The Equestria Healing Process

   Chapter 4

    “You Gave Me Nothing!”

Being escorted by the Canterlot Royal Guard and disguised as a bird, Discord arrived at the gate of Tartarus with the mission of bringing Tirek to Canterlot to face the princesses and be punished for his crimes.  As he flew closer and closer to Tartarus, the anger of being misled by someone as evil as Tirek was starting to grow inside of him.  Discord wanted to transform into something evil and finish off Tirek once and for all, but he couldn’t.  He had a duty to fulfill to Celestia and the other princesses and he couldn’t let them down again.   At the same time, he couldn't help but wonder why Shining Armor was being so mean to him.  Discord had admitted that all that he did was wrong, but he knew that not everyone was going to forgive him and he wanted to know why.

"Look, Shining Armor," said Discord, looking over at the Prince of the Crystal Empire.  "I know you are angry at me because of what I did, but I am really sorry for it.  You have to believe me when I tell you that."

"How could I believe you after the nightmare you put my wife and little sister through?" snapped Shining Armor, who scowled at Discord.  "I thought that I would never see Cadence again, you monster!  You helped Tirek take her away from me."

It was at that moment, Discord fully realized that the damages he had caused were far beyond Fluttershy and the other ponies.  For what he didn't know until that moment was that Shining Armor was indeed Twilight's older brother.  The elder member of the Sparkle family was very protective of Twilight and Cadence and Discord was seeing this for the first time.

"I wasn't intending to do that," protested Discord, trying to get Shining Armor to change his attitude about him.  "That was Tirek's fault, not mine.  Everything is Tirek's fault, I was only causing chaos!"

"Of course you were causing chaos," muttered Shining Armor bitterly.  "All I want to do is get Tirek back to Canterlot without any problems.  Understand, traitor?"

After a few hours of flying, they arrived at the gates of Tartarus.  Shining Armor knew that they had to be careful when they got close to Tirek.  However, Discord had fully witnessed the terror that Tirek caused first hand and knew that there was only way that he could get close to his brainwasher.

“Remember,” he called out to the guards.  “Tirek may attempt to steal our magic again, so if he does, cast a counter spell to stop him.”

“That’s exactly what he wants,” said Discord, turning back into his normal self.  “I know his powers firsthand.  If I went down there ahead of you, you could capture him without losing your magic.”

Shining Armor was not sure of this plan of Discord’s.  After all, he was the one who branded Discord a traitor and was not sure if he should go through with this plan.  All he wanted to do was to make Tirek pay for draining his magic and imprisoning Cadence in Tartarus.

“How do you know that I can trust you, traitor?” snapped Shining Armor, glaring at Discord.  “I am in charge of this mission, not you.  So save whatever ideas that you have.”

But, Discord knew that this was the only way and he had to make Shining Armor understand that.  Thinking that Tirek would only focus his attention on him, Discord took another snap of his fingers and transformed into a disguise that was of Princess Celestia herself..  Shining Armor and the other guards gasped in shock, but Discord knew what he was doing.

“Is this an idea that could work for you, Shining Armor?” asked Discord, showing off his disguise to the guards and talking in Celestia's voice.  As much as he wanted to not go along, Shining Armor had no choice and sighed heavily at what was happening in front of him.

“All right,” he groaned, doing a hoof palm into his face.  “We’ll try your idea but if you fail, so help me Celestia…”

"Hey, do you know who you are talking to, Shining Armor?" asked Discord and Shining Armor bitterly backed away, even though that he thought of Celestia who was really Discord in disguise.

Ignored Shining Armor’s attitude towards him, Discord went into the cave and carefully flew past Cerberus, who acknowledged him as he past, thinking it was really Celestia.  Landing down at the base of Tirek's prison, Discord trotted up the steps towards Tirek’s cell, where he was in a cage and weakened by the loss of his powers at the hands of Twilight and her friends.

“I hope this works,” Discord thought as he approached the cage containing the centaur.  Tirek looked up and thinking that it was Celestia herself standing in front of him, growled menacingly.  Of course, Discord had trouble in his Celestia disguise and nearly stumbled, almost blowing his cover.

"How does she move in these things?" he thought as he approached the cage containing the demon centaur of Equestria himself.

“So you’ve come to visit me after all that I have done to you, mare?” growled Tirek.  “Had you not turned my brother against me, we could've ruled Equestria and no one would have stopped us.”

“I think what you have done to all the ponies of Equestria was unforgiveable,” replied Discord.  “If I had a choice, I would have you executed for your crimes, but that would go against my character."

Tirek chuckled mockingly at what the disguised Discord had said to him.  Character was something that neither one of them were supposed to have.  All that Tirek had taught his brother was that power and glory was all that was worth in life and nothing else.

“I should have known you would say that," he remarked, smiling with no remorse whatsoever.  “Even as I sit in here, you prove to me that you can't even acknowledge the fact that I can escape again and that I would attack again."

And Tirek showed the disguised Discord the scars he had from the attack he sustained.  The scars were shown to be on his face and on his back.  Discord could see that the attack was Cerberus' way of revenge against Tirek for imprisoning the princesses against their will. .

“So if my brother sent you here to seek my forgiveness, then I will not give it to you,” scowled Tirek.  “Just as I refused to give it to Discord, who was weak and worthless.”

This made Discord very cross and now it seemed that Tirek had crossed a personal boundary with him and at that moment, the time had come for him to drop his disguise.

“Discord?” he asked, stepping back from the cage.  “Does he look something like this?”

And at that moment, Discord shredded his disguise of Celestia and assumed his true form, causing Tirek to growl and snarl like a wild animal upon seeing his former partner in crime standing there in front of him.

“You!” snapped Tirek, his fists clenching.  “What are you doing here, Discord?”

Discord snapped his fingers and at that moment, Tirek heard the sounds of chains clicking around three of his four legs and looked down to see that he had been shackled and could not move around his cage.  Discord then snapped shackles around Tirek's wrists that caused him to stretch his arms out as the chains held on each side of the cage.

“What is the meaning of this?” demanded Tirek, trying to struggle against his bonds.  “Remove these at once!”

“You might as well start getting used to having them on you, Tirek,” said Discord, sarcastically, now dressed as a police officer.  “You are going back to Canterlot to be punished for your crimes.”

Upon hearing this, Tirek attempted to drain Discord’s magic and return to his former glory, but the crafty creature of chaos snapped his fingers and cast a spell to disable Tirek’s ability to drain magic.

“What have you done?” he hissed, realizing that his magic had been disabled.  “Is this the thanks I get for attempting to give you freedom?”

This made Discord very cross and he shed his police disguise and donned a black sleeveless t-shirt with a skull on the front and he branded a pitchfork almost like it was a weapon.  The draconequs growled and his eyes turned red as he stared down Tirek.

“Freedom?  Freedom?!” snarled Discord, his eyes growing larger out of his face as he grew more anger inside of him, using his magic to whack Tirek with the pitchfork, almost scratching him.  “You didn’t give me freedom."

At that point, Discord's anger boiled over as he grew red in the face.

"You…Gave…Me…Nothing!”

But, even as Discord unleashed his anger on Tirek, he was merely unfazed by Discord’s rising anger.  As far as he was concerned, Discord was in his mind, at least, trying to demoralize Tirek by acting all big and tough in front of him.  He may not be able to drain magic, but Tirek could still be very mocking towards anyone who came across him.

“Of course, I gave you nothing because you didn’t deserve it,” snapped Tirek, as Discord placed the pitchfork at Tirek’s throat.  He wanted to teach Tirek a lesson right here and right now, but if he did, what good would that do?  So, he lowered the pitchfork and used his magic to raise Tirek into the air.  "You were merely just the puppet to help me gain all the power in Equestria and I succeeded thanks to you."

Discord took the pitchfork and whacked Tirek again, scratching his face.  But the demon centaur stayed resilent and merely shook it off like it was nothing to worry about.

“You are not going to be punished here,” growled Discord, already reaching his breaking point.  “It’s too easy.  I’m merely just the creature tasked by the princesses you imprisoned to bring you to them so they can punish you and humiliate you for your crimes!”

Discord then forced Tirek’s head down to the shackles that were on his feet.  As far as he was concerned, Discord wanted Tirek to feel the pain that the princesses felt when they were imprisoned in his place.

“Do you see those shackles?” Discord asked sharply, now disguised as a prisoner in an orange jumpsuit.  “Those were the same shackles that Princess Celestia, Princess Luna and Princess Cadence wore when they were down here.  Now, you are the one who will wear them when you are presented before them!”

But, with each word that Discord spoke, Tirek simply shrugged them off like it was nothing more than just mindless babbling.  Meanwhile, Shining Armor and the other guards were wondering where Discord and why he was taking so long.

"He should have been out by now, sir," said one of the guards to Shining Armor.  "Do you think he might have deferred back to Tirek's side?"

"Of course, he did," replied Shining Armor, placing his helmet on his head.  "We don't have a choice now.  Let's move in and finish them both off."

But before they could move, they heard the sounds of Discord's screams coming from all the way outside and Shining Armor immediately knew at that moment that something was not right, almost as if Discord was just as angry about Tirek's rampage as he himself was.

"We have to get inside and stop Discord," ordered Shining Armor to the guards.  "Who know what he will do at that level of anger.  Come on!"

So, Shining Armor and the guards raced into the cave as Discord continued to torture his false friend with his chaos magic, lifting him up and down like a sack of potatoes with only the chains holding him down and preventing him from going any higher.

“How does it feel now, Tirek?” continued Discord, as he continued lifting up Tirek.  “To wear the shackles that the princesses wore and just to add the measure…”

Discord snapped his fingers again and a fourth shackle appeared on Tirek’s rear back right leg.  This made Tirek chuckle again despite the pain he was being inflicted on as Discord growled even stronger at him.  This made Discord use his magic to tightened the shackles around Tirek’s legs and it caused the centaur to growl and groan in pain, wiping the smile off of his face.

“That was the shackle you were intending to place Princess Twilight in when you threw her down here with her fellow princesses,” finished Discord, his magic growing stronger out of his paws.  “And you will never take them off ever again because you’re date with justice is at hand.”

The draconequs was just about to deliver another torturous blow against Tirek, when a loud cry came out from behind Discord.

“Discord, stop!” called the voice and Discord turned around to see Shining Armor and the royal guards running towards him.  “It’s not worth it right now!”

Hearing this, Discord ceased his magic and stepped back from Tirek, not letting his bitter gaze go off of him.  Tirek was dropped back onto the ground level of his cell, as Shining Armor walked over towards Discord.

“I can see that you are not a traitor like I thought you were,” he said, taking his helmet off.  “You were angered just as much as I was and wanted to extract revenge against Tirek.”

“I did, Shining Armor,” said Discord, who was already feeling tired and weak from increasing his magic on Tirek.  “This monster tricked into believing nothing was more valuable than friendship and I believed him.   So, do whatever you please with him, I am done here.”

And Discord snapped his fingers and disappeared in a flash while Shining Armor and the others looked on in disbelief.

“Discord, wait!” cried Shining Armor, but it was too late.  Discord had disappeared and now he was left with the task of returning Tirek to Canterlot.

“Cadence was right, he was just as hurt as all of us,” thought Shining Armor as he watched the guards levitate Tirek’s cage into the air.  “Perhaps nopony is feeling more pain right now than Discord and he betrayed us.  I just hope he comes to appreciate whatever Twiley and the other princesses do with this creature of pure darkness.”

So, they left Tartarus with Tirek in tow as a mysteriously cloaked figure watched them take Tirek away from Tartarus..

Nevertheless, Discord had disappeared and little did everypony know was that he had a promise that he kept to Fluttershy about going on a picnic and while Tirek was being interrogated and humiliated by Celestia, Luna, Cadence and Twilight, Discord was going to fulfill that promise…