//------------------------------// // Chapter 7; Misguided Actions // Story: The Wander Through Lands Unknown // by Tomas Lutwig //------------------------------// Shadowing the hulking monster that was Tirek was easy, it seemed after gaining magic from all of the ponies besides Twilight, he payed little attention to his surroundings, focusing, presumably, on finding the missing princess. I tried to remember what happened in the episode. Twilight had a misadventure with teleporting. And ends up in a rock that had been split. “PRINCESS TWILIGHT!” I heard Tirek call out making me cover my ears. “YOU HAVE SOMETHING THAT BELONGS TO ME!” Looking around the centaur, I noticed a rock that suddenly exploded. Tirek ducked under a speeding princess that left a trail of violet, purple and pink streaks behind her. The monster walked out further into the valley as the princess turned and made her way towards him making a long line in the dirt before slamming into his hoof. The purple alicorn took a step back as Tirek stood there, “You're going to give me what I want” he said before the amber sphere appeared between his horns and he started to inhale. Twilight teleported away before he could do anything making him look down at where she had been. Turning, the centaur looked over towards Ponyville before firing a large bolt of energy. An explosion quickly followed with cloud of dust appearing. After a few moments the cloud dissipated before a flash of pink light appeared in the sky, quickly followed by a glow that shot out at the monster. “Oh shit” I muttered under my breath, running between the trees to get out from behind Tirek. Just as I managed to get out of the way, an enormous beam of energy shot out, an amber sphere was pushed back from inside the beam before an explosion erupted behind it revealing a long trail of destruction. 'Dear Lord' I prayed, as I watched the fight unfold. Tirek and Twilight stopped for a moment, the centaur's lips moving, but the explosion had caused my ears to ring. Before they could recover, the earth beneath me started to quake. The alicorn shot up into the air only to be intercepted by a bolt of amber light from the centaur. Teleporting again, the alicorn blasted Tirek in the face before he picked her up, hurling her into a nearby mountain. Muffled screams echoed into my ears as she flew only for a dust cloud to appear near the peak of the mountain. Quick to follow the centaur charged flying through the air at the point where the alicorn impacted only to drill completely through the mountain. I sprinted after the fight, reaching the base of the mountain before running around it, gasping for breath at this point. 'Almost there' I thought reaching the other side, only to find a large crater, the two standing beneath before six bubbles flashed into existence. After a bit more running. The bubbled popped, save for one. Tireks voice echoed to my ears. “After the way he had betrayed you, you still call him friend?” it asked only for a quieter voice to answer followed my the monster's voice once more. “As you wish” The bubble popped sending the dragonequiss to the ground enticing a small puff of dust. Tirek turned back to the alicorn. “Your turn” he said before the amber orb appeared once more. Twilight groaned in pain as multicolored light flowed from her horn into the centaur before she collapsed onto the ground defeated. Tirek held his hands over his face as the amber light surrounded him making him grow larger than the mountain he had thrown Twilight through. The large being continued to groan and roar as he grew only for the alicorn's friends to rush to her side, sans Discord who approached before giving her a triangular medallion. 'Alright' I thought as I watched them all rush into the forest away from the now massive monster. 'If I want this to work, I better keep a low profile' Looking up Tirek cast a few spells sending massive energy bolts at mountains and other places decimating them. 'Savage' I thought keeping away from his line of sight and bolts of magic. A nearly blinding light shone from a large crevice in the ground gaining Tirek's attention, he fired a bolt of amber light at it before shouting towards the light. “How is the possible?! You have no magic!” 'now!' I thought running forward once more to hide behind one of the creature's legs as Twilight started speaking. “You're wrong Tirek! I may have given you my alicorn magic, but I hold the most powerful magic within me!” she said before multiple bolts of light shot out attacking the large centaur. Tirek screamed in pain as the magic was drained from him, shrinking him to a rather puny size. After a moment the light receded back into the ball of white light before an explosion of rainbow light arched across the sky. I watched in awe for a moment before approaching the fallen form. A drowsiness started to overtake me before I lowered my spear. “No... More” I said leaning into the fallen form, the spearhead piercing it's now thin hide and easily sliding into it. A final cry was sounded from Tirek, before he fell silent. A smile appeared on my face as a black aura flowed from him into me before I stumbled onto my knees, still clutching my spear as sleep overtook me. The sound of silence beyond a single set of approaching footsteps was all I heard before the sound of gravel crunching louder until I heard once again only that beat, now going faster. 'My heartbeat' was the last thought that echoed through my mind before dreams took me. A cool sensation was felt on my forehead before a calm loving voice sounded. “It's alright honey, you're going to be fine” it said. I opened my eyes only to find a cloudy sky, the beginnings of rain pattered on my face as a smile came to my face, the smell intoxicating. Blinking I sat in a desk looking at a board that a heavyset man scribbled away at before turning around, “alright class, it's time to take out your textbooks and-” “WANDERER” a familiar voice sounded tearing through my boredom. I looked around, alert wondering what that sound had been. The teacher continued to talk as the rest of the class took out large books turning to a specific page. “WANDERER, WE KNOW THOU HEAREST US!” the voice sounded again this time closer. I looked around in a panic, jumping from my desk I managed to stumble and smack my face into the empty desk next to me. Getting back up I looked around only for there to be no one. I was alone save for a bright full moon that hung overhead. “There thou are” The voice sounded again seemingly coming from the moon. Looking up a bright light flashed and a woman drifted down towards me a pair of dark blue wings sprouting from her back. As she approached she landed in the darkness surrounding me and a marble floor seemed to materialize around her. Stars flowed in her hair that seemed to float in a breeze that I couldn't feel. Her seemingly frail body was covered in a blue dress, matching that of her wings, A single Crescent moon decorated the right shoulder over surrounded by black that was dotted with stars that splayed down over her breasts. Her face was twisted in anger and her aqua eyes shown with a light that promised pain. I tried to get on my feet, but the woman backhanded me, sprawling out again. “If your desire is to keep thoust life, then keep thine position” she said making me shutter. “Now if thou would be so kind as to inform us, WHAT WAST THOU THINKING!?” The scream only brought more fear and confusion to me making tears well up in my eyes. The woman ended that with another slap across my face that knocked me around again. After a moment I realized what was going on as memories came to me. I stood up and looked back to the woman, who was still glaring me down. The world around us seemed to change as I thought about the forest for a moment and it appeared around us. “Well then” I said looking around. “Welcome to my dreams then Princess Luna” I said looking back at the woman. “This is not the time for pleasantries Wanderer!” she nearly shouted at me. “Thou hast taken a life, after both myself and mine sister ordered thoust not!” “Oh?” I asked, “I don't play as though I feel no guilt for ending Tirek's life, but is this not good for you and your sister as well?” I asked, motioning towards her with a hand “Not only did I take the 'humanity' from him ending your search to find a way to cure me, but I also emptied a cell in Tartarus. And not to mention, if he escaped once, what said he would not again if that dog left it's post?” The anger in the Lunar princess' face faltered if only for a moment. “While thou does give justification for thine actions, it changes little” She said shaking her head. “Thou hast taken a life, an unforgivable crime in the borders of Equestria. And thou shalt be punished for this crime.” I nodded, 'It's only fair, commit a crime and pay the price' I thought to myself before paying closer attention to the princess. “Understandable, what is my punishment?” I asked only for a smile to form on the woman's lips. “Your punishment is taking Tirek's place” She said making my eyes go wide. “You shall be imprisoned for one thousand moons, in this prison of your own making” I looked around 'Forever dreaming for however long one thousand moons is...' I noticed Luna starting to float back into the moon that still hung in the sky. “Luna! How long is a moon?” I asked, only for the question to go unanswered. “We shall check on thou every hundred moons, now we leave thou wist thine thoughts” She said before disappearing in a flash of light. “Help Equestria by taking out one of their most powerful enemies for good and they imprison me in my mind...” I said, the words echoing in the forest. I shook my head and started walking, “best make the most of it” The forest appeared around me where it hadn't been, trees sprouting from the ground. It wasn't long before the ruins of a small town sprouted up before me, a rundown sign, most of it on the ground in front of me. A sigh escaped me as I thought about what this could be before turning around and walking away. “No thanks” I said simply, not wanting to be in a horror show for the next thousand moons. As I continued walking I reached a crevice, it looked similar to the one that the Elements of Harmony came from during their 'fight' with Tirek. I looked for a way down only to find that the stairs that had been carved into the rock missing. I shrugged before sliding down the steep decline before it suddenly dropped. Below me was a blackness that sent a shiver through my spine before the ground materialized. If I was in real life, no doubt my knees would be in my chest and my skull shattered on the rock below, but instead I simply stood back up and looked around. The walls of the crevice were little to look at, seemingly simple stone. Walking for a while revealed a wider part in the crack showing the missing stairs as well as the Tree of Harmony. Approaching the tree it looked a bit fuzzy, almost as if because I hadn't seen it beyond the show, it wasn't perfect in my mind. Looking at the limbs, I started to wonder what the elements were up too, finding a statue of me stabbing a now dead Tirek. The scene seemed to unfold around me, ponies surrounding the corpse of the once powerful opponent, gasps came from some, others simply gave the scene a sad look. “He thought he was doing what was best for you all” Discord's voice rang out as the dragonequiss approached making them look at him. “By doing this he believed he kept the evil from ever escaping again to steal magic from the world” “But we were going to send him back to Tartarus! Is this not a curler fate?” Twilight asked before looking back to the scene before her. “Well, from someone who's been imprisoned for thousands of years without anything to do; No” The Dragonequiss said before turning to me. “Is that not what you were thinking?” Discord asked as the others disappeared in a flash of light. “To save Tirek the fate of imprisonment, trapped alone in a land where the only companion to speak to is a three headed dog?” He stepped forward making me quickly find myself trapped against another Discord who looked down at me sternly. “Would you of done the same to me? Perhaps you'd think it merciful for the spirit of chaos!” he said finally yelling. I stuttered out a denial, but the dragonequiss only snorted in response. “Oh you sound sooo believable!” he said a cruel look on his face. “Begone” the simple word rang out as a Moon hung in the sky. I fell to my hands and knees before curling into a ball as the moonlight faded. “She's making sure I don't drive myself insane” the words rang out through the empty expanses of my mind. I laid there crying, trying to accept my fate.