Truth and Reconciliation

by sincarnation

Chapter 5: Mementos // Mistakes

Chapter 5: Memento // Mistakes

10:30am, 11th of Viglyd, 6 Days After the Tirek Incident – Octavia’s Luxury Apartment

“Well isn’t this quite the surprise,” said Octavia with a smirk. “Rarity and Applejack I believe? To what do I owe the honor of having two heroes of Equestria show up at my door unexpectedly?” Octavia’s sarcastic tone almost undermined what was actually a genuine question.

“Hello to you too Octavia,” said Rarity with an equally sarcastic tone. “I thought we were past this though, you know, after last time. The night after the Gala I mean.”

Octavia's face grew warm as she looked over to make sure Vinyl wasn’t paying attention to her blush, and she was glad to see Vinyl seemed to be dowsing off on the couch.

“I’m never going to live that down, and you won't ever let me forget. I was drunk ok, we all make mistakes. Don't worry we are, but old habits die hard I guess. Come in, and make yourself comfortable.”

“Just let me do the talking,” whispered Rarity to Applejack once Octavia had walked away.

Rarity and Applejack happily followed Octavia inside of the modestly decorated apartment, when they heard Octavia call out from the kitchen.

“Rarity you still like your coffee the same way?”

“Yes, thank you,” said Rarity as she went over to sit at the bar overlooking the kitchen.

“Didn’t you just drink a ton of coffee? Do you really need more?” called Applejack, not really expecting an answer, as she went to sit down on the couch next to the sleeping mare.

Applejack couldn’t help but be curious about the strange mare sleeping in next to her. The large pair of glasses, and crazy blue mane reminded her vaguely of Rainbow dash. As she hovered over the sleeping mare, she was surprised that this Octavia got around so much. To lose her marefriend and have another mare over on the same day was a little unsettling, but who was she to judge? “Unless she doesn’t know her marefriend went missing,” thought Applejack as her eyes bulged. “Uh oh, Rarity might be pullin the pin on that grenade instead of doin damage control afterwards.”

“Well to be honest we were out in the city when we found out,” started Rarity as she graciously accepted another hot cup of coffee. “I just want you to know how sorry I am, and that if you need anything I’m here to help.”

There was a brief moment where neither of the two mares really knew how to follow up, but Octavia found her words first.

“That’s certainly generous of you, but what are you talking about?”

It was only then had it occurred to Rarity that Octavia might not have checked the news yet, and when it did hit, her stomach plummeted.

“Oh you haven’t heard yet,” started Rarity as she tried to think of a way to break the bad news. “Tell me Octavia, have you checked the news this morning? Any of them?

“No, I’ve had a fairly busy morning. Why? What happened Rarity?”

“Oh um, I’m sorry to be the one to tell you this, but Vinyl was ponynapped this morning outside of Sal’s. Nopony knows what happened to her.”

Rarity expected Octavia to burst into tears or something, anything really, besides the confused look she still had on her face. She was even more surprised when she heard an unfamiliar voice from the other side of the room.

“What about me?” yawned Vinyl loudly as she groggily opened her eyes to see Octavia had changed colors. “Woah Tavi, I didn’t know you were into role play, but I can definitely work with sexy cowgirl.” As she raised her head to kiss “Octavia” a seat cushion hit her square in the face.

“If you hadn’t said my name, and I didn’t know how stupid you are when you are sleepy, I would’ve thrown that history book instead,” said Octavia more embarrassed than angry. “Look again.”

This time Vinyl recognized Octavia’s voice coming from the other side of the room, and she took a good look at the blushing mare next to her. This time it was Vinyl’s turn to blush as she recognized her.

“Sweet Celestia, you’re Applejack,” said Vinyl quickly. “Uh yeah sorry about that, I uh didn’t mean it. Well the sexy cowgirl thing I meant, bu-”

“Vinyl!” shrieked Octavia mortified.

“Uh don’t worry bout it, let’s just forget this whole thing happened though,” said Applejack equally as embarrassed.

“Huh what happened?” smiled Vinyl as she let out another yawn.

“Well as you can see,” started Octavia as she turned back to Rarity. “Vinyl is fine, stupid at times yes, but fine. Where did you hear she was ponynapped?”

“Why, it is all over the news and social media,” said Rarity surprised at the turn of events. “There are even videos of Vinyl struggling against a massive stallion,” she finished as she showed Octavia the video from her phone.

“Hey Vinyl come look at this.”

What she was shown didn’t surprise Vinyl in the least.

“I told you I started off struggling against him, and I told him that they totally thought he was ponynapping me,” laughed Vinyl. “His picture is going to be all over Canterlot now.” But as she said that her laughter died in her throat. “Uh oh, if they police are after him they might hold him up before he can take care of business. Damn it, I guess I will let everypony know I’m alright, such a wasted opportunity,” sighed Vinyl.

“Wait, so if you weren’t being ponynapped what was going on?”

“Oh, I got plastered after a great set last night, and I stayed too long so Sal threw me out. Orion came along, put me on his back, and he decided he was taking me home, to Tavi's home surprisingly. I was drunk, and he was a huge strange stallion so yeah I put up a bit of a fight until I realized there was no point in fighting him then. Turns out he was a completely legit guy, and that I didn’t have to worry. He brought me back here, we ate breakfast, and he left,” explained Vinyl as she posed for a selfie to prove she was fine.

“Wait so he didn’t hurt you at all?”

“Nope, Octy hurt him more than he did either of us,” snickered Vinyl earning a glare from her marefriend.

“He just approached you and offered to take you home?”

“Well he didn’t really offer, he didn’t give me a choice, but I was drunk and needed help from somepony. I couldn’t even really stand,” said Vinyl mildly embarrassed.

“Do you know where he is now?”

“Nah, he said he had some business to take care of, but we agreed to meet up after,” said Vinyl as she finished spreading the word around about her good health.

“Did he say what his business was?”

“Yeah, but I make it a point not to put other pony's business out there. Why are you so interested in him?” said Vinyl as she started to doubt their reasons for popping up, today had been a too strange a day for her to ignore her instincts especially after being right so far today.

Rarity and Applejack looked at each other unsure of what to say, but eventually they opted for the truth. Mostly because Applejack was a terrible liar, but they hoped it might get Vinyl to help.

“Listen, it’s very important that we find him, I think you called him Orion,” explained Applejack. “We can’t tell you exactly why we have to find him, but it could be very bad for Equestria if we can’t find him.”

“Really? Well he said he had to take care of business with an old friend.”

“Did he say what he meant by taking care of business?” pushed Rarity as she turned to Applejack. Neither of them were quite sure what to expect.

“No, he wasn’t really sure what he was going to do. Orion is a good guy though, he promised he wouldn’t do anything he would regret.”

“I’m sure he is, but that promise doesn’t mean all that much frankly, all he has to do is not regret killing somepony,” said Rarity skeptically earning her a glare from Applejack.

“He wouldn’t do that,” snapped Vinyl as she thought back about his sudden outbursts and anger issues. “He has his problems yeah, but so does everypony. What makes you so sure he is going to hurt somepony?”

“We can’t say,” interrupted Applejack. “Why are you so quick to defend him?”

“What exactly happened during your encounter with him?” pressed Rarity as she was debating calling Twilight over.

Vinyl went over the story of how she met Artemis and almost everything it entailed. She went over his use of magic, weird scars, dislike of Canterlot, outbursts, unfamiliarity with technology, and even his story about Lupinia. While Octavia had filled in the bits Vinyl missed, she stayed silent along with Vinyl about mentioning the mare Orion lost.

“I get what he is going through, and even though it would be easier for him to just hate everything, he still tries to do the right thing. That takes a lot of heart, and I can respect that,” explained Vinyl seeming oddly proud. Her pride didn’t last long as her expression went grim. “What do you plan on doing if you find him?”

“Don’t worry, we just want to talk to him,” said Applejack reassuringly as she nodded at Rarity. “You said he cast some spells on you. Would you let Princess Twilight find him through you with magic?”

Vinyl looked to Octavia before she nodded her head, she hoped they were wrong but it is hard to argue with the ponies that had just stopped a deranged centaur from taking over Equestria less than a week ago.

As soon as she agreed Rarity sent the message, “We’ve got a way to find him Twilight and Rainbow Dash get here quickly.”

Only seconds later Twilight, Fluttershy, and Spike teleported into the room with a flash of light.

“What did you find Rarity?” asked Twilight frantically as she looked around for any signs of Artemis.

Rarity took a couple minutes to retell everything Vinyl had told her to the three that had just showed up.

“Artemis used some type of magic to connect him and Vinyl, I was thinking you could trace it back to him,” explained Rarity.

As she finished there was a crash through the skylight as a rainbow blur crashed into the couch, nearly knocking over the Cello on a stand next to it and the apple farmer on it.

“CAREFUL!” shrieked Octavia as she went to inspect her instrument for damage. “If you value your life as much as I value this Cello, you had better pray that it isn’t damaged.”

After making sure that her Cello was fine, and relocating it to the bedroom, she recognized the pegasus that crashed as another one of the heroes.

“One of your friends I presume?” asked Octavia dryly as she looked up at her broken skylight.

Twilight only looked at her with an apologetic look.

“Yeah, sorry about that” said Rainbow Dash sheepishly.

“I told her to use the door, but I don’t think she heard me,” laughed a bubbly voice as a pink pony bounced through the hole in the ceiling. “That looked like a lot more fun though. Oh Hey Scratchy, glad to see you weren’t ponynapped by some horrible terrifying wolf monster.”

“PINKIE!” snapped Twilight as she turned to Octavia. “Don’t worry about the skylight, I will fix it before we leave.”

“Uh huh, yeah I’m fine Pinks,” said Vinyl as she tried to make sense of the situation. “Glad you weren’t ponynapped by some horrible terrifying wolf monster too.”

“Thank you for your consideration Princess,” said Octavia as she started to put the pieces together. Suddenly Vinyl’s last suggestion about a disguised wolf sounded a lot more plausible. "While wolves couldn’t perform magic themselves, maybe somepony else cast it on him,” she thought.

“Rarity, explain everything to Rainbow and Pinkie while I prepare,” said Twilight before she turned to Vinyl. “Thank you for helping us, I plan on tracking Artemis through the blessing he placed on you earlier, is that alright?”

“His name is Artemis?” asked Vinyl sadly as she recalled their previous conversation about Orion lying.

Noticing Vinyl's sudden dip in mood, Twilight corrected herself, “I meant Orion sorry.”

“Will it hurt?” asked Octavia worriedly.

“I don’t think so, but I’ve never tracked magic through a living subject,” admitted Twilight. “But I will do my best to make sure it is as painless as possible.”

“I’ll be fine Octy,” said Vinyl as she nuzzled her marefriend. “Let’s do this.”

Twilight placed her hoof on the white mare’s flank, and she began to focus on the oak leaf symbol. As she opened her mind to the flow of magic, the world shifted and she was no longer in Octavia’s apartment.

11:00am, 11th of Viglyd, 6 Days After the Tirek Incident – ???

When Twilight opened her eyes she was in an empty void of never ending blackness, but it didn't take long for small sparkles of different colored light to appear faintly in the distance. It looked astonishingly beautiful, for it reminded her of the stars in the sky, and she guessed this might be where Luna got her inspiration from. As she gazed upon the replica stars two bright sources of light appeared behind her.

The first was a pure white pulsating form with a brilliant glowing green tether attached to it, and the second was a similar bright white though with the slightest blue tint to it. She assumed, hoped, that this was the magic of Vinyl, Artemis, and Rarity respectively, but it would be hard to tell for sure without interacting directly with it. She figured that the faint sparks in the distance were probably other unicorns, but she noted that there were three in the distance that dwarfed the rest.

She focused on the tether that she figured was Artemis’s magic. The first thing she noticed was the nature of his magic, it was ancient, protean, and wild. It didn't seem nearly as chaotic as Discord’s, but it shifted just as much adapting to every mental touch. Despite the constant shifting, the tether wasn't any weaker than she expected in fact it was stronger.

After her quick examination the magic, she began to follow the glowing green connection through the blackness. As she followed the green trail she became more aware of two things; the fact that her mind had extended beyond her body, and that the green trail was leading her to the large glowing green sun surrounded by what looked like translucent green steel walls.

As she approached the walls, she hesitated in awe of the powers before her. All three spheres were almost blindingly bright, they were bright candles in the expansive black void. What surprised her was how relatively close they seemed to be in proximity and nature, but it was difficult to tell exactly where she was without landmarks.

She recognized the golden glowing sun as Princess Celestia’s magic, for she had seen the glow of Celestia's magic more than enough to times to recognize the color. She felt pretty safe in assuming that the dark blue one of similar size was Princess Luna’s despite her limited interactions with the Princess of the Night. While both spheres were large she couldn’t help but notice that they were both roughly half the size of Artemis’s.

“Celestia and Luna are probably halves of the same whole power so that might make sense,” thought Twilight as she switched her attention back to the glowing green walls.

Twilight briefly considered heading back to her own body, but when she turned towards the path she took, she was astonished. There was a large purple sphere only slightly smaller than the green one in front of her. She couldn’t believe she couldn’t see it before, but the worst part was she wasn’t sure who it belonged to. She could sense all of Celestia’s court mages, and they were completely dwarfed by the comparison, but she couldn’t think of anypony that powerful in Canterlot. She made a note to investigate it after she had tracked Artemis, and she turned back to the large walls before her.

It didn’t take a genius to see that they were meant to keep others out, but she had no intention of letting that stop her. Though she wasn't really trained in penetrating mental barriers, she had read enough books to know that this was probably the weakest they would be. If she failed her first attempt he would reinforce them, and make it nearly impossible for her to find him.

She did exactly as she had read to do, she took a few deep breaths and focused on herself. She abstracted her will and focused it into the smallest singular point possible, the whole process was similar to taking a hammer to a chisel. The main difference was the point of the chisel could get infinitesimally small, and that she only had one shot to penetrate the barriers.

As she rammed herself mentally at the barrier, she was surprised at how easily she went through, but she was even more surprised at how suddenly the sphere expanded, engulfing her entirely.

As she tried to turn back, she found that the hole she made had already resealed, and she was unable to move as the ancient consciousness enveloped her own with a feeling of warm but very solid molasses .

At first it merely held her in place, but after what felt like an eternity the consciousness stirred again. While its size made her expect it to be lumbering and slow, she had learned firsthand the speed of which it reacted. As she began to wonder if she would ever be set free, suddenly its grip on her tightened as she felt the alien presence force its way into her mind.

She tried to fight back, but her impromptu defenses were swept aside like leaves before the wind. The sphere forced its way into her mind, and she was overcome with nausea as the consciousness gained full entry to her most private thoughts and memories.

As the foreign mind invaded her own, she was overwhelmed by emotion. Sorrow and anger that weren’t her own quickly became hers, as she found herself tearfully and uncontrollably angry. Just as quickly as these emotions came they rushed out of her as the presence receded from her mind leaving her out of breath. She was left in shock at depths of his emotion, she questioned how any creature could function with that much rage and sadness. What really confused her was that the foreign mind hadn't even finished going through her memories from foalhood before it left her, but she noted that while the presence had left her mind she was still unable to move.

“Who has the nerve to invade my mind?” asked the sphere, its deep mental voice coming from all sides.

“I am Princess Twilight Sparkle, is this the Wolf King Artemis?” responded Twilight as she tried to figure a way out of his grasp.

“Princess? Princess of what?” growled the voice as it took on a dangerous tone.

Twilight immediately noticed and felt the change in mood, it went from annoyance to seething anger at what would’ve been astonishingly fast if she hadn’t experienced his anger first hoof already.

“I am the Princess of Friendship.”

“Hmmm,” echoed the sphere as the anger seemed to dissipate. “This is Artemis, I am the Wolf King no longer. You knew who I was and still recklessly tried to enter my mind?” Artemis was somewhat on edge as he recognized the power before him as the same one that returned Cerberus to Tartarus over a year ago.

“Uh well kinda, I’ve honestly never tracked magic through a living creature before, nor have I tried entering somepony's mind. I’ve done research on the subject, but I didn’t really know what to expect.”

“FOOL! You should know the dangers of doing so, did you not pay any attention to your studies with Lu-”. His words died as soon as they started to come out. Without Luna or himself, she probably didn’t have a full magical education and that wasn’t really her fault.

“My apologies, it is not your fault that you don’t know this, in the past a gifted unicorn such yourself would’ve studied with Luna and myself alongside Celestia on responsible use of magic.”

Artemis let out a sigh as he realized even more consequences of his absence, much of the knowledge of magic he would’ve taught gifted unicorns was probably lost.

“While normally I would’ve taught combat application and the effects of magic on living creatures, consider this a part of your studies,” lectured Artemis. “First never blindly open your mind to the flow of magic, to track somepony or otherwise, when you open your mind you allow yourself to be just as easily tracked or sensed. That is why you saw the steel walls around my mind, though it limits my magical senses, it prevents other ponies from just outright sensing my power if they search for it. Normally I wouldn’t have been able to be found, but I left a trail via the blessing I gave Vinyl. In the future remember that any magic you perform on somepony else can leave a trail to you unless you take painstaking measures to hide it, and you can only hide it if it is a one-time occurrence not a constant effect.”

Twilight was at a loss for words, as much as she enjoyed a good lecture she didn’t really expect to be getting one in her current situation, though something in his words stuck out to her.

“How did you know I was Celestia’s student?”

“Anypony born with exceptional magical abilities was watched and taught by us, we figured it would be for the best after our interactions with Starswirl the Bearded. While we were impressed by his magical abilities, we all recognized the danger someone of his talent could pose to the world if they messed up a spell or if they were hell-bent on misusing their power,” he explained mildly irritated at being interrupted. “Pay attention, it is important for you to fully understand your mistake. Next time you invade someone much more experienced than you, they might not be so forgiving. When your mind is open, that is when you will be the most informed about the magic going on around you, but you will also be at your most vulnerable. Even now you are trapped in my grasp, at my mercy, and while somepony is in your mind they can make you do whatever they want. For example right now your physical body should be doing river stomp, though I doubt you can feel it this far extended, and right now you suddenly started thinking about how much you enjoy mead.”

“That's impossible I’ve never had mead,” insisted Twilight as she suddenly had a strange craving. “What’s going on? I have the strangest taste in my mouth, but I don’t know what it is.”

“Oh you know exactly what it is,” explained Artemis smugly. “You just don’t want to believe it. Now do you understand? As long as they maintain concentration and a hold on your mind, you are subject to their will. Unfortunately, you extended your mind too far against someone much more experienced than you. Any master of the art could be having your body do something completely different and you wouldn’t even realize it nor would you be able to stop them. If they happened to be an immortal that doesn’t need sleep and has spent countless years focused on a single subject without distraction, well I think you can imagine the potential danger of how long you could spend under someone else’s control.”

“You plan on making me your eternal slave?” paled Twilight as she dreaded the idea of never having control of her own thoughts.

“No not at all, I don’t need to invade the minds of others to get loyal followers. Though admittedly the idea of having her own personal prized student be the one to plant the knife in her back does have a certain appeal to me now,” considered Artemis wistfully. “Luckily for you, I’m above traumatizing an innocent to get revenge on the guilty. Besides if Celestia needs to die it will be by my claws, nothing will take that from me.”

“So you do plan on killing her then?”

“Not necessarily, but I presume she sent you to stop me.”

“No, Celestia didn't even know that we were searching for you.”

“We?” Artemis thought. “There are more of them after me? Interesting, I should check in on them as well.”

“Did you really think you could stop me like this?” laughed Artemis.

“No, we just wanted to talk to you,” explained Twilight as she realized she really was stuck there as long as he wanted. “We, I just don’t want to lose Princess Celestia. She has been everything to me: a mother, a mentor, an idol. I don’t want to lose her; I just hoped to change your mind about killing her.”

“Unfortunate young one,” started Artemis coldly. “Your pleas fall on unsympathetic ears. Tell me Princess, did you ever consider that I might have had a student equally as important to me as Celestia is to you? I had three, but let us say I didn’t. Did you consider that there may have been any loved ones that I was ripped away from? Time doesn't make loss any easier, only bearable.”

Twilight opened her mouth to respond, but she really didn’t have a good response. She never did consider his side, but that was because no matter what it wasn’t going to justify killing the Princess. Even though she had moved to speak, he didn’t seem to have any intention in stopping to let her.

“That mark I gave Vinyl, the one you tracked me through. You have no idea what that actually means to me, that mark is a symbol and a promise to do everything in my power to protect the bearer. You couldn’t fathom the pain of being locked away as those you cared about most were in danger, and when you promised to be there for them, you weren’t and they died as a result. I felt my student’s fear as my own when one of them died facing down a creature of unspeakable horror,” Artemis recounted bitterly. “While it may seem petty, she did not spare my students and I will not spare hers.”

Twilight wanted to respond, but she suddenly found tears in her eyes. His grief was pouring over into her, and however without being muddled by anger this time she could truly grasp the depth of his sorrow. It was so overwhelming; it took all of her focus to avoid being lost in it. She felt the need to curl up in a corner and die, and what scared her was that if she hadn’t been in his grasp, able to move, she might’ve done it. She wasn’t sure if it was simply the result of being surrounded by his grieving consciousness or if was it because he was entering her mind again.

“That does raise the question of what to do with you?” pondered Artemis aloud though with a new sound of weariness in his voice. “I don’t particularly want to kill you, but I certainly can’t let you go to act on your own. If I did, you would just track me immediately, return to your body, and then come to pester and interrupt me. You have already proven yourself to be reckless, powerful, and desperate, a dangerous combination; however it seems like a waste to cut down such raw potential before it reaches its prime,” he said as he looked out at the purple sun in the distance.

The sorrow that had flooded into Twilight seemed to be steadily receding, and his words had managed to refocus her on the situation at hand. Though when she tried to defend herself, she found she couldn’t speak. It wasn’t that she didn’t know what to say, this time she was not able to open her mouth. Suddenly she had the desire to speak, but no voice to vocalize her words.

“In only a couple years, probably less, you will likely be the most powerful creature on the planet when it comes to raw magic. I warn you now, the bane of the most powerful magi is always arrogance. Never overestimate your abilities, and never underestimate your opponent,” lectured Artemis with a tone that betrayed his age. “I’m sure by now you’ve noticed that you can’t speak, I simply have no desire to hear any more of your words. I have made my decision on what to do with you. Unfortunately for you, you are still in my control, and you seem tired. Right now I want you get some rest, a full 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep ought to do you a world of good. Good-bye Twilight Sparkle.”

“Wait what?” thought Twilight as the green sphere started to drift away.

As soon as Twilight felt she had control of her mind again, she traced Artemis to the Canterlot Castle Garden Maze. Though even as she got the information, the world around her started to flicker and fade. It was then Twilight realized exactly what he had done, by time she woke up it could be too late. She tried to return to her body so she could warn the girls before she was forced to obey Artemis, but as she tried to race back she realized how far she had gone. She wasn't sure she could make it back in time.

Slowly the sparks of light she saw went out, and the spark filled world around her started to revert to an empty void. Soon she could only see the purple sun in the distance, but even that was flickering faster and faster. Panic slowly set in as Twilight realized that she wouldn’t be able to get the message to her friends.

“Goodnight Princess,” she heard Artemis’s voice echo in the distance before everything went black.

Author's Note:

I said chapters would be coming quicker, and here is the next one.
Enjoy

Comments

[sincarnation]

Glad to hear you are enjoying the story, mildly irritating to hear I left mistakes.
Went through and cleared the ones I could find, thanks for letting me know