Author's Note
Feel free to listen to the music this chapter was named after during the fight scenes. It was composed by both Junkie XL and the legendary Hans Zimmer.
Is she with you?
Once upon a time, the land of Equestria was a magical kingdom full of rolling plains, beautiful mountain ranges, and rainbows. It was a place where you just could not help but be happy. However, everything changed when an ambitious and ruthless centaur named Lord Tirek escaped from Tartarus, an underground prison meant to house the most dangerous creatures the land has ever known. Tirek was sent there a millennia ago for the crime of stealing magic from Equestria's pony population and only managed to escape when the three-headed guard dog named Cerberus briefly left his post at the gates. Despite initially being extremely weak from the time he spent in Tartarus, he slowly but surely succeeded in not just regaining his former strength, but also becoming even bigger and stronger by absorbing magic from every single pony he could find.
By the time the entire population of Equestria (except two royal alicorns and a few pegasi) was left without magic, Tirek had realized that he was finally ready to move on to the next stage of his plan: turn the land to his idea of a paradise, rule everything in it as a god, and annihilate anyone who would dare to stand up to him. Subsequently, he started to ravage the entirety of Equestria and transform it into a wasteland full of fire and brimstone. He also eliminated any and all opposition to his power by completely eradicating the royal guard and killing the majority of the Wonderbolts, leaving only a few of their latest cadets to try to stop Tirek's rampage. However, this was way easier said than done as Tirek was now as big and strong as a full-grown dragon thanks to all the magic he had stolen from ponies.
Without magic to control the weather and take care of the land, Equestria was doomed to remain nothing more than a place of total desolation, which was exactly what Tirek wanted it to be. He was so very close to complete his ascension to godhood and all he had to was to get rid of the last bits of resistance in the form of the aforementioned Wonderbolt survivors and two alicorn princesses, Celestia and Cadance.
CANTERLOT CITY
70 DAYS AFTER TIREK'S ESCAPE
THE DAY OLD EQUESTRIA DIED
Under a crimson red sky, the remaining protectors of the land were locked in a bloody battle with the rampaging centaur right outside the royal palace in the completely devastated city of Canterlot and needless to say, the battle was not going in their favor. Tirek was tougher than every spell they had thrown at him and he was barely wasting any energy in countering their attacks with his bare hands before returning fire with the magic blasts generated by his gigantic horns. Even with the Wonderbolts assisting them by flying around Tirek and kicking him in everywhere they could, they were simply not able to wound him in the slightest and he was just swatting the pegasi away like flies while blasting the alicorns with his huge beams of magic. While he was also trying to absorb their magic, their swift movements were preventing him from locking on their magical signatures. So, he had resorted to subduing them before proceeding with magic drain.
After once again failing to land a solid hit on their enemy and being blasted away for what seemed like the hundredth time, both Celestia and Cadance fell through one of the many demolished buildings and landed on the ground with agonizing pain. As they struggled to get back on their hooves, they carefully assessed their situation and soon came to the realization that there was no possible way for them to win this battle on their own. Both of them were severely injured, and their once-spotless coats were extensively covered in wounds, burns, and blood. They then looked at each other with great concern before an idea popped into Celestia's head and she gave a determined nod to her adoptive niece.
Though Cadance was a bit confused by this gesture at first, she quickly figured out what it meant and subsequently let out a gasp out of pure shock. She was to perform a new spell they had recently uncovered during their research in Canterlot Library on how to defeat Tirek. It was an extremely old and complex spell that supposedly possessed the capability of sending a telepathic message to the inhabitants of the nearby worlds. When they had first found it, she was very much against performing it since there was no guarantee that it could work and even if it did, there was no way of predicting who would hear their distress call. Perhaps, the receiver would turn out to be an evil being who would decide to ally themselves with Tirek or even overthrow him and become the new ruler of Equestria. Needless to say, the risks were too great to ignore.
However, due to their current situation, the spell could very well be their only remaining hope for salvation. Cadance thought very hard about this right after gasping, and after several seconds of pondering, she took a deep breath and responded to Celestia with another determined nod. Celestia then began flapping her wings as hard as she could, and flew towards Tirek in order to assist the struggling Wonderbolts and buy Cadance enough time to finish performing the spell. As she flew around the humongous centaur and blasted several parts of his body with her magic, Cadance closed her eyes and began clearing her mind so that she could cast the spell without much trouble. Once she did so, her horn started glowing blue and she thought of a message she was about to send to the stars:
"This is Princess Mi Amore Cadenza of Equestria. Our world is in grave danger. We face an enemy who seeks to destroy everything we hold dear. Please, send help as soon as possible. We are not going to survive much longer. You are our only hope."
Then, her eyes began glowing white and her horn emitted a beam of magic that went straight towards the sky and into space. Right after it disappeared, Cadance's eyes returned to normal and she collapsed due to exhaustion. The complex nature of the spell had really taken its toll on her body, even though she was a full-grown alicorn. However, she was snapped out of her dizziness when she heard the painful screams of her aunt. Tirek had just blasted her yet again and she was falling to her death with great speed. Without wasting time, she flew towards her and caught her just before she hit the pavement. Unfortunately, just as she was about to gently place her on the ground, Tirek clapped his hands so hard that it created a huge shock wave that knocked down every pony.
Right after that, he opened his mouth and drained magic from every single one of the ponies, growing even bigger as a result. He was now towering over the Canterlot Palace and could even rival Dragon Lord Torch in terms of brute strength. Reveling in his increased power, he let out a loud maniacal laughter before turning his attention towards the unconscious princesses lying on the ground, intending to obliterate them once and for all. He prepared to fire a huge beam of magic in order to get the job done and once it was ready, he sent it straight towards his hated enemies.
However, just before the beam could hit the alicorns, an unknown figure jumped in between and began blocking the beam using nothing but its two arms. In fact, it managed to block for nearly half a minute before Tirek ceased his attack in order to take a good look at his new opponent. Needless to say, he was extremely shocked to find out the answer.
It was a female bipedal creature unlike anything he had ever seen before. Except for her brilliant dark locks, she was completely hairless and wore a strapless red bustier held up by a brace of gold resembling an eagle with a star. She had a gold belt with a star on it and blue briefs with white stars on the side. She also had blue pants and red boots with white stripes on the front that turn into wings at the top. Moreover, she was wearing silver bracelets on her wrists, a golden tiara with a red star on her forehead, a golden lasso which hung from her belt, and both a sword and a shield on her back.
Soon after Tirek stopped emitting his beam to examine the creature, she let out a loud snarl and hit her bracelets against each other, creating a huge wave of energy that not just knocked Tirek back a couple hundred feet, but also caused him to fall off the mountain where Canterlot was situated. She then turned around to see the now-awake princesses staring at her with both awe and confusion.
"Greetings, citizens", she spoke with an elegant but also commanding voice. "I heard your cries for help when I was in my team's headquarters and immediately teleported here to assist you. I apologize for the absence of my teammates, but they were all occupied with problems in their own cities and I was the only one available. However, I assure you that I am perfectly capable of helping you defeat that giant centaur. He may think of himself as an unstoppable being right now, but by Zeus, he shall see just how wrong he is once he gets a taste of my blade."
The princesses responded by giving puzzled looks to first each other and then to the being standing before them. Taking note of their reactions, the visitor slightly chuckled and said, "Look, I'm sure this is all very confusing to you. I, myself, do not fully understand it, either. All you need to know is that I'm on your side and I'm going to help you defeat this enemy however I can. By the way, for your own safety, I highly recommend you stay here until the fight is over. Sounds good?"
Upon hearing all this, both alicorns nodded in agreement and watched as their new ally flew down the mountain with incredible speed. Once she reached the crater where Tirek had landed, she retrieved her sword and shield from her back and readied herself for the next attack.
As she did so, the centaur managed to rise back to his hooves and once he noticed his new opponent hovering right in front of his nose, he asked "What exactly are you supposed to be?"
"I am Diana of Themyscira, daughter of Hippo-"
"No! No! No! I didn't ask for your name or title! I don't care about those at all! I meant what kind of creature are you? I have never seen anything like you during my travels and I've traveled over the entirety of Equestria."
In response, Diana raised an eyebrow and explained, "Well, if you must know, I come from another world where I have slain dozens of vicious monsters like you. You may be the biggest and strongest centaur I have ever had the honor of confronting, but I do welcome a good challenge. So, I suggest you either stand down and leave the inhabitants of this planet alone or prepare to meet Hades."
Although Tirek silently stared at her for a few seconds, he eventually burst into laughter and exclaimed, "You cannot be serious! I am on the verge of conquering an entire kingdom, and all that stands between me and ultimate victory is an alien wielding nothing but a tiny sword and a tiny shield? Oh, this is rich!"
He laughed for a few more seconds before wiping a tear from his left eye, clearing his throat, and declaring, "Your offer is a generous one, but I'll pass. I have waited too long to take my rightful place as the supreme ruler of Equestria and I have no intention to back down right now. Of course, you're more than welcome to try to stop me, but I must warn you, you shall receive no mercy whatsoever. I give you my word on that."
The moment she heard this, a smirk appeared on Diana's face and she enthusiastically replied, "Just the way I like it. Now, come at me, vile beast!"
"As you wish!", Tirek said with an equal amount of enthusiasm. Right after that, he began charging up a beam of magic bigger and stronger than the last one, and once it was ready, he emitted it directly at Diana, who tried to block it with her shield, but was pushed towards the ground by the beam's power. Even though her landing was soft, the beam kept pushing her back and her boots created a huge trail of dirt on the ground, as a result. By the time it stopped, she had hit and created a large crack on the nearby mountain.
Nevertheless, she quickly shook off the impact, let out a battle cry, and flew towards Tirek with such speed that he was not able to react in time. As a result, she managed to slice through the entire right side of his lower body and stab him in the back of his upper body, with both attacks leaving him in intense pain. Though he screamed in agony and bled from his wounds, he grabbed hold of Diana with his massive right hand (leaving her sword on his back), viciously slammed her to the ground half a dozen times before throwing her several hundred feet away. After bouncing off the ground a few times, she finally made a heavy landing and despite being covered in a lot of dirt and a good number of bruises, she tried her best to get back up.
As soon as she did, however, she heard Tirek yelling with pure unadulterated rage and looked up to see him about to jump on her and strike with both of his fists. So, she flew away from there and soon after Tirek landed on the same spot she was, she started dodging his magic blasts in the air. Despite not having her sword at the moment, she nevertheless came right in front of Tirek's eyes and began hitting him as hard as she could with her shield. After delivering a dozen of these strikes, she threw the shield to the centaur's right eye so hard that the eye downright exploded from the impact, making Tirek partially blind and causing him to scream in pain much louder than the first time.
Deciding to take advantage of his opponent's current vulnerability, Diana flew towards his back, pulled out her sword, and prepared to stab Tirek in the neck. However, just as she was about to do so, the enraged centaur turned around and knocked her to the ground with a gigantic punch. Before she could even get a chance to rise back to her feet, she was assaulted by Tirek's biggest beam of magic yet. In fact, he attacked with such ferocity that the blast created a crater with a hundred feet in radius and only stopped emitting it at least half a minute later.
Once he did, he pulled out the shield lodged in his eye and tossed it aside before looking at Diana's condition. Needless to say, what he saw pleased him greatly. She was very grievously injured, covered in countless burns and swelling wounds, and struggling extremely hard to get back up. The pleased centaur sadistically chuckled at this sight and announced, "You've put up a much better fight than any other opponent I have ever faced in my life. For that, you have my respect. With that said, the time has finally come to finish this. As you might recall, I promised at the beginning of our fight that I would not show you any mercy and I intend to keep that promise. It seems like you are the one who is going to meet Hades, after all."
Immediately after saying that, he raised one of his front hooves upwards and then, brought it down on his defeated foe, intending to crush the life out of her. However, to his surprise, he felt his hoof being held back by something just a few feet above their intended target. He decided to take a closer look and upon doing so, he became even more surprised by what he saw.
Diana, despite being heavily wounded and bleeding, was actually succeeding in holding his hoof up in the air. Even though she was devoting all her remaining energy to it and grunting a lot, Tirek found the fact that she was able to withstand such an attack very remarkable. When she spotted him staring at her with both shock and admiration, a cocky smile appeared on her face and she managed to say, "You should've let me finish introducing myself, because then you would've known that picking a fight with me is actually a very serious mistake. As a matter of fact, I've been holding back ever since our battle began. Not anymore!"
The second he announced that, she screamed in rage and pushed back the fists as hard as she could, forcing Tirek to take a few steps backwards. Immediately after that, she flew upwards, started rapidly punching the centaur in the face a couple dozen times, and then, knocked him down with a headbutt. Afterwards, she grabbed her foe's nose ring with her golden lasso, lifted him upwards for several thousand feet, and spun him around five times before throwing him to the ground and creating yet another enormous crater due to the impact generated by his fall.
As Tirek attempted to get back up, she began hovering about a hundred feet above him and confidently declared, "I am Diana of Themyscira! Daughter of Hippolyta, queen of the Amazons! Daughter of Zeus, king of the Olympian gods! Your wrath upon this world is officially over!"
Immediately after saying all that, she used her lasso to grab Tirek's right horn, pulled herself towards it, and used her feet to smash through it. Then, she grabbed the broken horn, flew towards the centaur's face, and stabbed him in the forehead with the horn. As Tirek was yelling in pain once again, his body began glowing red and huge cracks started forming all over him. Soon enough, he was fully engulfed in red glow and cracks, and the moment that happened, his whole body exploded while spreading multi-colored orbs of magic to every corner of the land.
Fortunately, Diana used her bracelets to block the explosion just in time and was only pushed a couple feet back. Once it was over, she proceeded to retrieving her sword and shield from the ground, and returning them to her back. As soon as she was done with that, she noticed the alicorn princesses she had encountered earlier landing near her and even bowing before her.
"You have our utmost gratitude and respect, noble warrior", said Celestia. "Thank you so much for defeating our greatest enemy and enabling us to usher in a new age of genuine and long-lasting peace. We are all in your debt."
Diana smiled and took a bow in return before replying, "It was a great honor to fight for you. May the gods bless you with good fortune in your future endeavors. Now, if you'll excuse me, I really need to go back to my planet and check up on my friends. I have a feeling that they need my help, as well."
"Then, we'll use our magic to send you there ", suggested Cadance. "It's the least we could do to show our gratitude."
Upon hearing that, Diana took a few moments to consider this and finally answered, "I accept your most generous offer, but how are you planning to accomplish that, if you don't mind me asking?"
"Simple", Celestia began. "We'll cast a spell that can teleport displaced beings to their own worlds. I discovered it while we were researching how to defeat Tirek. The only side effect will be some slight headache upon your arrival."
"Then, until we meet again", announced Diana before she shook the hooves of the princesses. Right after that, their horns began glowing and Diana instantly disappeared before their eyes.
