As soon as we got to Canterlot, the first thing I noticed was… how the train station was. It was eerily quiet. There was nobody. Nopony walking in, nopony but us getting off the train. Shining Armor, who grew up in Canterlot, looked around on high alert. I glanced around… the silence was deafening. There wasn’t a soul in sight; even at night there would be at least somepony here. Now it’s the middle of noon; the lunch rush should be happening.

I lit my horn up and let my diagnostic spell take lead; it’ll pick up on anything weird, such as a centaur carrying an unusual amount of magic. “What the fuck…” I snarled. “Tirek I swear to god…” Every alicorn lit their horns as Shiny got a shield spell ready. Twilight’s friends, technically being the most vulnerable of the group, stayed in between us, even if AppleJack and Rainbow Dash didn’t like being ‘coddled’.

As we walked through the streets, I felt something crawling down my neck. “What the fuck…” It feels like Canterlot has already been run through by Tirek. As we walked towards the castle, I started picking up my pace. I felt a weight lift off my chest as I saw that guards were still standing outside. What I didn't like was Chrysalis standing firm at the entrance, facing towards us. We came to a stop before her.

“Tirek is loose, I presume.” Chrysalis didn’t ask. “My changelings are watching over the city from the shadows; everypony here except for everypony in the castle has had their magic drained. Tirek only hasn’t come this way because I took the initiative and decided to defend your castle while I was gone; we changelings are loyal. You best be lucky that I am as loyal as I am to my allies.” I walked past Chrysalis as she talked to the others. “And where do you think you’re going, Source?” Chrysalis asked.

“Tirek got to my sister. I want to check on her. I just need to know if she’s okay.” I answered. “Celestia and the smart ponies can go over security details; my family needs me.”

“Then go,” Chrysalis nodded.

I quickly transitioned into DragonFire and blasted through the castle. I quickly made it to the wing my family was staying in. I opened the door, trotted in and my heart stopped. Laying on the couch was Katie, her boots were on the floor, and she wasn’t wasn’t wearing a dress like usual. Dan and Dave were huddled up together on the other side of the couch and Ma was resting her head next to Katies, which was resting on the armrest. I quickly ran up to the couch and skidded on my knees as I came to a stop.

“Katie!” I wrapped my forelegs around her head. “Are you okay, sis?” I rested my head in her mane.

“I’ve been better, Kodi. How did the meeting with the foreign guys go?”

“It went fine. Katie, Tirek didn’t do anything to you other than take your magic, right?” I asked.

“No… he didn’t. I feel like a sack of potatoes right now, but I’m alive. That’s what matters, right?” Katie asked.

“...Katie, you’re-”

“Kodi,” Ma got up. “Keep watch over yer siblings. I’m finding Tirek and I’m kicking his ass.”

“...Ma…”

“Ma, nothing.”

“Ma, you could get hurt.”

“And? That bastard came after my children. I’m an angry mama, and this mama knows how to throw hands.”

“Mum, stop.” I said, grabbing her tail. “Celly and Luna struggled with dealing with Tirek in the past, and they’re better with magic than either of us. Tirek will eviscerate you, Ma. Just stay with me and the rest of us… Button’s doing okay, right? He’s safe?”

Button poked his head out from behind Katie. “Hey Dad…” Button nuzzled my sister. “Auntie Katie’s missing her cutie mark…” I slowly looked at my sister’s flank for a second and looked back at Button. I took a long, deep breath.

“I’m going to feed Tirek his own heart.” I said firmly. “How’re you all doing despite what happened? Is everypony else doing okay?” I asked.

“We’re fine, Kodi,” Dan said. “A bit… shaken,” he got up and hugged our sister. “And worried about Katie, but we’ll live. Now that you’re here, we’ll be safe-”

“I’m afraid I’m not going to be of much use this time,” I tapped my horn. “My magic is still fucked, and Bedrock is an unstable piece of shit that’s barely ready for field testing… but I suppose I shall have to use it if Tirek comes.” I took a long, deep breath. “We’ve got Discord on the fucking move, because Celly thinks Discord will beat the shit out of Tirek and I think so too. Twilight’s having an existential crisis because she thought she and I were going to be sent out instead of Discord, but here we are.” I sat down next to Dave, pulled him close to my chest and laid my head on top of him. “We’re going to relax and let Discord take care of Tirek this time around, okay?”

…

I stared at Celly as she relayed the news.

“...Discord did what, now?” I asked.

“He… joined forces with Tirek,” Celly sighed. “And… cities are falling by the day to Tirek and Discord.” She sighed. “...It won’t be too long before Tirek is able to consume alicorn magic.” She took a long, deep breath, and nuzzled me… Something’s wrong. I glanced at Celly and noticed she looked noticeably weaker than usual. As in she looked fragile. I glanced around her side and noticed her cutie mark was gone. “Source…”

“Celly, did you, Luna and Cadance give your magic to Twilight like you were planning?”

“...Yes we did, Source. I hope you understand that… this is important. And we need you to hide-”

“...Celly. You could’ve told me when you were going to do that. I wanted to contribute too…” I shook my head. “My magic wouldn’t have made much of a difference, but… It would’ve helped! What if Tirek gets a hold of me and gets my magic? I may technically be the weakest one here, but… It’s still alicorn magic!” I looked my wife in the eyes, and took a long, deep breath. “You could’ve told me.”

“Source,” Celly brought a hoof to my cheek. “I didn’t tell you because of one reason; it was either you or Twilight that would’ve gotten all of our magic. You would’ve straight up refused, despite the fact that if you were given three alicorns worth of magic, you’d be able to defeat Tirek through sheer attrition, and I know I should’ve told you first. That was… my mistake.” Celestia nuzzled me. “Cadance and Luna are in the throne room, Luna’s fiance has been evacuated and we’ll be evacuating your family as well. I want you at my side when Tirek arrives, as well as your mother. You two are the most skilled magic users besides Twilight, myself, or Luna…. As your wife, may I ask you something?”

I stopped for a moment, processing what Celestia had said, and how accurate she was in how I’d refuse to take her magic, even if it meant I could maybe beat Tirek if I somehow caught him off guard. God dammit Celly… you know me too well. And… My wife needs me right now. She needs something from me and I’m more than willing to do anything for her. I stepped forward and nuzzled my wife. Celestia smiled and told me:

“You get to be my personal bodyguard for the time being… I know you said you’ve been hoping to defend me for a while, but given who I am, I’ve barely needed your protection no matter how much I appreciate it. Can you and your mother stand with me, your sister in law, and niece when Tirek arrives?” Celestia gave me the warmest smile I’ve ever seen on her. I stared into her eyes for a long, long time before. I processed what she had just asked me. I knew my answer, I just have something to say about that first.

“Let Ma leave with my siblings. They’ll need somepony who can keep them safe. Especially with Discord out and about, helping Tirek hurt people. I’ll stand by you with my life, Celly.”

“That is all I ask, my dear. That is all I ask. Who knows? Maybe you can give Tirek a run for his money with your new spell system? You said it was nearly ready for field testing, did you not?”

“It is, and… I’m hoping Tirek fucks my magic up enough to lower my magic reserves to the point that I can use Python Plus; I’m working on a spell called a Magic Bank; a separate magic reserve that reserves any ambient magic I let out; right now it has as much magic in it, as a test run, to comfortably let me use Python Plus. If Bedrock fails me, Python Plus will let me contend and distract him for long enough for Twilight to come up with something. And… At the end of the day, I think that’s all I’m going to be able to buy, but that at least means I’m contributing to this crisis.”

“...Source, you brilliant little thing. When this is all over, and hopefully Twilight will have won, you are going to walk me through how you managed to make ‘Magic Bank’ while we share an overpriced milkshake, with some coffee in it, from Hoofbucks, okay?” Celestia gently hip checked me. “You devious little stallion; coming up with magic spells seemingly all the time for somepony who wasn’t a pony a year ago. DragonFire, Light Shield, Phoenix Fire, and now Magic Bank? It seems like my husband is a talented little pony.”

“...Only because I have you motivating me… I wouldn’t be as ‘skilled’ at magic as I’d be otherwise.” I chuckled as we started making our way to the throne room.

With Source’s family. Namely Maeve.

Maeve sat on the train, staring ahead. Katie, Dan, and Dave were all piled up in the royal coach, preparing to leave Canterlot to flee. The mare sat, forelegs crossed as she awaited for everypony else to board the train. Canterlot was under evacuation right now and that meant the train, along with many others, would be making several trips to and from Canterlot to get everypony to safety. The problem Maeve was having was this: Her eldest son chose to stay behind and confront Tirek in an effort to stay by his wife’s side and protect her.

Maeve stared at the pony pile that her children, her babies laid. All the family she had left. Celestia, Luna, and Cadance were family too. The eldest of the Code family, save for Celestia, sighed as she. She wanted Kodi and Celestia to join them and flee for their own well-being. She wanted to grab Luna and Cadance, Shining Armor and Big Mac, and get as far from Tirek as she could. She stared at her children for one more minute, before getting up.

“Dave,” Maeve said, staring ahead as she started walking towards the exit of the train car.

“Yeah, Ma?” Dan asked, lifting his head slightly to meet his mother’s gaze.

“You’re in charge until I get back. I know you’re no magician, or a powerhouse when it comes to magic, but you’re your sister’s and your little brother’s current last stand until I return. I’m grabbing Source and the Princesses; we’re fleeing the fucking country with them and I don’t care; I don’t care if the literal god of chaos tries to stop me. I’m saving my family. I’m not losing anypony else.”

Dan gave his mother a resolute nod. “Okay… Ma. Please come back with Kodi. he’s going to get killed.” Maeve smiled at her son. “And please come back in one piece, Ma.”

“I’ll try my best, Dan. I always try for you four.”

With that, Maeve hopped off the train and began squeezing through the crowd. It was rather difficult as the mare, though remarkably similar to Source in appearance save for a lack of wings, was slightly larger than the average, unicorn mare. Bodies heading the direction she came slowed her movement down, and Maeve grunted and squirmed when she met a wall of ponies that blocked her way and almost entirely made it so she couldn’t get around them. With a snarl, she teleported into the air before teleporting further into Canterlot’s main disk, and further onto the shopping disk of Canterlot.

The shopping disk was borderline empty, there were a few ponies heading towards the lifts in order to get on the trains out of Canterlot. Maeve glanced around a few times, before a surge of magic made her jolt. This wasn’t like any other magic she had felt before. It felt… chaotic. Before the mare could blink, Discord appeared before her.

“Ah, Mrs. Code, or rather, Ms. Code; you don’t have a husband anymore, do you-”

“Leave my dead husband out of this, snake.” Maeve growled. “I will fucking break you in like you’re a new horse, Discord, don’t try me.”

Discord blinked a few times. “Sweet Celestia, you’re scary.”

“What are you doing, Discord?” A new voice said. The new voice belonged to a rather muscular centaur that was radiating with magic. “Scared of a mere mare?”

“Y-you see…” Discord started.

“...” Maeve stared at the Centaur. “Yer Tirek, ain't ya?” The mare asked as her blood began to boil.

“Lord Tirek to you, lady.” The centaur looked her up and down. “Well aren’t you quite the sight to behold-”

“You fuckin’ drained my daughter of her magic and hurt her.”

Tirek smirked. “So what? It was just one more pony, like you’ll be one more pony for me to drain of their magic-”

Maeve shot Tirek in the face with a Stun spell and Tirek barely flinched. The centaur smirked. “It’s adorable that you think you can hurt me with such puny-”

Tirek got thrown clean off of Canterlot by Maeve as she took off after him, using the Skywalker spell to chase after him. As soon as the unicorn caught up, she poured magic into her muscles as she started pounding Tirek’s face in. Every hit, every single hit was driven with as much hatred and anger as the mare could for Tirek. Every single hit sent shockwaves through the air as the two landed in a field. Discord, watching the whole thing, decided to back away and stay out of the fight. By the time Maeve was done, Tirek was still standing, even if his face was bloodied and bruised.

“You…” Tirek smirked. “Are quite the mare, I will admit…” He spat out some blood and started laughing. “A pony with some backbone! Who would’ve thought!” He rubbed the blood from his nose and grinned. “I’m impressed; you put up a better fight than most ponies, how would you like to join my side-”

“You can eat my nonexistent cock, Tirek!” Maeve shot a telekinetic blast at Tirek’s face, which was quickly caught in the centaur’s hand. The centaur sneered as her attack was balled up, and promptly tossed in his mouth. He chewed on it. “What the fuck?” The unicorn asked as she watched a spell that sent other ponies flying was casually dispelled by a singular hand. Before Maeve could blink, a hand grabbed her by the neck and picked her up. She started gasping as Tirek picked her up by the neck.

“Put me down you fuckin’ freak!” Maeve snarled.

“And why do that-”

Before Tirek could utter another word, Maeve bit his thumb off. The centaur started screaming as blood started squirting out of the appendage. Maeve landed on her hooves with enough grace to put Celestia to shame. The unicorn chuckled as Tirek started raging and tried grabbing her again, only for her to teleport behind him. The centaur snarled in an almost animalistic way and Maeve started trotting away.

“Keep yer hands off the rest of my kids, or I’ll beat your face in.” Before Tirek could respond, Maeve teleported away.

Source.

I sat and stared ahead as I heard commotion running through the castle, we had all just received word that Tirek had gotten into the castle and was running a rampage. We all sat up as something started pounding on the door. Celly, Lulu and Cadance all put on strong faces while my horn lit. Before I could even blink, Tirek bashed through the doors. He was missing a thumb and his face was bloody and looked like somebody smashed something into it. I sat there staring at Tirek as he approached Celestia first, and picked her up with her magic. He opened his mouth and tried draining her of the magic she didn’t have anymore.

“What the?” Tirek sneered before tossing Celestia to the side. I teleported and caught her while he tried to drain Luna and Cadance before throwing them, and luckily I caught them with my magic. I gently set them behind me and Celly, while Tirek snarled. “WHERE IS YOUR MAGIC!?” Tirek snarled as he got in Celestia’s face again.

“Howdy,” I chuckled. “Nice to meet you.” I tilted my head. “Why are you missing a thumb? Are our little ponies giving you more trouble than you expected?”

Tirek grabbed me by my neck and immediately started choking. “And who in Tartarus are you!?” Tirek growled. I teleported away from him and lit my horn and spread my wings. “Another alicorn?!” Tirek growled. “...A free meal, aren’t you?” Tirek growled.

I shot a basic stun spell at him, trying to probe how he is with magic. I watched as he full on stopped it with the most basic Shield spell I’ve ever seen. I raised an eyebrow. “Really, dude? A thousand years and you use basic spells? Is all you wanna rely on is power?” I tilted my head and chuckled. “God you will be very easy to fight even without me being able to overpower you.” I glanced at Celestia, Luna and Cadance. I sighed in relief as they knowingly got up and quickly limped away to the furthest side of the throne room that they could get to, away from me and Tirek.

“There is no need for finesse when you have power,” Tirek snarled. “And I have plenty of power to spare.” He launched Telekinetic Blast at me and I shifted into using Bedrock. Bedrock Shield works, cool. It actually works incredibly well; strengthening where it’s hit-a more adaptive shield spell than I had anticipated.

I smirked when I casted a Cloak, a spell designed to hide my magical signature as Tirek tried to use Levitation to grab me… huh. You can only grab things with a magical signature if you use Levitation. Good to know. The next thing I knew, Tirek grabbed me with his hands and threw me at a wall. Before I could react, my body hit the wall and pain shot through my entire being. I hit the ground, gasping for air to replace the air that was just knocked out of me. I laid flat on my side, I can’t feel my back… my head hurts.

“What a pathetic showing,” Tirek said as he picked me back up. There were two Tireks in my vision, both speaking as they continued to berate me. “You’re an alicorn? You thought you could fight me-”

“Take your hands…” I heard a… who’s talking? “Off of my son.” I blinked a few times and glanced over at Ma, Twilight stood beside her, ready to fight with everything she had. “Before I fucking make you wish you were dead.” Ma shot a spell at Tirek again, before running in, taking a leap through the air as she spun around and bucked Tirek in the nose. I was dropped to the ground, and Celly was standing over me in a heartbeat.

Tirek held his nose, looking mad and surprised. “...Of course you’re back, being a pain in my side. You could’ve been my queen-”

“After you laid your hands on my daughter and my son? Hell no!” Ma growled. “Keep your fuckin’ hands off of my family before I take your hands and make you eat them!”

With that, Ma and Twilight started fighting Tirek in neigh (pun intended) perfect harmony. They almost fought like how Celestia and Luna do when they’re training, one goes in and throws a few hits in, retreats, and the other covers their retreat. For every spell or hit that Ma threw at Tirek, Twilight covered Ma as she got out of his reach. Tirek snarled as he kept taking hit after spell after hit, being beaten down and withered. With Twilight being the heavy hitter, with four alicorns worth of magic flowing through her body, they were hitting Tirek long enough for Ma to punch him in the face or blast him with a spell.

I slowly sat up and crawled out from under Celestia. “Source… you’re not fighting; you’re hurt,” Celly grabbed me with a hoof, and pulled me closer. “I know you want to help, but at the end of the day-”

“Celly I’m deep sixing that asshole, or I’m going to help deep six that fucker.” I said as my horn lit. “I still have magic. And I know how to use it, dammit.”

Celly grabbed my tail “Source-”

I put a Mirror spell on Tirek’s head the moment he tried to cast a spell, with all his might, at Twilight and Ma. Before he could even react, the spell left his horns, before hitting the Mirror Spell at full force, nearly cracking the fucking thing because of how powerful it was, before shooting back into Tirek’s face. The spell blew up in his face, Tirek’s body hit the wall and he fell to the ground. Before long, he groaned, and rolled onto his stomach, only for Ma to run in and punch him right in the face. Tirek grunted and fell to the ground, unconscious, but not dead… And the fucker exploded in Ma’s face.

I yelped and teleported everypony behind me asTirek blew up… I couldn’t grab Ma.

When the debris died down, Tirek laid, looking a lot weaker and fragile than he had before. Ma was laying beside him as she slowly came to. She blinked a few times, and looked herself over… Holy shit.

Maeve.

I slowly came to after Tirek blew up in my face. Surprisingly I wasn’t hurt. In fact, I felt great. The first thing I noticed was Tirek wasn’t fucking dead. That is a problem, but I suppose Celly and Luna know what to do with him. I slowly got to my hooves and shook myself off a bit. I stared at everypony in the room, Celly, Luna and Cadance looked bone dead tired, like they didn’t have any magic inside of them. Twilight was standing and staring at me like I grew a second head. Kodi… looked like he was about to pass out. My big, dumb baby… He almost fuckin’ died because he tried playing hero. I trotted over to my son, and pulled him into a hug. I held onto him for a solid minute before letting go of him.

“WHY THE BUCK DID YOU TRY FIGHTING TIREK WHEN YOUR MAGIC IS BARELY USABLE RIGHT NOW, KODI!?” I shouted. “DO YOU KNOW HOW WORRIED I WAS ABOUT YOU!?” I pulled my son’s head back against my neck. “Don’t you dare do that again, young man, do you hear me?!” I held Kodi's head against my neck for a minute. “Kodi? The heck are you staring at? You look like you’re staring at my ghost.”

“Ma,” Kodi spoke up.

“What, Kodi? Spit it out, lad! I can handle it.” I smiled. “After all, I am quite capable of taking care of myself as you know…” I let go of my son and took a few steps back. “Seriously, what’s up with you? Did Tirek blowing up hurt you and everybody and knock a few screws loose?”

“Ma, you have fucking wings.” I stared at Kodi.

“...What?” I asked.

“Ma, you’re an alicorn…” Kodi whispered. “You just ascended by being in close proximity to a magical explosion…” He said breathlessly. “Ma, you’re-”

“WHAT THE HELL!?”

Author's Note

So we're saving Starlight's role for a bit, and i'm rewriting how that goes. Next few chapters will be focused on the Irish doing things and stuff, and then we'll have Starlight be told off about how stupid her reasoning for being evil is.