Chapter III: Mask, Magic and Mayhem

[Everfree Castle, 4 March, 5AD; 3:06 PM]

Celestia sat on her throne looking over the courtroom, it wasn’t as comfortable as the one in the throne room but it serves its purpose. Her sister was at her right side sitting on her own throne, both were at equal heights and stature. To her left was Quill, with a quill in her magic, ready to write the events to come.

The courtroom was empty save for the guards posted about, the Princesses and Quill, and Scorpan himself. Unfortunately for Scorpan, he had to return the next day to have audience with the Princesses as there was no time for him last night. He had to wait.

The creature before Celestia was one she had never seen before. The being known as Scorpan, looked like a manticore that stood like a minotaur. She played around in her head what to categorize him as, Mantitaur or a minocore. I shall wait for him to tell me, I do not want to offend him.

“Thy name is Scorpan correct? We apologize for not attending to thee last night. What is thy request?” Luna asked, her tone emotionless, but gave a sense of authority.

“Aye, I am Scorpan. I come bearing a warning,” Scorpan knelt before the two princesses, his head facing the ground and his hands on his knee.

“A warning?” Celestia asked, her face forming a frown.

“Aye, a warning. My brother Tirek and I came to Equestria from beyond the so called Bad Lands. He came to conquer it and I joined him in su-”

Scorpan was suddenly cut off by Celestia, “So thou art another threat to the peace of Equestria. Tell us why we should not imprison you now?” Celestia was standing over him, her wings were flared and a shadow shrouding Scorpan.

He showed no sign of fear, still kneeling before her, he looked up to look her right in her eyes, “I come not as an enemy your majesty, I come to give you a warning. Through my time here I have become… infatuated with one of the mares here. I did not want to see her in pain, I did not want her to suffer, I did not want to see her in despair. So I have come to you to tell of my brother’s plot.”

“Then thou art betraying thy own blood for a mare. A noble cause, but how can we trust thee?” Luna asked.

“I have no immediate proof… My love was killed by my brother,” Scorpan spoke with disdain, spitting the last word. “He crushed my hopes and dreams, and I will do the same. I can not fight my brother alone, but I can see to that his goals are crushed. He has the ability to drain his enemies of their magic. He will drain your ponies of all their magic, and then come for you. He seeks to control the whole of Equus, the Griffons, the Minotaurs , and so on. And all he needs is your magic.”

Scorpan stopped speaking and silence fell over the room, the sound of a quill scratching parchment broke the silence soon after. Quill was writing away, the guards were unmoving, Scorpan was once more facing the ground in silence, unmoving, and the two princesses were in silence. In unison the two faced one another after Celestia took her seat.

Sister if he is speaking the truth then we must take action.

I know Luna… But first it was Veigar, and now it’s a creature name Tirek. We need to figure out who to prioritize, “Scorpan how would thou rate thy brother a threat?” Celestia was once again facing Scorpan.

“In all honesty if he gains too much power, he will be more powerful than Discord. I’ve heard stories about him, but my brother... He is anger, he is power, and he will crush any who get in his way.”

Sister this is indeed a problem. Two creatures, one who has already matched us and another who may match us. If they were to join forces…

I understand… We have to deal with them as soon as possible. One by one if possible. I pray that the Brigadier locates Veigar, “Have Scorpan escorted to a room, we have much to discuss later. We shall see thee later to discuss thy brother, please do rest.”

“Aye, Princess. Thank you. I hope that it is not too late,” that said Scorpan stood up and gave the two a nod. Turning around he made his way out of the courtroom, trailed by two guards.

“The Court is now over, please make your way out,” Celestia ordered, the guards marched out in unison and Quill went off to archive the events.

Celestia leaned into her throne, the cushion supporting her back and sighed, “I am so very tired Lulu. Sombra, Discord, the Windigos themselves. They brought chaos, despair, slavery. The evil of this world never ceases…” tears formed and slid down Celestia’s cheek, dropping and splashing onto her regalia. “I’m so tired Lulu, so, so tired of all of this,” Celestia let the tears fall as she closed her eyes. “I- I don’t know if I can do this for eternity, I already just, just wa-”

Celestia’s sorrowful monologue was cut off as Luna hugged her sister. The two were locked in an embrace, “It is alright Cel, we can do this. We have to, for them.”

Silence fell over the room once more, periodically broken by the cries of the solar princess. The two were simply there, embracing one another, comforting one another, letting masks break as Luna let her own tears fall.

[Southern Everfree Forest, 5 March, 5AD; 9:45 AM]

I awoke to an unpleasant ray of light breaking through the branches of the tree I was resting on. The sound of the river in front of me was pleasant, it wasn’t a raging river, but a very wide calm stream. I tried to shift my position, but another ray of light hit my left eye.

“Insufferable sun, I just want to rest,” I thought about the idea of the quote unquote sun princess purposely aiming at me. “Ha, control the sun. That’s impossible. The mass of the bloody thing should be around 1.989 times ten to the thirty. And for it to rotate around a small planet is unbelievable. It would go against the laws of physics.”

Standing up from the tree I took note of my surroundings. The river I heard was calmly flowing, the tree behind me was fairly massive compared to the many others. Its silver trunk was basically the size of a house. The trunk by itself stretched beyond the forest canopy, and unlike others, its leaves were midnight blue. “Well aren’t you a beauty.”

I know nothing of botany, but I know beauty when I see it. The leaves seemed to shimmer in the light as they rustled in the wind. I decided to examine the entirety of the tree, walking around I found a calm pond. “Must’ve been part of the river, but was cut off.”

The pond itself was a beauty as well, much like the tree it had a sort of shimmer to it. It was so very calming as birds sung their songs, squirrels ran across the forest floor, the tall grass blowing in the wind, it was bliss.

“We only have so much time you fool, they’ll find us at this rate we have to keep moving. That is unless you want to fight,” again it was that voice that kept coming back.

“Who is it! I know you’re here,” again I found myself looking around at my surroundings. Every time I heard its voice, I checked my surroundings. And again, there was no one.

I found myself staring at the pond, my reflection staring back at me. With my hat off, I saw my face. Covered in a light blue fur, a scar running down my right eye, and both of my eyes were golden. Gone were my human ears, and upon my head were cat like ears. I now know what I am. I am a yordle. A species from the game League of Legends. I continued to stare at my reflection until I noticed something odd, it was frowning and its brows were slanted down, and to my surprise it spoke. “How long are you going to stare at me!? You’ve had your fill, now we must leave!"

I jumped back as soon as my reflection spoke, “Goodness gracious! What the hell!”

“This is no time for dawdling around! We need to keep running you welp, otherwise they’ll find us!”

“Who the hell are you?” I asked as I approached the pond.

“Since you are an incompetent fool! I will tell you so we can move on. I am Veigar, Master of Evil!”

“Okay… How in the hell are you here?”

“I know not how I came to be here with you, but what I do know is that I am attached to you. I have no control whatsoever, and if I did I would continue to run! As much as I would love to get to know you, if you get caught and die, I get caught and die!”my reflection had a point, I angered those two so much that we fought. What’s even worse is that I sort of beat them.

“Alright, fine. We’ll do it your way, I just need to grab my or should I say our things?”

“Grammar matters little right now.”

“True,” I was about to run over to the other side of tree when I heard voices.

“You see! They found us, if you had just listened to me everything would have been fine.”

“Shut up, I need to think…” I sat their in a bush as the ponies were making their way across the stream. I saw a stone grey horse and a green one dash across the stream, the orange unicorn teleported across, while a white pegasus flew over it.

“Nice job Stoneworks,” the orange one said. “Thy ground tracking skills are sharp.”

“Eh,” was all the grey one said.

“Anyway,” now it was the pegasus speaking. “Where is this so called great evil?”

“I don’t know, but keep an eye on the perimeter, he could still be around,” again it was the orange one who spoke.

Must be the leader.

“Of course. Take him out and they will be in disarray!”

Shut up…

Unlike the rest the green one immediately noticed the tree, “Astounding! I have never seen such a beauty!”

“Save the sightseeing for later Vine,” the one known as Stoneworks said.

“You need to understand the beauty of nature sometime, Stoneface,” Vine said.

Stoneworks ignored him and said no more, instead he was examining the ground between the tree and stream. As he examined the tree I noticed he was slowly approaching me in my bush. Step after step, he got closer and closer. I was holding my breath afraid that he may hear it. I did my best to stand as still as possible, even as a spider crawled across my face. He was so close right now, mere inches from me. Shit! I should’ve listened to the voice! I’m no fighter! I ca-

“Stallions on me,” as soon as the order was given the three stallions made there way to their leader. When I felt that the horse was far enough I allowed myself to breath once more.

“Alright, Highwind I need thee to deliver this to the princesses as soon as possible,” Starburst ordered as he shoved the piece of paper into his bag.

“Yes sir.”

“We need to stop them!” the voice in my head yelled.

You think I don’t know that.

“Vine, Stone, we’re heading back.”

“Yes sir.”

Shit! Now or never. Seeing that time was running out I ran out of the bush, using my magic to pull my staff and hat to me. In one smooth motion I casted Event Horizon as well as Dark Matter upon them. But I was too late. The unicorn and his team vanished before the spells hit them and they were now off to the side.

“Well done pitiful creatures!” Great now he’s talking for me…

“Starburst what do we do?”

“Highwind, thou art are only hope we need that scroll delivered yesterday! We’ll hold him off!” He yelled as he faced me.

“Alright, good luck. I’ll hurry and do not fret, help shall arrive!” with that said the pegasus was about to take off, when a hand grabbed, “Ah, shit!” He was being hoisted in the air by a red and centaur.

“Ha ha ha, what delectable treats,” the centaur said has he opened his mouth and a mist traveled between the now screaming pony and into his maw. As soon as the stallion was depleted of all his mist the centaur threw him down on to the ground and stomped on him, coating the grass in blood. The centaur continued his feast by grabbing the grey and green horses by their tails and doing the same to them.

The unicorn erected a shield around him and began to shoot energy bolts at him through the shield. Each and everyone of them simply bouncing off the centaur. “You are feeble and weak! You are nothing compared to me unicorn!” the centaur yelled down at the unicorn. Between his two horns a ball of energy formed and shot out at the unicorn bypassing his shield and obliterating him.

“Ha ha ha ha! Such weaklings, such a feast, and now is your turn!” the centaur turned toward me, his massive stature stretched just beyond the canopy. I already felt small and now I felt even smaller.

“Such brute strength, such magic prowess, who are you?” again it was the voice in my head who spoke, but I had no problem with it. We faced two rulers of a kingdom, this guy can’t be that bad. I hope.

“Very well puny ant, I shall tell you my name and you shall be honored that you will die by my hands! I am Tirek! The true ruler of Equus!”

“Well then Tirek, prepared to get wrecked, no pun intended,” with that I launched a Baleful Strike at him, surprisingly it was strong enough to push him back, but boy was he pissed.

“Agh! It appears I underestimated you! Ha ha ha! No matter you’ll never measure up to me! Ha ha ha ha!” again, I was being mocked about my height…

“Were those short jokes! I will see that you are nothing but ash!” I quickly casted Dark Matter to rain down upon him, this time it wasn’t like the one with Celestia, but a full on hail of it. All of it was centralized around him as soon as he attempted to rush me I threw up an Event Horizon to stun him and continued my onslaught. “You are nothing to me centaur, you are just another ant in my path.”

Those were my last words as I found myself being tossed like a rag doll over the forest. The sensation of wind blowing past me, I was flying. Actually, it was more like I was tossed sideways really really fast giving me the sensation of flight. Either way I felt like a bird. Looking behind me I saw Tirek was following me, rampaging through the forest leaving it decimated in his path. Looking forward in the distance I saw I was headed straight for civilization. Shit, I get to see those two again.

“We should’ve dealt with those two when we had the chance.”

Really?

“Of course I mean it. It would have been simple. We had the chance to finish the white one off and we didn’t!”

Right… I couldn’t help but think that I was getting use to this guy. I barely knew it, we had just met a few moments ago, and I’m acting like we’re all buddy buddy. I continued to ponder in thought until I came crashing into something.

“Fuck! That fucking hurt!,” I was in a lot of pain, hitting what appears to be a stonewall is no fun. I stood up, and looked at my surroundings. I was in an ornate room with lovely wooden furniture, a nice hearth to keep warm by, a giant gaping hole in the wall to let the fresh air in. All in all it was nice, minus the hole obviously. It also appeared that the wall collapsed on someone, provided the amount of blood that covered the floor.

Moments later the doors to the room burst open revealing the two Princesses and a contingent of guards.

“Veigar!” Celestia yelled at me letting her mane and tail catch on fire. The expanding into the room I was in, her eyes were white with power, “Thou dare come to our home to wreak havoc upon our subjects, thou shall know true pain!”

It was then I saw Celestia begin to charge one over spells, not taking the chance I began to cast Event Horizon to stun her from using it. Just as she was about to lean forward, my spell activated stunning her, I mentally sighed in relief, “I have no time for this! If you wish for vengeance, come join us.”

I jumped out of the hole revealing to them Tirek rampaging through the forest towards the city’s wall that came up to his waist. Using my magic I settled myself down upon the ground before I could become a pile of crushed meat. Looking up I saw that I had traveled down at least three stories, doing so I felt my spell release and Celestia’s spell commencing. A ray of light shot out of the hole I had made, just missing Tirek’s head.

“Just fucking great, we’re about to enter a threeway free for all. A giant centaur, two horses, and myself… What the fuck is going on,” there was no escape for me now. I had very limited choices before me; run and be hunted by the horses, run and be hunted by a centaur, or fight and try to survive. I chose the latter.

[Everfree, 5 March, 5AD; 12:37 PM]

Tirek galloped through the forest as if it were nothing. He had flung the wretched yordle off in some direction, what he had not expected to find was Everfree, the capital of Equestria. I shall kill that thing as well as the princesses, murdering two birds with one stone.

“Ha ha ha ha!” Tirek laughed as he crushed the many trees in his way. Approaching the city he saw the tree high wall. Again he laughed, the size of the wall itself was measly. He could easily jump over it, but his laughing came to an end when a ray of light erupted out from the castle, just missing his head.

“Celestia!” he roared. “I will have your head for this after I drain you of all your magic and rape you!” Tirek’s gallop quickly hastened, growing closer and closer to the wall. The archers tried shooting arrows, but the efforts were fruitless. Soon, Tirek found himself at the wall and hurdled over it, his mere jump reached twice the height of the wall. And unfortunately for the ponies below he cared little to where he landed.

Ponies ran out of there homes when they heard the second crash. The first one caught there attention, but were reassured by the guards. This one on the other hand, had their immediate attention. Tirek crashed into the city demolishing house after house and the ponies within.

Tirek surveyed the sight before him, ponies were scurrying around trying to find cover, the castle had a massive hole in one of its towers, the guards around him; quaking in the armor, “What pitiful creatures, so feeble and weak,” he muttered to himself.

“Celestia! Luna! Show thyself and surrender! If you do so, thy deaths will be swift! Otherwise! Thy precious ponies suffer!” Tirek immediately began forming a ball of energy in between his horns. The black orb hummed with power, ready to strike at anything.

Minutes passed as Tirek stood there in the middle of trade district. A mass of guards surrounded him, both on ground and by air. If anything what those ponies from before demonstrated was that these would also be ants in his way.

“I grow tired of waiting. If thou shalt not face me, I shall slaughter thy precious ponies,” The ball of energy between his horns began emitting small arcs of electricity, soon bolts of lightning shot out at the guards each making their presence known with a roar. Each bolt jumped from one guard to another, shocking those around the one who was struck.

Just as the mass of guards began to flee from the mayhem, a blinding flash revealed Celestia hovering over the guards. She wore steel armor tinted gold, runes were etched into it and enchantments casted upon it strengthening it, her mane and tail were once again consumed by an inferno, “Tirek! Thou shalt stop and face Us in combat!”

Tirek turned over to the flaming alicorn, ceasing his killing spree, “Celestia, so thou hast finally arrived! Tell me, where is my beloved brother, so I can strangle that good for nothing traitor!”

“We would never tell thee, even if thou were to beg,” Celestia stared down at the centaur, “Thou shalt stop thy actions and peacefully surrender.”

“Thou honestly expect me to simply give in after all I have done to get this far with my work!” Tirek then began charging another sphere of energy between his horns, “Thou resort to words after I slaughtered thy pathetic army! Thou art a fool to believe that I would surrender!”

Enraged by the display of weakness the solar princess showed, Tirek fired a beam of magic at her. Expecting the obvious attack, Celestia raised a directional shield against the attack. The beam splattered across the shield, shifting around it and past Celestia. Realizing his attack was having no effect, he pulled more magic from his reserves. With even more magic, his beam began to rapidly push Celestia back.

She quickly regained her ground by thrusting herself into the beam. This proved to be a mistake as her shield began crack. Shards of it fell off and dissipated, noticing the situation she put herself into, she immediately began charging a teleportation spell. This took longer than usual as she had to defend herself. As soon as it was ready though, Tirek’s beam pushed past her defense.

Tirek continued to focus his beam upon the princess, not taking a single risk, “The mighty princess of Equestria! How does it feel princess! To be burned!” Tirek began to laugh maniacally as his beam of magic began to fade away. As it did so it revealed that the princess was consumed by his power. And I was looking forward to seeing her tears as I raped her and her sister.

As Tirek imagined himself inside both the princesses, he had not noticed the sky turning red. He was brought out of his stupor when bolts of magic were shot at his back. Turning around he found Celestia staring back at him from a distance, “We know not the feeling of burned, perhaps thou shall describe it to us.”

Celestia shot out another stream of light as Tirek, unlike the ones she had recently performed, this one enveloped the entirety of Tirek. They ray obliterated everything in its path, the homes of ponies were turned to ash when the beam hit them. The ray was so powerful that it reached beyond the city limits from where she was. Everything that was near, but not in the direct line of fire, immediately caught fire. Celestia had weighed her options, This is for the whole of Equestria. Tears fell down from her closed eyes.

If she had been fully aware, she would have noticed the red fist colliding into her. When the fist made contact, it was immediately burnt black. Celestia on the other hand was sent flying, parts of her armor flew off due to the straps tearing. As she flew, Celestia was limb, flying through the sky like a thrown doll. Her flight came to an immediate halt as she crashed into more homes of ponies. She radiated so much heat that even more homes caught fire.

Celestia laid there dazed, bloodied, bruised and partly broken, processing what happened. Trying to think, she hissed in pain as her entire left side felt broken. She could hear the distant steps of Tirek getting closer. Was this it? Just five years of freedom for her little ponies. Just five?

No! I shall not falter...

For the sake of these ponies, I shall not fail them...

I can not fail them.

With renewed vigor, she used her magic to heal herself. Like a phoenix, she rose from her crater of ash and dust and with one push of her wings launched herself out of it. Reaching high above the city, she radiated like a second sun in the sky. Without hesitation she launched herself at the centaur who was eager to fight. The two collided in the center of the city, magic meeting brawn.

Author's Note

Greetings reader!

Personally I really enjoyed writing this chapter. It was longer than what I thought it would be and a lot of ideas were tossed around, many of which I will use. I did not think that all of this would happen so soon, its just chapter three! But seeing as where things were going, I decided I wanted to keep this stuff under ten chapters. Seeing as stuff is climaxing for the antagonist/protagonist, I have no idea what to call him, it shall soon come to an end obviously. Besides I can't keep him locked up in this time frame forever, got to make use of some character tags y'know?

But otherwise, I hope I did not disappoint, seeing that I didn't publish anything last week. Summer school can be unpleasant at times, even though I love my academics. The system is just stupid if you ask me. But I digress, As per the now usual, comment, like, favorite, or not do any of that. If there are any mistakes feel free to point them out. I edit these myself and I'm somewhat of a stickler for grammar, I'll berate myself, "Why didn't I see that?!" That and I'm a bit paranoid. Anyway, thank you for reading, hope you keep reading, and [insert outro here].