“IDIOTS!” Tirek growled through his teeth as he angrily stomped through the forest on the other side of Fluttershy’s cottage. “I can’t take this any longer! I need to get out of here!”
He walked until he reached Discord’s magic shield and placed his hand on it. It gave him a bit of an electric shock, causing him to flinch. He shook the pain off of his hand and stared harder at the shield. Charging up some centaur magic between his horns, he fired an energy beam at it. He knew it would have no effect given how weak he was, but he wanted to test the shield’s invulnerability.
“Just as I thought. There’s no way I’ll ever break through this blasted canopy. Even if I could somehow overpower Discord, his magic combined with everyone else’s in here would not be enough. I’ll have to find some way to escape when it’s down…if he ever takes it down.”
Suddenly, he looked up and saw Ponyville’s local mail-mare, Derpy Hooves flying towards the shield on the other side. He quickly ran off to hide behind a nearby tree.
“Alrighty now…1400 Everfree Lane, Ponyville, EQ, 99832.” She said as she read a clipboard.
Tirek watched carefully as Derpy flew right through the barrier without even realizing it was there. He had forgotten that anyone but he was able to traverse it. Derpy flew on towards the cottage with a few envelopes in her mouth to drop in Fluttershy’s mailbox. Tirek suddenly had a dastardly idea.
“Hmmm, maybe it’s time I stole a little Equestrian magic. I’m sure the others would disapprove, but like I care. What they don’t know won’t hurt them.”
He crept behind the bushes as quietly as he could, watching Derpy get closer to the mailbox. A few yards down, she finally stopped and landed in front of it. She pulled down the door to the mailbox and put the envelopes inside. Sneaking up behind her, Tirek rubbed his hands together and smiled wickedly. Derpy had just begun closing the mailbox when suddenly she felt a strange sensation all over her body as she began to feel weak. Tirek opened his mouth wide and an orange aura surrounded Derpy.
“Ugh! What’s happening? Help…ugh…no…” she said.
She felt so tired she could barely talk anymore. All of the energy went into Tirek’s mouth and caused him to grow slightly taller than before. He could even feel his muscles widen. It wasn’t nearly enough to give him any advantage in battle, but it felt good to finally absorb magic again. Derpy fell to the ground and her cutie mark had disappeared. She could barely open her eyes, which had a milky white filter over them.
“Finally some real food!” Tirek said, licking his lips. “Now if only I could find more unsuspecting ponies to-”
“TIREK!!!” shouted Fluttershy not too far off.
Tirek froze and looked to the side to see Fluttershy, Discord, Spike, Flurry, Starlight, Trixie, Sunset and Iron Will all running in.
“OH! Uh…this pony, she’s…um…she doesn’t seem well…” he cautiously said, tapping his fingers together.
“Tirek, we saw what you did!” Trixie said, sternly. “You can’t go around stealing magic anymore!”
“What?! Steal magic?! I…I…”
“And you were doing so well back there!” Starlight added. “We all saw you with the animals. We saw you behaving and showing signs of changing. What happened?”
“Is there something you’d like to tell us, Tirek?!” Discord said, walking up to Tirek and looking down at him, menacingly.
Tirek put his hands in the air and backed up till he bumped into a tree. He tried to find an excuse to use or a story to make up, but all the looks on their faces made it very clear they had seen him steal magic and there was no defending himself. He closed his eyes, gritted his teeth, then finally he snapped and admitted everything.
“Alright, enough playing dumb!” Tirek shouted as he began walking towards Discord. “Listen, you fools! My apology to Princess Twilight was unscrupulous! I lied when I told her I was sorry. I wasn’t lying though when I said I’m done trying to take over Equestria. I don’t care about Equestria! Do you all want to know what’s really wrong with me?! It’s my family! I hate them!!”
Fluttershy covered her mouth with her hooves and everyone else gasped rather loudly. Even Discord looked surprised. Tirek took a few seconds to calm himself down, but he was still raging mad. After catching his breath, he continued.
“None of you here will ever know what it feels like to be betrayed by one of your own! You were already told that Scorpan and I had good intentions when we first entered Equestria; well that’s not wrong. I just wanted to please my father. I’ve been trying to get his approval ever since I was just a boy. He never gave me a chance; he always thought I was too selfish. I thought that if I brought back some Equestrian magic to help our dwindling kingdom, he would finally see me as a worthy prince that would one day be king…BUT HE DIDN’T! Mother always took his side and didn’t help, and my idiot brother left me to rot in Tartarus with nothing but that stupid pendant! I’ve wasted all my time trying to take Equestria. I don’t want Equestria anymore; I want to see Scorpan suffer for betraying me! I hate all of them, and no, I’m not interested in being part of your stupid little reformation club! Does that answer your question?!”
As he finished speaking, Tirek tugged tightly on the collar of his “Be Patient. I’m Reforming” shirt and tore it right down the middle. He threw the pink shreds of cloth onto the dirt and stomped on them. His breathing was loud and deep. He snorted through his nostrils as his nose ring flapped about. Tears could be seen out of the corner of his eyes, but he wiped them away. Everyone stood, completely frozen, looking horrified. Flurry was hiding behind Spike and looked very sad. She was expecting this day to end much better after she saw Tirek with the animals. Fluttershy was standing over Derpy, helping her to stand up. Derpy was still very worn out, but she seemed really scared of Tirek.
“Tirek…” Fluttershy said, trembling. “Is there anything we can do to he-”
“NO, THERE IS NOT!! I told you, I’m not in the mood for reformation! What you saw back there with the animals means nothing! That was just me when I’m calm and distracted from my quest for revenge, and I will still take magic if I need to in order to get it!”
Discord closed his eyes and sighed deeply. He then turned to Fluttershy.
“Fluttershy, I think for now we’re going to have to mark Tirek off as a work-in-progress.” he said, gloomily.
“Are…are you sure?” she asked.
“I knew Tirek had problems with his family, but I didn’t think it was this bad. We’ll try again another time. Tirek, return your magic to this pony.”
Tirek did nothing but stare angrily at Discord for a moment.
“You heard me.”
He finally opened his mouth and returned all of Derpy’s magic back to her. Her body glowed with the same aura as before as she slowly floated in the air until she was able to stand on her own again. She opened her eyes wide and brushed herself off.
“Derpy, I’m so sorry about all this.” Fluttershy told the scared mail-mare.
“That’s ok, Fluttershy. I left your envelopes in the mailbox. I’d better go now.” Derpy said, nervously before taking off and flying away very fast.
Discord turned back to Tirek and walked towards him.
“Go ahead! Turn me into stone!” Tirek shouted.
“I think you’ve had enough imprisonment for one lifetime.” Discord said.
The tall draconequus closed his eyes and then opened them. They swirled around and shone intensely like stadium lights. Tirek was already too late to look away. He saw snippets of his entire life flash before him. He saw even some of his earliest memories from his childhood, though there seemed to be a bit of a blurry spot some time after he met his old master Sendak and right before Sendak was arrested and sentenced to work in the mines, while Tirek was reprimanded by his father for trying to steal magic from a captive pony. After that came all his memories from his first attack on Equestria over a thousand years ago to the most recent events. Finally everything stopped and he was back in front of Discord once again. Discord’s eyes still had the swirling pattern in them until they went back to normal. Tirek rubbed his head and groaned.
“Ugh…what did you do…my…wait! My memories! What did you do to my memories?!” he shouted.
“I wiped some of your memories about your time with Sendak. You’ve forgotten the spell he taught you to steal magic. You will never steal from anyone again, Tirek.”
“WHAT?!”
Discord walked back towards everyone else and then crossed his arms, almost as if he was waiting to see what Tirek would do next. The rest of them looked a bit confused at Discord’s reaction. They were expecting him to at least imprison him in some sort of cage or turn him into stone, but it was clear Discord was through with even that harsh of a punishment.
“Discord, what will he do now? Shouldn’t we let Twilight know” Flurry asked.
“She already does.” Discord replied. “I’m doing what Twilight told me to do if this didn’t work out. Tirek may have another chance someday, but if he wants to be free, he’ll have to live without his powers completely.”
Tirek stood still, panicking. He put his hands on his head and closed his eyes before letting out all his rage.
“Why…you…YOU…GAAAAGH!!” he hollered, galloping off past Fluttershy’s cottage.
Everyone chased after him but Discord. He came towards Fluttershy’s back yard until he bumped into the shield and was knocked backward. He quickly stood back up and began slamming his fists on it.
“TAKE IT DOWN! I’M NOT STAYING HERE ANY LONGER!” he yelled as he turned around to see the others, stopping a few yards behind him with Discord teleporting next to his friends.
“Discord?” Iron Will said, turning to the sullen draconequus.
Discord gave Tirek a rather sympathetic look at first, almost like he wanted to keep him around to comfort him, but it would do no good. He closed his eyes and snapped his fingers. The pinkish energy around Fluttershy’s property finally dissipated and the shield was gone. Tirek took one last look at all of them, grimaced, and then bolted off into the Everfree Forest, causing a flock of birds and squirrels in his way to scatter and hide.
They all stood still for a few moments until Fluttershy hung her head and sighed. Trixie and Sunset both put their hooves on her shoulders to comfort her.
“Poor Tirek.” Fluttershy said. “I’ve never met anyone who hates their family that much.”
“It can’t be that bad with Scorpan, can it?” Trixie asked.
“Nah. He’s a great king.” Spike answered. “Tirek just doesn’t understand why Scorpan left him in Tartarus.”
“You think we’ll ever see him again, Discord?” Iron Will asked.
“I’m sure we will.” said Discord. “There will come a day when Tirek understands, but for right now, turning him to stone or sending him to Tartarus isn’t going to get him to change his mind.”
“I’m guessing Chrysalis and Cozy Glow will probably be the same way.” added Starlight. “It all comes down to family with those three: Tirek hates his family, Chrysalis wants hers back, and Cozy…well, we don’t even know if she has a family.”
“Well Flurry, we’re sorry this didn’t turn out how we all expected.” Sunset said, turning to Flurry. “You probably were expecting to learn a good lesson if Tirek was reformed.”
Flurry thought for a moment about what Sunset said. She was expecting Tirek to reform, but maybe that was part of the problem they had been having all along. They all had their hopes up to change the mind of one of Equestria’s greatest villains, but they underestimated his motives and why he behaves the way he does.
“Actually, I think I did learn something.” she said as everyone else turned to her to listen. “I learned that not everyone can be reasoned with. We should always try our best to understand them and make an effort to help them get better, but we should also prepare for the worst. And if they don’t want to learn right now, it might be best to just give them some time. I guess some beings out there take a lot longer to do it, but it’s worth waiting for. Hopefully someday Tirek can see that too.”
“I’m glad you learned something from this, Flurry.” said a voice behind her.
Flurry turned around to see Twilight. She was happy to see her but was still melancholy over what happened with Tirek.
“Did you see what happened, Twilight?” Flurry asked as she walked up to hug her aunt.
“The whole thing.”
“We’re sorry, Twilight.” Discord said. “I’m afraid now is just not the time for Tirek.”
“It’s alright, Discord, and thank you for erasing the absorption spell. He won’t be that much of a concern without his powers. Tirek needs some time to himself to think things through and hopefully make amends with Scorpan one day.”
“Scorpan’s not going to be too thrilled to hear this either.” Spike added.
“No, he won’t, though he has thought of lifting the banishment order that King Vorak made over a thousand years ago to keep Tirek out. I should probably meet with him soon to discuss it.”
“And what about Cozy Glow and Queen Chrysalis, Twilight?” Fluttershy asked. “Do you think they’ll cooperate with us if we send them to Villains Anonymous?”
“I’m not sure. I still can’t locate Cozy’s parents and I’m pretty worried about what Chrysalis and the remaining black changelings can do. We need to make sure Pinkie and Cheese’s wedding is as secure as ever.”
“If we find them, we’ll make sure to talk to them.” Flurry said, smiling as she and Twilight hugged once again.
Later that night, Tirek had finally found a place to stay in the mountains beyond the Everfree Forest. He found a small cave near the top of a cliff and had started a fire. With only a fish he had caught and some bitter fruits to eat, this would be his shelter until he could figure out how to go on without his powers.
“It’s going to take me centuries to build on my own power without that spell.” He grumbled as he turned his stick around with the fish still on it, baking over the fire. “If they hadn’t taken my base powers back when I first came to Equestria, I wouldn’t be in this position.”
Tirek suddenly noticed the fish was on fire. He quickly brought it away from the burning wood and started blowing on it until the fire went away. The fish was charred and crispy, but Tirek angrily pulled it off and chomped away.
“If I could find a way to get to the Midnight Kingdom, maybe I could locate the Absorption Stone or at least the Staff of Sacanas. I’m sure the stone is heavily guarded. This is going to take some time…”
“Oh I think I know someone who can help.” said an elderly voice behind a nearby rock.
“Wha…? WHO’S THERE?! SHOW YOURSELF!!” Tirek said, standing up and charging his magic.
“Now now, my young apprentice. Is that how to greet your teacher?”
A hooded figure crept out from behind the rock. He had four legs like Tirek, but he was not a pony. Tirek then remembered this voice. It was his old master Sendak: the one who taught him how to steal magic. Sendak slowly lifted his arms and used his long gangly fingers to pull back his hood and reveal his face. He was much thinner than Tirek and a bit hunched over. His skin was a shade of magenta and the color of the fur on his lower horse half was brown. He did not wear a nose ring but had a thick, white beard with a long mustache growing on his upper lip. His horns used to be curled downward, but they must have been sawn off because right now they were just small nubs protruding from his skull like Tirek’s. He spoke in a deep, commanding voice. Even though Tirek had grown weak from his time in Tartarus, he was still much younger than Sendak, but Sendak was so old, he should have died long ago.
“Master Sendak?!” Tirek said, astonished.
“What is left of him.”
“How are you still around? My father banished you to a lifetime of labor in the mines. You should be dead!”
“Whoever released you from your stone prison must have done a similar deed for me. I was in the mines, but somehow I too was turned into stone. It was so dark and I don’t recall seeing who was casting the spell, but once I was set free of it, I awoke somewhere in the Equestrian Badlands. Had our mysterious savior not done this, we would never have been reunited.”
“Wait, so you’re telling me you were also turned to stone and then released outside of the Midnight Kingdom? That is…very peculiar. Somebody is clearly helping us. But who?”
“We can investigate that later, young one. Right now, you and I both have revenge to prepare against the Kingdom.”
Sendak walked up to his apprentice and put his hand on Tirek’s shoulder while using the other one to gesture.
“Your family betrayed both of us. I should hope you want to see them suffer as well, am I right?”
“Most definitely.” Tirek said as he clenched his fists.
“But you say you’ve forgotten the spell already?”
“Technically it was erased from my memory.”
“Who on Earth could have erased your memories? Did King Solmidas do this to you?”
“Oh he’s not even leading this country anymore. One of his old confidants from the courts went insane with power at one point and became the self-described Lord of Chaos: Discord. He’s the one who erased the spell. He did it just hours ago.”
“His name is Discord? He must be very powerful I take it.”
“Indeed. He’s so powerful I wasn’t even able to outclass him until I had taken the magic from most of the ponies in Equestria. I did manage to take his power. Oh, and also the power of not just one, but four alicorns. I became more powerful than I think any being has ever been, but sadly it was short-lived.”
“Let me guess: those blasted Elements of Harmony?”
“Yes.”
“I see. Well if that is the case, I will have to teach you the absorption spell once again. We will invade the Midnight Kingdom and overthrow your foolish brother.”
“Perfect. What will you do once I have what I want?”
“Well I can no longer take revenge on your father. I am, however very interested in this land.”
Sendak walked out to the edge of the cliff to look upon the land before him. Tirek had a concerned look on his face upon hearing that Sendak planned to invade this country.
“You’re planning on taking over Equestria?”
“The ancient centaurs sought to expand beyond our borders, young one. When we began to intermingle with the gargoyles, we became far too soft. We must get back to our roots. You are the rightful heir to the throne, so the Midnight Kingdom is yours to keep, but I will certainly be looking for a chance to flex my own muscles, and I think Equestria will be a perfect place to start.”
“Well right now, we best take the Midnight Kingdom first. I will find the Staff of Sacanas and transfer your powers back to you once I’ve taken care of Scorpan.”
“Excellent. You are lucky to have me here. I will help you remember how to take the power that you rightfully deserve. You shall be great once again, Prince Tirek.”
“Soon it will be 'King Tirek.'”
Tirek smiled wickedly as he looked out to the horizon where the sun was setting. His day did not begin very well, but with Sendak by his side, he would find a way to complete his quest for revenge, even if it meant betraying the old centaur.
“I’m coming for you, Scorpan…”
THE END