It was oppressively hot in Tartarus today.
Fluttershy figured that it was usually this hot, but it was overwhelming to walk into after being in the already-sweltering weather outside. She tried fanning herself with her hoof, but this obviously didn't work too well, so she tried her best to ignore the heat.
She had been following Cerberus through the paths of Tartarus for a few minutes now. He was leading her to the most highly-secured cell in the entire establishment -- that is, if you could even call it an establishment. Her mood was high, and she was determined and focused; she was feeling confident about the task she had been assigned.
Earlier that week, Scorpan had arrived at Canterlot Castle with a special request; he wanted to speak with his brother, Lord Tirek. However, it was not an endeavor that would be accomplished that easily. Princess Celestia had reasoned that Tirek would need to be convinced to allow his brother to visit him first, and she had a certain timid, yellow pegasus in mind for the job, remembering her past success in dealing with villains.
Fluttershy remembered the princess's exact words of reassurance; "If the need to leave arises, leave. Call Cerberus or any of the guards if anything occurs. Do not feel obligated to stay longer than you must. Do not overwhelm yourself, Fluttershy, and remember that all will be well, even if you don't succeed in convincing him."
The advice echoed in her mind as she and the large canine approached the steps that led to Tirek's cage. Cerberus wagged his tail and licked Fluttershy in farewell. She smiled widely and giggled, shaking her mane and coat out as he walked away. She turned her attention away from her momentary distraction and began climbing the stairs.
When she reached the top, she saw Tirek slumped over in the corner of his cell. He didn't seem to notice that she had approached. She thought he looked a bit lonesome and gloomy, all slouched over like that.
Feeling brave, confident, and nervous all at the same time, she daintily cleared her throat to alert him of her presence. He turned around to look at her, his expression unreadable.
Fluttershy blinked. "Uh... hello, Mr. Tirek. Er, Lord Tirek."
His eyes narrowed. "What is it you want?"
"Um, well, my name's Fluttershy. I'm a friend of Twilight's? And Discord's?"
Tirek sneered. "Oh, so you're one of the ponies who helped the princess." He turned so he was facing the wall again. "What reason could you possibly have for visiting this cesspool?"
Fluttershy tried smiling at him, even though he wasn't looking. She wasn't going to uncover her reason for being here just yet, so she tried being friendly to him. "I... I wanted to talk to you."
"I have a hunch that an ulterior motive exists behind that."
"Well, I suppose there was a specific thing that I wanted to speak to you about."
"May I not rot in solitude? You have played your part in taking away my victory and my honor; the least you could do is leave me be."
Fluttershy's smile went away. They were both silent for a few moments, with her trying to figure out how to respond, and him doing absolutely nothing. She glanced at the ground to make sure it was clean (or as clean as Tartarus could be) and sat down, settling herself in. Tirek still hadn't moved.
She sighed. So friendliness wasn't going to engage him. Maybe she should get straight to the point. "Do you remember Scorpan?"
"Don't speak his name, it disgusts me to hear it." He turned his head back towards the pegasus behind him; his eyes were cold, causing a chill to run up Fluttershy's spine. "Yes, of course I remember; how could I forget? He stabbed me in the back. My own brother, my own flesh and blood, betrayed me and fought against me and my cause."
"Um... isn't that exactly what you did to Discord? Well, you two aren't related, so it's not exactly the same, but..."
"Funny. I was under the impression that you of all ponies would know my misery. You would have sympathy above all others."
"What do you mean?" Fluttershy knew exactly what Tirek meant, but she wanted him to keep talking with her; this was good. They were bringing up experiences that they both shared, and this could lead the conversation in a positive direction. They weren't exactly positive experiences, but it was something.
He turned his body around so he was facing her completely. "I don't know what your relationship with Discord is -- or was, I'm not sure -- but you cared about him, judging from how you wept when he wronged you. Is that correct?"
"Yes, I care about him very much. He's one of my closest friends."
"Well then, recall the pain you felt when he left you, when he thought that he would be my equal once I was in power. Remember the grief. That is what I felt when my brother double-crossed me."
"I know it hurt, Tirek. I know what you went through, believe me. But you see, I know the reason why Discord betrayed me and my friends; do you understand why Scorpan betrayed you?"
Tirek snapped, "Do not speak his name!"
Fluttershy didn't flinch; she was prepared for him to yell and be hostile in general, and in any case, she was mostly used to loud noises now. She continued, "Lord Tirek, please tell me if you understand."
"I understand his motives entirely! He left my side because he was, and still is, a weakling. He wanted the easy way out. He became corrupted when Starswirl manipulated his mind with lies of friendship; he became soft-hearted."
"Is that such a bad thing?"
"Soft-hearted is a synonym for weak, for powerless."
Fluttershy grinned. "Well, I'm soft-hearted. So is Twilight; well, she would be in your opinion. And we aren't weak."
Tirek scowled.
She continued, "Anyway, so you think that your brother betrayed you because he was lied to?"
"Little pony, why do you think that Discord betrayed you?"
Fluttershy tilted her head in thought and was silent for a few moments. Tirek said in an annoyed tone, "The question was hypothetical."
She answered anyway. "Well, probably for the same reason that you believe Scorpan betrayed you." Tirek growled upon hearing the name, but she ignored him. "You lied to him. You lied when you said you would be his friend. And you also manipulated Discord into doing evil things, and into thinking that power is the best thing to have."
"What makes you say that power isn't the most important thing?"
"Having power just by itself would make you lonely. It would make you happy for a little bit, but then you would start wishing that you had friends to spend time with. And you made Discord think you were genuine about wanting to be friends with him, so he thought he would have both power and friends. Well, a friend. But you see my point."
Tirek shook his head and chuckled darkly. "He should have seen it coming. He is Discord, the Lord of Chaos; he's just as much of a legend as I am. I anticipated more of a challenge from the maniac who reigned over Equestria for an era."
She wasn't sure why Discord fell for it, either. She pondered it for a moment, and began thinking out loud. "Maybe he had seen what friendship was like, but hadn't fully understood the way it worked yet? And he thought that your way, he could use as much chaos magic as he wanted, and still have a friend. But I don't think he took into account that I cared about him and saw him as a friend and believed in him, either. I don't even know if he realized he cared about me, really -- since he had gone such a long time without caring about someone."
"And yet you all forgave him."
"No, we didn't fully forgive him that quickly. You see, we offered him our friendship again after he had thrown it away once, and he accepted it, but it took a while for most of us to forgive him. I don't think most ponies outside of our circle of friends have yet, really. But he was learning before everything happened, and he's learning now. He wants to have friends, I know he does. He just needs practice."
Tirek narrowed his eyes. "Why are you sharing all this with me? The longer you stay here, the more suspicious this grows."
Fluttershy smiled warmly again. "I already said, I just wanted to talk with you about some things." This was a lie; that wasn't her main intent, even if she had secretly planned to do it anyway. She still hadn't gotten to her main point. "And now that I am, I think that I'm understanding you a bit better than I was before."
"So you just wanted to come down here to pick at my brain."
"No. Well, I guess that was part of it, but that's kind of a negative way of putting it... I just wanted to understand your own reasons behind doing things. Plus, it must get a little lonely down here, doesn't it?"
"Ah, yes, surely that's the reason you stopped by. Since you ponies are so utterly concerned about my feelings."
"Well... we don't really have a reason to be? You were really, really mean to everyone in Equestria."
Tirek said nothing, just glowered.
Fluttershy cleared her throat. "Um, but, there was one other reason I wanted to come talk to you."
"And what could possibly be so vital that you came to the deepest pit in Tartarus just to tell me? And why didn't Celestia do it?"
"Well... I'm sure that Princess Celestia would have been okay with doing it, too. But he kind of asked me to do it, specifically?"
The centaur's eyebrows raised, and then angled downward. "He?"
"Yes, he. Um..."
"He who?" His voice was icy.
Fluttershy was becoming uneasy, but she stood her ground. "Your... your brother, actually. He's here. Well, not here in Tartarus, but he's in Canterlot."
Tirek slammed his fists on the ground, his chains rattling. "What is that coward doing here?"
"He wants to talk to you again. He came so far, because he knew that you were alive, and he wanted to see you again."
"Don't allow that filth near me! I'd rather be thrown in the pits of lava than see his face once more."
Fluttershy stood up and took a few steps closer to the cage. Her eyes were pleading. "Please, Lord Tirek! Scorpan really does want to fix things--"
Tirek's face was abruptly as close to Fluttershy's as it could be with enchanted iron bars in the way; about a foot of empty space separated their visages. He said harshly, "Do you forget my request, little pony? I said, do not let that dishonored name escape your mouth again!"
She flinched and got the urge to cower, but she forced herself to keep her head up. She couldn't step down. "Just give him one chance, please! If you don't want to talk to him any more after that, that's okay. Just one chance, he's come so far!"
"I refuse to argue about this any further. Leave me, now. I am not speaking to that worthless waste of magic ever again."
She tried to speak, but he interrupted her. "If I see him, if you let him down here, I will not speak to him, and I will not look at him. Do not send him here, or I will personally see to it that once I escape again, you and him both will be the first to perish."
Tirek turned back around and retreated to the farthest end of his cage, his chest rising and falling deeply with anger.
Fluttershy tentatively took another step closer. Her voice had lowered significantly so that it was barely above a whisper now. "Lord Tirek?"
No response.
She was about to try and reason with him again, but she caught herself. Her spirit fell. She didn't bother saying goodbye as she, too, turned around, and began descending the steps that she had ascended not long before.
As Fluttershy approached the exit, she reflected on the conversation. She couldn't help but feel defeated. She really thought she could get through to him, that she could get him to agree to speak to his brother just once more. But she wasn't able to -- she had failed. She recalled the princess's reassurances, but they weren't very comforting at the moment.
After bonding with Discord, a small part of her had a newfound sympathy for the bad ponies and creatures they had previously fought. Not forgiveness, but sympathy. She felt pity that they had such warped views on the world that they would do such awful things. She would have tried speaking with and getting through to Queen Chrysalis and King Sombra, too, if they were still around, but only Lord Tirek was accessible for her to talk to.
These villains deserved to be punished, and their actions were not excusable, she was absolutely certain of that. But she also knew that every single one of them had motives and reasons behind the bad things they did. Tirek's reason was that his brother hurt him -- even though Scorpan was doing what he thought was right (which was the right thing, really), Tirek didn't believe so. And in turn, it hurt Fluttershy to know that, since she knew exactly what that felt like, what it felt like to have a loved one turn on you. She sympathized with him in that aspect, even though she thought his actions were horrible.
And now she had to return to Scorpan with the news that his brother still despised him and never wanted to see him again. She had to return to the princess with the news that she hadn't fulfilled the task she had been given. But what she hated more than anything was the fact that she hadn't even come close to getting through to Tirek. She had felt so confident walking in, since before, she was able to get Discord to be her friend fairly quickly. It wasn't as if she thought Tirek would be changed in a day, but she thought she may be able to see some hope that reforming him could be a possibility in future.
Now, it was looking as if it wasn't a possibility at all.
Even though she had tried her absolute best, she couldn't help feeling that she hadn't tried hard enough, that she hadn't been friendly or kind enough to him.
She knew, deep down, not everyone was capable of letting go of the hate in their hearts. It was sad, and it was hard to accept that not everyone could change their ways if they simply had someone that cared about them and was nice to them, but it was true. She had to let go of the notion that it was her fault. She had done all she could. There was no changing Tirek, and there was no way to convince him to talk to Scorpan again.
Fluttershy's face contorted slightly as a runaway tear escaped at the thought. She wiped it away, but it was quickly replaced by another. She wished Cerberus would show up.
Author's Note
I've revised this damn fic so much (I'm still not completely happy with the very end), but I figured it's best to just leave it as it is. If I mess with it any more, I'll ruin what I have. #perfectionistproblems
Proofread (many many times) by my sister, MyCatIsFat.