Mordecai woke up to a frantic knocking outside of his ship. Getting up from his bed, he stretched his arms and let out long yawn. Summoning Rain, he was transmatted outside of his ship and behind whoever was knocking.

He was expecting it to be Dawn but was surprised when he saw not only Celestia, but Luna as well, both wearing worried expressions. He noticed their manes had stopped flowing, and their special talents, called "Cutie Marks" had vanished. "What's going on?"

"Mordecai, Equestria is in grave danger. Put on your armor and come with us, we'll explain on the way."

"So there's a Magic-devouring Centaur on his way here, and you want me to defend Twilight while he gets more powerful and harder to take down? Hell no." The Princesses, along with a new one Mordecai met named Cadence, had transferred all of their Magic to Twilight, which was part of their plan to stop an old threat. After hearing their reasoning, Mordecai had all but disagreed with them.

"Mordecai if Tirek gets ahold of Alicorn Magic, he will be unstoppable. With Discord on his side, the decision to pass all of our magic to Twilight was unanimous. The only way to take it from her would be for him to become more powerful than her, or she willfully gives it up. You have to protect her and give the Bearers enough time to unlock the Chest."

"How can you be so sure of a Chest that might not even have what they're looking for? I would much rather put my faith in my Light to stop him than some Magical chest in a Magical forest." All of the Princesses shook their heads at him. Cadence stepped forward towards him.

"If you believe you can stop Tirek, go ahead. But if you can't, promise me you'll go find Twilight." Mordecai nodded his head at her before walking out of the throne room, a plan in his head already forming to assassinate Tirek.

It didn't take long for Mordecai to find his target. After helping some Magic-less Ponies get back to their homes, he followed the destruction Tirek had left behind. Double-jumping on top of a large building, Mordecai pulled out his Y-09 Longbow Synthesis sniper rifle.

Seeing the red Centaur in his scope, he waited until his sight was lined up perfectly with Tirek's head. Pulling the trigger, the bullet left the sniper's barrel... only to explode in confetti.

Mordecai expected something like this to happen and fired three more shots at his target. However, each pull of the trigger was rewarded with more exploding confetti. The Centaur turned towards him and his dual horns glowed orange, a ball of Magic forming between them. Tirek fired a Magical blast at him, but he evaded it by jumping off the roof he was on. Mordecai took off towards the edge of Canterlot, where the buildings ended so that he could have better shot at his target.

He was suddenly teleported in front of the Lord of Chaos, who was about to say a witty remark when he was Phoenix-Uppercutted into ashes by Mordecai's sword Raze-Lighter.

"Creature!" Mordecai turned around and saw the tall, eight-foot Centaur glaring at him. With Discord distracted with reforming his body, Mordecai put away his sword and gathered all of the Solar Light in his body, channeling it into his hand and forming the Golden Gun. He fired a single shot at Tirek, expecting him to be disintegrated by his Light or extremely injured. His jaw dropped when saw him catch the Solar energy in his hand, absorbing it. Mordecai gripped his weapon harder and fired off the remainder of the Solar energy in two shots, both being caught and absorbed by the Centaur.

Tirek reached out with his right arm and wrapped his fingers around Mordecai's neck. Mordecai grabbed his knife but it was wrapped in an orange aura and ripped out of his hand, and plunged into his side. Mordecai grunted in pain and ripped it out with his hand. He was about to grab his Eyasluna when Tirek opened his mouth, and the Guardian felt a tugging sensation. The tugging turned into a extremely painful, ripping sensation as Tirek pulled the Light out of Mordecai's body. Mordecai screamed out in pain as the last of his Light left his body, feeling as if his soul had been ripped out, his senses dulling and muscles weakening.

Tirek let go of Mordecai, who fell to all fours as the Centaur grew in size, becoming ten feet tall. Rain appeared to heal his Guardian, but fell to the ground, shutting off from his main source of energy being drained. Mordecai reached out and grabbed his fallen Ghost, when he raised his head to look at the towering Tirek.

"Pathetic." Tirek kicked the downed human with his right hoof, sending him flying back towards the edge of the city. Mordecai writhed on the floor as he gripped his chest in pain. He was sure nothing was broken, and the stab wound didn't hit any vital organs. He turned over and shakily tried getting back on his feet. Hunched over, he raised his head only to get backhanded by Tirek.

He hit a section of Canterlot's safety rail and broke it off. Rain flew out of his grip and joined the falling section of rail that had stopped him from going over as well. He reached out towards his Ghost in vain, watching his companion who has been with him ever since he became a Guardian, fall towards the forest below.

"Discord called you a Guardian of your world, but look at all you have protected." Mordecai painfully turned around on all fours and raised a leg to crouch. He saw the scared Ponies looking out of their windows, and he looked away in shame.

"What a Guardian you are." Tirek put his hoof on Mordecai's head, and pushed him off of the city of Canterlot.

Author's Note

The Tirek vs Mordecai scene was inspired by the Destiny 2 cutscene where Ghaul cages the Traveler and steals the Light. Cutscene-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywdQ234b6As