The near-lifeless husk of a body that lay before Scorpan seemed unreal… unbelievable. And though he himself had absorbed the life energy from his brother, leaving him with just enough to stay alive, Scorpan could not think of the pitiful sack of flesh as his brother. Tirek had always been so strong, so fierce… To see him like this felt more like a hallucination than reality.
“Scorpan,” Celestia began, her regal, commanding voice echoing far and wide across the infinite abyss that surrounded them. “It is time for you to say your final goodbyes. Once we leave this place you shall never see your brother again. There are no visitors in Tartarus.”
“I am aware,” Scorpan said gruffly, turning to look down at the two alicorn sisters that stood by his side. “Leave us. I wish to speak with him undisturbed.”
The alicorns shared a distrusting glance with each other then looked up at Scorpan. Absorbing his brother’s power had caused him to double in size and his massive frame would truly be a terror to anypony that might antagonize him. The princesses knew that even if they wanted to they could not stop Scorpan from speaking to his brother alone, so the elder sister nodded and the two of them turned, walking a short distance away.
With the ponies out of earshot Scorpan knelt to the ground, bringing his head close to the ragged figure. With one hand he roughly threw back Tirek’s hood, revealing a pitiful, shriveled face. Tirek’s body shuddered, but he did not seem to notice his brother staring at him face to face.
“I am sorry,” Scorpan growled. “Sorry that you were so blinded by your own greed and your own hate to see what joy we could have had in this land.”
Tirek’s mouth cracked open in an exhausted expression of confusion. His dulled eyes roamed listlessly, searching for his brother. Scorpan was disgusted by what his Tirek had become. He shook his head and spat, “You will not be missed. I look forward to a world without you in it.”
But as Scorpan rose to leave forever, a rasping, desperate voice croaked out, “Wait!”
Scorpan hesitated, looking again at the pathetic creature. Tirek had turned to face upwards, his unseeing eyes staring into an infinite expanse of nothingness. His entire head shook as his lips struggled to function.
“W-- Wh--” he tried to speak, his voice faltering and dying away. He managed to swallow, though it took considerable effort. Then he began again. “Why… don’t… you… kill… me?”
Hate flashed again in Scorpan’s eyes as he hissed, “Despite the pleasure it would bring me, I cannot do so. Your role in Equestria is not yet complete. Mother Fate has plans for you and it is not my place to interfere.”
To this Tirek tried to reply, but the strength to speak had left him. He rolled his head once more onto his side, panting from the effort it had taken to hold it up. Scorpan stood upright fully and swept his gaze across their surroundings. “After all, this seems a more fitting punishment. One so vile does not deserve the peace of Death.”
Tirek’s body shuddered once more and his eyes slipped partway closed. The ponies, seeing that Scorpan was finished, approached them carrying chains with their magic.
“No,” Scorpan commanded, stepping between his brother and the ponies.
“We must bind him,” Celestia declared. “These chains are the only force that stops prisoners from escaping Tartarus.”
“What of Cerberus? It would be impossible for this pathetic wretch to escape him.”
“Cerberus is a secondary line of defense. We must take every precaution with such a dangerous prisoner.”
Celestia pressed forward, attempting to levitate the chains around Scorpan.
He tore away the chains and crushed them in his colossal grip. Towering over the royal ponies he roared, “You will not chain my brother!”
Celestia glared upwards, meeting Scorpan’s overpowering stare without batting an eyelash. Luna, however, was not so resilient. “We should leave him be, my sister. Tirek is much too weak to attempt to escape. The chains are not necessary,” she whispered pleadingly.
The elder sister held the stare for a second more, then tore her eyes away to examine the miserable creature on the floor. His eyes remained unfocused and lifeless, and he seemed unaware of what was taking place directly in front of him. She lowered her head consented, “Perhaps you are right.”
She turned to leave and said to Scorpan without looking back. “Just know this: If your brother ever again runs free in Equestria, I will consider you both responsible for the destruction he will undoubtedly bring. You have taken his fate into your own hands.”
With that the ponies took wing and flew upwards, leaving the dark and terrible Tartarus. Scorpan relaxed and watched them fade into the distance. “It is not just his fate I have taken ahold of today,” he said under his breath.
Then he turned once more towards his brother, who moaned and grunted, trying to speak. “Conserve your strength,” Scorpan commanded. “Many, many moons from now you will have your chance to escape. You had best be ready to seize it.”
And then he leapt off of the mountain that was his brother’s prison, leaving Tirek to wallow in the dirt for the next millennia.
* * *
~The Previous Night~
“And you’re certain we must spare him?” Scorpan growled, irritated by the thought.
“Oh, quite certain,” Starswirl the Bearded shook his head seriously. “Someday one of my descendants, a unicorn with magic more powerful than even myself, will decide the fate of the universe in a battle the likes of which we have never seen. Tirek will serve as a sort of stepping stone-- a preparation-- that the unicorn will need to reach her ultimate destiny.”
He turned to stare Scorpan dead in the eyes, his beard ruffled by the breeze. “I have had a vision, and of this I am certain: When it comes time for you to imprison your brother, do not let the princesses bind him. He must be allowed to escape once he has regained his strength. If he does not, my descendent, young Twilight Sparkle, will not be prepared to face the greatest enemy the universe has ever known, and when it comes time for her final battle, she will most certainly fail.”
Scorpan’s features hardened into grim determination as Starswirl concluded, “The fate of the universe rests in your hands.”
To that he answered, “Then I shall not fail.”
Author's Note
I wrote this for the Equestria Daily Writer's Training Ground #020. The prompt was "Tirek's brother Scorpan apparently knew Starswirl the Bearded. What happened between these two all those centuries ago?"
I think my story counts because I did write about something happening between Scorpan and Starswirl the Bearded, right? Right.
Thanks for reading! I hope you liked it!
