Author's Notes:

So anyone that saw my blog post on the update will understand this. I originally had planned for about 4 to 5 thousand words. Then once I had reached over 5000 words, my guess was going to be 6000, once I surpassed that, I knew this was going to be a 7000 plus word chapter. Originally I was going to have the first part of this chapter be in the last chapter, but as I was writing the last chapter, for the sake of flow, I didn't add it in. So that added a bit more than anticipated here.

Ember sighed depressingly as she held up her pistol and shot a Corrupted Butcher in the head. Lowering her arm, she glanced down at her pet Kavat Knight Winger. The intelligent cat gave her an equally depressing glance. The vast, glorious halls of the abandoned tower only seemed to fuel her depression even more. Every time she entered one of these places, whether it be tower or ship, they only reminded her of a time once forgotten. The only little bit of reprieve she ever got was with her brother…

And the son-of-a-bitch was off doing fuck all in princess pony land getting his gay on or some shit!

Ember came to a stop and holstered her pistol, taking a deep, calming breath.

“FUCK!”

She couldn't help but shout at the top of her lungs. Taking yet another deep breath and let it out slowly. “Well that didn’t do jackshit.” With her anger... still at the same level it had been for the last few months, she continued onward. Passing by one of the many ornate waterfalls, which flowed upward for some reason. She could never figure that out, some of those fountains flowed naturally downward, others went up.

Reaching her hand in as she passed by the falls, she swiped bloody glove through the clean, crisp water, cleaning the corrupted blood from it before evaporating the remaining water with the natural heat of her suit. Walking through one of the automated doors, Knight ran by her without a care in the world. As she had a lull in her fighting, she thought about how alone she was. Well, the more she actually thought about it, she wasn’t truly alone when she was ‘alone’. Ever since that day she found that little kitten, Knight never left her side. He loved her more than anything. He always liked to pester her at the most inopportune moments. The worst was when he would try to crawl into her lap looking for pets and snuggles. A true tragedy. Making sure to avoid the floor trap for a Death Orb, because the damned things are more annoying than anything, she entered through one last door before she came to a stop.

“Oh… did I really make it all the way to the teleporter room? Huh,” she asked no one in particular. It was true, she had made it to the large, ornate room containing the Torsion Beam Generator. Heading over to the right console, she started up the sequence to get the beam going. After about a minute or two with very little resistance, she headed towards the portal. Maybe getting the key back and killing whoever gets in her way will make her feel happier?

Probably not, since it hasn't the last fuck-ton other times she’s done these.

Stepping through, she let the portals pulling sensation transport her to Earth, Venus, or Europa. It was one of them. She didn’t care… or was paying attention. Coming out on the other side, the claws on the end of her boots clacked against the metal floor. Alright, it was time to get this-

“Miss Ember!?”

Over... with... question mark?

“Ordis?” the woman questioned as she lifted her head catching the first glimpse of the ship she was now standing in. It looked… like every other Liset cockpit, actually. Stupid things were all built the same, after all. The only key differences were the little Orokin artifact that seemed propped open and a small crystal that appeared to have a small horse in armor in it, pressed up against the inside of the gem. Down below, she could hear Knight and the unmistakable growls of Storm playing. “Ordis, is that really you? Where am I? How did I get here!?”

“You appeared out of the Kuria. Unfortunately, I am unsure as to how its portal signature may have linked with one you have recently used. It’s *BZZT* CRRRAZY! *BZZT* rather confusing, if I am to be honest.”

Ember raised an eyebrow. “Ordis… are your systems running okay?”

“No!” he responded… a little to happily. “My casing is cracked.”

Ember glanced out of the main window, watching as the leaves of a nearby tree rustled in the wind. “Is this?” she questioned with a point of her finger.

“Earth Number 567,432. Or current classification, ‘Planet Equin’.”

Ember’s eyes widened at the realization. She knew exactly where she was! “Where's Excalibur!?” she demanded, first searching the ships tiny cockpit before running towards the window and searching outside.

“He is in Canterlot dealing with a situation,” Ordis informed her. “I recommend you stay here and-" But it was too late, Ember was already out of the cockpit, through the rest of the ship, and out towards the front, grabbing an available archwing. “Help Miss Twilight… hmm.”

“She seems interesting,” Nightmare Moon stated as she pushed herself away from her spot against the gem, heading back to its center.

“Miss Ember is a very lovely sister to Excalibur,” Ordis said to the tiny mare.

“We may be a magical entity, but we are just as much of Luna as she is to herself. We know too, the struggles of siblings,” Nightmare replied. “She is a stubborn hothead, yes?”

“Very!” Ordis sighed before he continued, contacting Ember as she took off into the skies. “Canterlot is the city located on the mountain due north of here.” He sat there silently for several seconds as the Kuria closed back up with a soft click.

“You up for checkers?” Nightmare asked.

Without a verbal answer, a small port opened on the desk as a checkers board slowly rose up in front of the gem, followed closely by a metallic arm which descended from the ceiling, hovering just above the board.

“You first,” Ordis said.

Ember raced through the air at full throttle. The gigantic engines of the Elytron were pushed to almost breaking point. There was a nervous rumbling coming from the right engine that she didn't like, but she persevered. Her sight was only on one thing and one thing only. Racing up the mountain, she blew past the city on the mountain, peaking out high above the cloudline. Down below she could hear gunfire. Searching the empty city streets, her sight quickly landed on a giant, fucking, pissed off centaur!

One that was pummeling her BROTHER!?

Engaging the thrusters, she dove fast and hard, racing through the low-lying cloud cover. She leveled out above the roof line. Through the red of her vision, she could see the horn and head of the centaur. Disconnecting the archwing, she landed with a roll, letting the unmanned wing crash against the side of the centaur’s head.

And that's where it all started.

As my shields started to regenerate I limped my way over to a store front and bashed in the door with my shoulder, landing with a painful groan before pushing myself up and towards a nearby table. It looked like a restaurant, judging by the layout. But my aching chest and leg pulled my attention away. Pulling out a health restore, I jammed the thing into my thigh. Letting the medication do its work, I stumbled over to a nearby window and pulled the curtain off the rod, watching as Ember leapt off Tirek’s horn and out of sight.

Serenity came bursting in not too long later, searching the place before finding me and running up. “You okay?”

“Best as I can be.”

She glanced out the window at the fight. “Who… is that?”

“My sister…” I glanced back at Serenity, where she gave me a look in return. “I suggest you stay out of her way. She’s pretty pissed off,” I finished, watching the fight continue. Tirek fell backwards from a very large fireball, crashing into a building and disappearing in a plume of dust.

“How did she get here?”

Good question.

“Don’t know, don’t care, glad she’s here.”

Serenity and I shared a look, mine of concern. “You good?” She gave me a hesitant nod but nodded all the same. “You sure? You’re bleeding.” I gestured to the bloody spot on her leg. She glanced down at it and ran her hand across the bloody spot, rubbing it with her fingers.

“I think that’s Tirek’s,” she replied. “Because I feel fine, and the mods you loaned me boosted my armor by a lot.” Wiping her hand along the bloody spot, she splattered the red substance across the floor as she wiped it away. “Yeah. it’s-look out!” she screamed, tackling me to the ground. She used her body as a shield as the wall we were behind exploded in a blast of dust and splinters. Pushing herself up, Serenity looked over her shoulder while I propped myself up on one arm, staring past her.

“Ember!” I shouted, pushing Serenity off of me and running over to my sister. All I could see from under the debris was the flame of her helmet. Reaching down, I pulled off several large hunks of debris before grabbing a rather large board with a grunt, tossing it to the side. “Ember? Come on little sister wake up!” Prying off her helmet I ran my hand over her forehead and through her red hair.

She groaned, and I gasped.

“Ow…” she moaned, slowly opening her eyes. “What happened? I blacked out for a second.”

I couldn’t help but laugh, even though this was not much of a laughing matter. “You okay sis?” I asked, giving her a once over quickly. Ember answered with a nod… before she shook her head no. Okay, gently I helped her to her feet, using my body as a brace. Once she was up and set, I let her rest against me before bending over to pick up her helmet and gingerly slip it over her head. “Serenity, help me get her out of here.” The woman in question nodded before she walked over and helped me by grabbing Ember’s left side. We stumbled out of the remnants of the building and into the streets. Down said street, Drax and Tirek were battling. In our arms, Ember had her head limp and her feet were barely keeping her up.

She was hurt, badly too.

Unlike my two teammates, Ember and myself do not have self-healing abilities, at least without the outside help of mods. Serenity, due to her augmented armor, along with the proper mods almost makes her armor damn near impenetrable. By channeling her rage into the void energy, she uses for her Hysteria, in essence, it allows her to heal via the amount of damage she can cause. In lame man terms, a life for a life. She nearly dies, she can kill a basic enemy and heal herself back to full strength. Drax on the other hand, using his Elemental Ward, depending on his customization, can allow for self-healing. In Drax’s case, elemental heat, allows for said health boost. While Vex Armor, one of his other abilities, infused void energy into the suit and weapons. From where I am standing, both are active. With Vex Armor, each attack that strikes shield, strengthens his armor, while anything against his direct health, infuses his weapon with void energy, causing a… well it gets messy.

“‘Cal?” Serenity asked me, releasing Ember and turning to look at me. “You have to get her out of here.”

I furrowed my brow, “Serenity I am not-”

“No! You have to go! Look at her!” she yelled, cutting me off and gesturing towards my sister. Glancing down at my sister, she weakly lifted her head before lowering it back down. Adjusting her in my grip, I did my best to keep her standing. “We’ll handle Tirek, find Twilight and get more help!” I was awestruck, dumbfounded even.

“That’s suicide…”

She nodded slowly.

“I know. We’ll stall as long as we can…” she replied, her tone just above a whisper. “Go!”

Sighing and defeated, I succumbed to my fate. Doing my best to hold my sister with one hand, I pulled my great sword from my hip. Letting the tip of the blade rest against the ground, I offered the handle to Serenity. She gave it a glance before looking to me, silently asking me ‘are you sure?’ I pulled my arm back slightly before thrusting it forward, silently answering ‘just take it!’ Reaching out, she hesitated for a mere moment before taking the handle. Gently, she pulled it towards herself before using both hands to lift its massive blade. She held it high, examining the tanto style blade.

After a few seconds, she lifted it over her head and sheathed it, resting it right next to the Jat Kittag. “We’ll do what we can. But we don’t intend to go down without a fight!” she shouted. With a flick of her wrist, she used her Rip Line ability to grapple onto a nearby building and pull herself up.

“Good luck.” I glanced down at my sister, who had watched the other woman go. “You have a lot of explaining to do,” I said before my archwing attached to my back. Grabbing her bridal style, I took to the skies and after Twilight.

On the roofs above, Serenity landed with a roll. As she stood up, three slow claps from behind caused her to turn around. “Bravo, bravo…” Discord said slowly. Serenity growled angrily at his deformed sight. The draconequus crossed his arms with a huff. “Growling, what is with all the growling? It’s quite rude you know?”

Serenity released the growl, not to unlike what an angry dog would do… or Drax. “Excalibur was right! I knew I shouldn't have doubted him!”

“It’s too bad,” Discord started with a roll of his lion paw. “I really do like that man. So strong, brave, violent! So much delicious chaos!” Discord did a full body, pleasurable shudder, sighing happily. “Oh well,” he shrugged. “I guess I’ll have to settle with ruling the world!” With a flash, he teleported over to the edge of the roof they were on. “You hear that Celestia!? Your rule has come to an end! I’ll show you I’m a better boyfriend than that one guy who could juggle!” he shouted to the skies, shaking his fist. Huffing angrily, he continued. “That’ll show her…”

“What?”

“What?” Discord parroted. “Oh… right. You’re still here.” With a sigh and a snap of his fingers, Discord materialized a swordfish and some fencing armor. Taking the fish by the smaller part of the tail, he took up a fencing stance. “Unguard!”

Serenity clenched her teeth so hard, she swore she cracked a tooth. The shout that followed was so loud, so deep, so pissed off… it made a dragon shudder. Even Discord was second guessing his choice in dueling partner. Serenity’s Hysteria activated at the start of the warcry. Like a raging bull driving a tank, strapped to a locomotive, riding a rocket, she charged, nothing more than blood on the mind.

I have faced off against many enemies in my lifetime. Some, no more than petty thieves. Others, murderers, ruthless dictators. Those that adapt to anything, a few who barely know how to handle a knife. I have faced off against giant robots. The Raptor and Vay Hek come to mind. Disgusting beings of flesh and metal. Lephantis and the Golem, I could even throw Sargas Ruk into that category. Some were huge, towering beasts. Others, depending on location, were no taller than my kneecaps. But they all had one thing in common…

Dump them with enough bullets and they die from lead poisoning.

Tirek though?

This was one of the times where even I felt out matched. Questioning my ability. For so long I felt invincible, time and time again I would leave a mission where the Grineer just threw themselves at me. Maybe I got cocky, or it was just that easy. I’m not sure. But right now, I was at a loss. No matter what we did, how hard we hit, or how many bullets were dumping into him… Tirek just wouldn’t die! Even my sister, in her rage induced state did little to affect him. I highly doubted that even if we could rally every nation on the planet, we couldn’t come out on top. I may have to leave just to find a means of beating him.

Out of my list of options I could think of, at minimum, two that could go toe to toe with Tirek. Option one, I have a friend in a system called The Frontier. If I could get her help to divert a few of her forces to here, we would have an upper hand. She has the means to take on Tirek on a relatively even playing field. Just mass alone could turn the tides of this fight. But if her troops or weapons get damaged or killed, it would be a substantial loss to her current war. One that would take a lot of time to recuperate.

Or two, and quite frankly, the crazier but undefeatable option, which consists of grabbing an Eidolon, somehow transporting the sucker here, and luring Tirek into a trap. Those Sentient behemoths only have one weakness, and that's void energy. Its weapon systems, immunity to any outside attack, and overall strength could probably overpower Tirek. With only one thing on its mind, it could probably come out on top. While stupid, they know how to survive.

I don’t know…

I really... dont know...

Glancing at my radar, I banked to the left, following the little icon of the Liset. As I went, I couldn’t go to fast, or too slow for the sake of my sister. The farther I went from Canterlot, the more barren the land became. Soon, gone were the lush grasslands of the Equestrian countryside, and were replaced by barren and jagged rock. Pretty soon, the top of the Liset and a little purple dot came into view.

“Ember?”

She weakly lifted her head to look at me. “...yes?”

“I love you,” I matched her look with one of my own. “I want you to know that. Because I don’t say it enough.”

She tilted her head slightly, probably raising an eyebrow. “Where…” she coughed violently before moaning painfully. “Where did that come from?”

I didn’t answer… at least not immediately.

“Because I’m worried,” I replied honestly. Coming in for a smooth landing just behind the ship, I could see Twilight not too far off, Ordis sitting on a small blanket, watching her. Disconnecting from my archwing, I turned to take Ember up into the ship. Just before I entered, out of the corner of my eye, I saw Twilight grab Ordis and come running up. Heading up and to the Arsenal, I gingerly placed my sister down on the floor, propping her up against the back of the arsenal. She groaned but accepted her fate. Removing my helmet, she followed my lead and removed hers, a small trickle of blood dripping from her nose. Grabbing a few medical supplies, I started to get to work just as Twilight came running in.

“Excalibur! What happened? Where’s Serenity, Drax, or Tirek?” she asked rapidly before her eyes landed my sister. “Oh… uhm… hi? Uhm… my names Twilight. What’s yours?”

Ember stared at her with a keen eye for several seconds. Twilight, for her part, started to sweat nervously. “Holy shit you were telling the truth,” Ember finally said after several, nerve wracking seconds… well, to Twilight they were nerve wracking. “Guess I owe Titania fifty plat.”

Twilight turned to me, seemingly seeking the answer she never got. “Excalibur, who is she?”

I kneeled next to my sister, supplies in hand. “Twilight this is my sister Ember, Ember this is Twilight. One of Equestria’s princess’,” I introduced, gesturing to each one respectively with my hand. Handing Ember two pills and I gave her a glass of water too. “Drink,” I ordered. With a roll of her eyes she took the pills.

“I’m not a kid,” she said before taking a drink from the glass.

“Really? Because you act like one ninety-percent of the time,” I replied, reaching up with a rag, wiping the blood from her face.

She swallowed her pills with another eye roll. “Thanks dad-ow!” I killed her sarcasm with a needle to the thigh, injecting a potent mix of medication into her system. “Could you not do that!?”

“Oh boohoo. Quite frankly you’re lucky I’m not beating your ass for that stupid stunt you pulled back there!” I pointed an accusatory finger at her. “And you owe me a ‘wing!” I said, pulling out the syringe and searching through my supplies to grab a scanner, using it to check her vitals. Which were stable.

“You’d like that, wouldn’t you? To spank me like a cheap whore?” she started…

“Now you really are acting like a child!”

“So? What if I want to be a child!?”

“You’re so insufferable!”

“You start it!”

“Oh bullshit!”

“See!? It's that attitude that started this whole thing!”

“Well if I didn’t have to babysit you all the time we wouldn’t be having this issue, now would we?”

“I’m old enough to take care of myself! Thank you very much!”

“Hah! Yeah right!”

“Fuck you!”

“So long as it's not you, it’s fine by me!”

Twilight, for her part, could only watch in abject horror as she watched her friend and his sister argue more and more until it turned into a full-on yelling match. Her worry originally started off as that, before it delved into annoyance, then anger. “WILL YOU TWO STOP IT!?” she shouted, causing both of us to shut up and look at her. “Honestly, you’re both acting like foals!”

Twilight stared at us with a glare as Ember and I stared at her with blank expressions for a few more seconds, before we glanced at each other. Unsure of what to do, we continued to stare at each other for several more seconds before I lifted my arm quickly. “Lollipop?” Ember snorted, before broke out into a giggle fit, causing me to smile and laugh along with her. reaching forward with a groan she took the treat, pulling the wrapper free and ploping it in her mouth, laughing around the candy.

Twilight, for her part, just stood there in utter confusion. I gave the little mare a glance, still smiling and laughing. “Welcome to my family, Twilight.”

Twilight tilted her head in confusion. “I, but… what? You two aren’t mad at each other?”

I chuckled in reply. “It’s all for fun and laughs,” I said, grabbing all the supplies I brought over and headed off to put them away. “Why don’t you two get to know each other? Since we're kinda stuck here for the subsequent future.”

Twilight glanced at Ember out of the corner of her eye. “‘Sup,” Ember said simply.

“Uhm… hi? Again, maybe?” Twilight hesitantly replied, still rather confused.

“You always this jumpy?” Ember question, before she attempted to push herself to her feet, using the wall as a brace for her hands.

Glancing over my shoulder, I dropped some of the supplies still in my hands. “Hey hey hey!” I said, trying to stop her as I raced over, grabbing her by the waist and shoulder, trying to get her to sit back down. But she was having none of it and tried to wave me off. “Ember you need to rest for a few minutes.”

“I’m fine.” Stubborn hothead. Pushing me away, and me not really fighting her, she rose to her feet. Taking a step, she stumbled. As I stepped to catch her, she waved me off when I reached out for her, she took a few more steps and rolled her shoulder before bending down to grab her helmet. “So, what now?”

The inside of the Liset lit up like a burning galleon, shaking violently. Twilight dove to the floor and covered her head with her hooves while I grabbed onto Ember, using my body as a shield. When the roar, lights, and shaking came to a stop, I opened my eyes cautiously. There were no lights, warning sirens, or smoke and fire. So, it’s probably safe to say that whatever the hell that was missed.

“You had to say it?” I groaned.

“Say what? I didn’t do anything!” Ember denied/whined.

Now that I think about it, I was started to enjoy the lack of complaining from her. I guess this mess was a blessing in disguise. Releasing the unintended hug I gave my sister, I stepped over to Twilight, and bent down to tap her on the shoulder.

“W-What was that!?” Twilight shouted, shaking nervously.

“PRINCESS TWILIGHT!?”

“Pretty sure I just figured it out,” I deduced, staring towards the ceiling. “Fuck… how did he figure it out?” Took me all of two seconds to figure that one out, if I am going to be honest here. “Discord… fucking bastard was dead before, I’m going to kill him again and again until I feel satisfied!”

“SHOW YOURSELF!”

Twilight removed her hooves from over her eyes, staring up at me with abject horror. “He’s not going to get you Twilight. Not as long as I live.” Stepping past Ember, I had the arsenal pull up yet another launcher. Pulling it free, I headed over to the foundry and pulled out a canister, one that held some paint. Pouring some onto my glove, I crudely wrote the words ‘Here’s Twilight!’ on the side. Putting the weapon on my shoulder, I glanced at Twilight.

“Let’s go…” I glanced at my sister too. “You too missy.”

Handing her helmet, she took it and slipped it over her head. Pulling her Braton from her back, she took up security behind me. Twilight pushed herself to her hooves and hesitantly followed us. Guess this was it.

I'm going out with a bang.

And a really big one at that.

Leaving the canyon that we seemed to be in, I noticed that we weren't very far from Ponyville. Few hundred meters, tops. Heading out into the open field near the canyon, Tirek stood tall. He just stood there… menacingly! Well… sort of, but not really. The tension in the air was thick you’d need a plasma cutter to cut it. The only sounds, that seemed to echo for miles, were our footsteps upon the grass. Coming to a stop not too far away, we stared each other down. Tirek tilted his head to the right, giving us a critical look.

“Surrender, and I will spare your lives.”

Let that sink in for a minute. Give up and you live, knowing full well that you are going to die. No sane man would ever take that deal. It's a lie, a wolf in sheep's clothing. The grineer use it as a fear tactic for the outer colonies in the Origin System. The Corpus see it as a means of payment, a debt. Fortuna suffers from it greatly. It's nothing new, flawed at best. I might as well just shoot myself in the head to save time. I turned to look over my shoulder at Twilight. She didn't want to, but our other option was no better. That's when I saw the fear.

She actually thought that she was going to die.

She was visibly shaking, tears welled in the corners of her eyes. There was fear in her gaze. Gone was the confident mare, here was a little child. Scared, wanting nothing more than to hide under her bed. Moving my gaze from her, I turned it to Ember. When she lifted her head from Twilight, I was reminded of that little girl I saved. Nodding my head lightly, I had my answer.

“Fuck you… Tirek!”

There was a blast, my shields exploded, and my last sight was both Twilight and Ember, standing sideways, the former watching me, mouth agape. That wasn't right. That wasn't right at all. And of all the things to think of, that was the one that came to mind for some strange reason. Not entirely sure why. I flew several dozen feet before I landed with a violent tumble, the launcher tube knocking me on the head.

Twilight watched in abject horror yet again as I disappeared in a cloud of dust and dirt. “Finally,” Tirek spoke, rolling his shoulder and cracking his neck. “Now, where was-” Tirek was completely and utterly silenced as he was violently uppercutted, his jaw slamming shut and hit teeth clacking as he violently bit his tongue. The force of the attack was so violent, he was lifted 100 feet in the air, tumbling head over ass cheeks. His impact against the ground was so hard, that Richter Scale was have another seizure. A large plume of debris engulfed him as his body folded in half upon impact.

Ember stood dumbfounded… before she turned her head to look down at the little mare next to her. Twilight stood in a defensive stance, below her hooves, the ground lay cracked, her horn, smoking, and her eyes hidden behind the bangs of her mane. “How… dare you! How… dare you! HOW DARE YOU HURT HIM!!!” Twilight shouted, going from a whisper to a pissed off shout at the top of her lungs. Twilight flared her wings and used every ounce of strength she had shot off into the skies, causing a very audible *whoosh* and kicking up more dust. Twilight was airborne in a matter of seconds, the extra alicorn magic fueling her system was the equivalent of overdosing on adrenaline… by a really, really, huge ass amount. As she came to a hover just above the crater Tirek laid in, her horn sparked maliciously.

Tirek sat up with a groan, hand on his head. Seeing a tiny shadow in front of him, he lifted his head, seeing Twilight hovering above him. Pulling her head back, her horn was engulfed with power than no mortal could or should ever possess.

And she hit Tirek with the power of four alicorns.

The beam of arcing arcane magic was 30 meters wide, it had to be! Tirek held up his arms, using them as shields. His form was barely visible before it was swallowed alive by the bright pink and white beam. Twilight held the onslaught, tears rolling down her cheeks. This was it, she was done with being stepped on and hunted like a dog!

When she finished the attack, she panted for breath. Her mouth felt dry as she surveyed the destruction. On the edges of the debris field, the dirt was barren, devoid of life and cracked horribly. Twilight watched the area with a critical eye, looking for any signs of movement or life. A flash of blinding light was her answer.

Twilight screamed as she sent tumbling uncontrollably through the skies. From the settling dust, Tirek emerged, burned, but otherwise unharmed. Flaring her wings, Twilight frantically waved her wings before she finally gained control and leveled out and came to a hover. Charging forward, Tirek charged up another beam and fired. Twilight, being smaller and faster, dodged the attack, banking around it. Diving, she came in low and fast,

Whoosh!

“Woah!” Twilight yelped, flinching back as a missile shot past her. Tirek only had enough time to widen his eyes as the projectile struck home. The high-explosive warhead exploded in yet another giant fireball, sending Tirek toppling over. Hovering in place, Twilight watched the whole thing before she turned to look over her shoulder. Lowering the smoking tube, I placed the butt on the ground, I held up a second rocket and loaded the launcher.

“What are you looking at me for!? Hit him again!” I shouted while locking the rocket into place. Using it as a brace, I pushed myself to my feet from my kneeling position. Running up to her, it just so happened that she was hovering right at eye level for me. “I said shoot Twilight!” Leveling the launcher, I lined up the sights on Tirek’s chest and fired. The launch was deafening and caused Twilight to wince, covering her ears with her hooves. As she turned back, time seemed to slow for her. Perhaps it was the magic, perhaps it was some form of divine intervention, whatever the case, she could see the rocket and Tirek, the latter moving in such a way to avoid the projectile. Calculating the trajectory of the shot, along with Tirek's movement, she quickly came up with the math.

It was going to miss!

Next to me, Twilight reared her head back and charged a spell. With a determined shout, she fired the spell. I flinched back from the intensity of the beam. The heat was intense and the beam blinding. The arcing magic sot off like a bat outta hell, I was so surprised that it was even moving faster than the missile! Engulfing the missile… I honestly didn't expect it to fuse with it! I was expecting an earth-shattering kaboom! The magic warped and twisted around the shot as it was sucked into the warhead. Once the magic was gone, the jets of the missile burned white hot, magical energy sparking off its metallic surface.

My eyes widened.

This was going to be a big boom!

Wrapping my arm around Twilight, who yelped, I pulled her into my chest and opened my shield, its magical properties extended it, so it was tall enough the cover us both. “Hang on!” I shouted. What came next was a blinding light, the shield being the only thing shading us from the intensity. The following explosion shook the earth to its very core as I did my best to hang on to both Twilight and the shield, all while keeping my feet underneath me.

Twilight screamed at the top of her lungs, but no sound came. The only indication was her opened mouth as tears ran down her face. “Hold on!” I shouted as loud as I could. But I doubt Twilight even heard me. Here's hoping Ember took up cover before the explosion. When the shaking eventually ended, and my hearing returned I slapped my shield off my arm, it's glowing, white hot surface burning through the shields on my suit. It landed with a metallic clang, scorching the earth. Staring at the thing, I rubbed my arm before I lifted my head to survey the destruction.

“Holy shit…”

“W-W-What?” Twilight hesitantly asked, her eyes all but welded shut, both hooves covering them.

“That was a lot bigger than I anticipated,” I replied, dumbstruck. Grabbing Twilight by the top of the head, I gently lifted it, causing her to open her eyes… when she finally saw the battlefield she gasped and whimpered, ears pinning. The once lush, green, and fertile land was now barren and dead. Scorch marks tainted the land like scars. As the dust settled, Tirek stood tall, a magical shield covering his form. It was cracked and barely holding together, but it was still there.

“‘Cal?”

“Ember!? Thank god you got out of the blast radius!”

Ember sat huddled up in a corner in a darkened room, two tiny fillies, a stallion, and a mare were clinging to her for dear life. “I appear to be in a bit of a situation… I'll get to you when I can.” Ember turned her head to the family holding onto her for dear life. “Could you please let me go?” all four ponies shook their heads vigorously side to side. “Well… I said please…”

I felt a shiver run down my spine at the sounds of a distant explosion.

Tirek dispelled his shield and scowled at us. With a huff, he started to approach us at a walking pace. No attacks came and he didn't speak. Glancing down at Twilight, I released her before stepping on my shield, kicking it into the air where I caught it and placed it on my left arm, collapsing it. Deciding to see where this was going, the two of us started to head towards Tirek. Ember came running up not too long after. Ignoring where she had been, I decided I would talk to her about it later. When we came to a reasonable distance from each other, we waited for one or the other to move.

“It seems we’re are of equal power, Princess,” Tirek started.

“So, it would seem,” Twilight replied.

Tirek narrowed his eyes for a second, seemed like he was thinking about his next statement. “How about a deal?” Tirek offered. “I have something you want, and you have something I want!”

What’s his game?

"You have nothing that I want!" Twilight shouted, leaning forward slightly.

With a snap of his fingers, nine opaque bubbles appeared around him. Each bubble held an occupant. Each occupant was just as shocked as we were. Both Twilight and I gasped.

“TWILIGHT!”

“Girls!?”

Each bubble held one of Twilight's friends, Spike included. Two held my teammates and one held Discord. Looks like the mighty traitor was turned against. But I choose to ignore him for the time being, there were more pressing matters to attend to. Serenity weakly lifted her head from the spot she laid within the bubble. She was hurt, badly too. “We did our best…” she reported weakly.

Drax wasn't moving.

I heard a click and Ember raised her rifle. Grabbing onto the rifle quickly, I shook my head at her, forcing her to lower the weapon. “You did your best, Serenity. We'll get you out. I promise.” She nodded her head before she laid it back down.

Tirek ignored us as he started speaking. “How about this, princess?” He held up his hand, gesturing towards the bubbles. “You give me the magic… and I release your friends.”

“Twilight don't!” Rainbow shouted.

“We're not worth it…” Fluttershy whimpered.

“That magic is more important than us, Darling,” Rarity added.

“Don't… Twilight…” Serenity requested weakly.

“I don't know what the fuck is going on, but they're right!” Ember interjected with a shout. “You have what he wants! It's more important than them!” She turned to Tirek and raised her rifle. “Let me take his fat head off and turn it into a bathtub!”

I refused to even acknowledge an answer. In my time being here, my outlook on certain areas had changed. I was not going to let Tirek take the magic, but I also wasn't going to let him hurt my friends.

“Deal!”

“NO!”

Tirek grinned victoriously. “But you have to release my friends first!” Twilight ordered with a point of her hoof.” Tirek’s smile faltered, but he shrugged it off.

“Not like they can do much anyway,” he said, snapping his fingers. Each bubble popped and everyone but Discord fell to the ground. Jumping forward, I caught Serenity while Ember grabbed Drax while Twilight dove for Spike. Holding up a health restore, I used it on Serenity, while Ember did the same to Drax.

“I'm sorry…”

“There's no reason to apologize, Serenity. You did your best.”

Nearby, Twilight released Spike, handing him over to Rarity before she glanced up at Discord, who guiltily turned around to avoid eye contact. “All of them, Tirek!” Discord, upon hearing those words, glanced over his shoulder with a shocked expression.

“Him?” Tirek question, holding up an open palm towards Discord, who flinched away. “Even after everything he did against you?”

Twilight growled, her teeth grinding. “Now, Tirek! Or its no deal!”

Tirek narrowed his eyes at her before shrugging yet again. With another snap of his fingers, Discord fell free, landing hard and bouncing like a wet noodle. Ignoring him, Tirek stepped up with a smile. “Now… for your end of the deal!”

Turning towards Twilight, I held up a storage device in my palm.

“What are you doing?” Serenity questioned.

“Something stupid,” I answered, still looking at Twilight before I turned towards Serenity. “Just be ready to move. I'll keep his attention!”

Tirek opened his mouth, drawing in a deep breath. Twilight winced and struggled as she felt the magic in her body leave her form. She struggled hard as her body fought hard to keep what belonged inside herself. But her struggling was futile as it was pulled from her horn.

Running up, I clamped my hand around her horn, the active storage device absorbing the magic like a vacuum. Twilight screamed out, tears on the edges of her eyes as she stared up through her bags and the arcing magic surrounding my hand. After several seconds, Twilight collapsed, panting hard as her friends did their best to run up to her.

I was already gone.

Tirek screamed out in ferocious anger as I ran between his legs. Tossing a different storage device, it materialized a Sparrow Hover Bike, jumping over the back and onto the seat, I turned towards Tirek. “Come and get me!” I shouted, grabbing the handlebars and punching the throttle. The engine on the back roared as I raced off down the field. I swerved as a beam of magic just barely missed me, cratering the ground and sending more debris into the air, many tiny bits bouncing off my shields. Glancing over my shoulder Tirek was hot on my heels.

“Ordis!” I shouted, dodging a gigantic boulder that came tumbling overhead. “Ordis, prepare for extract! This is going to be a hot one!” Dodging yet another magic attack, the Liset roared overhead, banking low to shadow me. “Ordis watch out for flak!” The roar of a magic beam overhead caused the Liset to bank to the left, dodging the attack. “Ordis, back off! Set a waypoint and I’ll-shit!”

The back of the Sparrow exploded as I was thrown head over heels tumbling through the air several feet before I came to a rolling stop across the ground. Curling into a ball, the remnants of the bike smashed against the ground next to me, throwing burning hot debris in all directions. Rolling onto my back, the sun was blocked out as Tirek loomed over me, a rather large chunk of earth in his grasp.

Yeah, that’ll probably kill me.

Rolling to the side, I tapped a storage device on my hip and held my palm open. “Come on come on come on!” It felt like an eternity as I waited. Each second felt like a year. This was one of those few times where I knew I was not going to get out of this without outside help. Once I got what I needed, I slapped it against my chest and hoped for the best.

Twilight’s P.O.V.

My lungs burned as I came to a sliding stop, my friends not too far behind me. In the distance, Tirek loomed over a tiny Excalibur, a giant boulder in his grasp. “No…” I whimpered. “Nonono!” I shouted taking off again. I didn’t want Tirek to hurt him! My mind was racing of horrible possibilities. Each step felt like a kilometer, I wasn’t going to get there fast enough! No matter how hard I ran! Tears streamed down my face. No... by the gods please no!

The earth shook so violently, I lost my hoofing and fell with a roll. Pushing myself up with my front hooves, I could only stare, slack-jawed, as Tirek stood panting over the boulder, an angry scowl on his face. I… it couldn’t be true… it couldn’t be true…

Unbeknownst to me, Ember had dropped to her knees, her weapon at her knees. There was no sound. No... nothing. Both of us had dropped our heads. For me, all I could see was red on the very edges of my vision. The feeling was near indescribable. All I felt was rage, unhinged anger, all I wanted to do was to tear Tirek limb from limb. Is this what true power feels like!?

Both Ember and I slowly rose to our hooves.

Both of us shaking with anger and hatred.

“I’LL KILL YOU!”

Both of us shouted out. If I had my magic, I would have exploded is a similar fashion that Ember did. Flames burst forth from her armor, burning white hot. It was as though she had taken the power from the sun itself. If I had my magic, I would rip every limb off of Tirek as slowly and painfully as possible!

"RAAAAAAHHHHH!"

Both of us charged forward at full speed, I ignored the protests from my friends. I had one goal… and I was going to do it! And no pony was going to stop me! Blood was going to flow like a river and I was going to ride it like a waterslide! I was going to make Tirek’s death as painful as I possibly could!

Our screams of anger resonated through the land.

In the distance, Tirek took his stance. It would do him little with what I planned to do to him! Magic or not! With Ember’s help, we could do anything!

I was knocked from my rage induced state when the ground shook violently.

Both Ember and I stumbled to keep our hoofing. I stumbled again when the earth shook violently yet again. Similar to a tremor from an earthquake. Looking to the ground, I expected it to give me the answer. Confused, I glanced over my shoulder towards my friends. When they didn’t have the answer, they slowly turned to look back into the forest.

I had no idea we were that close to the Everfree.

Trees snapped, birds scattered as something big was coming our way. My eyes went wide, this day was just getting worse and worse! Applejack’s eyes went wide as she shouted, “Hydra! Everypony run!” But it was too late! Trees toppled over all around them as a humongous golem smashed its way past my friends. I screamed in panic and attempted to run, but I froze when it smashed a rather large oak tree with the back of its arm. Before the splintered trunk hit the ground, it caught it midair, throwing it like a toothpick right at Tirek. The tree smashed right into Tirek’s face, splintering into hundreds of jagged spear like splinters, causing him to step back with a shout.

My eyes went wide as the golem was headed straight for us! I locked up. What could I do? It was as big as Tirek! With a shout it dove forward over the top of Ember and I. My eyes went wide as I stared into the face of something horrifying. Three undead figures stared back at me. I felt nauseous. As it landed with a roll it continued onward, unabated. Each step was like a mini earthquake. Pulling back its right arm, it curled a metallic fist.

And punched Tirek square in the nose!

Bone cracked, and the hit sounded like an explosion, I swore I even saw Tirek’s face cave in slightly. I blinked, what was this thing!?

“YEAHHHH WHOOO-HOO!” I turned around to see my friends, unscathed thankfully, cheering. Turning towards the fight, Tirek stumbled from the strike. He had no time to recover as a second strike landed. The fight was terribly one-sided, with every inch Tirek lost, the golem took a mile. Each strike was as brutal as the last. Each punch to the face caused Tirek to stumble back. Reaching forward, the golem grabbed Tirek by his remaining horn, holding him in place. Pulling him downward, it kneed Tirek in the stomach, knocking the wind from him. Pulling up its arm, it elbowed him in the back before pulling him back and lifting a leg. Gears grinded and hydraulics emptied…

Before it kicked Tirek right in the chest!

I cheered loudly as Tirek stumbled back from the attack, holding his stomach. The golem took two steps forward. “Why don’t you fight someone your own size!” he shouted, uppercutting Tirek during the last two words. Tirek’s jaw clacked hard, causing all of us to wince from the strike as he was lifted high into the air. As Tirek sailed through the air, the golem turned towards us, flexing both arms above its head in victory.

I glanced past it, “Look!” I shouted with a point of my hoof. As It turned, Tirek sat up, holding a hand to his head with a groan. Turning around, the golem stood tall. A hatch opened as something stood up from inside its head. “Hey Tirek!?”

E-Excalibur!?

“You want this magic!?” he shouted, holding up one of his tiny devices, one that sparked with the magic I once held. He sat back down inside the golem, the hatch closing. Reaching back, he pulled a gigantic, eight-barrel weapon from its back, spinning the front portion and taking aim right at Tirek.

“Come and take it!”

Authors Note:

I wanted to put this here as to not sour the story. I've been stressed a lot recently. I've had work off recently, while it sounds nice, I have 0 income at the moment, my dog, Sam has been ill for the last several days. And last weekend, while I was out of town, there was a double homicide... and one of the victims was a friend of mine. From the sound of it, he was mistaken as a drug dealer and was just caught up in a horrible circumstance. With everything going on I haven't been paying attention in class and just decided to get this out of the way.

I hope you all enjoyed the story so far, though.