After unexpectedly having everything ripped away from him, a lost king struggles to find his place in the world without his kingdom, his subjects, or his friends. ''When consumed by utter darkness, there is nothing left but forward."
After being betrayed and losing his best friend, his kingdom, and his purpose; Artemis has spent the last 1000 years imprisoned with only his thoughts for company. By taking advantage of good fortune and an overconfident Centaur he manages to escape from his prison. Freedom has given him a new but fleeting purpose, to confront the pony that that took advantage of his trust. However what will he do when he finds the cause of his suffering?
Noonish 12:30pm, 2nd of Weylin, 365 days before the Tirek Incident – Tartarus
“It has been far too long since I was not caged, “ rasped the weary voice. “That blasted mutt finally left his post, and it has been over a thousand years since either Princess has checked in on this forsaken place.”
The severely weakened Centaur carefully made his way over to the next prison cell over, doing his best to be silent. Tartarus was treacherous on its best days, but it was maddening at its worst. While many common folk thought about death as the ultimate punishment, but those on the deepest levels knew the most precious thing wasn't their life but their sanity. Tartarus was a prison built to hold the vilest and most resilient of creatures , but time had caused more than the immortals it was intended to hold to be trapped within its depths.
It wasn't long before the centaur's journey came to an end, at the edge of the cell of Tartarus's most recent prisoner. Each cell in Tartarus was prepared to house a specific prisoner, and few of them were even remotely similar. The cell" before him didn't actually have a locked door, it was surrounded by jagged crags slopping in every direction. As he maneuvered towards the center, the air became stiflingly hot, and the crag spiraled around the edges of a pit of molten rock.
Just standing at the edge he could sense a magic similar to but slightly different from his own siphoning magic at work. What had shocked him was the amount of magic it had consumed over the years, it was staggering to know that it had all come from a single source. He knew that if he even attempted set foot inside what little magic he had would be ripped from him and added to the collection.
“Sometimes the simplest solutions are the best,” thought the Centaur as he stood just outside the cell.
The dim chamber was only faintly illuminated by the faintly glowing intricate sealing circle carved into what appeared to be obsidian floors with a the soft glow coming from beneath revealing the molten rock beneath. Suspended in the middle of the chamber appeared to be a creature mummified and held aloft by an innumerable amount of chains. The captive must have noticed the visitor because it seemed to stiffen up shortly after he entered.
“Tirek?” growled a strangely clear voice. “You have escaped? To what, pray tell, do I owe the displeasure of your presence?”
“Ahhh the Savage Beast speaks,” mocked Tirek as he looked upon the ludicrous amounts of chains with increasing anticipation.
“You know I haven’t held that title in nearly 3000 years, I am no longer the same Savage Beast. Now what do you want? You wouldn’t be here otherwise so don’t waste my time.”
“Isn’t it rather hard to waste time between immortals? When your life isn't limited by time, time itself becomes devalued. What better do you have to do in those chains?”
"While it is true that scarcity increases the value of anything, this hellhole hasn't made my time so utterly worthless that I would waste it or my words on you. Tirek what do you want? I’m not asking again,” snarled the prisoner. He knew Tirek had a plan, Tirek wouldn't come to him otherwise. They hated each other, and a thousand years of festering rage wasn’t enough to prevent him from being wary of the depraved centaur.
“As you wish, sire, but are you not tired of those chains? Don’t you long to feel the breeze through your coat? Well I have earned my freedom, and now you have the chance to earn yours. All you have to do is join me, and together we can take revenge on those who betrayed us and destroy Equestria.”
“Me? Join you? As your underling? Time must have eroded your sanity, why would you want my help? Why would I need your help? I can’t stand your presence, and you don’t care for mine either,” questioned the chains. Tirek was obviously trying to use him for some means or another, but there is always a catch or a betrayal in the near future when it comes to the centaur.
“The enemy of my enemy is my ally or so the saying goes, it is as simple as that. I recommend you hurry, my offer does expire soon. Honestly I recommend you take it, the alternative is that I leave you here to spend the rest of your days consumed by chains.”
Tirek’s feelings of domination were short lived as he suddenly felt the atmosphere shift, the tension caused by irritation and caution broke only to be replaced with an ominous mirth. Tirek could feel the wolfish smile hidden beneath the layers of chain in the very core of his being, and his stomach plummeted. Whatever was coming next wasn’t going to be good, and his fears were only confirmed when he heard a deep laugh echo throughout the chamber.
“Three things that will help you in the future Tirek, first of all the enemy of my enemy CAN be my ally. While that’s not how it was originally said, assuming that they will be on your side could get you killed, likely by me. The fatal flaw of every plan is the assumption you know more than your adversary, and lastly when you try to make a deal with someone, always try to be the one in the position of power,” said the prisoner confidently.
Tirek could only laugh, “You should be careful, it almost sounded like you believed yourself to be in a position of power while you remain there wrapped in chains. If that were the case though my deal wouldn’t be necessary, and maybe I should just leave right now,” said the centaur as he made his way to leave. Even as he walked away he couldn’t help but feel the pit in his stomach was only getting worse.
“Oh but that is the case Tirek, you and I both know you are too diminished to escape Cerberus if he should suddenly come rushing back at the sound of a prisoner escaping. So here is the new deal, you set me free and we both escape to go our separate ways, I won’t interfere with your plans and you don’t interfere with mine. Or alternatively I let loose a howl so loud Cerberus will come rushing back with more than enough time to capture you before you truly escape.”
“That is insanity,” paled Tirek as he suddenly understood the feeling in his stomach. “You would condemn us both to avoid helping me? That is absolute madness, being spiteful for the sake of hate and not even some greater benefit. Why? Do you truly despise me that much?”
“Insanity?” laughed the prisoner. “Ignorance is no reason to label something as madness. As for why, you escaped your cell merely on the fluke that Cerberus was called away for some reason or another. My plan for escape is close to fruition with or without Cerberus or you for that matter. So even if you try to run and leave me here I will escape soon and leave before either of you even notice my disappearance. Like you said when you don’t have to worry about aging time means very little, what is a few months to the thousand years I’ve spent here?” explained the prisoner calmly. “Honestly, you should've just run instead of coming to me for help with your plans.”
“Well then, what stopping me from just getting recaptured and warning Cerberus of your escape plan since we are discussing mutually assured destruction!”
“You don’t know how I plan to escape, and even so I’m not worried about Cerberus. These chains aren’t for show, even without my magic I’m more than a match for Cerberus,” continued the prisoner. He didn’t mention the risk that a fight with Cerberus might draw the attention of Celestia, somepony he couldn’t fight without his magic, but Tirek didn’t need to remember that. “All you have to do to avoid all this is free me with no other conditions attached, but I recommend you hurry and decide quickly though because this offer expires soon.”
Tirek hated to be bested by anyone and especially by him, but he wasn’t going to let pride spoil his chance for freedom. Besides there would be time for revenge for this insult later, even still he took a moment to pretend to think about it before finally answering.
“Fine you win,” spat Tirek resentfully. “We can escape together no strings attached, but I trust you know some way to escape your prison? I am not as intimately familiar with the workings of your cell.”
As he finished that sentence, he heard a spitting sound and a sharp whistling object shot past his ear landing with a clang in the wall beside him.
"Put simply, the circle drains my magic, the walls limit my senses, the chains keep me in place, and the heated chains are distracting my regenerative abilities. The chains repair themselves when broken, and there are just too many to break fast enough," explained the prisoner.
"What is this then?" questioned Tirek as he pulled the relatively small spike out of the wall.
“I broke off and sharpened that segment of chain with my teeth long ago, all you have to do is use it as a chisel and disrupt the circle without falling to the magma. Obsidian is sharp and magically conductive but fragile, it shouldn’t be too hard for you even in your diminished state. Just do that and I can break free. The chains only repair when broken not when they have been eroded and weakened, I have kept the chains prepared for ages in case the circle's power wavered for the slightest moment.”
It didn’t take Tirek long to carve into the volcanic glass, the most difficult part was navigating the semi-molten terrain, but he took as much time as he dared to memorize the seal in case he needed it later. As soon as he had crossed into the lines forming the circle, its power waned for just long enough. In that instant the chains suddenly shifted and exploded outward sending shrapnel into the surrounding walls.
“Free from those blasted chains, and free to connect with nature after a thousand years,” laughed the newly freed prisoner as he twisted every stiff joint in his body noting that the seal was also repairing itself. “True freedom however is only a short ways away.”
The newly freed prisoner took a moment to feel out the natural flow of energy, and when he did he could feel Cerberus along with something else headed toward them at a rather slow pace though.
“We should hurry now that I’m free I can sense Cerberus on his way back.”
He didn’t mention that he could also sense a massive source of magic leading the way, but he partially hoped it would catch Tirek on the back end of their escape. It didn’t feel like Celestia, but it had nearly as much power and was still maturing. He made a quick mental note to investigate it after he fully recovered his strength.
“Then let us go, I have no desire to be here when he returns,” said Tirek as he hurried along the side of the jagged crag.
After what felt like hours of climbing jagged rock, sneaking past atrocity after atrocity, and shuffling along narrow ledges they finally breached the surface, only to be greeted by a beautiful sunrise.
“True freedom at last,” laughed Tirek hysterically. “One step closer to recovery, and one step closer to revenge.”
“Sunrise often symbolizes new beginnings, how fitting” chuckled the Savage Beast. “You should use this as a time to reflect upon your true desires and consider a new beginning for yourself. I don’t foresee many futures where your revenge plot succeeds, and consider that warning your reward for freeing me. I highly recommend you take it to heart. Anyway this is where we part ways Tirek, remember the deal. I don’t care what you do with Equestria, but the slightest stray into Lupinia and all the magic in the world won't protect you from my wrath.”
Without waiting for a response he bolted for the forest, his natural sense of direction pointed him towards the Everfree forest. He no longer cared about Equestria or what happened to it, whatever Tirek did they had brought upon themselves. All that mattered was getting to the Everfree forest. It was the closest place he knew he could rest and recover without worry of being bothered by wayward ponies or animals.
After he arrived, it took only mere hours for the oldest creatures to remember him, and after teaching some of the younger generations the consequences of not making sure that what you hunt is prey, he reached his destination.
He stood before a massive waterfall with two rocky extensions jutting out from each side. In the older days it was called Devil’s Cliff, but once it was consecrated many stopped using the name. He slowly approached the waterfall, a place that held many precious memories, and he walked straight through to the cave behind it. The water that collected in the central cavern had once been blessed by the moon, granting it unusual healing properties, and after a thousand years it looked relatively undisturbed. It was a place few knew of in the past and he imagined even fewer would try to get to now, and a simple illusion and force field would be enough to convince most ponies foolish enough to try to find the cave that it had collapsed.
“While I hate to admit it, Tartarus caused far more damage than I thought. I’ve waited many years though, one more won’t hurt,” he thought to himself.
As he sunk into the healing waters, he was barraged with memories from nights, both glorious and horrific, past. Many memories that were once so close to his heart now stabbed him with pain, twisting more and more with every image.
“Some wounds can only be healed with time, some never heal, and some wounds aren’t allowed to heal” he thought as his vision started to fade. He knew he should be more concerned that his body was shutting down to repair itself, but his mind was a thousand years in the past. He could only float there helplessly as he felt his heart torn from his body over and over again, it was a feeling he never wanted to forget.
“I’m sorry, I failed you,” he whispered while on the verge of tears as sleep finally was getting a grasp on him. Though he slept, all he had were nightmares about the night mare that would be in his thoughts forever.
Sunrise 5:30am, 11th of Viglyd, 6 Days After the Tirek Incident – A Meadow Outside of Canterlot
“Argh the night never lasted long enough”, sighed a somber voice. The sudden noise cut through the barely waking meadow.
There was a moment of stillness before the only sounds were choked sobs, and in that moment everything dulled. The birds stopped their songs, the plants seemed to droop a bit lower, and even the air took on a bitter taste. For those few moments the meadow mourned with him though they knew not why he mourned, but as suddenly as it started the sobbing started to slow,
“I’ve had a 1000 or so years to mourn, now is not the time to wallow in pity,” thought the well-rested but sullen escapee.
He could only look out at the horizon as the sun continued to rise into the sky. While he had tried to nurture a hatred of the sun for 1000 years, seeing the sunrise was exactly what he needed right now. The figure wiped away the remaining evidence of his tears and steeled himself, for the seeing the sun rise through the sky was enough to harden his resolve. During his time in Tartarus he made sure the wounds from that night stayed fresh, he didn’t want the pain to fade. He wanted to remember his biggest failure and what it had cost him forever.
“Once I had no purpose, but before I could end my miserable existence an angel saved me. She gave me hope and purpose when I had lost my own, and later she gave me companionship and love,” the figure paused for a sharp breath. As he continued his voice grew more pained, “Then in my own naivety I lost her to my best friend.” The memory was still like a knife to the heart, something he had experienced many times before. “I was a fool to think she would never betray me, and now I will remember it every day of my miserable existence. But I won’t allow the pain to fade, nor will I allow myself to trust anypony like that again. The pain will be my penance, and suffering my only means of atonement.”
Even as he stood, it took some time before he could actually look at the city in the distance. After a deep breath and a few moments to recollect himself, his voice no longer wavered nor did it sound as pained. “In all of our time together, I tried to warn you to be wary of many of things. The most important one was to fear the creature with nothing left to lose, and if you had bothered to heed my warning you would’ve killed me that night instead of imprisoning me. You will answer for what you have done Celestia if it is the last thing I do.”
With those final words the figure started off towards Canterlot, the anger radiating from him was enough to cause the grass to stiffen up, and the wildlife to cower in fear. They could only look on and pity the fool that stood in his path.
6am, 11th of Viglyd, 6 Days After the Tirek Incident – Canterlot Castle Throne Room
The Canterlot castle throne room was rarely quiet with it normally being occupied by guards, arguing nobility, and an uninterested princess, but this was an unusual time. It was before open court was held, and the guards were ordered to secure the entrances with only the bearers of the elements of harmony being allowed to enter. Inside Celestia sat in quiet contemplation, unsure if she was ready for the task ahead of her. She knew the next couple days were going to be messy, and she did not look forward to having to be the one to clean it up.
She could hear their panicked hooves against the marble floors long before they came close to the doors. Celestia chuckled quickly to herself, “Perhaps next time I shouldn’t use the generic urgent summons letter. Everypony has been a little on edge since the Tirek incident, but it certainly was effective.” She quickly and easily took on her usual stoic demeanor, bracing herself for the task ahead.
Suddenly the doors burst open as six distraught and disheveled ponies stampeded in. “Princess Celestia, we came as soon as we received your summons,” Twilight looked around frantically searching for any signs of impending doom. “Is Tirek free again? Or has King Sombra resurfaced? Has Chrysalis started replacing ponies with changelings in an attempt to take over Canterlot again? Or is it,” Twilight was cut off by a gentle, but firm voice.
“Calm down Twilight the situation isn’t dire yet, but it was urgent that I got to talk to you all,” said Celestia as she used her magic to close the doors and cast a silence spell over the room.
“Good morning and thank you girls for meeting with me so early, but it is very important that I get to talk to you and the sooner the better. However before I explain the situation, I need you six to promise me everything I’m about to say stays between us. This is serious, no pony else can know especially not Luna”. Celestia hated to do this, and she knew she would regret it later when Luna inevitably found out but it was necessary to make sure her subjects were safe.
Not one of the elements hesitated before reciting the most binding words they knew, “Cross My Heart, Hope to Fly, Stick a Cupcake in my Eye!” Applejack was the first to speak up, “but Princess if this is so important are you sure this is somethin you should be keepin from yer sister?” Her friends silently nodded in agreement clearly having the same question themselves.
“Honestly, I don’t want to do any of it this way, but this is the safest way. I love Luna dearly, but this is something she can’t be a part of.” Celestia knew the best way to remove a bandage was to do it quick, so she took a deep breath before she continued. “Alright I summoned you here to discuss a very personal matter, but let’s get this out of the way beforehand; I am probably going to be attacked tomorrow night. The attacker is one of the few beings with extensive knowledge on how to kill an immortal, and there is a very real chance that these are the last hours of my rule”, Celestia managed to say calmly although rather quickly. She had much longer to come to terms with the possibility, but still the thought of that entire night almost choked her up.
Twilight was the first to panic as she blurted out, “Who is attacking? We can inform the guards and hide you away to protect you from th-“ Before the rest of the elements could join in they were cut off by a stern gaze and a raised hoof from the Princess.
“Twilight let me explain please. Anypony strong enough to take on Luna or myself is more than a match for my guards, and if I sent them against him I would only be sending them to their deaths. I care far too much to do that.” Celestia let out another sigh, not unlike the others. “The irony of this situation is not lost on me, for it is that same love of my subjects that put me in this situation."
Rainbow Dash was the first to get the courage to speak after their last outburst, “Princess what’s going on here? We’ve saved Equestria tons of times. Who is this guy that you are so sure we can’t stop?”
The elements of harmony all nodded in agreement except Twilight who could only look on in shock. Only willpower was preventing her from breaking into a panic attack. Celestia was like a mother to her, she had spent more time with Celestia than she did with her own parents, and now Celestia was calmly accepting the possibility of her own death. She couldn’t believe it was really happening, but the proof was right before her eyes.
Celestia had devoted a lot time since Luna’s return trying to figure out how to explain what had happened to not just to Luna but to anypony, and only now did she realize how unprepared she really was. So many events were intertwined it really shouldn’t have surprised her, but she was supposed to be one of the rulers of Equestria. Surely she could talk about the past without breaking down no matter how much she wished the night never happened.
“His name is Artemis, and he had many names and titles in the past: Nature’s Fury, the Savage Beast, the Night Stalker, the Blood Hunter, the Wild King, Orion. Now he is only in the most obscure pony legends usually as a vicious monster, but his subjects, Luna, and I still remember him for what he really was. He was a great leader, strong warrior, and the best friend we could’ve asked for. During his rule ponies and wolves enjoyed an era of peace longer than what we have had now. Unfortun-” Celestia’s voice got caught in her throat before she suddenly blurted out, “I’m the reason why the wolves hate us, and I’m the reason why they regressed so much. They used to have prosperous culture that was equivalent to our own but now they are on the verge of extinction.” Celestia recounted bitterly as she felt the pain of hundreds of years of repressed guilt resurge and it wasn’t about to be pushed back down after getting this far. All she could do to stop herself from bursting into tears was clench her eyes shut and focus on continuing the story.
“Long ago the wolves were constantly fighting amongst themselves, and Artemis fought to unify the warring wolf packs. He challenged every leader individually for leadership, and once he was the alpha of each pack he was accepted as their King. However without Artemis present to unify and lead them, they have only declined. That wasn't all he did though, Artemis helped us a great deal as well. His dedication to our, mine and Luna’s, safety was the model for the royal guard, and just as importantly he was our best friend for over 3000 years.”
Celestia was fighting hard not to let herself start crying before the very ponies that looked to her for strength. She mentally cursed herself for still not being able to even talk about this after so long, but before she could force herself continue, she found herself being embraced from all sides. After waiting a few moments to ensure she wasn’t going to let any tears slip, she opened her eyes only slightly surprised to find the elements hugging her. Celestia managed to form a gentle smile despite tsunami of held back emotions bombarding her. She silently accepted and appreciated their closeness, and together they took some time to just enjoy each other’s company.
6:30am, 11th of Viglyd, 6 Days After the Tirek Incident – Canterlot Streets
Despite the early hour, the streets of Canterlot were already brimming with ponies going about their day to day business. Most of them went along in an almost trance-like state, ignorantly and blissfully following their normal morning routines. While majority of ponies went along without noticing anything amiss, many others were shocked out of their trance by a massive angry looking unicorn walking through their path. Many who saw him had their jaw drop at his sheer size, and all who saw him knew to stay out of his way.
“At least they know to avoid angry creatures that are larger than them, but even so they seem just as soft as they were back then. Some things never change I guess, I hated Canterlot back then too,” chuckled Artemis but there was no joy in it. “The hard workers got shoved out by the wealthy that charged a tail and a leg just to live near the Princesses, and the feeling of superiority made practically everypony living here into a condescending waste of life,” Artemis grumbled as many a passerby looked at him with a combination of confusion, fear, and awe.
“I haven’t even talked to anypony yet, but the arrogant pretentiousness is so powerful I can’t ignore it. I can smell the horrible upper class perfumes, hear the condescension in their voices, and see their feelings of superiority as they look down on any and everypony,” Artemis continued to rant to himself. “I’d be impressed that they managed to reach this level if it weren’t so damn irritating.”
As his miserable journey through the city continued, Artemis could only look on in irritated awe at how little had actually changed with the newer technologies. They created a better source of light than candles, and they even had strange objects that allowed them to communicate from a distance instead of sending letters. As far as he could tell even the modern Equestrian language was a blending of old Equis and Lupine, something Celestia no doubt had a hoof in, everything was at its core the same but more effective. His revelation was cut short as suddenly a mare was thrown out onto the street a few meters ahead of him, and what he saw sadly didn’t surprise him.
The poor mare had clearly had too much to drink, the cherry red flush on her face stood out obviously against her pure white coat. If that wasn’t a giveaway Artemis could smell the alcohol coming off of her breath even in the distance. Her electric blue mane was, strange and interesting, disheveled and it was quite clear to him that she was in no condition to get home alone, but no one batted an eye or offered a hoof to help.
“The ponies of Canterlot, who am I kidding most creatures with over-inflated illusions of self-worth, always seemed to be too busy to help one of their own in their time of need,” Artemis grumbled as he made his way over to the mare lying only partially conscious in the street.
Vinyl Scratch had seen better days, but that is easy to say when you are face down on the street too drunk to stand. This wasn’t the first time the renowned DJ had celebrated a little too hard after a concert, and it definitely wasn’t the first time she had been thrown out of Sal’s bar. Sadly it also wasn’t the first time a stallion had suddenly hoisted her onto his back after such a night, but Vinyl wasn’t too far gone not to put up a struggle.
“What the buck are you doing? Put me down!” Vinyl tried to struggle, but a noticeable aura of magic kept her from getting down.
“Unbelievable, ponies still don’t know not to drink more than they can handle”, grumbled Artemis mostly to himself as he cast a spell to make sure the mare couldn’t fall off his back and injure herself. “Calm down, you aren’t in any condition to go anywhere alone. Now where am I taking you?”
“Look pal I know what you are trying to do, it isn’t happening alright? Now just put me down” said Vinyl as panic was the only thing suppressing her growing desire to sleep.
“Maybe I was wrong, things certainly have changed. Acts of kindness and goodwill are so rare that they are mistaken for deception and exploitation”, chuckled Artemis. “It would certainly be easier for me to just leave you here in the streets and go about my business, but my conscience would eat me alive for it. Look I’m not gonna hurt you, and to be honest nothing could stop me if I wanted to. I’m relatively new to this city, so most of this place is unfamiliar. Just point me towards a place where I can take you so you will be safe. I will drop you off and be on my way.”
Artemis didn’t particularly want to help this mare, but he couldn’t just leave her alone. Aside from being no better than the very ponies he criticized if he ignored her, he actually would feel bad if he found out something had happened to her after deciding to leave her alone.
Vinyl wasn’t completely convinced, but he did have a point. Ponies in Canterlot were already non-confrontational, and if they saw this stallion they wouldn’t even try to stop him. Still the idea of leading a potentially dangerous stranger to her home didn’t sound too good either she had heard too many tragedies that started that way, but then she thought of a better plan.
“Fine just tell me your name first, and don’t try any funny business. Accidentally miss a turn and I will accidentally plant my hoof in your jaw,” said Vinyl as a mischievous smile crept onto her face. She knew exactly where she would lead him, and she couldn’t wait to see the look on her face when she got there.
That smile was a dead giveaway, she had a plan. Artemis knew from personal experience that it was far better to air on the side of caution instead of taking unnecessary risks. Still he didn’t like to lie to anypony, so he opted to give her an older name.
“You can call me Orion”, said Artemis before he started to chuckle. “Oh don’t worry I won’t, but I would love to see you try it.”
It wasn’t crucial to his plan that he be at the castle right then anyway, taking an hour or so to help this mare wouldn’t hinder him at all. Soon he was following the mare’s directions throughout the crazy twists and turns of Canterlot. He knew there was a surprise waiting for him at the end, her smile gave that away, but he wasn’t really all that concerned. It wasn’t like anypony could kill him anyway, and if they could he wasn’t sure he would stop them. He knew he needed time to think, but he wanted a distraction so he didn't have to think. Artemis opted to push his goals to the back of his mind so he could focus. The morning was still young and he was helping a pony in need, nothing else really mattered at the moment.
6:30am, 11th of Viglyd, 6 Days After the Tirek Incident – Canterlot Castle Throne Room
Celestia appreciated the girl’s sentiment, but it didn’t do much of anything to ease her feelings of guilt. Only the one she had wronged could ease that, and she wasn’t even sure he would and even less so that he should. Still the elements had given her the resolve to reign in her emotions, but she wasn’t going to make the same mistake as before by bottling up her feelings. Now was as good as any to start dealing with them.
“Thank you girls, I’ve been holding all this back for too long, but it is about time that it came out into the open.” Celestia had regained most of her composure, but only those who knew her well could see she seemed more vulnerable than usual.
While the rest of the group gradually released the solar princess, Twilight lingered a bit longer. “Princess you have always been there for us when we needed comforting or reassurance, and I think I speak for us all when I say we will be here for you if you need us.”
After seeing the Princess’s smile return a bit stronger Twilight finally realized all of the questions she had. “Princess how is Artemis still alive, where has he been, how could we recognize him, if you the three of you were friends why would he kill you, and wh-“, Twilight would’ve continued if Rarity hadn’t stopped her this time.
“Why don’t you let her finish her finish the story dear? I’m sure by the end all of your questions will be answered.”
“I’m sorry Princess, please continue”, squeaked Twilight meekly as she finally released Celestia.
Celestia could only smile at her personal student, for she already knew twilight had plenty of questions for her. “It’s ok Twilight. I can answer a couple of those now and the rest you will understand by the end. Artemis is one of a kind in more ways than one. He is muscular and large, even amongst the wolves, standing about a half head higher than me or at least he did last time I saw him. He is bipedal, meaning he walks on his hind legs, and his coat is a charcoal grey and his eyes are usually a greenish-yellow. For a time he went around like that terrifying everypony around him with just his appearance, so a while back he opted to use magic to disguise himself that way Luna and I could have him around without driving ponies away. When he was among common ponies he appeared as a large earth pony sized unicorn with blue-gray coat and a charcoal mane.”
Celestia actually smiled at this before continuing, “It was the best I could get from him, but he was determined to come off as slightly intimidating as deterrence. It wasn’t exactly a subtle disguise, but it served its purpose,” Celestia sadly chuckled as she fondly remembered their friendship. “Listen girls I’m telling you this so you can recognize and avoid him. I’m serious if you see anypony like that come tell me, but do not under ANY circumstance confront him especially not with hostility,” Celestia knew all too well how Artemis easy and dangerous it was to be on his bad side.
Twilight tried to not interrupt she really did, but her nature got the better of her. “Wait he can use magic? How? I thought wolves weren’t able to cast spells, but they were more in tune with ambient magic.” Twilight could only look at her teacher sheepishly before she let out another “sorry.”
Celestia couldn’t help but be proud of Twilight for picking up on the subtle details, and even if the questions were interrupting they were a welcomed distraction. However this was a particularly difficult question to answer because not even Artemis knew the exact answer to the question.
“Similarly to Luna and I, Artemis is a physical manifestation of the Natural World, but Artemis is connected to Nature in all its aspects. He seems to share many similarities with chimeras, but we never found a link when we did try to find more about his origin. He has has aspects of all of the major intelligent species even if they don’t all show physically; he has the body of either the ultimate survivor or the ultimate predator depending on whether you are on his good or bad side. We think that he gained magic from his pony aspect ,” explained Celestia as she hoped to answer the question and that there would be no more on the subject.
Celestia took a deep breath, this was what she had been dreading and avoiding for so long. “Luna has always known that I blamed myself largely for her transformation into Nightmare Moon, but she never knew the entire reason why,” Celestia started slowly as the painful memories tormenting her were just as vivid as the day they occurred. “Artemis and I were close friends, but our relationship was nothing like what he had with Luna. He too noticed Luna’s subtle changes, and he did everything he could to help her including coming to me. Unfortunately I was too preoccupied and, even though I’m ashamed to admit it, jealous to take him or Luna seriously when they came to me."
"After her transformation Artemis tried to remain loyal to both of us. He wouldn’t follow any of Nightmare Moon’s orders unless they were for trivial matters such as fetching a drink or fanning her, but he also wouldn’t allow anypony to do anything that might’ve harmed Luna’s body even though Nightmare Moon was in control. I tried to build up the resolve to fight Nightmare Moon a couple times, but I always faltered when I saw them both. Conversely he didn’t allow Nightmare Moon or any of her followers to hurt me either, so many of our confrontations ended fruitlessly for both sides. After a couple pointless stalemates and seeing my subjects injured, I finally made the decision t-,” Celestia’s words died in her throat as her eyes threatened to tear up again. She looked to ceiling hoping to hide her face for a moment to compose herself, but it was too late. She was tired of fighting herself, tired of fighting her feelings, it had been going on for too long, and it was only making the pain worse as each time they resurged even stronger.
Twilight and her friends had only seen Princess Celestia ever cry one other time, and that was when she was reunited with Luna after 1,000 years. They could only imagine how the Princess was feeling, but as they moved to comfort her Celestia cut them off with a hoof and began to continue.
“My subjects were being hurt. I decided that I couldn’t continue to allow it to happen anymore, and that I would do whatever was necessary to make sure they were safe,” Celestia said softly as a few tears had formed and were slowly moving down her face. “I came up with the plan to banish Luna if I couldn’t convince her to back down on my own, but I knew Artemis would never allow that to happen. So I did the most cruel thing I could’ve done to him, I lied to him."
"We had an entire language of emergency signals between the three of us to let the others know we needed to talk to them, and I used it to pull him away from Luna. I told him that I had figured out a way to save Luna without hurting her,” Celestia bitterly spat these words as her tears began to fall. “If it had been anypony else he would’ve laughed at them, but Luna and I were the only beings he trusted so completely."
"He was so relieved he let his guard down, and in that instant I cast a spell that flung him into Tartarus imprisoning him in special cell that siphoned away magic before restraining him with a chain enchanted to regenerate when broken so long as the seal held.” At this point tears were freely streaming down her face as she continued, “After I closed the portal, I went on to confront Nightmare Moon with the hopes of appealing to Luna, but when that failed I banished her to the moon.”
Celestia ‘s emotions were in full control now, “the look of shock and hurt on his face still haunts me to this very day, but my cruelty and cowardice don’t end there. I knew Artemis and Luna had linked themselves together using powerful magic, but I never considered what could've happened. They always had some sort of feeling of where the other was and how they were feeling, and I can only imagine what it felt like to have that suddenly shut off. I was so ashamed of what I had done that I couldn’t bear to face him. I never checked on Artemis or even Tartarus again, and that’s partially why Tirek was able to escape and remain undetected until he started harvesting pony magic,” Celestia choked out as she continued to sniffle.
“All of this happened because I was too jealous to see the urgency in both Artemis and Luna’s pleas for help. I lost my sister for 1000 years and my best friend probably forever not to mention Tirek’s devastation and the regression of the wolves were indirectly caused by my cowardice and jealousy,” finished Celestia as she could do nothing more than sob.
For a time the throne room was silent except for the sobs of the Princess, everypony needed time to take in everything the Princess had said. They knew that the decision to banish Luna had been the hardest and most costly thing Celestia had ever done, but not even they could have imagined how much she had sacrificed for her subjects.
Twilight was the first one to break the silence, “Princess you weren’t wrong to – I mean you did what you had to Princess, and if you hadn’t there is a chance that none of us would be here today. Nightmare Moon would’ve plunged the land into eternal darkness, and we couldn’t have survived that. I’m sorry to hear about what happened between you and Artemis, but it was what had to be done. I know that doesn’t make it hurt any less, but we will always be grateful for what you did.” Twilight really hoped that she wasn’t going to make the Princess feel worse, but Celestia’s sobs seemed to be slowing down.
Celestia knew Twilight’s reasoning all too well, for they were the same things she had told herself over the centuries. She expected no less from her student, but it still didn’t make her feel better. “Twilight, I know that I did the best I could for my subjects at the time, but there is always that nagging what if? What if there was another way and I just wasn’t looking hard enough or in the right area? I can even tell myself there is no point in worrying about it, but the feeling still doesn’t go away,” Celestia managed to say between sniffles.
“To make matters worse there is a chance that it was all in vain, and that I may have postponed the inevitable while condemning Equestria to a worse fate,” started Celestia as her eyes started to tear up again. “Before Artemis became our friend he was our bitter enemy, the three of us fought many times never able to best each other. We never really talked until the aftermath of our last clash. We had foolishly used so much power none of us were able to move afterwards, and everypony had long since fled for fear of getting caught by an errant blast. We were all stuck in the center of a crater too exhausted to move. Luna made a joke and started laughing at our situation, which was all it took to break the tension. It was then that we got to know each other, and I realized that I had rushed to conclusions in starting our conflict. Before that he was known for his polar attitudes. He was kind and compassionate towards his subjects and apathetic towards those who left them alone, but his brutality and cruelty towards his enemies was legendary. He was incredibly quick to anger and even faster when it came to retaliation,” said Celestia sorrowfully. “I fear that my betrayal will make him revert back to his old self, and if he does the land will know war for the first time in 800 years. War is something I have worked so hard to prevent, and I very well might have doomed Equestria by trying to save it.”
Applejack was the first to react to the mentioning of war, “Woah woah there Princess, now we’re talkin about a war? Princess, shouldn’t Luna know bout this? And if this Artemis feller was so important to her why hasn’t she asked about him? She’s been back fer over a year right?”
The potential war on their hooves was making the elements quickly regret pinkie promising not to tell anypony about what was going on. They were being put in a situation where they had to choose between keeping a pinkie promise to the Princess with the potential to work out in the end, and risking the utter destruction of Equestria. They all really hoped the Princess knew what she was doing.
“She probably should know just in case something goes wrong, but this is something I need to resolve on my own. You six are my backup plan this time instead of her, so I have no intention of telling her and I hope you don’t either, “ said Celestia as she was finally starting to reign her emotions back in. “And Luna has asked about him, more than once in fact, one of the first things she asked when we first got back to the Castle was how we, Artemis and I, had managed everything over the 1000 years. However as you can see I still have trouble talking about what happened, and it is much worse when I try to tell Luna. Every time she brought him up I would always choke and tear up remembering all the pain I had caused and was about to cause. After enough times I think Luna mistook it as me grieving his death, and she stopped asking to spare my feelings even though I know she still thinks of him. ” Celestia paused to sigh before she continued, “More than once I have found Luna crying to herself, mourning a lost friend that I know is still alive. The guilt has been eating at me for years, and it has only gotten worse with my her return.”
Celestia could feel the gaze of the elements of harmony upon her, but she could not bear to bring herself to look upon them. So she instead turned her gaze to the sky outside the windows, it wasn’t even time for open court and she was already emotionally drained. However Celestia had to admit that she felt like a massive burden had removed from her back, it wasn’t everything that was weighing on her but it was certainly noticeable. After a deep breath Celestia felt more like her normal self, as she prepared herself for the inevitable questions and the rest of her day.
“Thank you for listening girls, I know that was lot to have suddenly dropped on your plates especially with Twilight’s new kingdom. Do you have any more questions?” Celestia asked prepped for the worst.
Twilight was about to ask another question, but before she could even start Rainbow Dash cut her off. “Princess hearing all this about the past is nice, but what's the point of telling us all this? What do you want us to do about it?” Rainbow Dash more than willing to face down anything that threatened the Princess, but the Princess wanting to handle business herself was something she understood all too well even if she didn’t like it.
After a couple moments of thought Celestia could only think of one answer, “Nothing. There is nothing you can do to stop him, the elements would only work if Artemis had completely reverted back to his old self. He could very easily be angry with me and still be good as a whole, but in either situation he deserves answers and I deserve whatever results from them,” Celestia said solemnly. “I called you here to ease my guilt, and so that somepony else knows the full story in case I don’t make it.” Celestia’s expression softened as she looked at each of the ponies in front of her, “No matter what happens in the next couple days I want Luna to know the truth, even if I’m not able to be the one to tell her. Could you do that for me?”
Celestia’s heart ached from seeing the pain in the element’s faces, especially Twilight’s. She knew how awful the situation she put them in was, but she needed them to be strong now just as much as before. If something should happen to her it was up them and Luna to take care of Equestria, and she knew they were more than capable of doing so.
The elements all had different expressions, but none of them were good at hiding their feelings that well. However they reluctantly agreed to the Princess’s final wish, before they embraced her for what could actually be the last time.
“Be strong my little ponies, I know I ask a lot, but I also know you can handle it,” said Celestia confidently. “Open court for will be beginning shortly, and I need a few minutes to compose myself. If you choose to stay in Canterlot for the next couple of days your usual suites are already prepared for you. Please don’t give anypony any reason to panic when you leave.”
Celestia sadly watched the elements as they left the throne room, and afterwards she waited in silence with nothing but her thoughts. Thoughts she didn’t want to deal with at the moment, it was time for those irritating nobles to come whine to her all day. For a brief moment she considered taking the day off, but the realization that it might alert Luna to something being wrong quickly shot down that idea. “2500 years of listening to their petty squabbles, I can handle at least two more days of this I guess,” said Celestia as she composed herself for the incoming onslaught.
7:00am, 11th of Viglyd, 6 Days After the Tirek Incident – Streets of Canterlot
Vinyl and Artemis made their way through the increasingly busy streets of Canterlot, Vinyl couldn’t help but notice how strange this stallion carrying her was. He was larger and more muscular than most earth ponies, when most unicorns are scrawnier than normal since there was little they needed to do that they couldn’t with magic. His coat didn’t quite feel normal either, it felt rough much more so than it looked. Then there were the scars, which she couldn’t really see so much as she could feel them as she ran her hoof across his coat absentmindedly. It wasn’t until she noticed the strange look he was giving her that she realized exactly what she had been doing.
“Woah sorry, I wasn’t feeling you up… or at least not like that. Uh sorry I got distracted,” Vinyl said with a flush growing on her face. Something was wrong she realized, she had been drinking a lot earlier. She hadn’t been able to stand a while ago, but now she was thinking more clearly than she did while sober. She had been like this the entire time they had been walking. Suddenly that flush changed from one of embarrassment to one of anger as she yelled at the stallion carrying her,”DID YOU USE MAGIC ON ME?!”
“I thought that was obvious from your inability to get down, but I guess not. Yes I did,” responded Artemis absentmindedly.
Vinyl’s anger and fear had started to block her ability to form complete sentences, and as she tried to stutter out a toxic response Artemis spoke again.
“Before you say it, yes I know what you mean. Yes, I cast a couple spells. One to keep you on my back, a second to gradually rid your body of the alcohol you consumed, and a third to focus your mind so you don’t forget where I was supposed to be taking you.” Artemis didn’t think anything of it, but the tone of the mare he was carrying told him she clearly thought otherwise.
“WHAT THE BUCK?! YOU DON”T CAST SPELLS ON PONIES WITHOUT ASKING! ,” Vinyl continued to yell drawing the attention of many ponies that were passing by. However once they looked at the stallion most of them turned and pretended they didn’t see anything.
“Sorry if I scared you by not telling you, but I’m not apologizing for casting the spells. It needed to be done, and I wasn’t going to let the mare who clearly didn’t know when to stop drinking decide what was best for her while drunk,” Artemis said with the same uninterested voice as before. “Now will you quiet down? All your yelling is drawing attention, and it is making a few ponies shoot some flashes our way. What are they doing with that communication device?”
“Communication device? “ Vinyl was more than a little confused at his choice of words. “You mean their phones? I think they are taking pictures of you big guy, they probably think you are ponynapping me which isn’t that far from the truth honestly,” Vinyl paused before a realization struck her. “Have you never seen a camera phone before? Have you been living under a rock for the past 1000 years?” Vinyl laughed though she wasn’t sure what to make of this strange stallion growing even stranger by the moment.
Artemis thought back to Tartarus and the volcanic cave he was trapped in before he answered with a succinct and flat, “Yes”.
Vinyl’s eyes bulged at his response, her laugh immediately and guiltily died in her throat. “Wait, are you serious? Woah where are you from?” This stallion was getting stranger and stranger every second, and it was starting to worry her.
“I’m from Lupinia to the west of Equestria if I’m not mistaken. It been a long time since I’ve checked a map though,” said Artemis absentmindedly as he was directed to make another turn.
“Lupinia? Never heard of it, but you’re not from Equestria? That explains a lot actually, but what brings you to Canterlot then?” asked Vinyl as she started to calm internal panic that had been building just a moment ago.
Vinyl’s response was enough to pull Artemis’s attention away from his thoughts. It wasn’t a good sign that she hadn’t at least heard of Lupinia, granted she probably wasn’t the most well informed mare she was still under the effects of his clarity spell. If she had heard anything even vaguely she would’ve remembered. However Lupinia could wait he had more pressing matters to deal with namely Celestia, and he was positive she had a hoof in whatever has happened to Lupinia anyway. “I’m here to see an old friend,” said Artemis tersely.
It hadn’t lasted long, but it lasted long enough for Vinyl to feel his body tense up. It was really weird how easy it was to read body language when you are forcibly held against somepony. “I’m guessing you two fell out?”
“Excuse me? What makes you think we fell off of something?” Artemis had to double check to make sure his magic hadn’t failed him and she wasn’t just babbling drunkenly, but everything still seemed to be working.
“Oh uh falling out means, like you guys had an argument and are no longer friends. I mean it’s none of my business, but you don’t seem happy to be visiting.” Vinyl was curious as to what would be enough to drag this stallion from another country to Canterlot.
“As I said before I hate practically everything about Canterlot, and that on top of the fact that I’m here to see somepony I don’t really like at this point in time. So no I’m not happy to be here,” snapped Artemis. It wasn’t until he saw the shocked and slightly embarrassed face of the mare he was carrying that he realized what he had done. “Look I’m sorry, you don’t know about my past or why I’m here. It was unfair of me to snap at you, it’s anger that should be reserved for somepony else. Please forgive me.” He really felt bad, for letting his temper slip even slightly. His time in Tartarus had eroded much of his emotional control, and it was something that was starting to irritate him. He was supposed to be helping this mare, not snapping at her over things she doesn’t know.
“Nah it’s ok, I shouldn’t have been prying anyway,” said Vinyl hurriedly. She was shocked at how quickly his attitude changed. It was obvious he genuinely sorry and he seemed to be beating himself up about it. “It’s no big deal really; I know what it is like to lose a close friend so I should’ve known better. Anyway we are here,” said Vinyl thankful for the change of subject.
Before them stood the golden gate to a massive community of luxurious apartments, Artemis could only look on with a combination of disgust and awe. He couldn’t believe these ponies had found ways to make their homes even more extravagant than before, and he was only looking at the outside. The glorious golden gates were a waste of a rare metal, the elegant fountains were a waste of precious water, and the over-sized buildings themselves a waste of land, space, and resources. “This place is unbelievable,” said Artemis as he couldn’t help but wonder if Celestia had somehow managed to fix the poverty that had “plagued” Equestria. He only snapped out from his thoughts when he heard his companion chuckling.
“Wait till you see the inside, isn’t it great?”
“No, it’s just unbelievable,” said Artemis sadly as he thought of how much was destroyed to create the expanse before him. “You live here?”
Vinyl noted the sadness in his voice, but after earlier opted not to press him about it. “No it’s my ma- uh friends place, I just crash here pretty often.” She knew there were still many close minded ponies in Equestria; she didn’t want to take the chance with a stallion from another country she knew nothing about. What he didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him. “Just go up those stairs on the left, and knock on the door,” said Vinyl as the mischievous smile returned to her face. This was gonna be good.
Artemis knew this wasn’t going to end well, but he did as she said. The golden plaque card next to the door said Octavia Melody. “I should probably ask this mare for her name before I drop her off,” thought Artemis as he raised his disguised hoof to knock on the door. “I know you have something planned, but I might as well get it over with now,” said Artemis as he gave the door three solid knocks.
There was no immediate response when suddenly the mare on his back shouted out. “Hey Octy open up, it’s Vinyl.”
It was another minute before Artemis could hear hoofsteps and grumbling coming from the other side of the door. “Really Vinyl? One of the few days I get to sleep in a little bit, and you start it off by coming unusually ear-“, the mare didn’t get to finish her sentence before there was a bloodcurdling scream as she opened the door.
7:00am, 11th of Viglyd, 6 Days After the Tirek Incident – Canterlot Castle Guest Suite – Twilight’s Room
Twilight had barely finished the silence spell on the door before her friends had started arguing about what the Princess had just told them.
“I say we go find this Artemis guy and blast him with the elements before he can do anything to the Princess. I know the princess wants to handle this herself, but Equestria needs her. We can’t let some guy kill her just because she wants to 'accept responsibility' for what she had to do,” announced Rainbow Dash proudly as she adopted a fighting stance.
“Woah there I’m not so sure about zappin him with the elements, remember what the Princess said? They might not work on him, and that would leave us in a whole heap of trouble. Rainbow is right though, we have to do somethin,” said Applejack as looked over worriedly at Twilight who had been oddly quiet.
“I think we should tell Princess Luna, I know we promised not to repeat anything said in the room, but there are other ways to alert her without telling her what we know,” suggested Rarity. “After all she is largely at the center or this, and surely she would want stop the love of her life from killing her sister I know I would.”
“That’s as close as you can get to breaking a pinkie promise without actually breaking a pinkie promise, and I should know. No pony breaks a pinkie promise, but maybe we should tr-”
“Pinkie I swear if you suggest throwing him a party I’m gonna lose it.”
“Well duh that wouldn’t work, I was just gonna suggest we actually make a plan to find him before we start making plans about zapping him or whatever” said Pinkie as she rolled her eyes surprising everyone with the actual plausibility of the idea.
“Well before that we need to decide on whether or not we are confronting this fellow, honestly I’m inclined to trust Celestia’s warning about starting a fight with him,” stated Rarity. “Of course I will if it comes to it, but I think we should try to avoid it.”
“What you don’t want to risk getting your hooves scuffed for the princess?” teased Rainbow Dash as she landed to lounge on the bed.
“Well as much as I don’t want to ruin my hooficure, this Artemis fellow fought both princesses back in their warrior days. That is no easy feat, and frankly without the elements I’m not sure the six of us could even match one of the princesses excluding Twilight,” said Rarity as she too noticed the lack of comments from Twilight.
“Well maybe we should try talking to him,” suggested Fluttershy during the lull in conversation. “He was hurt by one of the ponies he trusted most, he probably just wants to know why. Celestia made it sound like he wouldn’t be angry towards us as long as weren’t angry with him,” said Fluttershy in a quiet but unusually steady voice. “What do you think we should do Twilight?”
Twilight didn’t answer right away, she couldn’t, her mind was racing through every scenario possible to find a solution. She couldn’t let Princess Celestia be killed, but she didn’t want to disobey the Princess. Plus she would be risking the lives of her friends by attacking without knowing if the elements would work.
“I-I’m not sure, the Princess wants to handle it on her own, but I don’t want to risk anything happening to her,” said Twilight with glazed eyes as she continued to run possible solutions through her mind. The more she tried to think of a solution the more her thoughts were interrupted by flashbacks of when she was a filly spending time with Celestia, and as the memories popped up with increasing frequency so did her pangs of panic. Every rejected solution only increased her worry and brought her closer to the verge of a panic attack. She had to do something, but nothing seemed likely to work without a huge risk.
“TWILIGHT!” yelled her friends as they looked at her, worry written plainly on their faces. It seemed to snap her out of her cycle of increasing panic.
“You alright there Twi? You don’t look so hot,” said Applejack as she moved to put her hoof on her friend’s shoulder.
Twilight could see how much her friends cared about her, and it only made her more reluctant to put them in further danger. She nearly lost them to Tirek, and that feeling of helplessness wasn’t something she wanted to feel again.
“No, I’m not alright. No matter how hard I try I can’t think of a plan that doesn’t put everyone in danger,” explained Twilight sadly. “I don’t want anything to happen to Princess Celestia, but I don’t want to put you guys in danger either.”
“Twilight sweetie while I’m sure we all appreciate the thought, we aren’t the ones you should be worried about. While I don’t doubt Princess Luna’s ability to rule, but Equestria needs Celestia and if we don’t do something we may lose her. “
“Yeah Twilight, this is no different than any other time we risked our flanks for Equestria, and we’ve always come out on top before,” said Rainbow Dash proudly as she moved off the bed towards Twilight.
“Except last time when Tirek held you all captive, sure everything worked out bu-” Twilight stopped before she could finish. Even all the power she had at the time, there had been nothing she could do to protect her friends.
“Yeah last time was a bit of a close scrape, but that was cause Tirek got to us when we weren’t all together,” insisted Applejack. “As we all saw, even against all the magic in Equestria nothing can stop all six of us when we work together.”
Suddenly Twilight found herself pulled into a reassuring group hug, while she loved her friends dearly she could only wonder when or if they would face an enemy they couldn’t beat together. She didn’t like it, but they would have to take the risk to avoid losing everything.
“Alright then, I think we should use a part of each of your plans,” started Twilight with her confidence returning. “We need to search the city and try to intercept him before he gets to the castle, the various wards should prevent him from just teleporting inside. Fluttershy is right though,we should try talking to him first. If he can’t be reasoned with we have to try to stop him, and if we can’t stop him then we have to tell Luna.”
Before Pinkie could get the words out to protest Twilight added, “We can tell Luna without breaking our promise to Celestia as long as we aren’t specific about what the danger is.”
It was a solid plan, one that the girls all agreed with. However the task of combing the city wasn’t going to be easy to do, but they had to find Artemis before he found Celestia.
“We should search in pairs, while we might cover more ground separately it would be dangerous to go alone,” suggested Rarity.
“Yeah and if you find him, wait for all of us before you talk to him,” said Applejack.
“Applejack go with Rarity and Rainbow Dash go with Pinkie, that way if you find him Rarity can send us a message with magic and Rainbow Dash should be fast enough to find either Rarity or myself with this spell,” said Twilight as she cast a spell allowing them all to track each other. “We only have two days according to the princess, and we have to be careful not to panic the public either".
"All right girls we have to find Artemis before it’s too late," rallied Twilight. "Keep an eye out everywhere, and be careful out there. Good luck and be safe."
8:00am, 11th of Viglyd, 6 Days After the Tirek Incident – Octavia’s Luxury Apartment
Her scream was like nails dragging down the blackboard of his mind, and he could only wonder why his passenger had screamed. He looked behind him and as astonished to see what looked like a murder scene. He appeared to be covered in blood, and his passenger was equally bloodied with a knife buried halfway in her chest. Considering he didn’t feel or smell the wetness of blood, he knew it was an illusion, but the mare finishing opening the door certainly didn’t.
“Vinyl! WHAT DID YOU DO TO HER YOU MONSTER?” Octavia screamed as she reached for her Cello Case which was more deadly than any baseball bat.
Artemis could only sigh, for he knew something bad was going to happen beforehand but this wasn’t what he imagined. “This isn’t what it looks li-,” as he was interrupted by a cello case hitting him square in the face.
Octavia was stunned. A good smack from her cello case had knocked the largest of stallions to the ground, but this one didn’t seem to even flinch and much worse he returned her blow with a fiery glare that could melt ice. It was there for only the briefest moments, but she got a glimpse of the inferno of rage beneath the calm exterior. However she didn’t get the feeling that the bulk of it was directed at her, but even so she was too scared to move any further.
“Don’t you think this has gone far enough?” grumbled Artemis as he looked towards the mare on his back. “Or do I have to remove the spell myself?”
“Pfffft fine I couldn’t hold back my laughter much more anyway,” laughed Vinyl. “You ok there big guy? I didn’t expect Octy to actually take a swing at you.”
It took Octavia a few moments to process the fact that Vinyl was in fact fine, and that she had been the victim of yet another prank. “Vinyl that wasn’t funny or in good taste, you terrified me and nearly hurt uhhh your new friend.”
Vinyl thought about it for a moment before responding, “It wasn’t the best I could come up with on the spot, but I didn’t really expect you to try to hit Orion. The dude is like twice your size, I expected you to faint or something.” Vinyl was shocked when she noticed Octavia was shaking from the experience, and only then did she realize she had gone too far. “Listen Octy I’m sorry, I didn’t think it was a big deal. I would never want to hurt you, would you forgive me?”
“As long as you promise never to do something like that again, I was so afraid that I had lost you,” said Octavia as embraced Vinyl tearfully.
“Deal” agreed Vinyl as she moved to kiss Octavia, but she stopped when she realized Orion was still there. “Oh hey, uhhh kinda forgot you were there. Sorry about all this, you ok big guy?”
The exchange of emotions had sent Artemis’s mind into a storm, their concern for each other was obvious but Vinyl had said they were just friends. He could smell Vinyl’s scent coming from inside the apartment; she hadn’t been lying when she said she spent a lot of time here. Even without being inside he noticed their scents were entwined in one room in particular what he assumed was the bedroom.
Was it appropriate for mares to be together now? Had they stopped caring about relationships between other species? Had it only taken 1000 years for them to stop caring? He had so many questions he almost didn’t realize he had, and he needed answers.
“Huh? I’m fine. If I hadn’t been looking at her I wouldn’t have even noticed,” he said as he tried to calm the storm of questions in his head.
“Still I feel bad for all this, how about you come in and I make you breakfast as a thank you and sorry,” offered Vinyl.
“If you let her cook breakfast you certainly will be sorry. Since I was the one who hit him and I don’t feel like having my stomach pumped, I will cook” said Octavia as she turned to go inside.
Artemis weighed his options. Go to the castle according to plan and spend 12 hours alone with his thoughts waiting for Celestia, or have breakfast with two interesting mares while learning about this strange new future. The choice was obvious to him, “I’m in no hurry anyway, I’d love to take you up on your offer.” Unfortunately the mares had already gone inside without bothering to listen to his answer, so he just followed after them.
Octavia’s apartment wasn’t as over the top as he expected from the outside, the living room had two large leather seating cushions, one occupied by Vinyl, a small glass table, another one of the lighting devices in the corner, a well maintained cello on a stand, and a large black rectangle in the middle of the far wall. There were a few bookcases and various paintings on the walls, but it wasn't anything like he expected it to be.
While he was standing there taking in everything he vaguely heard Octavia speaking, “Vinyl said you picked her up after she was thrown out of Sal’s. Thank you for that, she has a tendency to be reckless, and not everypony is kind enough to pick up a drunken mare and bring her home unharmed.”
“It wasn't a problem, I insisted on helping her. Nothing can survive purely on its own, and it saddens me to see anything ignored in its time of need,” said Artemis as he jerked his head toward the stove at the sound of ticking. “You have a device that traps natural gas to use for fire?”
Octavia was slightly thrown by the question until she heard Vinyl call out, “He said he was from outside the country and had been living under a rock his whole life. I don’t think he knows much about modern technology Octy.”
With that Octavia felt a pang of pity and surprise, “Oh uhhh no. The gas is funneled in from an outside source, and the device is called a stove.”
“Interesting,” said Artemis as he began to explore the kitchen.
During the time that Octavia was cooking, Artemis kept himself busy analyzing and guessing the functions of most of the devices in the kitchen, much to the astonishment of Octavia. His lack of information on technology wasn’t a sign of stupidity, for he was very intelligent almost frighteningly so. It made her more curious about where he came from, most countries with a sizable amount of Ponies had fairly modern technology.
“So Vinyl mentioned you were here to see a friend,” Octavia started ignoring the sudden and blatant gestures from Vinyl to avoid the topic. “What’s the occasion?”
He noted that Octavia was ignoring the signals from her friend, but he wasn’t going to let himself respond like last time.
“It has been a long time since we last saw each other, and now is the first time since I’ve had the opportunity to come and settle our business.”
“Unfinished business is it? Which one of you is holding onto the past?” Octavia asked as she casually cracked an egg into a bowl. She knew how hard it could be to let go of a grudge, and if that inferno of rage she glimpsed earlier was directed at anypony she feared for their safety.
Artemis was so stunned by the directness of her assertion he hit his head pulling it out of the freezer he was investigating. He started to get angry at how casually she seemed to assume it was merely holding onto the past, but before it showed he calmed himself reminding himself that she knew nothing of his life.
“I haven’t seen or heard from her in ages, I have no idea if it is still as fresh for her as it is for me. I doubt she has changed much so she probably is ignoring her feelings about it honestly, but I’m the one who can’t let go of the past.”
“Well it already happened right? You should get over it and look to the futu-“ Octavia’s sentence died in her throat as she felt the anger radiating off of the guest behind her.
“Get over it? Look to the future and try to make sure it never happens again? You were going to say something along those lines right? In one moment I lost the love of my life, my best friend, my family, my comrades, and my future. SHE TOOK EVERYTHING FROM ME!” He suddenly yelled before he slid to the ground his back against the wall. "Everything and everyone I ever loved, now gone because she betrayed me, but I'm just supposed to get over it?"
Octavia was shocked by the sudden outburst, but she more shocked that she thought she was starting to hear sobs attempting to be repressed. She knew she could be a little callous at times, but she didn’t expect this to be such sensitive subject. She was hoping to convince him to forgive whoever hurt him, she definitely wasn’t trying to bring him to tears, but as she started to open her mouth Vinyl moved past her towards the stallion. After shooting her a look that was a combination of “I tried to warn you” and “look what you’ve done”.
Artemis couldn’t believe he was crying in front of these mares he barely knew, he couldn’t help but realize how much being around the ponies and Tartarus had changed him. Weakness that he couldn’t allow to weigh on him before had crept into him over the centuries. Ponies never ceased to amaze him with their ability to influence anything they interacted with.
Before he could sink deeper into the tar pits that were his own thoughts, he felt a hoof land gently on his shoulder. He turned only to meet the eyes of Vinyl, without her glasses covering them she was surprisingly easy to read. Her compassion and empathy was obvious but beneath that was a combination of confusion, curiosity, and the slightest amount of fear. While he preferred most ponies to have a healthy fear of him, he didn’t like the idea that he was scaring either of these mares.
“’I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have yelled,” he said as he wiped away his tears. “I shouldn’t have lost control of myself, and it seems to be happening more often.”
“Don’t worry about it, Octy can be just as insensitive and stubborn as me sometimes,” said Vinyl as she shot a smirk towards her marefriend. “Your friend is a touchy topic, I get it. Bottling up your emotions isn't healthy though if you want to talk about it we will listen, and if you don’t we can talk about something else.”
Artemis nodded and took a moment to consider his options. “I’m not ready to go into detail, but she betrayed me and took the only things I lived for away from me. She didn’t have the mercy to end me as well, and since then I have been dead in every way except physically.”
Octavia and Vinyl were so stunned they could only stand there in the kitchen slack jawed and wide-eyed. However after recovering from their shock Octavia was the first to respond. Murder wasn't unheard of in Equestria, but rarity of it especially in mass still left them unprepared for the revelation.
“Words cannot begin to express how sorry I am for your loss and for my behavior,” Octavia repented. “I never imagined something so awful happened, and I didn’t mean to minimize your loss.”
“It is fine. You couldn’t have known, but I think you had good intentions.”
“So you are here for revenge right?” Vinyl looked more seriously at the stallion before her than she had before. “I mean, that’s the only reason I could see why you would come here, and I would be here for the same thing if I were you.”
Artemis noted the change in Vinyl’s demeanor, and how it seemed to be unsettling even to Octavia, before he responded. “I’m not sure yet. If I only wanted revenge, we wouldn’t be having this conversation, but I can’t guarantee I won’t attack her on sight. I’ve spent so long trying to hate her, but I can’t even fool myself into thinking that I do. I can’t tell if it is because of our past friendship or if I’m just so dead inside I’m beyond hate. However I do know that I want answers, and I will have them.”
At that Vinyl took a deep breath and seemed to return to her more aloof self. “Well take it from me, revenge won’t do you any good. It will only continue the cycle of violence, the ones who love her will go after you again and so on and so forth. Plus it is never as satisfying when moment comes anyway,” winked Vinyl.
“Wow, that was actually intelligent, thoughtful, and wise."
“Hey I didn’t sleep through every lesson somepony tried to teach me, just the ones at the university” laughed Vinyl. “Just promise me this Orion, don’t do something you will regret.”
He had already considered the possibility of his revenge against Celestia creating a permanent rift between the wolves and ponies, but he figured in the moment he wouldn’t care and could handle the consequences. Even so Vinyl’s promise was easy enough to keep, whatever he did he would commit to 100% even if he decided to end Celestia.
“I promise.”
“Good now let’s eat, all these emotions are making me hungry,” said Vinyl as she lowered her shades and grabbed her plate with magic.
They ate mostly in silence, but Artemis could feel the burning curiosity coming from Octavia. He knew she wanted to ask questions, but she was restraining herself to spare his feelings. After a while he figured it wouldn’t hurt to answer her.
“You seem like you have a lot of questions for me, and as long as they aren’t about my friend or that night I would be happy to answer them,” said Artemis as he made a note to find meat when he was out of the city. The battered bread with sweetened tree sap was delicious but unsatisfying. Most ponies were vegetarians, and while he could survive off of plant life he much preferred meat.
Octavia had many questions about that particular event, but she wasn’t surprised nor disappointed to hear that stipulation. “Vinyl said you were from outside the country, but what is your home like?”
“It was a beautiful land that I fear only knew peace for too short a time,” began Artemis sadly. “The inhabitants were mostly friendly as long as you weren’t seen as a competitor, and each of the seasons had a beauty all their own. It had great expanses of plains, lush forests, and even frigid tundra to the north. We had nothing like the technology and tools you have now, but life was simple and amazing none the less.”
“You talk about it like something changed, what happened?
“I don’t know, and that’s the scary part. I’ve been away a long time. I don’t know what happened, but I fear the worst,” Artemis shuddered as he thought of what could’ve happened to his country after 1000 years without him.
“He said it was a place called Lupinia or something, we should check out it sometime eh Octy?” laughed Vinyl as she noticed her marefriend’s brow furrow. “Octy?”
Octavia merely repeated the name but asked no further questions on the matter much to Artemis’s relief. Thinking about home was almost as bad as thinking about Luna, and he didn’t need to start crying again. Though it did remind him of a question he really wanted answered.
“Vinyl, Octavia, do you mind if I ask you a personal question?” Artemis hoped he wasn’t about to cross a line, but still he needed to know more about this time.
Octavia had gotten distant since the talk about his home, but Vinyl was more than willing to answer for her.
“Sure, what’s on your mind?,” asked Vinyl as she took another bite of french toast.
“Are ponies still ostracized for unusual romantic relationships?” he asked knowing that the answer would only bring him pain regardless of what it was.
Vinyl turned bright red as she nearly choked on the French toast she was eating.
“Uh wh-why do you want to know?”
“Well long ago I had a special somepony, but she was of a different species. As a result we spent much of the time hiding our relationship from the public even though her sister was ok with it,” Artemis said with pain obvious in his voice. “Seeing you and Octavia gave me hope that things had changed, but you seemed to be trying to hide it from me so I wasn’t sure.”
Vinyl looked to a distracted Octavia for help, but found none as her marefriend had left her plate and was currently rifling through her bookcase.
“Well I guess I’m bad at hiding it, but uh things are better than they used to be. It depends on where you are really. Most large cities are pretty ok with it, but there are still places in the country where it can get you killed. The regulars of Canterlot are pretty ok with it, but a lot of the snoody elite don’t like it. That’s with filly foolers and colt cuddlers though, I don’t know how bad it is for the others. It’s not something that happens very often, and I can’t tell you what happened. Sorry,” Vinyl looked at his disappointed face and felt bad for him. She could tell he had been through a rough life, but she wasn’t sure if she should ask about it. “Was it the same mare you brought up before?”
“Yes it was, and don’t be sorry. It doesn’t really matter now anyway,” said Artemis as his eyes started to tear up slightly. “Anyway thank you, you both have been excellent hosts, but I must go before its gets any later. Before I do though Vinyl may I give you something?”
“Uh sure,” Vinyl said nervously as she looked to her marefriend who had found whatever book she had been looking for and was frantically searching through it.
Sadly all the previous recipients of his blessing had passed long ago, but this mare was somepony he wanted to keep tabs on. His horn’s glow matched his eyes as he started casting the spell, and by time he was finished a small oak leaf had appeared on Vinyl’s flank the opposite side of her cutie mark before it faded from sight.
“That mark is my blessing, if you are even in danger or your emotions go to the extremes it will alert me, and I will come to help as soon as I can, and if you focus on it you can talk to me no matter the distance,” explained Artemis. The mark did other things like give her an innate sense of direction while in more natural environments, increase her lifespan, no wild animal that enjoyed existing would ever consider harming her, and she would always be able to find food, water, and shelter, but those were less necessary to mention. “May it always keep you safe. I enjoyed the time we spent together, maybe we could do it again sometime?”
“Sure thing big guy, after you take care of business though, and next time you have to listen to us play,” smiled Vinyl as she walked him to the door. “We are gonna blow your mind.”
The thought of his mind exploding wasn’t pleasant, but he was sure it meant something completely different. “I’m sure you will,” smiled Artemis as he walked down the stairs out of the apartment complex. Vinyl’s way of speaking would take some getting used to, but she would be a good way to be reintroduced to the world, assuming Celestia didn’t do anything to make him raze Canterlot to the ground of course. If that were the case Vinyl and Octavia would be spared at the least. The thought of Celestia refocused him on his goal as he started off towards Canterlot Castle. The sun told him it would be two hours till noon, and even better his detour had been closer to the castle than he was before.
As soon as Vinyl closed the door she heard Octavia calling to her. “Vinyl get over here quickly.”
“What’s up Tavi? Why’d you go mia part way through breakfast?” asked Vinyl not too happy about being left to entertain her strange guest now new friend alone.
“Vinyl are you sure he said his home was Lupinia? Absolutely positive?”
“Uh yeah he cast a spell on me to make sure I would remember where I was leading him, and the name kinda stuck in my head. Why? What’s up?”
“Vinyl did you pay attention at all at the university? Look, Lupinia hasn’t existed in nearly 800 years. It sounded strange so I had to double check, but history says that their leader disappeared suddenly 1000 years ago.” Octavia explained while showing Vinyl the history book. “Without him to hold them together, the wolves quickly descended into chaos as in-fighting broke out. The griffons saw the chaos as the perfect opportunity to strike, and they descended upon the already unstable country. Celestia tried to send aid, but the wolves rejected it while accusing her of stealing their leader from them. Without aid the country fell and the territory became a part of the Griffon Kingdom. Most of the wolves were killed, forced into hiding or made into slaves,” finished Octavia as she closed the book. “Don’t you see Vinyl there is no way he is from Lupinia, but he accurately described the landscape and the wolves even though nopony is allowed into the Griffon Kingdom and the wolves all hate ponies for the disappearance of their King.”
“I don’t know Octy, I don’t think he was lying. Did you see how sad he was? Plus he helped me, a completely random mare who needed help even though I tried to fight him off. He didn’t seem like a bad guy and especially not the lying type.”
“Well he was either lying or he is over 800 years old. What is more likely Vinyl?” Octavia didn’t want to think he was lying but there wasn’t really any other option. “Unless you think he is over 800 years old of course.”
“Maybe he is like one of those cave ponies in the movies, you know the ones that get frozen and then unthaw in the future,” said Vinyl only partially joking.
“Vinyl that has to be the dumbest,” the rest of her sentence died in her throat. It would explain his unfamiliarity with technology, unusually muscular body, and even his claims to have been from Lupinia. “No, no, no even though that might explain a lot I don’t think that is even possible, plus he said he had to meet some pony he used to be friends with. Shame he never did mention their name, but that was probably intentional,” thought Octavia aloud.
“Yeah I guess that wouldn’t work, even the oldest ponies only live to a hundred or so. Well except the princesses of course, but come on it couldn’t be one of them. But I still don’t think he was lying though Octy, I don’t think the best actors could’ve faked that much pain.”
Octavia was growing more and more curious about this new pony. It was far easier to think that he had lied to them, but the emotion he showed before was so genuine it seemed hard to believe anypony could’ve faked it. However there wasn’t an alternative story they could believe.
Octavia’s thoughts were interrupted by the ringing of her doorbell, it hadn’t been too long since he left but she partially hoped he had come back. As she moved to answer the door she heard Vinyl shout from the couch.
“What if he is a wolf slave in disguise that escaped and came here for revenge? Earlier when I was forced against his back I felt some weird scars,” proposed Vinyl as she was trying to think of any situation that solved the problem.
“That’s worse than the frozen in ice one Vinyl. You watch way too many movies, and besides wolves can’t do magic like that,” chuckled Octavia as she went to open the door.
Octavia opened the door, and was mildly disappointed to not find their intriguing new acquaintance. However she was more shocked at who was at her door, “Well isn’t this quite the surprise?”
9:00am, 11th of Viglyd, 6 Days After the Tirek Incident – Royal Canterlot Library
“Umm Twilight?” started Fluttershy as she finished looking through yet another book. “Shouldn’t we be out looking with the rest of the girls?”
“No,” started Twilight as she distractedly went through her 30th book. “Well yes, but I want to know everything I can about this Artemis guy before we find him. I think it will give us a better chance at dealing with him, but so far we can’t find anything useful. There isn’t a large section on the wolves and every book in it mentions their king, but none of them go into any detail about his abilities or personality.”
Twilight was quickly growing frustrated with the lack of information on this former king, especially because she felt that he should’ve been something scholars were interested in studying. The section related to the wolves was relatively small, but they had already gone through each book at least three times. There could be other books in other sections, but she couldn’t search the entire library for answers. They already didn’t have much time, and her lack of sleep wasn’t helping her pace or attitude.
“We could maybe try asking Princess Luna? She probably knows more about him than anypony, and that way we could save time without telling Princess Celestia.”
“No, we can't. What if she asks why we are asking about Artemis or how we know about him? Or even worse we might alert her to something being wrong, and on top of that she is sleeping right now. You don’t want to wake Luna when she is sleeping.” Twilight shuddered as she recalled her brother’s recounting of the first and only time he woke her up.
“Oh, right,its a shame there isn’t anypony old enough to know about him.”
“Fluttershy you’re a genius! The only one we can ask isn’t a pony, Discord might know something.”
Twilight’s sudden joy at potential information quickly died when she realized they had to get Discord to cooperate, but she didn’t think that should be too much of a problem considering how hard he had been trying to make up for aiding Tirek. Still putting up with Discord required a certain mental fortitude she wasn’t sure she had at the moment.
“Oh that’s a wonderful idea Twilight, I’m sure he knows something, I’ll call for him right now.”
“WAIT!” Twilight shrieked before remembering she was in a library. “I know Discord might know something, but I don’t have the energy to deal with him right now. I was just getting to sleep when the Princess’s summons came, and right now I need some coffee.”
“Oh oh oh lets go to Joe’s,” said an eager Spike as he finished putting up the books they had gone through. “We haven’t been there since that first Gala, and I really want a donut. Please Twilight?”
“Is that ok with you Fluttershy?” asked Twilight not wanting to overlook her shy friend’s opinion.
“Oh of course Twilight, we can start asking about Arte-,” Fluttershy started but didn’t get to finish as she, Twilight, and Spike were teleported into a donut shop.
Working in Canterlot you see some strange things, and Joe had seen a lot of strange things. None of them quite prepared him for the shock of having things suddenly burst into his shop out of thin air. After the magical field went down he easily recognized his long-time customers.
“Hey Twilight long time no see,” Joe said while getting a slight case of déjà vu. “I see you don’t have all your friends with you today, what can I get for you three?”
“Expresso, Quad Shot,” started Twilight as she sat down. “No, they are out searching the city, and before I can help I need some energy.” Twilight’s face promptly hit the table as she was having a hard time not falling asleep.
“The old Sleepless Scholar eh? Sounds like a rough day ahead, but anything for you Twilight. What can I get for the young dragon and beautiful lady?”
“Green Tea,” Fluttershy managed to squeak out from behind her blush.
“Two donuts, extra sprinkles.”
After a short wait their orders were brought to the table and Joe was back to baking, but not before he wished them luck finding whatever they were searching for.
After draining half of her expresso, Twilight sighed bracing herself mentally for what was about to come.
“DISCORD!!!” Twilight suddenly shrieked with the tone of a mother calling a child who had been disobedient.
Right on queue a floating bathtub appeared in front of the table in a flash of light, and the off-key singing and shadow behind the shower curtain told them that the draconequus had indeed shown up.
“Oh really Twilight, you should know better than to interrupt someone while they are bathing,” said Discord as he poked his head out from behind the curtain. “I’m mean really, I’m indecent out here.”
“Ugh Discord, neither you nor anypony else wears cloths normally. We don’t have time for this, we called to ask if you had ever met the king of the wolves?”
“King of the wolves?” repeated Discord as his bathtub became a large floating throne. “Hmmmm, was he a large wolf with a grey coat and green eyes? Walked on his hind legs? He liked to disguise himself as a unicorn?” As he said this he conjured up an incredible life-sized likeness of what Celestia described.
“Yes! YES! You know him?”
“I’m sorry, I don’t know anything about him,” said Discord innocently as he created a swimming pool of coffee for a newly animated pair of donuts.
“What? You’re lying, you described him perfectly,” accused Twilight as the stress of the situation and Discords antics were quickly wearing out what few nerves she had left. “What are you hiding, are you helping him?”
“Discord,” said Fluttershy sternly as she chastised him with just her stare.
“What? No, I’m telling you the truth I swear. I don’t really know any more about him, I saw him disguised one time in passing as a statue. I learned of his true form by eavesdropping on Luna one time, and she seemed very interested in him. I’m not helping any other evil beings, I’m innocent here.” With that the donuts and coffee returned to normal as a halo appeared over Discord’s now bulging puppy-dog eyes.
“Sure you are Discord,” said Twilight as she rolled her eyes. “You aren’t telling us everything.”
“Alright fine, I admit it. I eavesdropped on Luna a lot, but still I don’t know anything about the wolf king,” cried Discord as the shop began to fill with his tears.
“Hey hey hey, what the heck is goin on in here?” cried Joe as he burst in from the kitchen only to see two unicorns, a pegasus, a dragon, and a crying thing. “Why is my shop flooding? Girls, I’m going to need you to leave if you can’t stop him.”
“There there Discord, it’s ok. We believe you,” said Fluttershy as she comforted the seemingly distraught draconequus.
“Oh, I know you do Fluttershy, but the Princess doesn’t.”
“Ugh fine, just stop with the tears, and clean up this mess up.”
With a snap of his claws the water vanished leaving everything bone dry afterwards. “Why the sudden interest in a long gone king?” asked Discord as he slid in between his friends in the booth.
“We can’t say, pinkie promise,” said Twilight as her face once again hit the table. She wasn’t quite sure why she had expected much of anything useful from Discord.
“Well is there anything else I can help with?” asked Discord as he took a sip of Fluttershy’s green tea.
Twilight thought of what happened last time they sent Discord to search for somepony, and opted not to accept his help.
“No,” sighed Twilight as she started to doubt there was any more information on Artemis.
“Thank you for offering though,” said Fluttershy sweetly. “We probably won’t get back to Ponyville this weekend, would you mind watching after Angel and staying out of trouble?
“Me? Cause trouble? I’m hurt you would even suggest I might cause trouble, a little chaos on the other claw. Of course I will take good care of your precious Angel, enjoy your weekend I will take good care of the castle while you two are away.”
“Wait I never said anything about the cast-“started Twilight as her head bolted upright. Unfortunately Discord had already vanished leaving only the likeness of Artemis behind. “DISCORD STAY OUT OF THE CASTLE!” yelled Twilight knowing that her words had fallen on deaf ears. “Great now we are going to have to deal with whatever he does to the castle."
“If you don’t mind me asking, what has got you so stressed Twilight? If it is another test I’m sure you will do great, you always do.”
“I can’t say, pinkie promise, but let me know if you see any pony like this in the city,” she said as she pointed to the likeness of Artemis.
“Oh him?” he said as he looked over the strange hologram. “Yeah I saw him earlier this morning, a lot of ponies were ducking into the shop to avoid him. I haven’t seen that many ponies cower from somepony since Buck Norris visited.”
“Wait you saw him? What was doing? Where did he go?” started Twilight as she bolted upright again. Now she suddenly had a lead to work off of.
“Uh yeah that’s what I said, and he was just walking down the street looking angry. I don’t think he actually did anything to anypony, and I don’t know I didn’t really track him after he walked by. I had customers to take care of first. What, is he dangerous or something?”
“Not sure yet,” replied Twilight which was only half-true. She knew he was potentially dangerous, but not if he was a threat. “Thank you though, it isn’t much but it is more than we knew before we came in,” said Twilight as she suddenly hugged Joe.
“Uhhh not a problem, anything for you Twilight.”
“Now I just need to tell the girls. Spike get the bill, my bits are in there,” said Twilight absentmindedly as a minor rip in space appeared.
Twilight was focusing all of her attention to finding her friends in the city, which would’ve been more difficult if the elements weren’t all inextricably linked. “Girls, Artemis is in the city. This isn’t a wild goose chase, so be careful he is here somewhere. Remember when you find him don’t do anything alone or without all of us.”
10:00am, 11th of Viglyd, 6 Days After the Tirek Incident – Canterlot Fantaisie Café
“Oh come on now Rarity,” said an exasperated Applejack. “You can’t be that tired, we’ve only been searchin fer a few hours. Heck Twilight already found somethin out; it shouldn’t be long till we find him.”
“True, but not all of us are so accustomed to running around so early in the morning,” said an equally exasperated Rarity. “Plus I don’t usually begin my mornings without coffee.”
“Well while yer takin a coffee break, that Artemis feller could be getting closer to the Princess. We don’t have time for stuff like this.”
“My thoughts exactly my dear Applejack. We can’t possibly search this entire city by hoof before tomorrow night without alerting somepony. So I got to thinking, and a stallion like Celestia described couldn’t possibly make it through Canterlot without drawing at least some attention to himself. I’m sure he has or will been noticed on some social medium eventually, and all we have to do is wait for it,” said Rarity as she started going through her phone.
“So you want us to sit here and wait until somepony else notices him, and decides to announce it to the whole world? That has got to be the laziest thing I’ve ever heard, I’d expect that out of Rainbow not-”
“Found something,” said Rarity with a triumphant and slightly cocky grin. “The trending story for the past couple of hours has been that the renowned DJ, Vinyl Scratch, was ponynapped by a mysterious unidentified stallion. They even have pictures of him, and I think it fits Celestia’s description,” said Rarity as she showed Applejack her phone. “It is a shame though; anypony close enough to get this photo could’ve tried to stop him.”
“Can’t say I blame em neither, shoot he looks bigger than Mac. We already knew he was in the city, but who knows what happened to Scratch.”
“Yes, but I can’t help but wonder how Octavia is dealing with it, she must be devastated.”
“Octavia?”
“You really should make more of an effort to be in the loop on social matters or any sort of pop culture. Octavia is an equally renowned classical Cellist, and she is Vinyl’s marefriend. Their relationship was a big deal, especially considering how musically gifted they are. They got playfully accused of monopolizing musical talent, I’m surprised you haven’t heard anything about it.”
“You know me, if it ain’t about my friends, family, or apples it ain’t important.”.
“Yes, well first things first I want to check up on Octavia to make sure she is doing alright. Then maybe we could figure out some sort of way to track Vinyl through her and find Artemis at the same time.”
“Well should we tell Twi about this?” asked Applejack as they both got up to leave the café.
“Not yet, we still don’t know if this will lead anywhere, and it would be better to let her and the girls continue their search instead of wasting time on a potential dead end,” said Rarity as they started off from the café. “Besides I’m not the closest to Octavia so it might be strange for the elements of harmony to show up suddenly, and either way we will need Twilight if there is any chance of tracking Vinyl.”
“Woah woah wait, I thought you were friends with this Octavia charcter?”
“I didn’t say we were friends. We are errr *ahem* on speaking terms.”
“Speakin terms? There is more to it than that ain’t there?”
“Well we have had our disagreements and confrontations in the past, but we smoothed it over after we both became more well known in Canterlot. We haven’t really talked much since a comparatively minor fiasco the night after the Gala, and you remember how the gala turned out for everypony involved. I don’t really know who she will react to be quite honest.”
“Disagreements?”
“One does not attempt to navigate the social ladder without making a few rivals along the way. In the past we may have said some less than tasteful things at each other, but that is in the past now,” said Rarity as she waved a dismissive hoof through the air.
“Alright then,” started Applejack sensing Rarity’s desire to avoid that topic. “So what are these two like, and why do you think Artemis would ponynap this Vinyl character?”
“Well Octavia can be a little cold at times, but that is just from dealing with the ponies in her line of work. After you get to know her she supposed be very sweet, and wouldn’t do anything to harm somepony she liked. She is most well-known for her cello play which could make mother nature herself weep, but that should be no surprise since she was invited to play at the Gala. Vinyl is a bit of a wild one, she is a very accomplished DJ and supposed party animal. Unfortunately I know far less about Vinyl, and I have no idea what Artemis could want with her.”
“Well how far does Octavia live?”
“Right here,” said Rarity as they turned a corner only a block away from the café.
While Applejack was staring slack-jawed at the impressive luxury apartment complex, Rarity went to the board to find Octavia’s building. She was a little more accustomed to the over the top nature of the Canterlot elite, which tended to be more extreme than the castle in some places.
“Ah, her place is up the stairs on the left,” said Rarity as she went to rouse Applejack from her awe.
“Wow, it is crazy what some ponies will spend their bits on.”
“Well when you have a lot to spare you start to care less about what it is spent on,” said Rarity as they approached the door with the plaque reading Octavia Melody. She took a deep breath to calm her nerves before she raised her hoof, and she rang the doorbell.
11:00am, 11th of Viglyd, 6 Days After the Tirek Incident – Canterlot Castle
It didn’t take Artemis long to reach the outer wall of the castle from Octavia’s apartment, but what had stopped him was the massive magic shell put around the Castle. The spell required an impressive amount of magic to maintain, and it did take him a solid 15 minutes to study and feel out the spell without alerting the caster. However what he discovered was severely disappointing, for the spell had an obvious gaping hole. It was a spell designed to only allow ponies to pass through to the castle, and it prevented magical travel through the barrier. He made a note that any form of hybrid pony creature could easily slip though the barrier on the premise that it wasn’t designed to keep ponies out.
“Wow Celestia certainly has stayed lazy when it comes to security,” Artemis thought to himself as he followed the wall to a section no pony was watching. Since the barrier wasn’t any issue he just dug his claws into the stone walls and began his ascent up to the top. Though as he neared the top he felt a decent surge of anger, and it was coming from Vinyl. It was just anger so he didn't think it was life threatening, but he made a note to double check as soon as he got to a place without guards.
As he climbed over something unexpected happened, he felt his disguise peel away revealing his true form to any pony that would’ve happened to look his way.
“Of course there is more to the barrier,” chuckled Artemis. “Alright, I underestimated the cunning of her spellcaster, but I’ll be sure it doesn’t happen again.”
Artemis had been taking a couple moments to make sure he didn’t overlook anything else in the spell when he suddenly heard a dozen guards running from below. “Somehow they noticed something. No matter, it’s not really an issue,” he thought as he cast an invisibility spell.
But nothing happened.
“Twice I have underestimated this magical field,” Artemis sighed to himself as he noticed his still completely visible body. At this point the guards were coming up the stairs, and would be able to see him soon. “Guess I have to do this the fun way,” he grinned as he leapt from the wall into one of the many trees in the courtyard. “It has been long since I have experienced any form of the thrill of the hunt., to hunt and be hunted at the same time certainly makes things more interesting.”
The guards reached the top of the wall only to be greeted by nothing, as they looked around in all directions. “I would’ve sworn I heard something scratching at the wall,” said one guard right before a hoof smacked the back of his head.
“Be more sure next time, and don’t make such a big deal out of something you aren’t sure of. All right back to your posts, false alarm.”
Artemis loved the thrill of the hunt, but he was only experiencing a fraction of the thrill he missed. Even now he was very aware that this hunt posed no real danger to him. Sometimes he longed for the old days of conflict, nothing made him feel more alive than fighting on the verge of death. His days fighting the other world powers were some of the best times of his life before he mellowed out. It was highly unlikely that any of those guards could injure him let alone bring him anywhere near death, and he only avoided them to not cause an unnecessary scene.
Artemis waited till they all had started down the stairs before he bolted for the inner wall. Since they left their posts to look for him, it would temporarily unguarded.
As he ran he felt a sudden unknown presence enter his mind, and out of instinctive reactionary fear he immediately grabbed hold of it, not allowing it to back out. While he had halted the probe, it had distracted him long enough that he couldn’t make it directly to the inner wall.
Artemis could hear the guards getting closer with every moment. He cursed at himself mentally before he opted to duck into the garden maze. He couldn’t allow his presence to be compromised yet, so he knew he had to deal with this invader sooner rather than later.
He found a dead end in the maze overlooked by the tower that held the Princess’s bedroom. It was the perfect spot, he could see his goal, and it was just out of the way enough for him not to be disturbed.
Artemis took a deep breath to steel himself, "Vinyl can wait for a moment. Even when I'm not focused on it, my mind is well guarded whoever got in is powerful, but the fact that I can hold them probably means their power and experience aren't on the same level. The most dangerous type of magician, ugghh," groaned Artemis as he crossed his legs and prepared to deal with whoever had the talent and arrogance to invade his thoughts.
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.
“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.
11:15am, 11th of Viglyd, 6 Days After the Tirek Incident – Octavia’s Luxury Apartment
“She’s been in there for a while, should we do somethin?” worried Applejack.
“There is nothing we really can do,” sighed Rarity. “I don’t know what will happen if we do anything to her.”
“She’s been standing there with her hoof on Vinyl’s flank for 15 minutes,” added Rainbow Dash. “Should it be taking her this long?”
The room of mares all waited nervously for Twilight to move or do something. Ever since she started tracking Artemis, she hadn’t so much as moved an inch. She just stood there head down, eyes closed, with her hoof on Vinyl’s flank.
“Hey I’m not complaining,” snickered Vinyl nearly earning her a hoof to the back of her head.
“If I weren’t afraid of interfering with the Princess’s search, I would smack you,” said Octavia with a smirk that gave-way to a caring smile. “Are you sure it doesn’t hurt or anything?”
“Not any more than when you last asked, just the same warm tingling. I really hope she hurries up though, I’m ready to hit the hay.”
No sooner than she finished yawning, she felt a slight jolt race through her.
“Woah, that was weird.”
“Are you alright?”
“Yeah I’m fine, better even. There was a weird jolt, and suddenly I don’t feel tired anymore.”
Shortly after she finished her sentence suddenly the mare touching her flank started dancing. Her hoof never moved and her eyes were closed, but she was still doing some old traditional dance.
“Oh Twilight, you never told me you knew river stomp,” gasped Pinkie as she ran over to Twilight and began to dance with her. “We could’ve been practicing together.”
There was a brief moment of relief, everypony was hoping her dancing was a good sign that she was alright. Though after a couple moments, they grew worried that something might’ve gone wrong.
“Twilight? You alright?” asked Applejack as she worriedly looked upon the dancing princess.
Suddenly, the dancing stopped. Twilight’s head jerked towards Applejack and her friends. Her eyes opened and they were glowing a bright white, but they quickly faded revealing unusual green eyes.
“The Princess is fine,” said Twilight with a voice that was clearly not her own. “She is merely busy at the moment.”
Everypony in the room was surprised at the sudden turn of events, but no one was really sure how to react.
“Artemis, what have you done with Twilight?” yelled Rainbow Dash as she moved face to face with Twilight’s body.
“It is as I said, the Princess is fine. In fact I’m talking to her even now as we speak. She should count herself lucky to be able to do that, few who have tried to enter my mind by force could say the same.”
“Artemis or Orion, who are you? What’s going on, and why did you lie to us?” Vinyl suddenly interrupted sadly.
“Admittedly I can be deceptive, but I don’t lie period. Artemis and Orion are two of many names I've been called before, I will answer to both. Orion is a name I used more in the past, but Artemis is what I have been using recently, well relatively speaking. As for my reasons for deception, shortly after I decided to help you, you gave me a smile that told me you had something planned. I didn’t know it was a prank for Octavia, but out of caution I gave you an older name. I'm sorry circumstances were such that it was necessary, but I won't apologize for the action.”
Impressively Artemis still managed to give a look of ancient weary even in Twilight’s body.
“Do you trust me Vinyl? If you do, don’t ask me to explain right now. After this is over with, I promise will explain everything, and if you need me to I will even show you my memories. Right now however, it is for the best that you don’t get involved.”
Vinyl thought about asking him, but she decided not to. She decided to trust him, but she feared that the Princess and her friends wouldn’t. While attempting to think of a solution, Vinyl remembered the connection they shared, and she figured now was as good a time as any to test it.
“ARTEMIS,” she thought as loudly as she could hoping he would hear.
“No need to shout,” he replied quickly and calmly. “Call me, and I will answer.”
“Sorry, never done something like this before, I want you to know I trust you, but I don’t think they do. I think they have been searching for you an-”
“I know, and thank you,” interrupted Artemis. “Thank you for your trust and concern. I know I’m not giving you much to base that off of, but that only makes me appreciate it more. I’m sorry I dragged you into my problems, but don’t worry about those six I will figure something out.”
Artemis didn’t wait for Vinyl to answer before he decided to look upon the mares in front of him fully.
“That goes for all of you by the way,” he said as he briefly looked over them all. “Alas, I am not so foolish as to believe you will heed my warning, but luckily I figured out my own solution,” he finished with a deceptive cheer.
Suddenly there was a flash of green light, and a medium sized scroll appeared floating in front of the mares tracking him.
“Shortly after I finish explaining this, Twilight will return to her body. However before she can interact with you, she is going to pass out. If you don’t want her to fall asleep forever, I recommend you get everything on that list. Grind and combine all the ingredients and pour it down her throat at EXACTLY 7:30pm not a moment too late or soon, and your precious Princess of Friendship will wake up untouched.”
Artemis was telling a completely different story to Vinyl however.
“I’m just putting her to sleep for a couple hours so she doesn’t bother me. The ingredients are merely a distraction to keep them busy, she will wake up at 7:30 regardless of if she gets the mixture or not.”
“I gotcha, but what is the mixture anyway?”
“It is something you actually should get a laugh out of, just a little something to teach her a lesson about invading someone's thoughts.”
“As a sign of good will,” Artemis continued aloud. “I will even provide one of the ingredients,” he said as green energy seemed to pour in from the windows and gather on Rarity’s extended hoof. “That is the concentrated essence of life, extremely valuable and difficult to harvest for most, use it wisely.”
As the girls looked over the list, their eyes grew larger and larger at the crazy demands.
“Where the heck are we supposed to get changeling molt? yelled Rainbow Dash.
“Timberwolf Fangs?” questioned Applejack
“Dragon tears? said Rarity as she thought of their resident baby dragon.
“Cockatrice feathers?” shuddered Fluttershy remembering the last time she saw a Cockatrice.
“Phoenix Fire?” thought Spike. “That should be easy enough.”
“Oh Manticore Venom?” yelped Pinkie. “Mmmmm that stuff is spi-cy, but if Twilight needs it.”
Pinkie’s comment about the spicy-ness of manticore venom drew everyone’s attention, but they all decided it was better not to question how or why she knew what it tasted like.
“Well to answer the rainbow one, I don’t really know. In the past I could’ve and probably would've told you, but either way it’s more your problem than mine right now.”
“Why I oughta,” snarled Rainbow Dash as she rushed back into Artemis’s/Twilight’s face.
“You wouldn’t, unless you want to hurt your precious princess and dear friend,” spat Artemis bitterly. “I respect your loyalty to your friends though; it reminds me of myself during a better time. Every hero has an often times fatal flaw, and the most dangerous ones are those that are good in moderation. Loyalty is admirable, but it makes the wounds from betrayal all that much deeper. I hope, for your sake, that what happened to me doesn’t happen to you.”
Rainbow Dash backed away slowly, slightly confused at the sudden unwanted compliment and wisdom.
“It was interesting to meet the ponies that saved Equestria and stopped Tirek,” smiled Artemis suddenly. “I wish you the best of luck, I would say good bye, but I know we will meet again.”
“Hey wait a minute,” cried Applejack.
Her words fell on deaf ears as suddenly Twilight collapsed onto the floor.
11:30am, 11th of Viglyd, 6 Days After the Tirek Incident – Canterlot Castle Garden Maze
The silence of the garden maze was interrupted by a sudden but subtle yawn as Artemis arose from his trance.
“And that takes care of that,” thought Artemis contentedly as he started to stretch his limbs. “Celestia’s student turned princess is taking a nice nap, and her friends are on a wild goose chase for pointless items. That should give me just enough time to resolve things with Celestia, but for now let’s focus on getting into her bedroom.”
Since he wasn’t in a hurry anymore he spared a moment to chuckle to himself about his previous thought.
“If only they hadn’t been sisters, oh those could’ve been truly great nights with endless possibilities.”
Though he chuckled to himself about good times past, the worst parts eventually came to the surface of his thoughts like they always did.
“Oh Luna, I’m so sorry I failed you. I’m torn inside, and I don’t know what to do. Part of me says not to blame Celestia for my failure, and another part of me says to burn everything she loves in front her. Yet another part of me just wants to enter the void to be with you, and another part still tells me you wouldn’t want that. There are infinite differing pieces waging war inside me on what to do, and the only things they have in common are hurt and loss.”
As he brought his gaze down from the sky he saw the tower that was to be his final destination, it refocused him if only for the moment.
“I will have plenty of time to sort out my feelings tonight. Let’s get out of this maze and up to that balcony first.”
As he walked through the maze he was shocked at how distracted he had been before, he didn’t even feel the lingering chaos in the area before.
“Discord has clearly been here, but how? He shouldn’t have been able to escape as long as the princesses ha-”.
His thought was cut off as yet another realization struck him, and it was the most confusing one yet. Without Luna, they couldn’t have wielded the elements of harmony against Discord the way they did originally.
“I don’t think Celestia can wield the elements alone, and if that is the case Discord would’ve broken from his prison as soon the connection between the princesses and elements wavered,” he thought as he carefully made his way through the maze. “If Discord is free, why isn’t this place a chaotic hellhole?”
He briefly considered searching for Discord’s magic, but he very quickly decided against it. He was too close to the Princess to open himself up, and the Draconequus was unpredictable and irritating on his best days. Plus if something went wrong it would be damn near impossible for him to fight Discord and Celestia at the same time. That was assuming Celestia hadn’t managed to get rid of the chaotic nuisance for good.
As he neared the entrance/exit to the maze another thought occurred to him.
“Why are there no guards patrolling the maze? Why aren’t there any guards standing outside her balcony?” thought Artemis angrily. “I was the one who selected and trained the first royal guards, and it was done to protect what had been the two most precious things in my life. This is how they would’ve protected the Princesses from danger?”
“A thousand years without me, and those maggots already dismissed my training and warnings! I know I told them that their rooms needed more guards when they weren’t in them than when they were. The Princesses were perfectly capable of handling most threats, but even they could be ambushed I told them.”
“Well they are going to learn the hard way now,” he thought as he looked up at the balcony above him. “This barrier spell stops all attempts to magically alter oneself and travel through it, but I doubt it completely inhibits all magic.”
After some thought he figured the simpler spells would be less likely to be affected by the barrier, and he cast a simple spell to create a simple floating disk of glass anchored solidly in the air.
“Perfect.”
As he turned to head back towards the maze he stopped at a nearby bush, briefly debating the best way to cause a distraction big enough that no one would be looking to the sky to see him.
“Hey there little one sorry to wake you,” he whispered as he extended a claw towards the bush. “I need you to do me a favor.”
At the mentioning of a favor, a small cricket bounded out of the bush and onto his claw.
“Of course I don’t ask something for nothing,” smiled Artemis at the small insect. “Just go over there and start chirping as much as you can. I will let you keep the magic afterwards; it should help impress a mate without any problems.” He said as he pointed to the opposite side of the castle.
After the cricket chirped in agreement, he cast a spell that would be certain to be a perfect distraction.
“Be swift, and don’t get caught”
“There are few things in nature that don't recognize authority when it confronts them, I probably didn't need to bribe the little thing, but oh well what's the worst that could happen?” chuckled Artemis to himself.
Artemis got onto all fours are he prepared for his distraction to begin, but he didn’t have to wait long. As he expectedly heard the sound of hundreds of crickets chirping at once, despite the distance the loud chirp was still painful to his sensitive ears.
“Not my brightest idea, but it should work.”
“There they go,” he thought as he watched the guards take off to handle what was he hoped they thought was a giant cricket.
As soon as the guards went chasing, Artemis took off at full speed sprinting straight at the tower wall. Though as he got close he leapt as high as he could, and when he hit the wall, he grabbed the wall and pushed off it sending further up but away from the castle. As he was going through the air he created a slightly slanted glass disk for him to land on, and when landed he repeated the same jump as before only towards the castle. It didn’t take too many repeated makeshift wall jumps before he was able to reach the balcony.
Though as he landed he heard something he didn’t expect.
“What that buck!” came a voice from nowhere.
Reacting purely off of instincts and his other senses he grabbed the space where the voice came from, and to his surprise he grabbed a mare with some form of chameleon spell on her as he could vaguely see her against the background. Though at the sound of her voice he heard what sounded like a different stallion waking up.
“Well, it’s good that they aren’t that naïve,” he smiled as he forced his way into the mare’s mind. “Sleep” was the only command he gave her, and before she could swing her weapon she went limp.
“What going o-, CREST!” shouted the suddenly awake chameleonic guard. “What did you do to her you monster?”
Artemis looked that slight distortion caused by the spear leveled at his chest, but what caught his ear was the fear in this guard’s voice.
“Oh I’m a monster am I? Haven’t heard that one in my lifetime,” Artemis laughed darkly. “Maybe I should play the part, drop your weapons,” he told the guard as he moved the unconscious mare in his claws to dangle over the balcony. “Unless of course you think she could fly right now.”
“WAIT no please,” said the guard as he dropped his spear and threw his badge to the ground. Suddenly visible the guard began to plead, “Please don’t drop her, I dropped my weapons just like you asked.”
Artemis found himself sympathetic and angry at the same time, but he couldn’t immediately decide which he should act on.
“What is your name and rank soldier?”
“First Sergeant Stalwart Shield, Royal Guard, Special Ops.”
“Soldier, do you love this mare?”
“With everything I have and more.”
“Soldier, would you do anything for this mare?”
“Yes, I would do anything, so please don’t hurt her.”
“Then resign from the guard both of you. Your love for each other is a weakness that leaves the Princess in danger; there is a reason why you aren’t supposed to be romantically involved with other guards. I understand your love, and I don’t fault you for it. If you truly want to serve the Princess you will let someone else fill your position.”
As he finished he brought the mare back over balcony, and examined both the mare and her lover. Stalwart Shield’s love for this mare reminded of him and Luna, and it made it much harder for him to be angry at the young couple.
“I’m not a monster anymore, that was long ago,” he said more to himself than to the guard. “The burdens of leadership, loneliness, and the responsibility to your subjects can make you do horrible unspeakable things.”
“I won’t harm either of you. However I can’t just leave you two here otherwise you would be duty bound to alert your whole squad.”
The guard opened his mouth to protest, but Artemis had already forced his way into his mind.
“When this door closes, you will resume normal activity as though nothing had happened here, not until tomorrow will you remember our encounter”
After taking care of them Artemis used their keys to open the door, figuring it was better than risking some random trap or undetected spell. As he looked inside he was only mildly surprised to see that Celestia hadn’t changed her room much in 1000 years.
“She never changed her style as much as Luna,” he chuckled to himself as he went to return the keys to the guards. “This seems to work in here, this could be useful,” he thought as he picked up the badge the guard threw down.
“Just a simple duplication spell should work,” thought Artemis as he held a second badge in his palm.
Shortly after putting the badge on, he started to blend in to background of the tower, and all he could think of was how perfectly this was working out.
“I hope you consider what I said, though I wish you nothing but the best in your relationship,” said Artemis to both the guards. "Now all that is left is for me to wait," he thought as he closed the door to the balcony.
6:30pm, 11th of Viglyd, 6 Days After the Tirek Incident – Canterlot Castle Throne Room
“I can’t ever just end open court on time can I? All day everyday these nobles come to me with their every little problem, and they all expect me to solve them as if there was nothing better I could be doing with my time. These stallions have been going on for almost an hour, and they still don’t realize I’m barely paying either of them any attention.”
Celestia took a brief moment from her thoughts to make sure one of the stallions was still going on about resource allocation, and unfortunately for her it didn’t seem like he planned on stopping on his own any time soon.
“Court was supposed to end at 6pm, and I was supposed to get some free time to myself before dinner and quality time with Luna. Normally it wouldn’t bother me, but I don’t have time for this today.” Celestia had finally had enough of these childish squabbles, and she was going to end the disagreement for good.
“Enough! Just because you disagree with what he chooses to sell in his shop doesn’t mean you can come to me and try to force him to sell his shop or stop doing business. Mr. Toys you are free to sell whatever you want in your shop within Equestrian law, and as long as you keep your adult products out of the way so fillies don’t see them you are fine. Mr. Zealot do not enter my court again with another case similar to this one, now both of you leave and enjoy your evening.”
The unicorn Theo Zealot was a regular complainant; he always had a problem with something saying it was an affront to Lord Faust or some other nonsense. Every time she saw him, Celestia was tempted to enlighten him to Faust’s actual role in their universe but that would’ve just been cruelty for her own amusement. So she kept her information to herself as she watched them leave, and called one of her guards over in the meantime.
“Captain, make sure Mr. Zealot doesn’t do anything he should regret,” ordered the Princess once the pair had walked out of earshot. “I’m returning to my quarters before dinner; reassign four of my guards to High Mage Spiral, my sources say he might be in danger of being attacked tonight.”
“On your orders it shall be done Princess,” said the guard as he saluted and pointed to a new pair of guards. “You two, you’re with me. We are going to track Theo Zealot and make sure he doesn’t do anything stupid. Gear up and meet me at the main gate in five minutes.” As he turned back to the Princess he finished, “I already sent out the reassignment message, and your guards are on their way to guard Spiral. It may not be my place, but are you sure about that Princess?”
“Yes I will be fine,” smiled Celestia warmly. “Spiral needs far more protection than I do, even on his best days he is a bit careless. I’m sure you all remember the giant cricket incident when he was experimenting a few years back; he tends to blot out his surroundings while he is working. Besides it is just for tonight and tomorrow, don’t worry about it.”
The Captain clearly disagreed, but he pushed Celestia no further on the subject. He got the feeling there was more going on than she was saying, but orders are orders even more so when they are from the Princess. He made a note to personally stand guard later tonight, but for now he had a nutjob to follow.
Celestia was relieved to watch her Captain go without pressing her further, for she hadn’t been completely honest with him. Spiral was her court mage that maintained the barrier around the castle since Shining Armor left, and there was a chance that Artemis might try to take him out if he wasn’t coming alone. While she didn’t doubt he could get to either her or Spiral with some effort no matter how many guards she placed, she hoped not having as many guards herself would be a slight lure, and it had the added benefit of making it less likely that her guards were going to interrupt them or get hurt.
“Alright let us go,” sighed Celestia as she turned to leave with only two of her normal guards following her.
“Zealot’s needless complaint took up some time, but I should be able to at least wash up before I meet with Luna. I want everything to be perfect tonight,” worried Celestia as she thought about Artemis’s approach. “Oh Luna, I’m sorry I don’t know what is going to happen, but this is what must be done. I know you are going to be angry with me, but I have to know what has returned to Equestria, Artemis or the Savage Beast.”
“Tomorrow will be another day that shapes history, not just for Equestria but the whole planet,” Celestia brooded as she approached the door to her room. “Regardless of what happens it shall be resolved in a few hours.”
6:40pm, 11th of Viglyd, 6 Days After the Tirek Incident – Celestia’s Bedroom
The sound of familiar hoofsteps approaching the door snapped Artemis away from his thoughts. He had spent the past couple of hours trying to figure out exactly what he was going to do or even just what he wanted, but he hadn’t made any progress.
“7 hours of introspection and I still don’t know what I’m going to do. I had hoped to contain some of the potential collateral damage by figuring it out, but it looks like that’s not going to happen. Well either way this is the moment of truth, no point in worrying about it now,” thought Artemis irritably to himself as the door opened.
For the first time in a millennium he could see the one who took everything from him, and to his surprise, anger wasn’t the most overwhelming emotion he felt. It was certainly still there and burning hotter than ever, but it wasn’t as strong as the sorrow that enveloped him. It was almost like he was being drowned in an ocean of loss, but what shocked him most was that it wasn’t just for Luna, he mourned the loss of his best friend. The best friend that had planted the knife in his back and left it to fester for the rest of time was right in front of him, and it took all his willpower not to do anything to reveal himself as he sat camouflaged in the corner of the room.
He watched silently as she quickly shut the door and began to remove the jewelry she wore on a daily basis. After she had removed what little she wore, she disappeared into a side room where he heard sudden rushing water.
“She is probably cleaning herself,” thought Artemis as he briefly considered how a confrontation now would look. “A thousand years of anger and misery hasn’t prepared me for the awkwardness of that encounter,” he chuckled to himself lightly as he found himself thinking back to other times they had bumped into each other under similar circumstances. He was surprised to find himself smiling, though the memories dragged him deeper under the waves of sorrow. “Reminiscing on the glory days isn’t going to make this any easier, but let me check in on their progress with the newest princess in the meantime.”
“Vinyl,” he thought hoping to get a swift response.
“Woah that is still weird, what’s up big guy? I don’t know if I’m supposed to, but I ‘ve been feeling a lot of sadness from you.”
That caught Artemis off guard, his link was supposed to be largely one-way when it came to emotions. For her to be feeling his emotions meant that either she was more magically attuned than he initially gave credit, entirely possible, or his emotions had flooded the barriers he set in place to prevent his links from feeling his emotions, equally possible.
“Sorry about that,” responded Artemis has he distanced himself from the link. “I wasn’t trying to burden you with that.”
“It wasn’t a burden,” said Vinyl sadly as she felt him suddenly grow further away. “I actually kinda liked it, you can sense how I feel right?”
“Yes I can, but I can only feel them when they hit the extremes, without focusing anyway. However,” he thought after sensing the sudden dip in her mood. “I will leave it open if that is what you want.”
“Thanks, it’s weird to describe, but I feel better being able to sense you, you know?”
“Yeah, I know exactly what you mean. It’s strangely comforting, it’s reassurance that you are never alone, and that somepony out there trusts you completely. You can know that your lover trusts you unconditionally, but it is a completely different to be magically linked with somepony, you can feel it."
“Yeah,” chuckled Vinyl lightly as she thought of maybe trying something similar with Octavia. “So why’d you ring? I doubt it was just to chat.”
“You would be correct, I was just checking in on the Princess and her friends.”
“Princess Twilight is asleep in Tavi’s bed, and her friends took off trying to get that list of ingredients. Tavi agreed to keep her here because she is hellbent on the Princess keeping that promise about not leaving until her skylight is fixed,” laughed Vinyl.
“Couldn’t you fix it with a simple spell?”
“Yep,”
“Alright then,” chuckled Artemis. “That’s all I was checking in on, I need to get back to the situation at hand.”
“Cool, but know I’m like Tavi when it comes to promises. You will tell me what’s going on after this is over.”
“I am too, and I will,” said Artemis has he pulled back from their link.
He had been so focused on their conversation that hadn’t heard the water stop, and he was surprised when Celestia re-entered her main room.
She seemed to be only half-way finished drying herself, when she cast two spells towards the door that enveloped the whole room..
“You can come out now Artemis, Philomena told me that you had snuck in here,” Celestia said casually as she didn’t stop drying herself.
Artemis cursed himself mentally for forgetting about her damn phoenix, but he neither saw nor heard the mythical bird when he looked around.
“Well I guess now is the time."
As soon as the badge was removed his body returned to its normal colorations, revealing him in the corner, but Celestia didn’t even look up.
“You knew I was waiting, and came in without assistance anyway? Time has either made you foolish or arrogant Celestia, and the fact that you cast a silence and vibration dampening spell is only proving my point.”
“The spells are to make sure that we don’t get any unwanted attention, my guards can’t hear us and they won’t feel a thing should we get rough. I did not know you were in here when I came in, Philomena told me before I entered the shower. I was expecting you, just not until the middle of the night when I was likely to be sleep.”
“What do you think me a coward now? Has your opinion of me really dropped so low?”
“I would never think of you as a coward,” laughed Celestia suddenly. “I have watched you fight the most ancient dragons in an attempt to truly understand them, I have seen you clash with death literally for the thrill of life, and I have looked on as you fought entire armies alone so that your subjects did not have to. I truly would be a fool to think of you as a coward, but has your opinion of me really dropped so low?” asked Celestia as she finally looked upon her old friend.
Artemis expected to see arrogance, fear, or anger in her eyes, but all he saw was the same sorrow that was mirrored in his eyes. It was a sorrow that confused, intrigued, and irritated him, what had she lost that she deserved to mourn? Sure she lost her sister and her friend, but she made that decision. She chose to throw them away.
“Well having a knife planted in my back by the one of the two I trusted to protect it forever might have something to do with that,” commented Artemis dryly as he tried to contain his anger. “After what you did, you have the nerve to act like you have done nothing to change how I feel about you?
“I would never deny what I did to you, it was one of the worst things I’ve ever done to anyone. I guess a small, naïve; part of me hoped that it wouldn’t have changed how you felt about me.”
Artemis had been trying to hold back his anger, but it was futile like trying to hold back the ocean. All at once the waves of anger washed over him, and for the briefest moment he lost himself in his anger. At that moment Artemis decided that he didn’t need to stop his anger, only prevent it from overwhelming him.
When he came back to his senses he realized he had Celestia pinned against the wall by her neck. An immediate twinge of panic went off as he quickly assessed her and the situation, the wall looked a bit cracked but that was unlikely to even cause her a bruise. He noted that his claws weren’t really positioned to strangle her properly and she seemed to be breathing normally, and despite everything her eyes looked indifferent to the situation.
Artemis and Celestia stood there for some time, searching the other’s soul through their eyes. Celestia was humbled and ashamed by the amount of pain she had caused one being, and Artemis was shocked and mildly proud of the lack of regret in her soul.
The pride he felt at her lack of regret didn’t surprise him, for he had always told her never to regret your decisions, it was disrespectful to those who felt the consequences. If she had regretted her betrayal it would’ve angered him even more, it would’ve meant that all his suffering had been caused by someone who hadn’t grasped the full consequences of their actions and it wasn’t worth the outcome to her. What surprised both of them was how much he still cared that she hadn’t been hurt and how fast his anger started to bubble back up.
“Is this why you came here Artemis?” asked Celestia who had turned back to look outside. “Did you come here to kill me?”
“I’m not sure what I’m going to do, I came here because I wanted to know why? Why did you do it?”
“Artemis I di-,” Celestia’s words were cut off by the claws that tightened around her throat.
“QUIET,” roared Artemis. “I came here because I wanted to know why you betrayed us, but I realized something very important when I lost myself in my anger. It doesn’t matter why. Nothing you say could possibly justify what you did. Your words won’t dry up the ocean of guilt, nor will they calm the storm of rage that tears at my heart. I could hear your explanation, and I would still want to paint the earth red with blood.”
Artemis paused and closed his eyes to take a few deep breaths, and when he opened his eyes the toll of eternal life was obvious. He looked impossibly weary and unbelievably sullen as he turned his gaze to the ground.
“I did nothing but try please the only friends I hoped I would never lose. I changed and hid away parts of me that bothered or unnerved either of you; I did everything I could to make sure you were safe. If you ever needed something I would find it, and if you ever needed help I was there for you. Despite doing everything I could to be a good friend, I was still betrayed."
Artemis could feel her gaze on him suddenly, but he was so lost in his own mind he didn’t really care at the moment. He swore he felt wetness on his claws, but he couldn’t tell if it was caused by tears or her still slightly damp coat.
“You even lacked the mercy, compassion, or stomach to at least kill me that night, but no you imprisoned me instead. You left me alive to feel everyone I cared about die, I FELT LITTLE ORION DIE. “He died facing Cagnazzo, that egotistical pathetic excuse for a piece of shit made Orion's worst fears reality. The fear he felt was overwhelming, and strength of it was one of the few things to bypass your prison security. It was enough to for me to hear his last words; he died calling for me Celestia. The only communication I had with someone I loved for a thousand years was hearing him cry out for me as he died. My student, my brother, my child died because I was unable to fulfill my promise to protect him from within your damn cage,” Artemis wept as he recalled the event. “I even had the opportunity to do the same to you, I met your prized Princess Twilight Sparkle.”
At the mentioning of Twilight the Princess’s eyes grew wide and she moved to speak only to be cut off by another squeeze from Artemis.
“However, I’m not as cruel as you. I may have slaughtered millions with my own claws, but I would never subject someone to sit by helplessly as they lost everything they love,” cried Artemis angrily. “Twilight is fine, going to be taught a lesson shortly, but fine. She reminded me of Nightshade, Orion’s sister, and fortunately for you that contributed to me leaving her unharmed.”
Celestia noticeably relaxed when he said that Twilight was fine. It was strange to him that she hadn’t shown the slightest resistance until he brought up Twilight. He knew Celestia should've be able to break his hold at any time, but for now she seemed content to sit there and listen to him.
“Luckily for you Nightshade didn’t die foolishly trying to avenge her brother or Canterlot would’ve already been reduced to a crater. Orion, Nightshade, Zoë, Snowdrop and the list goes on. So many that I cared for died, and I couldn’t be there for them because of you. I don’t even know what happened to my kingdom and subjects, I’m sure Nightshade did what she could to rule in my stead, but I doubt things are better than when I left.”
Artemis noticed Celestia shrink back a bit when he mentioned his kingdom. He wanted to know what happened, but he was too scared of the possibilities to ask.
“Lastly you betrayed your sister, and when you killed her you killed my reason to live,” spat Artemis bitterly. “Your best friend and sister came to you desperately needing your help, and when you refused to help her, she was taken over by a monster. Then instead of helping me find a cure, you put down your sister like a monster. You killed your own flesh and blood sister instead of helping me talk her down or find a cure. How could you?”
Celestia’s eyes bulged as she struggled a bit to loosen his claws enough to speak, but suddenly stopped shortly after she started. Artemis noticed there was something different in her eyes that wasn’t there before, but he couldn’t tell exactly what it was. Was it pity? Confusion? Understanding?
“I told you, I don’t want to hear your excuses,” said Artemis solemnly as he looked at Celestia and their eyes met. “You have caused me more pain than any creature should have to tolerate and more sorrow than you can fathom. No more Celestia, never again will you hurt me,” he said as he raised his claw into the air.
“Luna promised never to tell another living creature this, but when we first clashed, before we were friends, when you declared war on me thinking I was gathering information to destroy you. Do you know the real reason I was searching for a way to end an immortal? I was planning to use the spells to end my own existence,” explained Artemis as his raised claw started to glow.
“It was supposed to be done under the perfect full moon, in a beautiful valley. The enchanted blade was already barreling towards my heart when Luna appeared out of nowhere and deflected the blade to the side. She chastised and yelled at me for what seemed like hours. I don’t even think she even recognized who I was at the time, but I don’t think it would’ve made the slightest difference,” Artemis explained as he started to hear hoofsteps outside of the door.
“I never planned to use this against anyone but myself, but I guess you were right to worry,” Artemis said as he locked gazes with Celestia yet again. He saw no fear or regret in her eyes, but there was still that look something he wasn’t sure of the feeling of judgment and evaluation he couldn’t shake.
“Good-bye, Celestia,”
With those finals words to door flew open, and his claw descended.
7:25pm, 11th of Viglyd, 6 Days After the Tirek Incident – Octavia’s Bedroom
Vinyl could only look on in curious horror as she watched the six friends start to add the rank mixture of ingredients they were sent to fetch. As they blended together, Vinyl wondered what was in store for the princess that she was supposed to enjoy, however as she went through the possibilities her thoughts were interrupted by sudden arguing.
“Are we sure we should give this to her?” asked Applejack. “There is manticore poison and whole bunch of other weird stuff in it.”
“You should’ve asked that before I flew into a changeling hive,” groaned Rainbow Dash who looked like she had been on the receiving end of a vicious beat down.
“True, I’ve been wondering if we should risk giving it to her,” said Rarity as she held her nose away from the foul mixture.
“But, if we don’t Twilight might not ever wake up,” insisted Fluttershy.
“Just give it to her, if he wanted to hurt her I’m sure he could’ve done it while he had her body,” groaned Vinyl though she was more curious about what would happen than she was concerned about Twilight’s well-being.
“It’s Manticore venom Applejack, and yeah don’t worry its safe,” corrected Pinkie confidently.
“What makes you so sure Pinkie?” asked Rarity afraid of the answer.
“Duh I’ve used all this stuff in cupcakes before,” smiled Pinkie. “Remember those spicy Nightmare Night blood orange cupcakes? There was manticore venom in frosting, that’s what made it spicy. Most venoms won’t make ponies sick when eaten, and they add some crazy fun flavors.”
“You mean those changeling cantaloupe cupcakes were made with old changeling skins?” questioned Rainbow Dash as she suddenly felt very sick.
“Yup,” giggled Pinkie. “Everypony loved them too same with the campfire cupcakes, those had timber wolf fangs and phoenix fire.”
“Uh Pinkie you should warn ponies before you add weird stuff like that to the cupcakes,” chastised Applejack as she tried not to laugh at Rainbow Dash.
“I don’t see the problem, but ookie dookie lokie,” said Pinkie as she happily bounced towards the fridge.
“Remind me never to eat another one of Pinkie’s cupcakes again,” groaned Rainbow Dash clutching her stomach.
“Well it’s now or never,” called Octavia suddenly. “You’ve got about 15 seconds till 7:30.”
Rarity and Applejack rushed the strangely clear mixture to the bedroom, where Twilight was still sleeping.
“Well, down the hatch,” grimaced Applejack as she held Twilight’s mouth open.
Shortly after the mixture started to go down her throat Twilight started to awaken, but it took a few moments for her to register somepony was making her drink something. It had an odd earthy taste, and it gave her a strangely pleasant warm tingly sensation. However that pleasant warm sensation quickly gave way to a horrible burning, it was like somepony had decided giving her magma to drink was a good idea. Twilight immediately bolted upright with her eyes wide and mouth on fire she could only utter one word.
“WATER,” Twilight screamed as she bolted from the bed only to crash into Pinkie who was returning from the kitchen with two gallons of milk.
“I thought you might need these,” giggled Pinkie as Twilight snatched the jugs from her and drained both of them.
“And now I’m out of milk,” sighed Octavia to no one in particular.
“Oh sweet Celestia what did you guys make me drink?” cried Twilight. “My mouth is on fire!”
Twilight hadn’t meant it literally, but none the less she suddenly belched fire similarly to Spike. Also like Spike, the fire was an unusual green color, but this fire didn’t dissipate. It swirled around in the air until it spelled out a message.
I HOPE YOU LEARNED YOUR LESSON PRINCESS, AND I HOPE TO SEE YOU SOON. SINCERELY, ARTEMIS
“Artemis what did he have to do with this?” questioned Twilight as she started casting spells to calm the inferno in her mouth.
“Well Artemis told us to give it to ya at 7:30 to get ya to wake up,” answered Applejack relieved to see Twilight was awake and alive.
“What? When did he talk to you?” asked Twilight confused.
“Shortly after you started searching for him,” responded Rarity. “You started doing river stomp, and then he started talking to us through you. He told us to get the ingredients and give it to you or you would stay asleep forever, are you alright Twilight?”
“Yeah I’m fine now,” said Twilight irritably as she watched Vinyl, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie laugh at her together.
“The hot sauce drink is a classic,” laughed Pinkie Pie.
“I know, right?” gasped Vinyl in between laughs.
“Glad you two enjoyed it, but we’ve got to move girls,” said Twilight suddenly as she remembered where Artemis was before. “Artemis was already at the castle before he put me asleep. We have to get there and talk to Princess Luna, but unfortunately it might be too late already.”
Before Twilight had even finished explaining she was already preparing the teleportation spell to take them back to the castle, and as they started to teleport out she swore she heard a voice.
“Wait what about my skylight?” cried Octavia as there was a flash of light, leaving her and Vinyl alone. “Ugh remind me never to have royal company over again, all they do is take your bed, break your things, and drink all of your milk.”
“Don’t worry I got it,” snickered Vinyl as she used a spell to fix the glass skylight. “Later I can help you retake your bed, but for now grab your coat; it’s not too late to get some milk.”
“Wait Vinyl, didn’t you hear them? Artemis is at the castle, what if he has a problem with one of the princesses? Shouldn’t we find out what’s going on and go help stop him?”
“Yeah I heard them, and what if he does have a problem with the Princesses? We would just stop him from working through his issues, and it wouldn’t be good for anyone for him to hold on to all that anger. Nah, I can feel what he is feeling and I trust Artemis resolve this on his own,” reasoned Vinyl as she wrapped a scarf around her neck. “Besides we will find out what happened afterwards, now let’s go grab some milk.”
Octavia was stunned at her marefriend’s sudden maturity and reasoning, but she figured that Vinyl was probably right. It would be better for Artemis to work through his anger instead of letting it build till it exploded, and only Celestia knew what would happen when it did.
“Alright then let’s go, I hope you are right about this.”
“So do I,” thought Vinyl as they stepped out into the cold night.
7:35pm, 11th of Viglyd, 6 Days After the Tirek Incident – Canterlot Castle Throne Room
As soon as the spell finished they found themselves in the castle throne room.
“How did we get in here? I thought you couldn’t teleport directly into the castle, Twilight?” asked Rarity.
“Well you aren’t supposed to be able to, but I kind of brute forced my way through,” answered Twilight quickly. “All teleportation inside the castle is supposed to be regulated by Celestia’s High Mage Spiral, but we don’t have time to wait for his permission. He is probably going to appear and scold me any moment, but priorities.”
As Twilight expected, there was sudden flash of light and an older navy blue stallion was standing before them. His mane was grey, but he carried himself with a posture that said he was a distinguished but impulsive scientist. Though he seemed like the type who would be willing to experiment on any and everything he could get his hooves on, and now he appeared to be annoyed.
“Twilight what have I told you about bypassing security protocols? I was in the middle of observation which was bad enough with Celestia assigning me those block-headed guards, and now I have to come here and deal with you.”
Twilight opened her mouth to apologize but was cut off by Applejack’s hoof.
“You would dare chastise a princess?” started Rarity feigned shock hoping to get this stallion to back down. “Just who do you think you are?”
“I am Spiral Destiny, I am Princess Celestia’s highest court mage, a descendent of Starswirl the Bearded, and my purpose in existence is to get to the center of the multiverse’s mysteries,” he answered with a booming practiced pride.
“He is also my grandpa,” interrupted Twilight. “We don’t have time for this, grandpa where is Princess Luna? Wait I’m descended from Starswirl the bearded?”
“Did I never tell you? Well I learned not too long ago that a few thousand years ag-,”
“Yeah yeah, history lesson later, Luna now,” interrupted Rainbow Dash. “Where is she?”
“You should value history, those who don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat it, sometimes over and over and over,” Spiral said cryptically as he looked sadly at Twilight.
“She has a point grandpa; we need to speak to Princess Luna immediately.”
“What is the emergency? Don’t even try to say nothing is wrong, I’ve seen that look on your face before every exam in your life. You are in full panic mode, what’s the matter Twi-Twi?” said Spiral as he examined Twilight and her friends shifting nervously.
“As much as I want to, I’m not allowed to say. Can you please just tell us where Princess Luna is?”
“She is paranoid some long gone wolf king has returned to attack Celestia or something,” answered Spike suddenly surprising everyone in the room.
“Spike!” shouted the entire group
“What? I never made any promise to the Princess, and did you think I wouldn’t figure it out by the way you have been acting all day? You even had me helping you search the library.”
“Oh I'm so used to having you with me, I honestly didn’t think about it,” blushed Twilight sheepishly. “But no this will work, we can have Spike get Luna’s attention.”
While she was talking to Spike, Twilight hadn’t noticed her grandpa suddenly grow pale.
“Twi-Twilight, are you sure about that? ABSOLUTELY POSITIVE?” stressed Spiral as he started to sweat.
“Yeah, I accidentally entered his mind and talked to him.”
“YOU DID WHAT!? You are lucky to be alive, do you have any idea how dangerous he is? If history is to be believed he slaughtered countless creatures for far lesser crimes, that he spared you is nothing short of a miracle.”
After taking a few moments to pace and take a few deep breaths, Spiral’s color and calm returned to him.
“Twilight that was incredibly reckless and you know that’s quite the statement from me. I don’t know what you parents would’ve done if something had happened to you, but for whatever reason he decided to spare you. If the Wolf King has returned and you think he is after Celestia we need to alert Princess Luna immediately. Only their combined might has a chance of beating him, heck if you can get Discord too that would be ideal. There are very few things that could stand up to the might of the three of them working together.”
“No. Princess Celestia didn’t want to risk anypony other that herself, we can’t get the guard involved she said it would be pointless anyway. Discord isn’t always the most useful, and I don’t want to give him another opportunity to betray us after Tirek. We do need Luna though, where is she?”
“That sounds like Princess Celestia alright. Well no offense Twilight, but I hope you are wrong about the return of the Wolf King. The wolves may have been great allies in the past, but if he has returned there will be war, most likely with the Griffons. Somepony will pay for the fall of the wolves, and they will pay with oceans of blood,” continued Spiral cryptically. “Princess Luna should be in the dining hall with Princess Celestia, I’m coming with you though in case you are right.”
As he said that all eight of them disappeared in a flash of light.
7:40pm, 11th of Viglyd, 6 Days After the Tirek Incident – Canterlot Castle Dining Hall
They reappeared in an elegant dining room with golden chairs, utensils and walls, but oddly none of the food on the table had been touched. The extravagant room was decorated large stained glass windows of the moon and sun, and looking through one of the windows was the Princess of the Night herself. Without turning around she greeted her sudden guests.
“Hello Princess Twilight and friends, maybe you would like to join me for dinner? It would seem I have been stood up.”
“Buck me,” cursed Spiral out loud.
“Princess Luna, Princess Celestia needs you immediately,” said Spike hurriedly.
“What’s so important that she left me here without any form of notice?” said Luna as she thought to herself. “Especially after saying how much she just wanted us to have some sister time.”
“Your highness, Twilight believes that the Wolf King has returned and is attacking Celestia as we speak.”
Suddenly the room felt colder, as if all the light stopped giving off heat. The shadows deepened as they seemed to stretch slightly towards the princess. They all stood perfectly still as they watched Princess Luna’s expression grow grim.
“That is a bold accusation, Twilight. I sincerely hope you aren’t trying to dishonor the memory of my fallen friend, but I pray that you are wrong,” Luna said with an edge that none of them had heard in the normally kind princess’s voice.
Without sparing a second, Princess Luna teleported the entire group in a flash of light.
7:40pm, 11th of Viglyd, 6 Days After the Tirek Incident – Outside Celestia’s Room
As soon as they arrived Luna started to panic as they all ran for the door.
“Something is wrong; I should be able to hear something in her room, her clock, Philomena, Celestia’s breathing, but I can’t hear anything,” stressed Luna as she approached the guards. “Stand aside, have you noticed anything unusual?”
“Kind of your highness, Princess Celestia was supposed to be going in for just a quick shower before she went to dinner. We heard her enter the shower and we heard her exit, but she never came out. Room has been silent since”
“You didn’t go in and check on her!?”
“No Princess. It’s one of your rules, nopony enters a Princess’s room without direct permission of that Princess, the only exception is for other Princesses. We just thought she might have fallen asleep.”
Luna only shook her head and made a mental note to make more exceptions to that rule after this was settled. She raised her hoof to open the door, and she hesitated. She wanted more than anything for Artemis to be alive and well, but she hoped Twilight was wrong about him attacking her sister. She wasn’t sure she could handle what was on the other side of the door, but she knew either way she would be in tears. If he was alive there would be so many questions and so much happiness, but if he wasn’t she knew would be spending another week crying to herself. Before she could completely lose her nerve she felt a hoof press against hers, as she saw Twilight looking at her sadly.
“I’m sorry,” said Twilight as she pushed open the door.
7:45pm, 11th of Viglyd, 6 Days After the Tirek Incident – Celestia’s Bedroom
Artemis had expected Celestia to respond in some way to his claws rapidly approaching her throat, but to his surprise Celestia didn’t make any move to stop him. She didn’t even flinch as his claws sunk into her throat, though they didn’t seem to pierce her flesh. His glowing claw passed right through her, and neither of the two looked surprised.
“You couldn’t just make it easy for me could you? You really won’t fight back? You would’ve let me kill you just like that?”
“No I wouldn’t, if I let myself be killed so easily I would be disrespecting everything I sacrificed to get to this point. When I look at you, when I see your true feelings, I see a lot of hurt, sorrow, and anger. Not once this entire time have I seen hatred, despite everything I’ve put you through. No Artemis, I knew you weren’t going to kill me.”
Artemis was bothered, but not surprised, by how easily Celestia had read him. Multiple millennia of fighting, companionship, and friendship weren’t going to be entirely undone in only one. He had always believed that you couldn’t truly know anyone until you have clashed with them, and while this wasn’t the most physical confrontation he certainly felt like he knew Celestia better. In his absence she had become a stronger and more confident leader, it hadn’t occurred to him before that he may have been unintentionally holding her back in the past by being a safety net. Now she seemed like the type of ruler who could protect her country from harm, and she was willing to do whatever was necessary no matter the cost. The Celestia he knew in the past he could barely believe betrayed him, but this Celestia before him had felt the burden of leadership and would do whatever was necessary for her subjects.
Although he had heard the door open, it wasn’t until he had fully analyzed Celestia that he decided to shift his focus to their mostly uninvited company. He felt out their life energy, and he recognized most of them. There was Princess Twilight, her magical power was unmistakable and he expected her to be here. Her six friends were with her, the same five mares and dragon that were in Octavia’s home. There was the magician likely to have been in charge of keeping up the barrier around the castle, and life energy seemed strangely reminiscent of Twilight and another from the past. Lastly there was one he couldn’t believe that he felt, it felt like Princess Luna, but that was impossible. After all his time grieving, there was no way she could still be alive. Why would she have left me in Tartarus if she was alive? He had so many questions, and he knew there was one mare who knew all the answers and she was still in his claws.
“Artemis?” whispered Luna gently as she stepped forward. “Is that really you?”
Artemis’s ears perked up at the sudden familiar voice, and all at once the air in room changed. Everyone’s skin began to crawl and their hair stand on end, as there was a sudden tangible bloodlust so thick it was almost choking in the air. Artemis slowly raised Celestia, still in his claws, to his mouth and whispered so quietly only the three princesses could hear.
“Damn you, this had better not be another deception Celestia. If our previous friendship meant anything, anything at all to you, you had better make sure you put me down if this isn’t real. If you don’t I promise you, I will fill the mountains with blood and watch everything in this world burn if it is the last thing I do.”
Celestia looked into Artemis’s feral eyes a caught a glimpse of the Savage Beast that lay within him, and she wasn’t surprised to see that Artemis still had his darker side. What had surprised her was the pleading in his eyes; his statement was less of a threat and more of a warning. She could tell he wanted nothing more than for this to be real, and that if it wasn’t he would rather die believing it to be true than to continue existing after. It was disheartening for her to see her old friend such a state, and it was even more so for her to remember that she had unintentionally caused this pain. She wasn’t surprised by his concerns, but it hurt none the less to know that he thought she was capable do performing such a cruel act.
After hearing his plea and seeing the darkness lurking inside him, Celestia merely nodded her head silently agreeing to her former friend’s wishes.
“Tia, Artemis, what’s the meaning of th- EEP,” cried Luna as she tried to process the blur of motion.
Faster than anyone could follow Artemis released Celestia, and he had already snatched Luna into what would normally be a crushing bear hug.
“Luna, I thought I had lost you. I’m so sorry I failed you.”
“It was not your fault, I’m just so glad to that you are alive.”
While Luna and Artemis were having their tearful reunion, Twilight and the others rushed to Princess Celestia.
“Princess, are you alright? Are you hurt?”
“Yes, I’m fine Twilight, and no, he did not hurt me,” smiled Celestia as she picked herself off the ground. “Although I would like to know what my sister is doing here?”
“Uhh well about that,” started Twilight sheepishly. “We didn’t break our promise, I swear Spike told her.”
“How did Spike find out?”
“He was around us while we were searching for Artemis, and he picked up on what was going on. We didn’t mean for him to find out, sorry Princess.”
“You disobeyed my wishes Twilight, but we will talk about it later. For now don’t worry Twilight, its fine. I had already learned what I needed to anyway, so it’s good that she is here.”
Celestia looked at the joy on her sister’s face, and she was content. Her sister was sure to be very angry with her soon, but it seemed to be worth the trouble. She may have lost her best friend, but she saved her sister and her happiness.
“Artemis, what’s going on? Why were you attacking Tia?”
“I know little more than you do, but I'm sure Celestia wouldn't mind explaining.”
Artemis let go of Princess Luna although reluctantly, and he started to approach Celestia. As he got closer to her, the seven ponies and baby dragon formed a defensive wall in an attempt to stop him.
“Don’t you try anything,” warned Rainbow Dash as the others nodded in agreement.
“It’s alright girls, really everything is fine,” said Celestia as she stepped in front of them and matched Artemis’s gaze.
“Explain yourself Celestia.”
“I couldn’t think of way to cure Luna back when Nightmare Moon took over, and eventually I concluded that something had to be done or all of Equestria would be plunged into eternal night. I decided to banish Nightmare Moon and imprison her forever within the moon, but I knew you would never let that happen. I also decided that I couldn’t let you stop me either, so I had to get you out of the way first. The only way I could think of doing that was through deception, so I lured you out into the forest with promise of a cure for Luna and I imprisoned you in Tartarus.”
Luna couldn’t believe what she was hearing, her sister had imprisoned Artemis in Tartarus? Shortly after Luna realized the full extent of what Celestia had done, she had sacrificed her friendship with Artemis to stop Nightmare Moon. The knowledge of her sister’s sacrifice was just another weight on her hidden guilt ridden heart. It was her fault Celestia and Artemis might never have the same friendship again.
“Tia, you told him you had found a cure? You couldn’t possibly have done such a cruel thing right?”
“I did, but it doesn’t end there though. When I imprisoned Artemis, I had every intention of freeing him afterward, but after I had banished Luna I was so guilt-ridden and ashamed at what I had done I couldn’t bear to face him,” said Celestia as she turned to look at Artemis directly. “I’m not proud of it, but I left you there in Tartarus because I couldn’t bear to face the pain I was going to cause you. Unfortunately at the time I didn’t think of how your link would be affected, I never intended for you to think Luna was dead.”
Artemis’s face was a mask. It was impossible to read his emotions because not even he could sort them out. He was overjoyed that Luna was alive and well, he was annoyed that it was slight oversight on Celestia’s part that had sent him into a 1000 year depression, he was also proud that she was now accepting what she did, and lastly he was furious that Celestia left him in Tartarus because she couldn’t take responsibility for her actions and hid herself away like a scared filly that had just wet the bed. Despite his feelings he still held her gaze waiting for the rest of her story.
“The pressure, shame, guilt, and lies ate away me, and eventually I lost my connection to the elements of harmony. 1000 years after her imprisonment Nightmare Moon returned as a result, but six ponies had already been chosen to represent and restore the elements of harmony. Those ponies are the six mares beside me, and they used the power of their friendship to vanquish Nightmare Moon and return Princess Luna to us. Not only did they save Luna, but they have done an excellent job saving Equestria from all kinds of threats, most recently Tirek."
Artemis looked to Luna for confirmation, and he was surprised to find out that she was telling the truth. It was amazing to think that the mares that came after him were the bearers of the elements of harmony.
“My shame and guilt not only prevented me from releasing Artemis, it kept me from doing my regular check-ins on Tartarus. As a result, Tirek was able to escape during Cerberus’s temporary absence.”
“That explains lot, I actually escaped with Tirek over a year ago, but somepony’s blasted sealing spell left me so drained it took me a year to fully recover my strength."
“Well it takes a lot to contain powers like ours, it was the only way I could think of sealing you without physically harming you. Though that the basis of what has happened up to this point.”
“WHY DID YOU LET ME THINK ARTEMIS WAS DEAD!?” roared Luna in the royal canterlot voice before she corrected herself. “Why didn’t you tell me any of this?”
“I tried to tell you Luna, I really did, but I could never could get the words out without tearing up. I didn’t want to hurt you more than I already had. I didn’t tell you Artemis was going to be here tonight, because I needed to see what had returned to Equestria. I wasn’t sure if had Artemis returned or had the Savage Beast? If he had reverted to the Savage Beast I was going to put an end to him, and let you remember him as he was not as what he had become.”
Luna preparing to chastise her older sister, but she was surprised to be interrupted by Artemis.
“Reckless and presumptuous. I was the one who helped you improve your combat skills, and last I checked you have never beaten me in a straight up duel before. What made you so sure you could’ve killed me? What if I hadn’t returned to settle this alone? What if I had decided to raze the city to the ground with an army of wolves instead of confronting you directly? You have no idea how close I was to actually doing so."
“Simple answers, I never planned to duel you, I had Discord on stand-by just in case. While he is unpredictable, I was certain he wouldn’t make the mistake of aiding an enemy twice.”
Artemis made a note to figure out more about her and Discord's relationship, it was strange to hear that the Lord of Chaos roamed free and their world seemed relatively unfazed. The fact that she said he was on stand-by meant that she had some sort of trust in him, but he had no idea what could've possibly changed to make her trust Discord with her own life.
This was the moment Celestia dreaded. The one she had really not looked forward to, but she knew Artemis deserved the truth more than anything else right now.
“As for your army of wolves, you couldn’t have gathered enough to pose a large enough threat to the city, and you especially couldn’t have done so without anypony noticing.”
“Well you seem to have grown quite arrogant, that or perhaps you have forgotten the capabilities of an army of wolves.”
“No, you don’t understand. That was a statement of fact Artemis, you couldn’t gather enough wolves to pose a threat to the city because there aren’t enough wolves left."
Artemis caught the slight tone of regret in her voice, and his stomach became a pit. One of his few and greatest fears had become a reality, he could feel it, but he didn’t want to believe it.
“Wha-What do you mean by that Celestia?” asked Artemis nervously as he feared he knew the answer already.
“During the time you were imprisoned, the wolf tribes fell back into their old ways of in-fighting. The griffons saw their weakness as an opportunity, and they wiped out nearly all of the wolves. There are only a couple hundred left, and many of them are slaves in the Griffon Kingdom. Those that weren’t enslaved or that escaped tried to reform small communities, but many of them went feral,” explained Celestia as for the first time all night she couldn’t look Artemis in the eyes. “I tried to help them, but they refused my help. They knew instinctively that I had something to do with your disappearance and the loss of the moon’s blessings. I wanted to go help, but if I had flown out there and personally stopped the griffons I would’ve created a rift between ponies and wolves that would’ve never mended. At least, that was what I told myself, I never would have imagined that the griffons were attempting to eradicate the wolves or I would’ve stopped at nothing to put an end to it.”
Celestia looked up expecting Artemis to deny it or get angry, but all she saw was an expression of shocked grief. She watched as Luna placed a comforting hoof on his shoulder, but she knew it was little comfort to a king who had just learned his subjects were no more. From the pain in his face, she had expected him to cry, but only a single tear rolled down his face as it contorted from grief to something she couldn’t quite place her hoof on.
"I am so sorry."
“I know exactly how the wolves were Celestia, and I also know I told them that they would have to change before the day came that I wouldn’t be there to protect them. Unfortunately that day came far sooner than I ever wanted or expected,” he said as he walked past the Princess onto the balcony.
Artemis looked out at the full moon before him, and he remembered days long past. He remembered every friend he had lost and every adventure he had been on with his subjects. He wanted to weep for them, but he couldn’t allow himself to do so. There would be time to weep later, but there was something that needed to be done now.
Everyone in the room had their eyes locked on Artemis, and they were surprised when he started howling. Although it was unexpected, it didn’t sound unusual at first. As he kept going the sound multiplied, and even though he was alone it eventually sounded like an entire pack of different wolves howling at once. The howls varied in their strength, but they dipped and rose as one. Though none of them could understand a wolf’s howl, the song still touched each of them. It resonated with their very existence, and they were overwhelmed with emotions that were telling the story of a once proud race. It was a song of violence, peace, and tragedy, and like the wolves it too came to an abrupt and unexpected end.
“You will never be forgotten brothers and sisters,” whispered Artemis mostly to himself. “May your story live on forever in the sounds of nature.”
“What as that?” asked Twilight Sparkle with tears in her eyes.
“That was the story of the wolves,it is filled with far too much bloodshed and sorrow, but it will live on forever. Everypony in Equestria probably heard it, and everything on the planet felt it. Unfortunately it isn’t completely over yet."
His last howl was solitary unlike the rest of the song, and it was a bizarre combination of a snarl and howl. It made everyone’s skin crawl and itch, as it tapped into a primordial sense of foreboding. They weren’t sure what was coming, but they knew that something terrible was approaching. Though by the end it had softened up, and it sounded more somber.
“That was the end.”
“What did that mean?” asked Twilight noting the grim look on both Celestia and Luna’s faces.
“It was a message. While you rest on your triumph I will take back what was stolen, and if I can’t retake what was stolen I will take yours. The wolves will rise again. The king has returned, and he is unforgiving.”
“What do you plan on doing?” asked Celestia cautiously.
“That is none of your concern! You stayed out of the affairs of the wolves before and you will stay out now!”
Celestia was only shocked by the suddenness of his anger, but she understood his rage. She knew she played a part in the loss of the wolves, and she had tormented herself over it since she realized what had happened. So instead of responding she stayed silent.
“Artemis, desire for revenge will only poison and consume your soul,” responded Luna sadly. She knew the dangers of dwelling on your negative emotions for too long, and she didn’t want to lose Artemis in the same way.
“What do you expect me to do Luna? They wiped out my subjects, no my family in their moment of weakness. I have changed much of myself for you and Celestia over the years, but would you really ask me to let them get away with that? Would you ask me that knowing how it would eat away and tear me apart inside?”
Luna understood his feelings, but she didn’t respond. She couldn’t. She knew she hadn’t had the greatest track record with moral decisions and handling emotions, but she was conflicted. Something needed to be done about the wolves, but letting Artemis get revenge wouldn’t restore them and would only cause more bloodshed.
“Enough of that though, there is something else that must be done,” he said as he walked over to Twilight and her friends. “You are the ones who used the elements of harmony, and returned Luna to us correct?”
Twilight looked at all her friends before they opted to just nod their heads in agreement, but when they answered Artemis did something none of them expected. He dropped to one knee as a knight before his lord.
“I am forever in your debt. You did what I was unable to, and you returned purpose to my life once again. If it wasn't for your efforts I would be dead, as a result my life is partially yours. Will you do me the honor of accepting my blessings?”
“Is that the thing you put on Vinyl?”
“Yes it is. If you would allow me to, I would like to able to assist you in any way should you ever need it.”
Twilight was hesitant to accept his offer, but then she remembered what Artemis had said when they were inside his mind. She remembered how much he said the blessing meant to him, and she knew what she should do.
“As Princess of Friendship I will gladly accept your offer,” responded Twilight much to the shock of her friends. Though they saw the look Twilight gave them, and figured they needed to answer on their own.
“Of course, you can never have enough friends.”
“Well, it would be rude to decline your offer.”
“Ok, if they can do it, so can I."
“If they trust you, I reckon so can I, so what the hay?”
They all waited for Rainbow Dash to answer, but she stayed silent until the group turned to her for a response.
“Are you guys forgetting that we saw him try to stab Princess Celestia? You guys are going to forgive him that easily?”.
The girls went to speak but it was Celestia that answered.
“Had I really felt like I was in danger I would’ve fought back, and he chose not to pierce me of his own volition."
“But-bu-,” Rainbow Dash stammered under the pressure as everyone in the room looked upon her. “Fine I will accept it, but I still don’t trust him.”
With their reluctant agreement, Artemis cast the binding spell, though he didn’t keep them as close he did Vinyl. When he was finished a small black oak leaf appeared on their flank opposite of their cutie mark, but just as quickly as it appeared it faded from sight.
“If you ever need assistance with anything, you only cast your thoughts in my direction and I will be there as soon as possible. Also if you need to communicate to each other from a distance I can act like a relay,” explained Artemis as he turned back towards the balcony. “May it always keep you safe.”
Artemis remembered everyone he had ever given his blessing to, but he was going make sure he protected these six. He had to make up for those he lost while in Tartarus.
“I need some time to myself."
“Wait Artemis,” said Celestia as she approached the balcony. “I will not apologize for my actions, but I am honestly truly sorry for the suffering I have caused you. I know I don’t deserve it, but I have to ask. Could you find it in your heart to forgive me so we can move past this and be friends again?”
Artemis paused, he had been hoping to leave before she asked, while normally lady luck was on his side it would seem she had no intention of letting him out of this. He hadn’t really figured out how he was going to handle it, but he knew that he should give her an answer of some sort.
“Celestia you have caused me more pain than any creature I’ve ever fought. While Luna is alive and well, my family and kingdom are gone. I can’t forgive you right now, not while the wolves are on the brink of extinction. You know I don’t hate you right now, and that is a start. Maybe when the wolves bounce back, I will be able to forgive you. That could take a while, but time has never been a great concern for us.”
With those final words Artemis teleported away, leaving everyone in the room shocked. Celestia was the first to break the silence.
“Well, that went better than expected.”.
“Oh don’t even begin to think you are out of this yet,” scowled Luna. “We will have much to talk about later, but for now I’m going after him.”
Celestia smiled sheepishly as she watched her sister vanish into the shadows.
“Princess what do you think Artemis is going to do?” asked Twilight tentatively.
“I’m not sure honestly, but I am sure that his thirst for vengeance can be sated without bloodshed.That’s why I am so proud that you accepted his offer, you six have the opportunity to save another species. Similarly to how you reformed Discord with friendship, I’m hoping that you will be able to cause a change of heart when it comes to his revenge.”
Twilight wasn’t fond of the idea at first, but then she remembered Artemis’s chastising when they were in his mind. This was an opportunity to advance her magical prowess while saving another species from extinction, and she figured it would be in the best interest for both of them.
“I will do my best Princess.”
“Good, it has been an emotionally draining day, We can discuss this at further length tomorrow, I’m sure you are all tired as well.”
Everyone but Twilight nodded in agreement and started yawning; it really had been a long exhausting day.
“Thanks Artemis,” whispered Twilight through grit teeth.
“You are welcome to sleep in here or return to your suites,” said Celestia as Philomena landed on her shoulder.
“Even me?” smirked Spiral.
“No, in fact everyone but you, get out of here you old codger,” teased Celestia.
They all opted to return to their suites for the night, but as they left Celestia couldn’t help but reflect on everything that had happened. In the end, the night hadn’t turned out nearly as bad as it should have. Luna and Artemis were reunited, and Artemis didn’t hate her. It was the first night in a millennia that she was able to dream about the possibility of the three of them having a future together, and she was content.
12:00am, 12th of Viglyd, 7 Days After the Tirek Incident – Devil’s Cliff
Artemis rested on one of the moss covered horns of the Devil’s Cliff, and with his night vision he could see Canterlot’s bright lights even in the distance. He noticed it before, but hadn’t really paid all that much attention to how much the world around him had changed with him gone. He looked up at the full moon in the sky and he sighed. He was more grateful for the full moon tonight more than any other; it had always calmed and helped him think. Before he could dive into his thoughts, he heard the grass rustle and a gentle voice behind him.
“I know you said you wanted time to yourself, but do you mind if I join you?” asked Luna quietly.
“Luna, you are the better half of me. It wouldn’t truly be time to myself without you, of course I don’t mind,” Artemis sighed with a pathetic smile.
Luna merely nodded in response before sitting next to him. Together they sat looking at the distant city in silence, both of them enjoying the other’s company. Neither of them moved to speak until Luna realized that Artemis was crying.
“I know it has been an emotional day, but why are you crying?”
“I’m scared Luna.”
Luna was slightly taken aback by the revelation. Fear was nothing new to anypony, but Artemis was always a great advocate for facing one’s fears head on and conquering them. There were few things that scared him, and there were even fewer things that he would admit to being afraid of.
“You? What are you afraid of?
“Afraid doesn’t cover it, Luna,” started Artemis he began shaking slowly. “I’m terrified of it. You, Celestia, and few others were all I thought about every second of every day for a thousand years. Luna every day in Tartarus I dreamed that you were alive and that Celestia’s betrayal was all a nightmare. Now I’m terrified that this is all a dream or madness induced hallucination, and that when I wake up I will be alone in my cell again.”
To many it would’ve sounded like a paranoid fear, but Luna knew better than that. It was a fear that she had experienced long after she had been freed from Nightmare Moon’s grasp, and as the Mistress of Dreams it made her dreams all the more realistic and harder to differentiate from reality. It was one of her greatest fears that could even keep her awake through the day, and she knew how hard it was to ignore it.
“I know exactly how you feel, there are times when I feel like my escape and freedom were all too improbable and that I’m really still trapped in the moon. You can’t worry about that though Artemis, it will drive you mad to do so. If this is a dream, memorize and cherish every moment of it, and remember that you are never alone and I will always love you,” said Luna as she kissed him deeply.
When Luna eventually broke the kiss, Artemis was noticeably calmer. He had stopped crying, and his shakes were gone. Though the look of weary had returned to his face, there was also a slight smile there.
“I love you too,” said Artemis he pulled her into a closer embrace. His fears weren’t gone, but she had a point. Dream or not he needed to cherish this moment and hope he never woke up.
There they sat all through night in silence, two lovers merely enjoying the company of the other as they gazed upon the night sky. Before either of them had realized it, the sun was gradually rising into the sky.
The sun rise roused a feeling within Artemis that he had long thought dead. Hope. It had been so long since had anything to hope for, he had nearly forgotten the feeling.
“Yesterday I had nothing,” thought Artemis as he squeezed Luna. “Today I have the love of my life, a couple of friends, and goal. It would seem that today is a new beginning and the first step towards a brighter tomorrow.”
5:00pm, 25th of Viglyd, 14 Days After the Reunion – Luna’s Bedroom
“You know putting it off isn’t going to make it go any better,” chastised Luna gently. “Just apologize and ask her to show up.”
“I don’t even know what we are doing,” groaned Artemis. “You and Celestia just popped up on me and told me I had to be at your press conference thing. You won’t even tell me what it is or what it is about.”
“It’s a surprise,” teased Luna as she planted a kiss on his cheek. “Basically Celestia is holding a meeting for everyone around the world to see. It will be fine, and you promised to explain what happened right?”
“Yeah yeah, and I never voluntarily break a promise. Let’s get this over with.”
“Vinyl, you awake?” thought Artemis partially hoping she was still sleep.
“Huh? What? Artemis?” responded Vinyl groggily.
“Yeah, hey I’m-,”
“In deep shit, yeah I know,” finished Vinyl quickly snapping out of her usual “morning” grog. “What the buck dude? You pop up out of nowhere, link us together, go through an emotional rollercoaster, and then you don’t even call?”
“I know, I’m trying t-,”
“It’s not like you can say you couldn’t or didn’t have the time, I’m literally a thought away.If I hadn’t felt a bizarre amount of happiness from you lately, I would’ve been freaking out. Like seriously how hard is t-.”
“VINYL, I’m sorry!I’m sorry, I’m not used to the link being two-way. Normally I keep my emotions to myself, and I only worry about the worst of yours. I shouldn’t have left you to worry, I’m sorry.”
Artemis panicked when she didn’t respond right away. He sincerely hoped that she wasn’t too angry with him, but eventually she responded.
“Don’t worry about it Artemis, just remember that there are ponies out there that worry just as much about you as you worry about them,” “So what’s goin on big guy?”
“I know I promised to explain everything to you after the dust had settled, and I would like to meet up with you and Octavia later since I owe you an explanation.”
“Uhhh I don’t have a set tonight, but I think Octy has to perform for Princess Celestia after that major press conference or something.”
“I’ve talked to the Princess about it, she won’t mind Octavia’s absence.Do you know anything about this press conference thing?”
“No, just rumors that it is some big announcement or reveal or something I think. Woah woah woah wait back that up what do you mean you already talked to the Princess? How did you do that?”
“All will be explained later.I have to be there for reasons I'm not even full aware of, but we can meet up and grab dinner afterwards.”
“Sounds good to me,” started Vinyl as she turned over to look at her clock. “Wait you mean the conference that starts in like 45 minutes?”
“Unfortunately yes,”
“Buck me, I’ll be there with Octy though, Later.”
“Huh, that went better than expected,” said Artemis aloud. “She will be there though.”
“See I told you it would be fine,” teased Luna as she nuzzled Artemis before returning to the bathroom. “I’ve always wanted to meet DJ-PON3, but my schedule tends to keep me too busy to go see one of her concerts.”
“I haven’t heard either of them play, but I’ve heard good things from Celestia and Pinkie.”
“Oh right, how have things been going with the elements of harmony?” asked Luna as she got into the shower.
“Could be better honestly,” called Artemis as he walked to the bathroom so she could hear him. “It’s a mixed bag with those six, but making friends was never something I had to actively do among the wolves. Rainbow Dash doesn’t trust or like me, but with her being the element of loyalty, I understand and respect that. She still holds a grudge against me since that night, but that's more her problem than it is mine. Twilight is easy to get along with, but she just started as our student. Who isn’t respectful and nice to their mentors? It could all be a farce and she could secretly despise me.”
Artemis then remembered how he and Celestia had acted when they had been teaching each other, and he chuckled lightly to himself.
“Pinkie forgave me instantly, though I never asked for forgiveness from any of them, and she has made it her goal to introduce me to everything the modern age has to offer. She also has a tendency to just suddenly defy logic or explanation, and it is impossible for me to read her. She has knowledge of things she shouldn’t, and I can feel a great evil lurking within her. She is friendly and infectiously happy, but still probably the most unsettling thing I have ever encountered,” he shuddered as he sat in front of the shower.
“Well, how about the others? I’m sure it isn’t all bad.”
“I’m ok with Applejack. She was a little wary initially, but after I helped her a few times around the farm, she treated me like I was family. If I didn’t know better I would swear in another life she was a wolf. She reminds me so much of them it hurts; she is strong, proud, competitive, and compassionate. Being around her reminds me of when I was with the pack too long ago,” sighed Artemis sadly as he heard the water stop suddenly, and he felt Luna wrapping him in a moist embrace.
“I’m sorry about what happened. I know it hurts, but I know you can’t/don't want to forget them. They wouldn’t want you to let your memories of them spoil your future happiness, keep their spirits alive in your memories and dreams.”
“I miss them so much, and I know focusing on it won’t change anything, I just wish I could’ve been there for them like I promised. They would still be here, and they would be prospering.”
Something about how he said that made Luna wary; he said it with such finality it was like he knew it was true. It was possible he could’ve searched for futures, but looking into alternate time lines was too imprecise for him to know for certain.
“Did you go see Fate about it?” asked Luna suspiciously.
“Yes,” sighed Artemis. “She showed me the alternate universe where I had been free during the time. The griffons didn’t dare to attack for fear of retaliation, we were able to prevent Nightmare Moon from ever gaining control of you, and I was able to save Little Orion. We were all so happy, it had been the perfect outcome. However that wasn’t the only thing she showed me. While I was there I saw many other alternate universes, and not all of them had such great outcomes for the elements of harmony.”
Artemis opted not to share everything else he had seen while with fate, for he knew the consequences of trying to fight Fate symbolically or physically.
“You know better than to go to her for things like that, it never turns out well.”
“You’re right, but I had to know.”
"You went knowing the answers you sought would only cause you more pain? Just be careful, she isn’t your friend or ally. She may not have shown you the full truth. I just worry that she may manipulate you, it wouldn’t be the first time she has done so to one of us.”
Fate was the immortal in charge of watching over essentially everything, the presence of her power often caused unpredictable shifts in the universes she interacted with and she rarely intervened in anything as a result. Luna squeezed him gently as she remembered other times when Fate had deemed it necessary to intervene in their world, and it never turned out well.
“Well how about the last two elements?” asked Luna in an attempt to distract both of them from their thoughts.
“Rarity is awkward at best and frustrating at worst. I’ve been meaning to reflect upon the cause, but I haven’t gotten around to it. It is just unexplainable tension; everything about her just rubs me the wrong way.”
Artemis could feel Luna’s gaze on his back, and he laughed at his choice of words.
“I didn’t mean it literally. I haven’t forgotten the drill when it comes to sexual encounters with others, I would let you know.”
“And!?”
“Of course I would invite you to join in.”
“Don’t you forget to either.”
“What about you? You had two years before I came back, is there anything I should know?”
“No, I spent that time mourning you, I couldn’t even think about other stallions. What about Fluttershy?”
“She is beautiful, but I would be too afraid of hurting her to do anything.”
“Huh what? No no not like that, perv. I meant how are things going with Fluttershy, but good to know how you feel.”
“Excuse me for having a type. I can’t resist beautiful, kind, intelligent, graceful creatures that appreciate and respect nature.” He responded while kissing her in between descriptions. “Unfortunately for her, I have already found the perfect mare. As for our relationship, she is endearingly sweet and she worked fairly hard to get over her fear of me. That’s progress I guess, slow progress, but eventually she will be comfortable around me. I do hope it is soon though, I do enjoy her company.”
“There is that gilded tongue you rarely use, well at least you can make sure everything is fine with Vinyl after the conference.”
“Yeah, and what you don’t think I use it enough? It has been a while, perhaps later I can change your mind on that.”
“There is a time and place for everything,” blushed Luna. “We’ve got to go out in public shortly, and I don’t need those thoughts on my mind. Speaking of appearances, are you going out like that?”
Artemis looked down to see his normal form and briefly debated whether it was worth the effort to disguise himself.
“I guess I shouldn’t,” relented Artemis as he shifted into his pony form. “Alright, I know you are planning something, but lets do it,” finished Artemis as he teleported them to the front of the castle.
5:55pm, 25th of Viglyd, 14 Days After the Reunion – Canterlot Castle Courtyard
Celestia had been worried that Artemis had backed out, but then she saw both him and Luna arrive in the courtyard. Celestia couldn’t help but chuckle at his clear discomfort, for she knew he hated not knowing what to expect. If Luna hadn’t been the one to ask him, she doubted he would’ve shown up at all. Though she was a little nervous with how he would handle the paparazzi, she was sure Luna could control the situation.
“You deal with this anytime you leave the castle?” questioned Artemis as did his best to restrain himself from driving the flock of ponies with cameras away.
“Not usually this many at once,” admitted Luna. “Normally they aren’t so bold as to just walk up and take pictures, usually they just follow us and take from them a distance. It’s just because of how last minute the conference is, they probably think something bad is coming.”
“They stalk you for pictures?” growled Artemis as he looked angrily at the mob around them.
“Well me, Celestia, and any other famous pony,” responded Luna quickly as she started to teleport them. “It’s ok though you get used to it.”
Celestia waited expectantly as they appeared on the stage right next to her. They had lasted longer than she had expected, hopefully that was a good sign. Celestia gave the newly arrived Luna a hug, and she accepted a simple nod from Artemis, it was better not to push that issue now. With Cadance, Luna, and Artemis to her right and the elements on left, she felt it was a good time to begin.
“Ahem,” started Celestia. The sound of her voice immediately caught the attention of everypony, and they immediately went silent as all cameras and eyes were on her. “Welcome and thank you all for gathering so quickly, I know I gave you very little notice. Though before I get to the main announcement I want to dispel any fears or rumors, this isn’t an emergency or urgent message about the impending doom of Equestria for once. I know we have been though a lot in recent times with the changeling invasion, Discord, and most recently Tirek, but now we have some good news. I have gathered you all here to celebrate and announce a momentous occasion. We have a very special guest, for in the past was once our best friend and one of the greatest allies Equestria has ever had. After being gone for a millennia he has finally returned, please give a warm Equestrian welcome to the spirit of nature, Artemis,” called Celestia as she gestured towards Artemis.
Artemis had planned to stay off to the side, but he was suddenly shoved out front by Luna, Cadance, and the elements. He was shocked at the volume of the crowd as suddenly the spotlights and cameras shifted from Celestia onto him. It seemed that many of them recognized him from his first day through the city or from that whole incident with Vinyl. He had partially expected Celestia to go into more detail about what happened between them, but after giving it some thought he was glad she didn’t. He didn’t need these vultures circling him and constantly pestering him about the past, and if she had included their rocky history it would only be worse than he predicted it was going to be. Surprisingly he was perfectly content with the turn of events.
“Considering he didn’t expect this, I won’t ask him to make a speech,” joked Celestia. “But there is one important detail I almost forgot.”
Artemis was worried that she was going to reveal more about their past, when he felt a powerful surge of magic wash over him. As it passed over him, he turned around to see a smirking Twilight Sparkle and Luna sticking her tongue out at him. It wasn’t until he noticed the silence from the audience that he realized that something was wrong, and only then did it occur to him that his disguise had been peeled away.
“Buck me,” sighed Artemis under his breath. Unfortunately for him though it was still caught by the microphone announcing it to the whole world. “Of course there was more,” thought Artemis to himself. “I should’ve known better, Fate just loves to screw me as soon as I relax.”
“That’s better,” chuckled Celestia. “This swearing giant before you is Artemis, Nature Spirit and the former King of the Wolves. Despite his intimidating exterior, I can assure you he is one of the most compassionate wolves you will ever meet. Please treat him as you would any other guest to your homes,” finished Celestia eliciting cheers from the audience.
Artemis couldn’t help but think how she was technically right simply because Artemis was likely to be the only wolf they ever meet. He thought back to when he lead the tribe, and he acknowledged that he was a very polar leader. He was benevolent to his subjects and allies, but he was also unimaginably cruel to those who crossed him. He could be callous to the most extreme things, but empathic for the everyday problems most times on a whim. Compassionate wasn’t something that had been used to describe him often.
“Oh, curse my memory today,” smiled Celestia as the crowd’s cheering settled down.
Those few words struck fear into Artemis’s heart, he couldn’t imagine what else she had “forgotten” to mention.
“I know there was something else I’m forgetting,” said Celestia slyly as she looked behind her. “Luna do you remember what it was?”
“Of course I do, it is the most important part.”
The fact that Luna was involved calmed Artemis considerably, but still he couldn’t figure out what she had forgotten to mention that was so important to either of them. As he tried his best to figure it out, his train of thought was quickly interrupted as Luna pulled him into a deep kiss.
He was almost too stunned to respond, but it only took a moment for him to block out the cheers, gasps, curses, and flashes coming from the audience. For that moment it was just him and Luna, the crowds, the cameras, and judgment were inconsequential. Though when she pulled away everything else came crashing back, and he remembered that she had just revealed their relationship to all of Equestria and any other country that was watching.
“I love him with everything that I am,” finished Luna as she found herself pulled into another briefer kiss.
After the crowd had died down a bit, Celestia figured it was a good time to end.
“Alright I think that is a good place to end, I’m sure I haven’t forgotten anything else,” smiled Celestia as she mentally prepared for the torment she about to subject herself to. “For now Princess Cadance and I will be answering questions in the place of Artemis and Luna, and I hope everypony has a wonderful evening.”
Artemis was pleasantly surprised by the turn of events, but despite Celestia’s words, he and Luna were still surrounded as they left the stage. It seemed like every news pony in Canterlot was trying to get an answer from them, there were so many questions being asked at the same time he couldn’t respond to any of them. However it didn’t take long for him to spot Vinyl waving to him at the back of crowd.
“Hey Vinyl, do you or Octavia have any plans for the rest of the weekend?” thought Artemis.
“Uh neither of us has a job this weekend or plans, what’s up?” asked Vinyl curiously.
“That’s good, because these vultures won’t leave us alone. I figured I would take you and Octavia with us,” responded Artemis as he was already preparing to teleport.
“Wait where!” shouted Vinyl out loud as they disappeared in a flash of light.
6:30pm, 25th of Viglyd, 14 Days After the Reunion – Cereus Valley
As the light faded the four of them found themselves on the edge of a cliff overlooking a massive vine overgrown valley.
"You have a bad habit of taking me places against my will," joked Vinyl
“Where are we?” asked Octavia as she looked around at the mostly empty landscape surrounding the cliff.
“Cereus Valley, Lupinia,” answered Artemis as he nostalgically looked towards the sky.
“Lupinia? We are in Griffon territory?” paled Octavia as she started to panic. “You do know they will kill or enslave us if they find us here, right?”
“Octy, chill. We are going to be fine, we are with the Princess of the Night and the former king who kept them in check before.”
“Vinyl I don’t think you unde-,”
“No, we are in my territory. So long as I draw breath this is my land, this place in particular will NEVER be theirs.”
As he looked out at the familiar valley, he felt a reassuring hoof on his shoulder from Luna, who looked towards Vinyl and Octavia before speaking.
“This valley means a lot to him, and it is no light gesture that he brought you here.”
“Luna saved my life here long ago, and she did it by showing me the most beautiful display of life I had ever seen. You mentioned being interested in visiting Lupinia, but I wanted to make sure you saw the best it could offer. This is the place where my life nearly ended, but instead my new life began. It seemed like a fitting place to tell you my life’s story. Just come with me,” finished Artemis as he climbed down to the valley below.
After a relatively short hike down the cliff path, they reached a small pond being filled by a smaller waterfall. As they looked around the clearing, the vines started to give off different radiant colors. Light from every color imaginable shone from the vines, and the light reflected off the water and walls lighting up the entire valley. Shortly after, the light shifted from the vines into buds that blossomed into beautiful flowers that shone with every color possible.
“Woah,” gawked Vinyl as she raised her shades for a better view.
“Absolutely gorgeous,” awed Octavia as she poked one of the pearlescent flowers.
“It pleases me to no end that this place is still undisturbed after a thousand years. Unfortunately they only bloom once a year and only at night before they die, and before my imprisonment Luna and I came here every year.”
“Wait, imprisonment?” questioned Vinyl curiously.
“That’s later in the story, but I wasn’t born into the wolf tribe. I was found by a wolf named Lupa, and she returned me to the tribe to learn their ways,” started Artemis as he sat down in front of the pond.
Artemis blocked off his mind as he started to feel Twilight and Celestia trying to contact him, but considering he had spent 1000 years imprisoned and they didn’t seem to be panicking, he figured he had earned 10 hours to do whatever he wanted. Right now he wanted to reflect upon his life with his first modern friends and the love of his life, and he wasn’t going to let anything interrupt him. The night was young, and nothing else really mattered to him.
The great retcon is has come, for those of you who don't check my blog anyway. Truth and Reconciliation is getting a proper sequel to finish up the story.
If you enjoyed the story check it out, gonna try to keep it updated fairly regularly. As always big thanks to my readers, commenters, and everyone who pm'd me. Wish you the best of luck,
