• Published 26th Jun 2017
  • 14,127 Views, 980 Comments

Born In Light, Forged In Darkness - Jest



Twilight Sparkle's entrance exam has not gone well, she cannot hatch the dragon egg and in her desperation has begun to panic. Little does she know failure is going to be the least of her worries.

  • ...
73
 980
 14,127

PreviousChapters Next
Trial One: Birth (R)

Dog groaned and rubbed her head with a hoof. Light was assaulting her eyes and prying her from her rest. Reluctantly she slowly rolled off the stone that served as her bed to the cold hard stone that was the floor. Squeezing her eyes shut tighter, she tried to escape the light that was no doubt coming from the torch above her bed. As Dog lay there she could hear the faint crackle of the fire and feel the heat it threw off. She didn't know what time it was but it hardly mattered, whatever time it was still too early for the lights to be on.

She pulled all her limbs tight against her chest and threw a hoof over her eyes to block the harsh red glare of the torch. After a few seconds spent fruitlessly trying to ward off the accursed light that assaulted her eyes, Dog gave up. The feeling of wrongness and strange itching at the back of her mind that told her to run had returned to plague her and had made sleep impossible. Though she was getting used to it the feeling remained a constant annoyance.

With hooves that still burned with an intense agony, Dog pushed herself up and looked around, yawning wearily as she did so. Dog remembered from yesterday that if the torch was lit it meant her father wanted her, giving her a sense of urgency that pushed the last vestments of sleep from her mind. She was vaguely aware of the fact that she was still exhausted but that couldn't be helped.

She shook her head and pushed herself up, smacking her cracked and broken lips as she did. Thirst was the first thing on her mind and she quickly looked around the room to find if there was some way to satiate it. She knew vaguely that the thirst she felt could be remedied with water but where she would find it was beyond her. Dog had been given some liquid yesterday, was that water? She thought about it but concluded that something about the strange liquid her father had made her drink was not water. For one it had made her woozy and although it had made her no longer hungry or thirsty it had tasted vile and Dog had nearly thrown it up.

She simply shrugged and walked over to the door to her room. She hesitated a moment before raising her hoof. This was going to hurt... She knocked twice at the ancient, black metal door, her hoof crying out in pain each time.

As she waited she hugged her hoof to her chest and tried not to cry, father always scowled when she cried.

A few seconds later a faint click could be heard from the door as it opened slightly, allowing Dog the chance to push the door the rest of the way open and step out of her room. She cast a wary eye back and forth along the hall.

Fear filled Dog’s bones and she trembled at the memory of the things she had seen stalking hallways all over her father’s home.

Various golems and bound demons had greeted the terrified Dog as she had been shown around the tower yesterday. Though even then she hadn't seen much, her father stating he only intended to test Dog’s legs and show her his various other servants including that huge demon called Balem. He was terrifying with a cackling laugh that made Dog’s skin crawl every time she heard it.

The mere thought of that dreaded word, test, just the thought made Dog’s skin crawl, and a strange mixture of fear, and the distinct feeling of loss to swirl within her. Making matters worse, she had failed her father’s test yesterday. Her hooves had given out and she had to have been carried back to her room and deposited roughly by a stone servant on the floor where she had been left a crying, bleeding mess.

At the thought of her failure, a sudden surge of determination built in her chest as she stood in the doorway. She wouldn't fail again! With determination burning in her veins, she took a triumphant step forward only to get a grim reminder of why she had failed the last time. A small spike of pain lanced up her leg, originating from her hoof. It wasn't as bad as yesterday night but it also had not improved by much.

Grimacing to herself Dog took another step, then another and another. Putting one hoof in front of the other Dog swallowed her pain and moved towards the end of the hall where she was told to wait if her father ever summoned her.

As she walked she passed by a few other doors that were similar to the one that barred entry to her room. All of them were of the thick black steel like hers was with the only exception being the strange, barely visible lines and symbols that floated across the doors. She had been told they were magical constructs called glyphs and had also been told that the most visible one was used for manipulating sound. She had more questions after that but a harsh glare was enough to remind her of her place.

She wasn't sure why they needed glyphs that manipulated sound placed over the other doors but her father had said they were to stop any noise coming from inside the rooms. Dog puzzled over it as she walked to the end of the hall where an even larger and somehow blacker set of double doors stood. She knocked twice like before, grimacing as the impact made a spike of pain shoot up her hoof.

After a few seconds, the doors clicked and swung outwards.

Dog quickly squeezed her way through the crack in the double doors, assuming rightly that the towering set of metal doors were too heavy for her to open fully. Once inside she looked around and noticing there was no one else there, trotted over to a nearby bench before plopping down.

The room she was now in was small and when her father had guided her through it he had barely fit inside when both doors were closed. Thankfully Dog wasn't as big as her father and had no problem with the room save for the fact that the single bench was a little too high which meant she had to get up on her hind legs and pull herself up and onto it.

It was a little warmer than the cold stone floor though so it was worth the effort in Dog’s opinion.

Dog glanced at the identical set of steel doors that were on the opposite side of the room she had entered. They sat closed and motionless for the entire time Dog stared at them. Giving up quickly Dog dangled her legs over the side of the bench and kicked them back and forth as she looked down. There was a little bit of pain but not nearly as much as when her hooves touched the ground, the feeling of her legs swinging through the air was a pleasant one and helped her relax.

A frown creased her muzzle as she inspected herself, everything seemed the same as yesterday, the same bandages that covered every inch of her body in their strange spongy grasp. It was neither comfortable nor uncomfortable and Dog wasn't sure if that was because of the supposed burns she suffered but had not seen or whether or not the bandages were supposed to feel like they were constantly scratching and poking her all over.

Maybe if Father allows it Dog will ask him later. Mentally congratulating herself for remembering her own name. It seemed like an odd thing to celebrate for her but after forgetting it yesterday she had received swift punishment and was now vigilant to ensure it didn't happen again.

Dog kicked her hooves back and forth, her mind wandering as to what her father might want.

He had mentioned some trials that would come in the future. Maybe they would be starting already. Dog wasn't sure what the trials could entail but they sounded a lot like a test which made her nervous for some reason.

As she mulled over the possibilities, the door opposite the one she had entered through clicked and opened to reveal a faceless bipedal golem looking down at her.

The golem towered over the filly but Dog didn't care, she remembered that these kinds of creations were simple servants and wouldn't harm her. Although the sheer fact that they were easily four times the size of her did unnerve Dog a little bit, she refused to show such fear.

The golem turned and Dog quickly hopped off the bench and scrambled after the construct, knowing that punishment would inevitably come if she didn't answer her father’s summons with all due haste.

Her little hooves could barely keep up with the long, loping gait of the golem but she managed it despite the pain.

The stone beast walked briskly through narrow passageways and spiraling sets of stairs, guiding Dog to a place her brief tour the day before did not cover. Dog did her best to try and memorize the route while watching her surroundings but it was all a blur as she did her best to keep up with her guide.

Several exhausting minutes later the golem stopped before a large wooden door, leaving the panting Dog to nearly fall to her belly as pain and exhaustion wracked her tiny body. Even the short trot here had been too much and she could feel something wet come from her no doubt bloodied hooves.

Dog groaned and nearly allowed herself to fall to the ground and rest when the golem reached forward and pushed the huge set of double doors open, revealing a massive octagonal room that stretched up for at least thirty feet before stopping at a domed roof. From the floors to the roof everything was painted a harsh red color that reminded Dog of blood.

Wasting no time, Dog trotted into the room after the golem, all the while casting a curious eye around the open space. She wasn't sure why but the color bugged her eyes and made her feel strange. She couldn't say why it felt strange but it was off-putting and made her nervous.

Her train of thought slammed to a halt when the golem servant left the room and firmly shut the wooden door behind it.

Dog jumped and looked back to where the golem had stood a moment before only to see the same red wall that now surrounded her. Panic welled inside her, she was trapped in this weird room with no way out, but why?

She ran over to where the door had been moments before and looked to see if there was anything that would indicate it was there or how to make it come back.

Much to her dismay all Dog saw was a flat featureless red stone wall. She raised her hoof to strike it in anger but thought better of it, the pain it would cause would no doubt be worse than any boon granted by the bit of catharsis.

A moment later a bright flash of light came from behind her. Spinning around quickly, Dog readied herself for anything only to see the tall, smirking form of her father looking down at her. She smiled a little.

“Hello, father,” Twilight greeted.

“Good morning Dog,” Tirek replied, only to frown. “Your first lesson will begin now and it will be all about respect.”

A startled yelp escaped Dog’s lips as her back legs were stuck in the same position while the front half of her body was forced down, making her bow low to the centaur.

“You show me proper respect and refer to me only as master, you are a dog, dogs have masters. Maybe one day you will be allowed to refer to me as father but that day is not today. Understood?”

Dog gulped, trying to push down the pounding pain and dizziness that assaulted her after the quick introduction her forehead received with the floor. “Yes, master.”

She stayed bowing for a few seconds before the pressure that had been pushing the front half of her body down disappeared and she warily stood up.

The centaur remained impassive, his tone even. “Secondly, you are to refer to yourself in the third person as Dog.”

Dog cocked her head to the side a little. “What do you mean, uh master?”

“I don't have the patience to teach you semantics right now, there will be a book helping you with that back in your room.”

Dog nodded once, rubbing her forehead with a bandaged hoof, willing away the throbbing pain still assaulting her.

“Next… what are you doing?” Tirek’s eyebrow raised slightly as he looked down at the filly holding her hoof in the air.

“Raising my hoof, I had a question,” Dog answered, innocently.

The centaur seemed bewildered, but amused in equal measure. “Go ahead, Dog.”

“Um well, I was wondering if I’m supposed to have this weird feeling.” Dog scrunched her muzzle, trying to think of how to describe it.

The centaur seemed to understand the filly’s thoughts and nodded knowingly. “Yes, it is a strange sense of wrongness coupled with an itch you can't scratch.” The filly’s eyes went wide and she nodded enthusiastically. “Yes, that's normal for you. Once you have killed your first demon and claimed its power it will go away. More about that later.”

The filly wilted, clearly enjoying the outpour of information the centaur had volunteered. Her master seemed amused by the filly’s love of learning and grinned as Dog’s wide inquisitive eyes studied the room while the centaur pondered what best to say next.

The centaur stroked his chin with a hand until he noticed a now familiar black bandaged hoof raised into the air.

“Yes, Dog?”

“I was wondering master, what are the trials you mentioned before?” The filly looked down, trying to bury the strange nervousness that plagued her.

“I will not tell you anything about the next trials before you have completed the first, which will be the hunting and killing of a fully-fledged demon," Tirek announced.

From the way her master said it Dog knew it would be difficult, though she didn't quite understand as to why.

“What's a demon, master?” Dog asked.

“We are demons as well as any creature you see on this plane. There are many planes of existence and the one we reside on is Tartarus, the plane of the damned.” The centaur grimaced at the last part of his short speech and glared down at the filly with her hoof raised in the air once more. “What?”

“Why do I have to do trials?”

“Simple, right now you are weak and small and pathetic,” Tirek declared, each insult making the filly shrink a little more. “But with each trial, you will grow stronger and better suited to serve your master and one day I may even train you in magic. If you survive that is.”

Dog didn't comprehend why but she suddenly felt excited and filled with a burst of energy. “Yay!” She jumped in a circle, ignoring the pain in her hooves as she joyfully bounced around.

The old centaur laughed. “Good, now today you must rest.” The filly stopped bouncing and frowned. “You need the rest and to heal more. Enjoy your day of relaxation as this will be the last one you will ever receive. From tomorrow on, no matter how hurt you are you will always have to complete your chores and duties. Understood?”

The filly beamed while nodding enthusiastically. “Yes, master!”

“Good, now… what are you doing?” The centaur looked down at the filly who had wrapped all four legs around his right foreleg and was squeezing slightly, despite the pain she felt from the act.

“Oh um, I don't know. For some reason, I felt like I should,” Dog quickly stopped hugging her master’s leg and grinned sheepishly.

Tirek merely grunted and waved a hand wreathed in a blue wavering aura of power in front of the filly. “Sleep.”

The filly wavered for a few seconds before falling over onto her side, snoring soundly before she even hit the stone. Gently the centaur reached down and grabbed the filly by the barrel and scooped her up. Noticing that her eyes were closed and her breathing regular the centaur smiled wolfishly. Everything was going according to plan, so long as the magical sleep helped fix up the worst of her wounds she should be ready tomorrow. Though he mourned the loss of a single day, he had accounted for a certain amount of failures so his plan was still running within acceptable parameters.

Though he cursed the fact that he could not simply heal the filly all at once it couldn't be avoided. Tartarus blocked any true healing or holy magic from affecting anything on the plane making a quick recovery nearly impossible.

He mused idly while he trotted through the halls, making his way toward the dungeons and his pet dog’s kennel. All the while every door, no matter their size, swung open for him as if they had a will of their own.

The huge steel doors parted before their creator respectfully and closed behind him without a word or action from the centaur.

As he passed by the occupied cells that came before his dog’s he waved a hand over the seals holding back the screams of agony coming from their occupants. Noting that they would wear off early the next morning he grinned and entered the last room in the hall.

A familiar stone bed resided in one corner which the centaur quickly deposited his black bandaged load onto.

The centaur lingered for a moment, standing over the still-slumbering form of his newest pet. He leaned down and gently ran a hand across the filly’s muzzle. A twisted smile slowly spread across his face.

Yes. He thought. Things were going perfectly according to plan and soon, so very soon, this worthless lump of weak and pathetic pony flesh will be sculpted into the perfect tool. Then my revenge will be complete and that fool Celestia will regret not simply killing me when she had the chance.

Though his plan would take decades it would be well worth it and if everything went the way it should, he would have the perfect servant and pupil that may one day come to rival even the princesses of her home plane.

Even with his victory relatively close, Tirek felt no anxiety, after all, he had suffered nearly two thousand years in this supposedly hellish place. What was another twenty?

His smile widened to show his teeth.

Oh yes, this was going to be perfect.

Author's Note:

If your wondering why this one came out before first law then you will be happy to know that the second chapter of first law as well as the rewrite of the first chapter will be coming out in the next day or bit. Just need the chance to look over them one last time and you will be happy to know that the rewrite added 20 or so pages and the update itself is 18 pages long so lots of stuff real soon!

Editing done by the wonderful everfree pony!
Join me over on patreon and get instant access to patreon only content that will eventually be available to everyone and after a few more patreons join up i will start doing monthly commission raffles. Check it out now and snag a discount commission slot among other goodies!

This update is supported by.

DIOKYO

and

PreviousChapters Next