An unstoppable force has met its immovable object. Blow after blow after blow and yet, despite all of his might, Tirek was unable to defeat the princess standing before him. Standing between him and unlimited power. She stared at him with a look of pure determination. The same kind of determination that Tirek himself was feeling in his quest for all the magic in Equestria. Their battle had already turned the land around them into a barren wreck and the skies above them a burning smoke-filled auburn. He knew that if they continued to fight, there would be nothing left of Equestria for him to destroy with his new power anyway.

"It appears we're at an impasse," Tirek spoke before snapping his fingers, "How about a trade, Princess Twilight?"

Using the chaotic power he stole from Discord, Tirek summoned Twilight's friends and the traitorous draconequus who helped him. They were all encased in impenetrable bubbles floating above him. He could tell from Twilight's sudden shift from burning determination to shock and concern for her friends that he had her by the horn. Unlike Discord, Tirek knew that Twilight would be nothing without her friends.

"Their release in exchange for all the alicorn magic in Equestria," Tirek demanded, "What's it going to be, Princess?"

Despite the danger they were in, Twilight's friends shouted in protest against Tirek's offer. It was rather confusing that they would be so willing to throw away their freedom for the sake of the princess continuing her fight with Tirek but Tirek didn't care. He knew Twilight would ignore her friend's pleas and give in to his demands.

"Don't do it, Twilight!" the blue pegasus shouted.

"We aren't worth it," Fluttershy said in a despairing tone.

"Oh, but you are, Fluttershy," Discord said as he looked at the friend he betrayed, "You're the pony that taught that friendship is magic. I had magic and friendship, and now I don't have either."

Tirek stamped his hooves, impatient at how long it was taking Twilight to make her decision and irritated by the sickening display of selflessness from her friends, "ENOUGH! I want an answer and I want it now!"

Twilight looked up at her friends, then down at the ground in contemplation, before glaring at Tirek again with the same look of determination she gave him before.

"I will never surrender this magic to you," Twilight sternly replied.

Twilight's friends breathed a collective sigh of relief, with the small purple dragon even swiping away at his forehead as if he was wiping away a huge amount of sweat. Their selflessness and Twilight's refusal to surrender was getting on Tirek's nerves.

"Do you have ANY idea what I will do to them?!" Tirek asked irately, "I will send them to the pits of Tartarus where they will be scarred!"

From the corner of his eye, Tirek could see the white unicorn fainting dramatically in her bubble.

"EMOTIONALLY!"

Tirek smiled as he knew he did not need to throw these little ponies, the even littler dragon and Discord into Tartarus to hurt them since the threat of hurting them was enough to make Fluttershy wince. And if Fluttershy was in pain, that would mean Discord was in pain. That would teach him for being a backstabbing snake, even if Tirek was the reason Discord betrayed his friends in the first place.

Twilight raised an eyebrow, "And?"

Suddenly, Tirek went from sadistically relishing the thought of torturing Twilight's friends to being really confused. And perhaps he was hearing things but he could have sworn he heard a record being scratched in the distance. It was as if dramatic music was playing between his confrontation with Twilight and was suddenly ground to a halt at the exact same moment Tirek heard Twilight speak.

"What do you mean 'and'?" Tirek asked, his voice devoid of its usual bombastic tone.

"Exactly that," Twilight replied, "Once I get all the magic back from you, I can free them and the princesses from Tartarus."

"Wait how did you know I threw the other princesses in Tartarus?" Tirek asked.

"Lucky guess," Twilight bluntly replied.

Tirek looked at Twilight as if she just challenged him to a dance-off for the fate of the world, "Sooooo...until you have defeated me, you're perfectly fine with leaving the other princesses there?"

"Yes," Twilight replied.

"Aaaand...you would also be fine with me throwing your friends, and Discord, in there as well," Tirek continued asking.

"Eeyup," Twilight replied.

As Tirek tried to comprehend the princess' nonchalant attitude to cursing her friends and her fellow princesses to what could possibly be an eternity in Tartarus, a cricket hopped on his shoulder and chirped in his ear. A few seconds of chirping snapped Tirek out of his befuddlement-induced stillness as he swatted the insect with swift prejudice. He then pointed at Twilight with the same hand he used to swat the cricket, which he hoped to Fausticorn wasn't Twilight's conscience or something.

"I think you're confused," Tirek stated in a confused tone himself, "You're acting like you're not in a rush to save the world."

"I'm not," Twilight replied, "In fact, you can throw my friends in Tartarus now and we can pick up where we left off.

"WHAT?!" Both Tirek and Twilight's friends exclaimed in unison.

Twilight looked up to her friends as she nonchalantly waved her hoof, "It'll be fine. Despite its reputation as a place of eternal torment, the worst that can happen in Tartarus is boredom, the possibility of getting pinkeye-"

Tirek shuddered at the various times Cerberus licked his face. And given what else that three-headed mutt had been licking, it was little wonder that he had spent at least three centuries of his imprisonment with pinkeye. Even now, his left eye still occasionally itched. And yet, compared to the other forms of suffering he had endured in Tartarus, three centuries of pinkeye was the least horrendous.

"Cerberus breaking wind," Twilight continued, "Getting a rash if you're wearing chains, accidentally throwing one of Cerberus' toys down a cavern which would increase his chances of eating you, and contracting either mites or fleas from Cerberus. But other than that, Tartarus is one big time-out corner. You can throw a little filly in there and she'd trot out A-okay once her sentence is up."

Disturbed at how casually Twilight talked about Tartarus, and that she would be fine throwing a child in there, Tirek turned his head towards Twilight's friends, "Is she always like this?"

They collectively shook their heads in response.

Tirek looked back at Twilight, "I think we should do this another time because...you're starting to creep me out and I think your friends are getting creeped out too."

"No," Twilight coldly replied before slowly flying up to Tirek's face, her eyes taking on a more menacing stare and her voice dripping with venomous and barely-contained rage, "You destroyed the Golden Oaks Library. You destroyed not only months of my advanced studies but also copies of books that are no longer in print. Some of which included rare spells that many would only dream of being able to cast."

Tirek slowly backed away in fear. But as he did so, Twilight fluttered closer towards him. Her eyes glowed slightly from all the alicorn magic in her possession.

"I was willing to tolerate being in Ponyville for the sake of my studies. And while Celestia has made a few decisions I disagreed with, including releasing and reforming Discord, I was willing to continue being her errand filly until I figured out what I was meant to do. And thanks to you taking almost everything away from me, I now know my part to play. And as a princess, I will play my part."

Tirek gulped as Twilight cracked her neck and forelegs to prepare herself for the next can of whoop-rump she was about to unleash on him. She swiftly flew into him and socked him right in the jaw with her right hoof. As Tirek fell to the ground, he accidentally popped the bubbles encasing Twilight's friends. And Discord. The impact was so great, he could barely lift himself back up. All he managed to do was lift up an eye and see the princess summon all of her magical strength to make him regret ever destroying that tree she was hiding in.

"Mommy," Tirek squeaked.

Meanwhile, in Tartarus, Luna was busy sleeping while Celestia was busy playing Appleloosa Hoof 'Em with Cerberus. A game that was going surprisingly well, considering she successfully bluffed her way through three turns already. Cadence, meanwhile, was keeping an eye on the sleeping Luna. Halfway through her card game, she lifted up her free hoof and looked down at it as if checking an invisible watch.

"I wonder how long it will take Twilight to free us," Celestia pondered to herself, "It's been half an hour already."

Suddenly, the doors of Tartarus opened and a depowered Tirek wrapped head-to-hoof in bandages and holding a pair of crutches hobbled up the stairs to his cage. He only managed three steps before falling over and descending even deeper into the pits of Tartarus.

"Ow," Tirek screeched.

After Tirek's literal fall, through the doors entered a familiar and faithful student with her friends in tow and an unusual-looking bell on her person. She aimed the bell at the princesses and blasted a magic beam that restored their alicorn magic. And somehow also destroyed the chains shackling them. While it was tempting to continue her card game with Cerberus, she put down her cards and flew towards Twilight and her friends to congratulate them.

"Well done, Twilight," Celestia said in a motherly tone, "I knew you would play your part."

As she was about to raise her hoof to give Twilight a pat on the back for a job well done, Celestia felt a sudden itch in her eye. She placed her hoof on her eye and began scratching.

"Uh...Celestia?" Twilight asked cautiously, "You didn't play with Cerberus during your time here, did you?"

Author's Note

What have we learned? Don't mess with Twilight and her books.

I admit, I had a lot of ideas for this one and how it should end. I imagined Twilight exploding at Tirek about how she's sick of always having to save the day while Celestia sits on her rump. Might have even thrown some shade at the other Mane Six. But since I remembered the Mane Six were against Twilight trading all the alicorn magic for them, I realized that would have been unnecessarily nasty. I also thought about making it obvious that Twilight's new power went to her head but, as much I'd like to write that, the only way it would have worked if Twilight secretly resented her friends and only used them as a means to an end. But I did leave a few hints in this fic that Celestia might have fallen off the pedestal Twilight put her on but...who knows? I might make something of it, I might not.

And as a reference to the vid I got the idea for this fic from, I would have had Twilight kidnap Tirek's grandmother and bargain for her release in exchange for all the magic Tirek stole, to which Tirek reluctantly agreed. Problem is I couldn't figure out a way to end the story if I did that.

Also thought of an alternate end, if only in reference to an earlier fic I wrote, but much like the 'Twilight Holds Tirek's Gram-Gram' end, I couldn't think of a way to end it.