Never Let's The Baddy Get Away
Outside, the world lay to waste. The cold icy chills of the wind swept in front of a ruined castle. Countless homes destroyed, countless lives ruined, and few souls lost. Ponies and griffons, dragons and deer, maintained a distance as they watched the very center of the stage.
A stage where right there stood two beings.
One stared down at the thing that had been more annoying than the Orthros that served Cerberus, the other looked up at Tirek without so much as a care despite the centaur’s massive size.
Tirek snorted. The snort was one of belligerence, one that expressed frustration, anger, hostility, and even though it was shoved deep inside him another emotion aside from animosity made itself well-known within the centaur’s very being.
Fear.
Everything had fallen to place. His masterful manipulation of Discord, taking his magic, stringing the god of chaos for so long and so easily had frankly surprised him as he himself had felt that the god of chaos would have eventually caught on that something wasn’t right about any of this.
But alas by the time the fool had realized it had been far too late to stop him. Tirek stole Discord’s magic, but not before he devoured the magic of the other creatures ranging from Trottingham to Prance. And even going as far as taking up all of the Crystal Empire’s magic, save for its princess.
Yet despite not having the alicorn magic he wanted, Tirek had been confident when he faced off against the very embodiment of magic itself.
The newly crowned princess, Twilight Sparkle.
Granted with Celestia, Luna, AND Cadence’s magic supplementing her own the mare had proved to be a worthy foe.
That was until the centaur caught the upper hand on her and captured all her friends.
A deal was struck, simple and sweet. Tirek wouldn’t harm them if he got all the young princess’s magic in return. And once the deal was completed Tirek was not surprised to see the Elements of Harmony; The Gods safety mechanism, the Deus Ex Machina activate and try to take him out.
But then again how could magic take out a creature that not only could absorb the very life essence that encompassed the entire world, but also a being who could absorb magic itself?
So it was all for naught when the elements fired and Tirek simply ate up their magical blast. Growing in both power, size and confidence till finally there was nothing left from him to take from the elements. It was even less surprising when Tirek took the very thing that had sent him to his millennial imprisonment and crushed it right before the bearers very eyes for all to see that truly.
That this time, there was-- is no hope for them.
No salvation, no miracle, no surprising event that would bend into Twilight and her friends favor, riding him of all the magic he had devoured, and saving their world from his wrath.
No. There was none of that. Once Tirek crushed those infernal gems that had thrown him into that hell hole, that was it.
Game over.
They did not revive, they did not try to reform, and they could not retaliate after he had drained so much from them, even more so because he soon cast them away into another dimension shortly after, and he made sure that all saw him do this also. Not just Twilight and her friends. But the whole world.
With his magical ability it was but a simple feat to project his very image to every living creature on the planet as he did the deed and ride the world of their ultimate weapon, yet at the same time ultimate weakness.
And once all was said and done, Tirek laughed.
He laughed, and he laughed, and he laughed, and he...laughed. Right in their faces.
He didn’t care if they were distraught, frightened, angry, or anything else emotionally, psychologically, or physically impeding.
That was what he wanted them to feel.
It was nothing but a taste, just a sliver of the angst he himself had to endure all that time he had spent in Tartarus after his own flesh betrayed him.
And in all honesty. It felt good. He enjoyed watching the ponies, the dragons, the griffons, and even the minotaurs break down as he crushed their homes, disintegrated cities, overturned the rules and regulations that had sustained order and on occasion just for fun if anyone tried to stand up to him, break them.
Yes, you heard right, break them.
Nothing serious of course.
Just a bone or two would be broken.
Maybe three if he was on a good day.
Mended with a bit of healing magic he knew back from when he was still free to explore Equestria, and then to prove his point he’d break those very same bones again.
The exact same spot, then would leave his challenger to heal on their own and if he felt like it, lay waste to their home in the process and all within the area as well.
And once done with that if they had any magic, he’d suck it right up. Taking away from them not only their sense of pride but their dignity itself.
It was a great time. Truly Tirek had to admit the first month of his conqueror over these accursed creatures that he abhorred with every fiber of his being had been a splendid one.
The cries of infants who lost their homes, were calmed with raining cotton candy clouds courtesy of the former chaos god’s magic. Only for it to give them cavities and no means of treatment to cure the pains within the young ones mouths.
At night he would bring upon every creature that slept in their magicless world, sweet dreams that promised his own downfall and the restore of order. Dreams that every creature who dreamt it clung to the dream so hard Tirek sometimes found it hard not to keep it going, only so he could rip it away from them when they awoke to find him still towering over them, like a true sovereign.
Chipping away slowly at the hopes and dreams of each creature on this planet had been slightly difficult. Especially with the dragons, but as time had passed and another week added on, Tirek broke even the intractable of creatures.
Yet another trick Tirek had learned to make the a enemy suffer.
“Let one believe they have a choice in a importunate situation and they fall right into your hands” he thought as this being that looked up at him began to circle the massive centaur as if he was its prey.
In all honesty Tirek had believed nothing could stop him at this point. He had checked everything, for any shortcomings that may prove a problem later.
He had made sure rallies against him were terminated, brigades from other countries sent to stop him demolished. And any other act of treachery, thoroughly punished.
Even Cerberus would not come take him. Not now.
The mutt had a duty to guard the underworld, while the surface world had to fend for itself, besides there was nothing Cerberus could do to stop him.
Tirek knew that, and he was sure Cerberus knew that also.
Everything had gone so smoothly.
But then again not everything is meant to last for eternity.
While Tirek had been making the weak Celestia and Luna and half of the population of both Manehattan, Canterlot and Ponyville dance for his entertainment, he had not expected a challenger to emerge after he had crushed all hope of any opposing him.
Tirek did not expect this being that now circled him with that stupidly annoying, cocky grin to face him.
Because Tirek knew that this creature, that this...thing, was not of this world, he was wary. Just as when the centaur and his brother had arrived to Equestria they also had spoken a different language when arriving here the first time.
So when Tirek saw this creature that called itself “man”, walk right into Tartarus, he had simply assumed that some otherworldly force that related to this thing’s own dimension had forced it into the very depths of Tartarus along with all the other various villains.
At first, Tirek had paid him no mind, but the guards of Tartarus certainly payed close attention to this individual that had waltzed right into the hellhole like it was his summer vacation home.
Cerberus himself had paid a small respect to the being that Tirek eventually (much to his chagrin) came to know.
For this creature came around once every 156 moons. He would pop in for a brief visit, spout horrible jeers, make fun of the prisoners, Tirek the most after learning of his own ordeal, and then leave abruptly afterwards without so much as a clue to how he came in and out.
It was beyond annoying, but Tirek had to admit, he was glad he only dealt with it once every 200 years.
And though he never mentioned it before, every time Tirek saw this creature, this being that he knew was not of this world Tirek always got this strange feeling that there was more to this being than met the eye. His mannerisms, his reactions to the treatment they endured, his speech and the way he carried himself. While all were not a stranger to Tirek there was always something about this being...this person who called himself “Dante” that sent a red flag in Tirek’s head and told him to STAY AWAY!
Again Tirek forced away his fears. Fear was not something he had was used to feeling. In his own world, his brother, his family, and himself were great creatures. Powerful beings.
Just as the creatures of this world viewed Celestia, Luna, Discord, Twilight and Cadence as gods with limitless amounts of power, so was Tirek and his former family members viewed the very same.
And as far as Tirek had come to know Dante for the past millennia based on the times it had visited him, Tirek knew this thing that called itself “man” knew a strong foe when it saw one.
So again Tirek wondered, why?
Tirek towered over Dante like the Statue of Liberty towered over a measly skyscraper. Yet still Dante was unperturbed, even less so by the destruction that surrounded him.
None of it, not the death, not the suffering, not the countless lives Tirek had ruined and played with since gaining all this power seemed to phase Dante one bit. Not even the very fact that Tirek could simply blink him out of existence with a wave of his hand.
None of this phased Dante, even Twilight Sparkle was wary of Tirek’s strength when they had fought, but Dante, this thing, it showed no sign of fear. Not even a ounce of emotion could be detected on his face at all save for that grin.
“What’s wrong with him?” Tirek wondered as Dante began to look around at all the mayhem Tirek had caused, as if noticing it for the first time.
A loud whistle echoed off into the distance, as a cold current swept through the area that the two beings stood on.
In the distance a building set ablaze collapsed into the countless other debris that had been homes and businesses once not too long ago.
“Damn” the voice of the creature said. Dante placed both hands on his hips, looked at the cowering creatures in the far off distance then took another look at all the ruined lives.
“Damn Tirek” Dante said with a slight chuckle. Tirek tensed, but if Dante noticed he ignored it.
“I don’t visit you once after what? How long has it been a week?” he asked, “And you go on to throw a giant frat party without me? Jeez I thought we were bros, bro.”
No one said a word to Dante’s statement. Tirek himself knew the creature was strange but this was beyond an oddity. “A party?” Tirek thought, as he looked at the destruction.
“Is that what you think this is? A party?” Tirek asked with more confusion than anger.
“Well yeah dipshit. What else could it be?” Dante stated watching part of Canterlot Castle lose one of its towers.
Tirek stood there in silence. This was insane, so insane that he began laughing.
At first it was a snort, then a chuckle, before the massive being burst out laughing with such a force that windigoes themselves would have been blown away. His cackles carrying off all over Equestria reaching as far as the Griffon Kingdom itself.
Finally when Tirek was done laughing, he decided he would shrink his size and allow himself the opportunity to greet this insane fellow properly before he sent him back to whence he’d came.
“I’ve got to say goat man, you really did a number on these people--horses” Dante shrugged. “Whatever they are.”
“Ponies" a weak voiced chided in the distance.
Dante dismissively waved his hand away, mumbling “Like I care.”
“But Tirek you do know what this means right?” Tirek allowed his massive form to stop shrinking. He still towered over Dante but was not as huge as before.
“What does this mean?” Tirek said with a raised brow.
Dante didn’t even answer, all he did was pull out his gun and point it right at Tirek’s foreleg. “I’m gonna have to beat you up and throw you back into hell.”
Silence.
The fear Tirek had felt spiked, but was overcome with conceit. And so he a smile grew on his face. Dante could do him no harm. Not when he had limitless amounts of power behind him.
“Put the gun away boy” Tirek said as he approached Dante.
Dante’s arm dropped slowly, before he cocked his head to the side with a strange look. “Did you just call me boy old man? I’ll have you know I’m 23 f-ing years old you millennia old sponge. Now, I’m going to give you one chance.” Dante lifted his arm up again one more time pointing the gun at Tirek’s leg.
“Return what you have stolen and go back, and maybe when you’re done I won’t kick your ass so badly that these guys won’t need to pick parts of it up when I’m done.”
Tirek’s wide smile faltered.
Again he showed no fear in the face of a god. What’s wrong with him? Is he too stupid to realize he cannot win when the gods of this world could not defeat me? Or is he really that strong that he thinks he can face a being he will turn all his attacks into a snack before supper?
Tirek took one tentative step forward, and as he did so the ground beneath him and Dante shook with a force.
Tremors were made, cracks in the ground were opened and formed, thousands that were watching this thanks to Celestia and Luna’s magic combined were trembling as the demon that had brought ruin to their world walked slowly up to this Dante, and every creature on Equus knew, Dante was doomed.
When Tirek punished, he did it to break both mind and spirit. Breaking bones, breaking one’s will, before finally restoring them to once they were with a simple hop back in time and breaking them all over again till they could never forget what he had done to them after they were restored to an original state.
With his shadow casting over Dante Tirek’s confidence grew.
And it wasn’t until the centaur was right in front of him did Dante look up at the massive being who leaned in to give him a better view of that ugly mug.
For a while silence reigned once more as ruler.
Nothing collapsed, the smoke that replaced the sky did nothing, the coughing and wheezing of countless souls, along with millions upon millions of cries stopped.
And as Tirek stared at Dante, he realized something. “I was being scared for nothing.”
Dante did not move at the statement, he merely continued to stare at Tirek silently with that same look only this time the cocky grin was gone.
Finally Dante pulled his gun back to his side, removed the clip, slid one hand into his pocket and refilled the clip once again.
Ntck
“I warned you goat man,” Dante said as he put the gun to Tirek’s knee. “Stand down or fight.”
Tirek grinned, the bullet would do him no harm. He had taken enough dragon magic for his skin to harden several times over. This was but child’s play.
“Then Fight we shall.”
Click
The sound of a bullet firing echoed the plain that Tirek and Dante stood on.
And for a second the world was silent once more. Tirek rose to his full height away from Dante with a wicked grin. He felt nothing.
Dante on the other hand began to move away from Tirek after firing his first shot, once he was far away enough he waited.
“Well goat man. Hit me with your best shot” he said with a little sway as if he were dancing.
Tirek’s anger spiked. And as he did so he increased his size and began to move forward to finish this cocky little insect.
But the moment he lifted his leg, the centaur cried out in pain and collapsed to three knees.
Tirek looked down at his left foreleg and saw something that shocked him to his core.
In his leg, just above the fibula bone, was a large bullet hole that had turned the inflicted spot, along with his own fur slightly red.
Thoughts began to race in Tirek’s head as he wondered, how is this possible? What was happening? How did he-
Click
Dante took slow steps forward, towards the massive beast as whom he’d mostly likely had known would fall given the distance he had put between them.
“You see” Dante said as he looked as his gun for signs of dirt. “I’ve fought a lot worse things than you. Demons, demon hunters, high-level demons three times my size, tentacle monsters-” he stopped his movement forward and sighed.
“I’m monologuing, great...” he shrugged “Whatever, point is Tirek. You can’t kill me that easily. Trust me a lot more stronger than you have tried. Someone I know who could practically make you their play thing without you realizing it. And under his terms, he already has.”
Tirek shook his head, still unable to process what was happening. This shouldn’t be happening. His skin had been tougher than anything on this world, fire, mountains, magic, anything that hit him bounced off after he had gotten to the dragon lord and sucked up his magic. He didn’t even need to resort to protection spells unless it had involved type 4 ponies who knew spells strong enough to penetrate his defenses and even then those were rare.
How could one measly bullet-
“You’re probably thinking” Dante’s voice regained the centaur’s attention. “How could a bullet throw a hole in my impenetrable armor.” Tirek’s scowl confirmed Dante’s remarkss, as the centaur began to try standing once more.
But he found he couldn’t, the bullet wound was not healing despite him having timberwolf magic and his leg thanks to the bullet had grown numb shortly after.
“Well Tirek let me tell you something. Ever heard of the saying “Where there’s a will there’s also a way”, well today’s the day ol’ Dante comes your way.” Dante stated.
Click
Tirek winced. “Stay back” he ordered. But Dante pressed on.
“I said STAY BACK!” Tirek ordered flinging his arm to smack him out of the way.
And to his surprise Dante did indeed go flying out into the sky. Tirek for a second complete forgot he had still had Discord's magic.
So high Dante went up into the air that he made a hole in that smoggy current that filled the space once belonging to clouds.
For sometime the being did not return, and Tirek slowly calmed. His heart rate returned to normal, that annoying fear he felt subsided.
He calmed himself. He had won.
Then all of a sudden there was a terrible crunching sound. Tirek looked ahead and saw Dante’s broken body.
He grinned. His smile widened and he knew he had defeated the creature. And so he laughed once more. “You should have known you cannot defeat a god!” Tirek stated.
And for a few seconds he had truly won. Until Tirek suddenly heard a sound he was familiar with. A sound he knew so very well.
A heartbeat.
Th-Thump
Dante’s bones aligned, allocating to their designated positions, what was broken healed instantly, and his his decrepit form became whole once more Tirek watched in horror as the man rose to his own two feet stretched and then popped his neck like nothing had happened at all.
“Was that it?” Dante asked, and proceeded towards Tirek in a steady gait.
Tirek’s ears rose in alarm, and his anger took over fear. He unknowingly began to shrink his form, sending magic blast after magic blast, all in an attempt to kill Dante and get rid of this nightmare that had followed him to paradise.
But Dante only blocked with a drawn sword in hand that cut each blast as if it were nothing.
Tirek made a portal that would suck Dante into the vastness of space and leave him there to freeze over.
Dante cut it down.
Tirek made creatures of the Everfree appear and do his biding, his body slowly returning to a less huge size, something he had noticed as he allowed his fear and anger to take over.
Dante cut them down.
Tirek made flames from Tartarus rise and surround Dante so he could keep him at bay, enough so he could regain his own composure long enough to fight properly.
Dante walked right through the burning embers as if they were nothing.
Thoughts raced. “No” Tirek said to himself. “I can’t go back! I won’t go back there!” he roared at the nightmare before him, and as he did so countless oddities thanks to Discord’s unstable magic began forming.
Rhinos played the sax, grass lived and did ballet, Dante’s clothing went from trench coat to blouse and at this the ever charging being stopped and looked at himself as a mirror was formed from the ground.
“Hm” Dante said as he looked at his new trends. “Not bad”, he continued towards Tirek.
“Stay away from me” Tirek warned as he began to try and rise so he could gallop away.
But it was no use his leg were numb. Creating wings Tirek tried to fly away, as fast as he could so he could escape-
Click
Dante’s rounds were fired into the wings and those wings were torn asunder as the bullets sailed through them, leaving Tirek full of pain and dropping him back to the ground.
Blood poured out of his wounds, littered the ground, and then Tirek's wings fell limp as he tried to will them to move but they would not listen. Three of Dante's bullets tore holes in the humerus, and so with a grunt Tirek disposed of his wings as they retracted back into his body making him just another centaur once more.
Adrenaline pumped, heavy breathing became louder as Tirek felt the pain rush through him. He tried to stand but couldn't, and despite all the noise he could hear thanks to Luna's ability to peer into the minds of other creatures, Tirek was still able to hear one thing.
The sound of Dante's footsteps drawing near.
He's so close now, Tirek thought through pain and bleariness. Weakly the centaur crawled away.
I can’t go back there. I can’t go back there for another millennia, I won’t go back there!
“Man this is sad” Tirek heard Dante’s voice say.
The centaur froze when he saw a leather boot in front of him. And when he looked up he saw Dante now towered over him.
Just as he once had.
Tirek gnashed his teeth together and then-- snap time froze over.
He moved away from Dante quickly increasing the distance between them with three legs as best he could, even forcing his bad one to move. Till finally he collapsed.
Time was frozen. Tirek grinned at Dante’s frozen form and knew with this he could gain time to regain his stature and crush this being.
With a chuckle Tirek pushed himself up and formed a pillow fort for him to lean on. “I’ve won.”
A voice chuckled right behind him. “No, no you haven’t” Dante’s voice came from behind him.
Tirek's heart skipped a beat and in an instant he whirled around to see Dante in front of him.
“W-W-Wha-What!?” Tirek stuttered.
“Yu-Yu-YUP!” Dante mocked. “You think I wouldn’t take into account that with all your power you can control time as well, come on guy cut me some slack, I may be an ass, but I’m not an idiot.”
Tirek fell to his flank, and once again began crawling away. “What are you!?” he spat in rage and trepidation.
"Oh come on Tirek, please with all that power you have you should be able to figure out just what I am" Dante said with a casual gesture of his hand, playfully goading Tirek to say he knew him for what the 'man' really was.
“No being is this powerful” the wounded centaur argued.
“SAYS the goat who froze time just now.”
“Silence!” Tirek spat.
Dante shrugged and moved towards Tirek once more. "Fine, I'll just come to you."
Tirek did not try to flee this time. This time he conjured up all the magic he had in him and sent one strong focused blast right at Dante as quickly as he could.
The result was over half of Canterlot falling to the ground, but Tirek knew he could just rewind time and act like this never happened.
When the smoke cleared he saw no Dante, and so cautiously he looked around.
He sighed after a few minutes passed and there was still no sign of this demon.
Click.
Tirek bit his lip. His heart leapt into his throat. Ever since gaining the ability of changelings, the centaur could sense when something was close to him if he focused hard enough.
Right now he could feel a powerful presence behind him.
And so with caution he slowly turned himself to look up, only to be met with the barrel of a gun pointed right at his forehead.
The fear Tirek began to feel made his breath heavy as he fought for words to speak. “How?” the centaur asked with pain in his voice and pain in his shudders.
“How did you survive that attack?”
Dante merely lifted up his trench coat, which had changed back, and showed Tirek something that adorned his pockets and the inner layers of the coat.
Tirek’s eyes widened. “No...no, no, no no no. I destroyed them! How did you-”
“Shhhhh” Dante said gently pinching the centaur’s lips with a smile. “Don’t hurt yourself. Just let this happen.”
Tirek shook his head free of the cold metal pasted to it ,and felt his horns ignite.
“Hey, what are you- Oh no. Don’t, stop it” Dante said admonishingly. But Tirek did not listen. He was bent on ridding himself of this nightmare.
“Bad centaur, hey cmon stop what you’re doing” Dante said. “Don’t make me do this” Dante said slowly reaching for his sword.
But Tirek did not listen, his horns had created an orb of magic between them that charged, cracked and hissed and planned to release a horrible blast.
But a second before he could release the detonating explosion, pain rushed through his head, and all of a sudden he lost control of the magic channels that he had been exerting to conjure up this blast that would take half of Equestria with it.
Opening one eye just a bit Tirek saw Dante’s body sway and watched as his horn fell to the ground.
Both eyes widened.
Then boom. An explosion knocked both fighters away from the other and created such a fissure within the ground, one could have made it their own swimming pool.
Minutes passed and the frozen time space remained silent.
Slowly Tirek regained consciousness, and rose. His body was now thoroughly cut up but not bad enough to enact timberwolf magic yet, and as he could now tell he missed a horn.
Weakly Tirek rose to his hooves, his injured leg barely supporting him, draining him of his energy and maybe even his magic Tirek looked around.
There was no Dante.
Tirek closed his eyes and reached out to what magical essence he still possessed, filling Equestria and searched, the result was clear.
There was no Dante.
He did it. “I’ve finally wo-”
Tirek felt a cold substance point itself at the back of his head as he dropped to his knees.
“Any last words?” Dante asked.
Tirek said nothing, he merely bit his lip harder saying nothing. “How did you do this?” he finally managed to ask.
“Do what?” Dante replied as if oblivious.
Tirek bit back the urge to attack because at this point he knew it was pointless.
“This” he said, gesturing to himself. “Defeating me.”
“Oh that’s simple.” Dante said circling Tirek and standing before him with a slight glint in his eye.
“I'm better than you."
A rush of rage filled Tirek his good horn cracked with magical power and in an instant he had teleported away from Dante and was a good distance away.
Cautiously the wounded centaur looked around. He saw just what he expected out of his Equestria, nothing.
Nothing but destruction. Currently in the center of Ponyville, Tirek saw the fear in countless frozen faces, the pain in thousands of others, and the hatred in many many more of the citizens of this world.
He smiled, after a few minutes of silence, then froze for a nanosecond as he realized something.
There was a presence right behind him
"Game over" Dante said.
Tirek sighed. "Yes...I suppose so", he stated as a orb appeared in between his shattered and good horn.
Click