(Ponyville Outskirts)

The fight between the Fledgling Alicorn and Giant Centaur was a stalemate at best, as the two were some distance from each other in a ruined part of the Everfree forest with hardly any progress in damaging the other. As they stood and stared at each other with pure anger, the Giant Centaur, ‘Lord’ Tirek, shifted his glare as an idea formed in his head.

“It appears we are at an impasse. How about a trade, Princess Twilight?” Tirek said, snapping his fingers, causing six clear bubbles that had the Princess’s friends (and Discord) in them. “Their release for all the Alicorn magic in Equestria.” This dispelled Twilight’s anger towards him, and caused her to worry about her friends’ safety. Tirek saw her fear and smirked. “What's it going to be, Princess?” Immediately, the ponies in the bubbles began to protest.

“Don't do it, Twilight!” Rainbow Dash yelled, though was barely audible thanks to the bubble she was in.

“We aren't worth it!” Fluttershy agreed.

“Oh, but you are, Fluttershy.” Discord objected, getting a slightly surprised look from Fluttershy. “You're the pony that taught me that friendship is magic. I had magic and friendship, and now I don't have either.”

“ENOUGH!” Tireck bellowed, silencing his hostages. “I want an answer, and I want it now!”

Twilight looked up at her friends and Discord before steeling herself for her decision. “I will give you my magic, in exchange for my friends.”

Her friends gasped in shock, while Tirek grinned an evil grin. “As you wish.” He then snapped his fingers and the pony filled bubbles lowered to the ground and popped, releasing them. The bubble containing the draconequus, however, stayed aloft.

“ALL of my friends.” Twilight said, giving the centaur a glare.

“After the way he has betrayed you, you still call him a 'friend'?” Tirek said with a chuckle, as if she was telling a joke.

Twilight stomped her hoof while intensifying her glare. “Release Him!” She yelled.

Tirek gave her a bored look and snapped his fingers. “If that's what you want.” He said, as Discord floated down to the group.

“Thank you, Twilight.” He said to her, his eyes filled with remorse. She simply nodded to him, as if forgiving him.

Tirek then moved forward, a grin on his face. “Your turn.” He menacingly said.

“Now!” A hidden female voice yelled. A large black and red mass burst out of whatever brush that survived the giant magic battle and stopped in between the group and the centaur.

“JOOR ZAH FRUL!” Another female voice shouted from the mass, which was revealed to be a heavily armored and heavy in fat, bipedal lizard. A blue wave of magical energy rushed from the lizard’s mouth and slammed into Tirek. Tirek’s eyes went wide with shock and he staggered back, his body starting to glow a light blue color.

“ARGH!!! What is this mag-” He was silenced from speaking when a crossbow bolt flew from seemingly nowhere and struck the centaur’s left eye. Tirek slapped his hand to the injured eye and began yelling out in rage and pain.

“Get moving to safety!” The first female voice, revealed to be a more light and lightly armored lizard, yelled to the group as she ran up from another set of surviving brush. “We’ll hold him back. Move, Move, Move!” The slim lizard then stood beside the fat lizard while the group fled. “Ready to do this, Ruby?” She asked the fat lizard.

“Always am, gotta be when you’re this visible.” The hefty argonian joked. The two lizards prepared themselves for battle. Ruby drawing Dawnbreaker, and Garnet summoning some undead from the Soul Cairn, then pulled out her crossbow.

Tirek stopped yelling, and glared at the two Argonians with his unbloodied eye. “You will pay for those cheap shots!” He then stomped to them, intent on flattening them with his hooves. Ruby simply grinned and gave Garnet a wink. She smiled back and took her ‘sister’s’ hand as Tirek’s hoof descended down towards them.

“FEIM ZIL GRON!” Ruby said intensely, causing both to become ethereal as Tireks hoof would have crushed him.

Tirek laughed thinking that he had crushed the bothersome lizards. “Serves you right for interfering with a god’s business.” He then started advancing towards the forest remains. “Now to find what belongs to me.” Just before he arrived at the remains, he felt intense burning on his back hooves. He yelled out in pain and jumped forward, his rear legs going limp shortly after, causing him to tumble into the ground. He adjusted himself into a sitting position and examined his legs.

What he saw, wasn’t pretty at all. One leg had a small portion of his leg that was charred, right where one of his tendons were. The other had intense frostbite in the same spot and possessed the same amount of blackened flesh that, unlike the first, was slowly healing. “What in Tartarus?”

“Enjoying the burns?” He heard from in front of him. He looked down and saw the two Argonians standing there with smug grins on their scaly faces.

“How did you survive me stomping you to paste?!” Tirek yelled in confusion and frustration.

“Good mages, magicians, and wizards never reveal their secrets.” Garnet snarked.

“And I think it’s a good idea for you to not underestimate your opponents." Ruby added. "Especially ones who can do things you can’t hope to prepare for!"

"Literally for her, figuratively for me." Garnet clarified.

Tirek looked confused for a moment, before glaring at them. "Regardless of what kind of souls you two have, you will fall to my power! For I am Lord Tirek, the new god of Equis!” He bellowed. He lit his horns with magic, causing a round barrier to surround the two Argonians and part the front half of Tirek. “Prepare for your DOOM!”

Tirek kicked off the fight by attempting to pound Garnet into the ground. She dodged in time and fired her crossbow, nailing him in his left ear. He pulled back, holding his now bleeding and deaf ear in pain. Ruby took advantage of the distraction to blast him with a stream of shock, before ramming him in his gut. Tirek had most of his breath knocked out of him, resulting in him glaring at her with his good eye in pure anger.

“Insignificant Pest!” He shouted, charging up an orb of red and black magic. Garnet jumped in front of her sister and put up a ward just before the orb fired a beam at them. The ward barely held from the attack, exhausting Garnet for a brief moment. Moment enough for Tirek to attempt to swat her away, but Ruby picked her sister up and jumped over the flying limb, nicking his wrist as it went by, causing a brief flame on the strike spot.

Tirek started inhaling strong enough to cause a very strong wind to kick up, almost snagging Garnet and pulling her in. Thankfully, Ruby’s weight and thankfully strong grip kept them both grounded. As he was inhaling, Garnet recovered enough to pull out her crossbow and fire. The bolt went sailing into his mouth, causing him to briefly start choking and coughing for a moment. Ruby then started spinning, keeping her sister in her grip until the last second, launching her at Tirek’s face.

Garnet caught herself with Tirek’s hair, leaving her at the base of his horns. Holding on tight, she pulled out Jyggalag’s sword and began stabbing at his skull and the base of his horns. Tirek, feeling the pain in his skull and horns, started shaking his head in an attempt to dislodge her from his hair. She was barely able to hold on, and started to panic a bit when a large red hand reached for her.

“FUS ROH DAH!” Ruby shouted, knocking his hand away from his head, allowing Garnet to readjust herself on his scalp and keep stabbing. A few stabs and shake attempts later, Garnet got a good stab into his left horn, causing Tirek to yell and thrash violently in pain, dislodging her and causing the sword to rip the horn off of his head. Ruby managed to catch Garnet before she had a chance to go splat onto the ground, and quickly moved out of the way of the giant horn’s fall.

“You aggravating pests!” Tireck yelled at the duo. “I will CRUSH YOU!”

“Yeah, keep trying!” Ruby shouted towards him. “So far you tried that and more, but I’ve yet to see anything work!”

Tirek growled and readied his fist to try and pummel the two, but a bright rainbow light flashed from the Forest Remains. The Argonians and Tirek turned to the light source and saw a large white and rainbow orb with six equine figures in it rising above the forest. “Nice attempt in trying to fool me, Princess Twilight. Your magic isn’t any stronger than before.”

“You're wrong, Tirek!” Twilight shouted, authority showing in her voice. “I may have not given you my Alicorn magic, but I carry within me the most powerful magic of all! Something that isn’t just raw magic! It’s the Magic of Friendship!” The orb that surrounded her and her friends exploded in a rainbow explosion and a ribbon of rainbow flowed from them to and around Tirek, causing him to start shrinking and aging, until he was barely shorter than Ruby and was rail thin.

The six ponies floated down to the ground and gave the weakened centaur a glare. Three flashes of magic brought two taller and more regal Alicorns and the draconequus to where everyone was.

“Well, I’d say Tirek is as good as defeated.” Discord said, as he snapped his fingers, causing the centaur’s arms and legs to get chained and shackled to heavy iron weights.

“Not entirely.” The white Alicorn said, carefully approaching the prisoner. “He is a threat, so long as he is out of Tartarus. So, I will take it upon myself to place him back there.

“Mind if I suggest a better punishment?” Garnet asked, gaining the entire group’s attention.

“I’m sorry, but we can’t chat.” The white Alicorn said, with a slight head shake. “We’ll talk after-”

“Soul Cairn.” Garnet said, interrupting the Alicorn.

“Come again?” The dark blue Alicorn asked.

Ruby sighed and explained to the best of her ability. “Tartarus is your ‘punishment’ afterlife, right?” She asked, getting a nod from all gathered. “Now imagine your Tartarus with an endless barren landscape, no life, no joy, just eternity in a world drained of color.”

“That seems a bit much.” The white Alicorn said, a bit of disgust and fear showing on her face.

“If what you said about him needing to be ‘put back’ in Tartarus is anything to go by, whatever Tartarus has won’t hold him longer and whatever lesson he was to be taught there, he never learned.” Garnet explained. “Offence one, doing whatever he did to get put there in the first place. Offence two, escaping his imprisonment. Offence three, doing whatever crime he did to get to this point, more than likely what he was imprisoned for in the first place.”

“His offences sound much worse when it’s explained to you.” The dark blue Alicorn said with a thoughtful face. “Celestia, I believe they have a point. He should be sentenced to this ‘Soul Cairn’ place.”

“Luna!” The white Alicorn almost yelled. “What these two...ladies...have suggested is pretty much eternal torture!”

“Which is what Tartarus was meant to be, until we as ponies softened up and grew lax.” Luna countered. “So giving him the punishment he deserves rather than what we want to give him should be the best course of action.”

The Celestia looked between Garnet and her sister before slumping in defeat. “Very well then.” She sighed. “I leave him for you to banish him there.” She said to Garnet and Ruby.

Garnet nodded and pulled out an odd looking dagger, it’s blade composed of very dark purple crystal. Then with one swift movement, she slit Tirek’s throat, killing him instantly and coaxing a purple aura from his body into the dagger. Garnet carved a circle in the dirt with her tail as she pulled out a bag of powder, which she poured into the circle’s outline. She then stabbed the crystal dagger into the circle’s center, pulled out a ceremonial dagger to present blood to the powder causing it to glow a dark, yet bright purple color. She then knelt and spoke.

“Ideal Masters of the Soul Cairn! I come before you with an offering and request. I offer you this soul, one that belonged to a centaur who had sought power through theft. In return, I ask that Durnehviir be released from his servitude and that my soul remains free from your snares.”

Silence was the only response...as far as everyone else but Garnet could hear. “Umm...are you-”

“Shh!” Ruby harshly shushed. “She’s concentrating. Any questions you have for her, ask me...at least until she’s done speaking with the Ideal Masters.”

“Sounds fair, Miss…” Celestia began but paused, not knowing the names of the Argonians.

I”m Ruby. Ruby Strongtail.” She answered. “And that’s my ‘sister’, Garnet Bonetail.”

“Thank you, Ruby.” Celestia said with a nod. “Now, as for what I was going to ask...is she actually communicating with these ‘Ideal Masters’, or is she-”

“Don’t finish that sentence, if that word you were going to say was ‘insane’.” Ruby warned.

“I apologize, most individuals that practice the Dark Arts tend to be so.” Celestia said. “To see otherwise, it’s astonishing...and confusing as well.”

“Such is your perception of ‘Dark Arts’.” Luna muttered quietly to herself.

“My sister is the most capable Necromantic Summoner.” Ruby praised. “Almost to the point that she could skim through a law book and make an equally capable lawyer.”

"What do you mean?" Twilight asked.

Ruby was going to answer, but the sound of spontaneous combustion turned her attention to her sister. Garnet stood up and moved away from the dark purple flames that consumed the ritual site. "She means that I have learned how to form contracts and understand laws to the point of understanding, exploiting, and sometimes avoiding loopholes." Garnet answered. "And the Ideal Masters are difficult to counter. They even fooled a dragon into eternal servitude."

"And with the centaur's soul, she is bargaining with them to pull the dragon out of their service and replace it with said soul." Ruby added.

Twilight's mouth went 'oh', while the two elder Alicorns nodded at Garnet's honest and honorable words. Celestia was about to speak, but was stopped when the ground started shaking like an earthquake was happening.

A pulse of rainbow magic washed over the entire group, giving them a sense of calm as all the ruined trees and shattered stones began to levitate into the air before moving towards Ponyville, followed by an orb of the same rainbow magic. The trees and stone were then placed in a pile at the edge of the town. The orb of magic then flowed into the ground beneath the pile, causing a bright flash of magic that consumed the pile. When the light died down, there stood a nearly identical replica of Dragonsreach from Whiterun.

Garnet and Ruby looked at the sight with awe before looking at each other with small happy smiles on their faces. “I think, despite the abruptness of our banishment here, the magic of this world expected us.” Garnet said.

“Divines and Daedra guide us.” Ruby responded. “I hope we can live up to its expectations.”

“Don’t worry, Sister.” Garnet comforted. “We will. Trust me, we will.”

Author's Note

Took a while for this to get edited.