having one’s soul ripped out. Their hooves feel like lead weights. Their muscles feel like jelly. All they want to do is lay down and sleep for the rest of eternity
Still they trudge on through the forest. Each of them carries an object: a flower, a coin, a medal, an amulet, a rubber chicken, and a spool of rainbow-colored thread. Any other time, they would be random keepsakes, resting comfortably on a shelf. Now, they are Equestria’s last, desperate hope.
Finally, after a perilous trek through the forest, the six enter the cave of the Tree of Harmony. The mysterious tree is just as powerful and mysterious as the day they left it. At its base is the mysterious chest the tree has gifted them.
The mares tap their respective gifts against the locked enigma.The items glow with magic, and the strange power of the chest twists them into six stylized golden keys.The six grip the keys and insert them into their respective keyholes.The leader gives a nod, and they twist their respective keys at the same time.
The top of the chest opens. There’s a flash of rainbow-colored light...
-
Tirek looked over Equestria like a glutton looking over a buffet table, trying to decide where to strike next.
The centaur rubbed his hairy chin. Perhaps he should strike at Manehattan. That hideous concrete jungle was full of Earth ponies and pegasi for him to drain. Then perhaps after that, he could head up North and attack the Crystal Empire.
Tirek rubbed his chin, planning how best to drain the snow-bound empire. First things first, he’d have to do something about that protective barrier of theirs shatter that protective barrier of theirs, drain every single crystal pony of magic, then would consume the Crystal Heart itself.
Tirek licked his lips. Yes, the Crystal Heart. He could imagine himself crunching it beneath his boulder-sized teeth. Part of him wondered if it’d taste like rock candy
Something twinged in Tirek’s gut. He felt something; a burst of magical energy the likes of which he’d never seen. Even from this distance it almost overloaded his magically-enhanced senses. It was like staring straight into a star.
The source of power started moving quickly. Very quickly. Before Tirek could so much as twitch a muscle, it slammed into him with a sound like two planets colliding. The centaur toppled to the ground, crushing trees beneath him like toothpicks.
Tirek picked himself up, rubbing his head. Two glittering legs came into his field of vision t
What in Tartarus!?
Tirek looked up. His jaw dropped. Was that a...Golem?
-
Back when he was still a colt, Tirek had read about Golems.
According to the old texts, they were massive beings of rock and crystal, created by a race that’d died long before the first ponies walked the land. They had been beings of incredible power, each one capable of destroying an entire army by itself.
Until now, he’d thought they were just a myth. Something to talk about around a campfire while waiting for dinner to cook. Now one of those myths had just slugged him in the face at four times the speed of sound. That had quickly changed his opinion.
Tirek’s picked himself up and locked his limbs into a combat stance. He scanned his new foe; this particular golem looked as if something had carved a pony out of a single shard of crystal, chiseled its forehooves into claws, and given it two glowing eyes set in a perpetual scowl. Veins and arteries of rainbow-colored energy flowed through its body like blood, while a pulsating ball of light beat in its chest like a glowing heart.
For a brief moment, Tirek felt something he’d almost forgotten. A tense, jumpy feeling that screamed at him to run away and hide
He suddenly remembered what it was called:fear.
“TIREK!” The construct pointed a talon at Tirek’s chest. It’s voice was bubbly, yet sober. Brash, yet reserved. “WE HAVE COME TO RECLAIM WHAT THOU HAST STOLEN!”
Tirek buried his rediscovered fear deep in his mind and locked it in a cage. He was a god. Gods never showed fear. Gods never felt fear. “By all means”. With a thought, an energy ball formed between his horns. “Let me give it back to you!” The centaur flicked his wrist, and the destructive sphere launched itself towards the Golem.
For a split second, the construct just stood there, as if it didn’t care about the pulsating ball of death speeding towards it. Tirek grinned. Some Golem. It was too scared to even move.
Before the energy ball struck, the construct lowered an arm. Just as the ball was about to strike, the Golem’s arm shimmered with energy, and the living statue swatted Tirek’s shot away like pony swatting a fly.
The fear broke free of its cage. A ball of sour ice formed in Tirek’s stomach. How…?
The incandescent ball shot into the sky and dwindled until it was a tiny, glowing dot. The dot blinked, and a second sun bloomed over Equestria for a second.
Before Tirek could react, the Golem thrust out a claw. The light in its chest pulsed, and a white hot beam of energy shot out from its palm. Like a fiery needle, the beam pierced clean through the centaur’s chest, turning fur to ash and flesh to charcoal.
Tirek clutched his scorched chest and channeled little healing magic flowed into the wound, restoring the cauterized flesh. He hoisted himself up and, with a roar, rammed his fist into the golem’s chest, cracking the glittering crystalwith a satisfying crunch. Before he could gloat, the golem returned the blow with an earth shattering uppercut.Tirek clutched his broken jaw and landed a punch that could shatter a mountain. The Golem’s head snapped back.
The two titans broke into a fistfight that could shatter continents. Punches, kicks, and chops were traded like insults during a heated argument. The air rippled with shockwaves, shattering windows miles away and knocking birds from the air. As far away as Manehattan, ponies could feel a faint rumbling beneath their hooves
Finally, the golem ended the melee with a solid kick to Tirek’s solar plexus. The centaur slid backwards, flattening acres of forest beneath him like a twenty-story steamroller. With a groan, he slowly picked himself up, his pelt marred by ugly purple bruises.The Golem itself looked pretty beaten itself- parts of its transparent skin were chipped and cracked marred by hair-thin cracks.
Tirek felt the Golem channel earth pony magic into the ground. Eight house-sized chunks of dirt and rock ripped themselves out of the ground, gouging huge holes in the forest. With a flick of its wrist, seven of the floating boulders hurled themselves at Tirek like iron filings to a magnet. The eighth one, strangely, shot off into the sky, quickly disappearing from sight
Magic surged through Tirek horns, and a glassy wall of magic sprang up in front of him. The stony bullets splashed against the hard-magic barrier like raindrops against a window.
Tirek dispelled the shield with a snap of his fingers.Too easy. “Did you truly think that a few stones could stop-”
Tirek looked up to see a massive fireball plunging towards him. Before he could so much as blink, a white-hot chunk of rock traveling at orbital velocity introduced itself to his skull The resulting boom was like two mountains being slammed together. Trees for miles around were flattened by the blast. Nearby clouds were shredded.
“Im…pressive.” Tirek channeled some healing magic to his head, wincing as the mystic energies reknit his fractured skull. Inside he was quaking. This isn’t possible! He was a the living embodiment of magic! How could anything be more powerful than-
Tirek’s train of thought was derailed by a crystalline fist to the side of his head. Another fist acquainted itself with his jaw with a dull crunch, nearly blinding Tirek with pain.
The centaur felt himself being pinned to the ground. The Golem planted of its massive hooves on his chest like a mountain climber after conquering a summit. With a wave of its claw, earth pony magic seeped into the forest, and massive roots erupted from the ground, wrapping themselves around Tirek’s limbs like living ropes.
A massive crystal broadsword grew out of the construct’s hand. The golem gripped the broadsword blade-down and raised it over Tirek’s chest. He could feel the destructive magic flowing through the blade.
NO! Tirek struggled against his bonds. Fear surged through him like lightning. He had not come this far to be executed like a common criminal!
“For thy crimes against the ponies of Equestria, we sentence thee, Tirek, to death!”
His heart racing,Tirek quickly channeled some of his magic through his horns.
The sword was raised, ready to be plunged into Tirek’s chest. “Now, receive thine-”
Tirek interrupted his execution with an energy ball at point blank range. The sword exploded with a sound of a thousand windows shattering at once. The Golem reeled and clutched its face, light leaking from its blunt muzzle like glowing blood. The roots withered and died in seconds, leaving Tirek free to ram his fist into the construct’s muzzle.
Before the Golem could recover. Tirek quickly charged up another energy ball and blasted its right arm. A chop from his hand broke off the shattered limb with a massive crack, leaving behind a jagged stump. Another blast of magic hit the golems’ left shoulder, followed by a mighty punch that utterly shattered it.
Tirek showed no mercy to his fallen opponent. Punch followed punch. Kick followed kick. Chop followed chop. With each blow, a fresh web of cracks and fissures spread across the Golem’s body. Rainbow-colored light welled up from the wounds. The glow in it’s perpetual scowl began to dim.
Triumphant, Tirek planted a hoof on his downed foe’s sternum. He knelt down on the Golem’s chest. All that separated him from unthinkable power now was a thin shell of crystal. “Once I’m done with you, I’ll suck you dry and mount your shell in my new palace.” He grinned. “I’m sure you’ll make a lovely statue.”
An almost drug-like high surged through Tirek’s veins. Once he drained the golem of magic, his already god-like power would triple! He wouldn’t be confined to this one planet anymore. The universe itself would be his to command!
Tirek pressed his fist against the Golems chest and slowly applied pressure. Not too much- he wanted to savor this. The crystal skin began to crack and crunch. “Do you have any last words for posterity?”
The golem slowly lifted its head. “Yes…”
Tirek suddenly felt a sharp pain erupt in his gut. He looked down to see the golem’s splintered right arm embedded deep in his torso.
The light in the Golem’s eyes flashed like a sun. “BURN!”
White-hot magic surged through the improvised lance like medicine through a syringe. Searing energy spread through the tyrant’s body, burning everything it touched.
The last thing Tirek saw before his mind disintegrated was a spiderweb of white-hot cracks spreading across his body, bleeding hot light. The last thing he heard was his own horrified roar.Reading this line makes me wonder what having both one's magic drained and soul ripped out would feel like then.