My Little Pony, Friendship is Magic: Stallion Edition

by SuperPinkBrony12

Chapter 188: Off to Tartarus

When Shining had rounded up all his friends they immediately set off for Canterlot, and when they arrived they were immediately escorted to the castle. Not only were Princess Celestia and Princess Luna waiting in the throne room for them, but Princess Cadence was as well. And if the expressions on their faces were anything to go by they were quite concerned, almost to the point of being stricken with panic.

Celestia was the first of them to speak up, and she did so with a tone of urgency that had rarely been seen before. "You're all aware of what's happening all over Equestria, are you not?" The stallions firmly nodded and the sun princesses replied. "Good, because time is of the essence! I have just received a letter from Starswirl the Bearded himself, he says that we have but three days before all magic in Equestria shall vanish forever!"

"What?!" The stallions all gasped in collective shock!

Luna spoke next. "Indeed, this is quite disturbing news. Already, unicorn magic is beginning to fade away. Spells are becoming useless to even the most powerful of unicorns. And it isn't long until pegasi and earth pony magic will also be affected, for they will start to vanish on the second day. If Starswirl's letter is correct, the third day shall see even magical artifacts lose their power, and by sundown on that day all magic in Equestria will be gone."

"But if Starswirl knows about this, why is he sending a letter to you? Shouldn't he be rounding up the pillars to track down the evil force that's behind all of this?" Soarin questioned. "If there was ever a time to act it would be now!"

Luna shook her head. "Unfortunately, the pillars are quite spread out and many have returned to their villages. Without magic it could take days to recruit them all, by which point it may already be too late."

"What about the Crystal Empire?" Shining Armor immediately inquired out of concern.

"So far the Crystal Heart doesn't seem to be afflicted at all, though I dare not venture outside the empire in case the heart should fail," Cadence informed her husband. "I'm sorry, Shining, but it looks like you'll be without my help on this one. Not that you'd need it, you seem to have quite a knack for solving problems with your friends."

Shining did his best not to blush. "Thank you for the vote of confidence, Cadence. Though this is one time I wish you could help me. We alicorns will be the last to lose our magic, meaning we'll have more time than anypony else to find who or what is responsible for this sudden theft of magic."

"Theft? You think somepony's stealin' all our magic?" Braeburn questioned. "How is that even possible?"

"Think about it, magic can't just vanish into thin air! Not even alicorn magic can do that!" Shining firmly declared as he pounded a hoof. "That means something or someone has to be delibertly draining it all away, though for what reason I have no idea yet."

Fancy Pants eyed the princesses. "Well, surely if you summoned us here you must have some kind of lead. Somepony's sure to have seen or heard something suspicious, right?"

Princess Celestia only shook her head. "I'm afraid not. Just like before my visions have become clouded, I can no longer see the future. And even if I could I doubt they'd be much use to us, they are always unfortunately vague as I'm sure Shining will attest to from the Tirek incident."

"Speaking of Tirek," Shining suddenly spoke. "Has anypony checked on him in Tartarus recently? This has all the hallmarks of his doing: Magic disappearing, ponies not being able to do their jobs, Celestia's visions becoming clouded, and this all happening very suddenly and without warning."

Thunderlane let out a gulp. "But he's still trapped in Tartarus with Chrysalis and those other horrible villains, isn't he?" An uncomfortable silence fell over the throne room.

The silence wasn't broken until finally Princess Luna cleared her throat and reluctantly confessed. "I must admit that the idea of inspecting Tartarus hadn't crossed my mind until now, even though it's usually my jurisdiction. The last time I checked was weeks ago, Tirek was still there. But it's possible he found some way to escape since then. We don't know how he got out the first time," An unhappy sigh escaped her lips. "I better prepare a task force at once to go there and inspect again."

---

But Shining Armor stepped forward and declared. "No, I'll go! As Captain of the Royal Guard, checking up on prisoners is my responsibility, at least for the ones like Tirek that I put there personally."

"Out of the question, Shining Armor!" Big Macintosh protested with a shake of his head. "You ain't goin' anywhere! We need you here!"

"Cousin Big Mac's right," Braeburn interjected. "There's no need to put yourself in danger when any of the princesses could do this job. Without you we can't access the Elements of Harmony in case we need them."

Shining shook his head. "I appreciate your concern, but this is something I must do. As captain I make it a policy never to ask others to do what I wouldn't be willing to do myself. And if Tirek isn't in Tartarus, I know someone who could probably tell me where he might have gone."

"But don't you get it, Shining Armor? Tirek probably wants you to go off on your own," Thunderlane protested. "It's a trap, he's luring you there to trap you!"

"The thought of that had crossed my mind, but assuming it is a trap it's likely be to sprung no matter who goes there," Shining declared. "But for all I know Tartarus might be a dead end, Tirek might not be the culprit. It's possible that Tirek is just meant to throw us off the trail, perhaps even to leave someplace unattended. Celestia and Luna will be needed to control the sun and the moon and protect Canterlot, and Cadence has to make sure the Crystal Empire is protected from the Frozen North. At least if I go and get stuck, Ponyville will still be safe. My sister and all of you can make sure of that."

"Shining, please, for once think about somepony besides yourself!" Cadence pleaded. "You've made this mistake before, thinking you have to prove something or that if you don't do this you're not living up to your responsibilities. A royal guard could easily do what you want to do."

But the prince shook his head. "It could take days to travel to Tartarus without magic, which is time we don't have!" He turned to face his friends. "I don't like it anymore than the rest of you do, I wish this burden didn't fall onto me. But I'm the least expendable of our options on such short notice. I owe to you and to all of Equestria to do what must be done! If Tirek is the culprit, I might be able to get him to stop. And if he's not I may be able to wring some information out of him and/or Chrysalis."

Thunderlane then commented. "How are you planning to get to Tartarus anyway? Even if you could teleport there, it'd probably take a lot of magic. You may not have enough to make a return trip if it turns out to be a dead end."

Shining simply smirked. "Oh, I have my ways." He proceeded to pull out a whistle and blew into it!

---

Suddenly, in a cloud of smoke, Discord appeared wearing a dark blue hat and matching colored button coat. He shook his suit, causing a few faint flecks of golden dust to fall off. "Hey, Shining! How's about a little heads up the next time you 'borrow' that whistle from Fluttershy?" The spirit commented. "This had better be important, I don't like being summoned against my will."

"Do you know the way to Tartarus?" Shining questioned Discord.

Discord rolled his eyes, eyeballs and everything. "What a ridiculous question, of course I know the way. I can go anywhere at any time. You just name the time and place!"

The prince smiled. "Good. So I can count on you to take me directly to Tartarus, I think it's time I checked up on a few 'outstanding' prisoners."

"Ooh, you've certainly got guts, prince!" Discord commented in astonishment. "You do know I won't be going into that wretched place with you, right? I don't think Tirek or Queen Cheeselegs would be very happy to see me."

Shining nodded his head. "I don't expect you to go in with me, I just need you to get me to the front gate and keep watch outside. I may need you to take me somewhere else on short notice too, so stay sharp."

Discord gave a salute. "You can count on me, oh prince!" With a snap of his talons he changed into an attendant you might see on a zeppelin cruise. "Now, shall we set off? The clock is ticking so to speak." He held out a pocket watch as the hands inside it spun around and around.

Shining trotted towards the spirit, though not without turning back to his friends and to his wife. "Hopefully this won't take long, but I can't make any promises. I just want you all to know that, if something happens to me, promise me that you'll keep fighting. We've faced crises like this before and have prevailed, and together we'll do it again!"

"I sure hope you're right, for all our sakes," Soarin commented. "And don't go talking about how you may not come back, we don't need a scare."

"It never hurts to prepare for the worst, even as I hope for the best. And I want you all to do the same," Shining declared. "Make sure Twilight knows that too." And with that, he and Discord vanished in a puff of smoke, bound for Tartarus!

Author's Note:

I wanted to try and give Shining a motivation and an argument as to why he should go to Tartarus to check on Tirek.

As for Chrysalis, I assure you that her being in Tartarus will not be forgotten. She'll have a role to play.

Comments

[kahnac]

Interesting. At least now we can see where the deviation begins. Now, I only wonder how this is going to play out, and what Shining's interactions with Tirek will be like. Then again, given the show already did it, I imagine it'll be something akin to "Silence of the Lambs". Which will be awesome enough as it is.

And hopefully, you won't let Tirek suffer from villain decay like he seemed to do ever since "School Raze". Let's just say the way the show's handled him since the season 8 finale always rubs me the wrong way, if only because he's my favorite villain in the show aside from Sombra. Still, I have faith in you, as I have faith in Shining Armor making it out okay.:)

[Comickook]

REALLY good job on this latest chapter. The exchanges, characterizations and future chapter set-ups are all well done in all the right places. And, yeah, you made really good points in the author's notes once again.

And, though I'm trying very hard not to spoil the series finale for you, I WILL say I would probably rate it a C +, MAYBE a B - (as in not perfect, but still at least slightly above average). I WOULD rate it a solid B, possibly even a B +, if not for a couple of "what the blazes were the writers thinking?" moments in the first part (which I WON'T spoil). I already have some thoughts for a possible re-write in Volume Eleven of your "What If?" series, but I will wait until the episodes actually air in the US before sharing them.

[SuperPinkBrony12]

9862510 If anything I might argue he suffered more from villain decay in "School Raze" when he didn't consider what it would mean to have his sworn enemies trapped forever in Tartarus with him, or what it would mean that Cozy Glow and not him would have all the power.

[kahnac]

9863460
Two major plot points I pointed out in my own short-story "The Price of Freedom" as flawed. Hell, I completely turned the episode on its head with what I did to/with Tirek. He was most certainly no pushover, or absent-minded fool in that, i can promise you that. In fact, he was using everything Cozy Glow was doing on her own to his advantage so that he could force Twilight, and her friends to set him free. And it worked in the end.

Then again, that's because he wasn't a frail old weakling in the short-story, and I wrote him far more ruthless, and violent than he was in the show.^^;

[Yoshifan30]

It looks like Shining Armor and Discord are on their way to Tartarus although I do wish the other go with him so he doesn't do it by himself but then again it makes sense so in case something happens but sometimes going with a group can be nice