What is a soldier supposed to be in battle? A fighter? To protect those that fight for the cause. A survivor? To forsake those that fight for the cause of the First Order to save one’s own skin. Or a conqueror? A champion who wins, and wins for his army, for his cause. For his nation.
The answer is a soldier is supposed to be loyal. That is what Stormtroopers are. Loyal. Loyal today, loyal tomorrow, loyal for the rest of their lives till they die. Loyalty to a trooper like FN-2199 is something that was always cherished greatly. And when he found out Finn had betrayed the First Order, Nines swore he would kill that bloody traitor the day he saw him.
Because Nines has one rule and one rule only. “Never betray your own.”
However, that fateful day. That day when he finally faced off against the traitor, he had lost by some cruel twist of fate. He had died. And how he got here must have been irrelevant for he did not remember, but here he was. In this world called Equestria.
It was strange really, this world. He had awoken to be confronted by two creatures known as the princesses. Their names he later learnt to be Princess Celestia and Princess Luna.
Nines was distant at first. He did not speak to these creatures known as “Equestrians” he only watched and listened. Months passed and eventually society itself grew used to his presence, as he had eventually come to accept that this strange world was his new home.
A strange heaven of sorts for those that were deceased, he simply reasoned despite how confounding and strange it may seem.
Around this time, months after his arrival. Nines could see off in the distance the remains of a town he knew to be called Ponyville. The town was undergoing construction it seemed. And since Nines had been given the option of staying with the princesses he decided to ask them a question about the town, and why it was still undergoing construction.
The answer he had received was one he would later find to send him on an interesting journey.
“Why is Ponyville still undergoing construction?” Luna repeated the question.
Nines nodded, the Stormtrooper stood in front of the two princesses in their throne room, the guards had left to give them privacy. It was something the guards often did whenever he came to talk to the princesses on few rare occasions when he wasn’t practicing with his trusted baton.
In a way Nines saw this as a form of respect, another thing valued greatly between Stormtroopers and their superiors. Respect, was key. But loyalty was greater.
“Why do you ask?” Princess Celestia wondered, staring at her strangely armored friend.
Nines merely shrugged. He did not want to answer, something he rarely did when he was asked questions he did not want other noses probing in on.
When he had first arrived in Equestria, he had emerged in Canterlot. Simply laying there for hours in the day till somewhere around mid afternoon the two princesses had emerged out of nowhere and taken him under their wing.
A lot of questions had been asked regarding how he got here, but when Nines had learnt the two were of royalty he explained to them his circumstances and what lead to his death, the princesses had kept him by their side these past five months since then. And since all that time, Ponyville had been undergoing construction.
It was curious, strange almost. He had asked a few guards why Ponyville was undergoing construction. As he had heard the city had been founded many many years ago, so he was simply interested as a fellow soldier in knowing why a neighboring city was going under such renovations.
One of the guards had said something that caught his attention, and used only one word to grab the Stormtrooper’s attention.
“Tirek.”
After many hours of thought, with little to no information on this “Tirek” being found, Nines decided to ask the princesses himself.
So here he was, standing before them. Waiting, and watching his...allies. The term “friends” was not common among Stormtroopers, ally, was much much easier to use.
“Is there a reason you wish to know this Nines?” the princess of the sun asked him.
Nines nodded, but did not specifically say anything else. He just waited like an obedient soldier. He just wanted to know what this “Tirek” had to do with Ponyville.
“I see...” Princess Celestia said. The two sisters exchanged a glance before looking back at the soldier in silence. His helmet made it impossible to study his features, but they had to assume there was a good reason for him wanting to know what had happened at Ponyville, all while he was unconscious.
However, Nines noticed it. That look in their eyes. The look he had never once seen in his superiors. Knight Kylo Ren ,on the rare occasions he ever took off his mask never had that look in his eyes. Nor did General Hux ever have that kind of look in his eyes.
The look of someone who wanted to hide something.
Stormtroopers are soldiers. Their orders are absolute, no ifs, ands or buts. They follow their orders and when they are dismissed for asking a question they accept it. But since living here for the past five months Nines had grown a bit more bold in asking these two superior beings questions about this world.
They had constantly reassured him on numerous occasions that he would not be punished or dismissed without any explanation if he had a question he wanted answered.
And by the cold snowstorms of Hoth he would get answers.
“Tirek” Nines said from under his helmet. His voice normal, yet hinting at slight uneasiness by talking in this manner.
The princesses reactions switched from hesitance, to complete surprise when he mentioned that being’s name.
“How do you know-”
“I asked around” Nines replied.
Silence.
Neither princess said a word as they stared at the soldier before them. Nines had always been a bit distant. Never coming too close in contact with the other ponies, merely watching and observing them like a police officer on duty. He would join in on few conversations with the guards and have a few laughs now and then, but sometimes the sisters wondered if it was genuine or all just some sort of act.
They had heard his story, how he was betrayed, and though they did not like where he came from or understand much about it. They both understood what being betrayed by one you cared for felt like.
It was then Princess Luna made a decision.
“Tirek is-- was an enemy to the Crown. The day we found you, was the day he was defeated, and we were released from our prison at his hands. Tirek, has done many awful things in the past. Like when he turned against his brother and forsook his entire family after...certain events unfolded” Luna explained.
Nines flinched. He knew that word. “Forsook” it meant to turn against. To turn a blind eye on one or another, and that equaled betrayal.
“Traitor” Nines whispered silently to himself.
“Nines?” Celestia said, looking at her friend with concern. She had noticed the flinch and was now watching him carefully. Nines merely stood erect, fixed his slightly laxed position and nodded his head.
Celestia and Luna exchanged a worried glance, before Luna continued explaining things. “Anyway, Tirek returned, and ended up getting Discord to join sides with him. But ultimately ended up betraying Discord, who sadly betrayed us. We only were able to make it out thanks to Twilight Sparkle, my sister’s pupil who you met two weeks ago, and her friends. Without them Cadence, my sister, and I would still be trapped in Tartarus. And Tirek would be here, laying waste to the world.”
Nines could feel it. A bubbling hatred fostering within him. That word, that hated word he knew so well. Betrayal. Nines hated traitors. Just like he hated FN-2187; Finn.
His mind was drawn back to what the princess of the night was saying as he heard her voice continue. “After they defeated him he was sent back to Tartarus. And there he will stay for the rest of time” Luna finished.
Nines said nothing. He merely stood there for a few seconds, mulling over his choices.
“Thank you for the information Princesses.” And without another word the Stormtrooper turned, and expertly marched out of the room.
Princess Celestia and Luna were left in the their throne rooms, mulling over if what they had said to the soldier would rise cause for alarm.
It would.
Twilight Sparkle was asleep in her room. Five months ago she had defeated Tirek, then later on she had come to get accustomed to meeting a soldier by the name of Nines.
Nines had visited Ponyville a few times, as well as going with the princesses to other parts of Equestria to gain a better understanding of this world.
She didn’t expect to hear footsteps in her room as she slept peacefully, snuggled up in her covers, enjoying the warmth.
When a hand wrapped around her muzzle the alicorn nearly shot the being attempting to attack her with her magic. But when her horn lit up, she saw the familiar helmet of Nines staring at her.
She blinked, confused. Then looked at the time.
It was 1 a.m. What was he doing here at this early time?
“Send me to Tartarus” Nines bluntly said.
Princess Twilight Sparkle, Element of Magic, had never had a more rude awakening at 1 a.m. on a Thursday morning in her entire life.
Trapped in his cage, bound by shackles, with nothing but an old tattered cloth serving as his hood. Was Tirek. An old, battered husk of his former self.
Five months had passed since his appearance, five painful months. Where every time he woke up he would only awaken from a sleepless sleep, and stare out into the darkness that was his ceiling. Only being reminded each and every day, that he had been sent in this infernal prison again. For who knows how many more centuries to pass.
Is this really my fate? Tirek asked himself as he stared at the ground, his throat dry, and his body hungering for magic. Is this really where my fate lies? All because of the actions of a brother who I once believed would always stand beside me?
It was infuriating. It set him ablaze every time he thought about him. Scorpan. A so called brother who he had thought would face the ends of the world with Tirek till the end, no matter what, he thought his brother would always be by his side.
But oh, how wrong he was.
How very very wrong, he was.
Tirek did not look up when he heard the sound of footsteps approaching him. His guards; orthros, made it a habit to torture him with the memories of his brother any chance they got. It was “a part of their job” they had snidely told him.
But Tirek knew that was a load of bull.
“Traitor” he heard an unfamiliar voice say, followed by the sound of static. Tirek donned a look of confusion as he stared at the ground. The footsteps approaching him came closer.
“Nines I really don’t think you should approach him so calmly” Twilight’s voice said with concern.
That voice was the only thing Tirek needed to hear to make him raise his head. He looked up and saw Twilight Sparkle. The one that had helped imprison him in here.
Then he saw him. A soldier clad in white armor, holding a baton that spewed electricity. Tirek stared at this being. And this creature, this soldier, stared right back at him. No expression could be gained because of the helmet, but for some reason Tirek sensed that this thing...was angry.
And it was angry at him.
“TRAITOR!!” Nines screamed at Tirek, rushing towards the cage, his baton ready.
Tirek was confused, but he did not let that confusion stop him from rearing back into the deepest corner of his cage away from the baton that slid through his cellar bars with ease, trying to reach him and hit him with such a force, that the centaur was sure he would collapse if he let that thing touch him.
“What is the meaning of this?!” the centaur roared back at the being in white, sliding his weapon through the bars and frantically brandishing it an attempt to hit Tirek.
“You. Are. A. Traitor!!” Nines yelled at Tirek, still trying to pry the bars apart so he could deal a well deserved smacking to this being that had turned against an ally.
Twilight Sparkle stood in the back, watching Nines flail about with his weapon, desperately trying to beat the living snot out of Tirek for reasons she simply couldn’t understand. In a letter she had received from Princess Celestia before they left, she was told that Nines hates betrayal and anything to do with it. But Tirek had done nothing to the Stormtrooper in general, so why was he going so far to attack Tirek?
The answer was simple.
Whenever Nines saw a traitor, he saw Finn. That bloody bastard of an ally he thought was a part of his team, their small group of four but in the end let his feelings, his emotions get the better of him and completely and utterly 180 the First Order.
Stormtroopers weren’t meant to act on emotions. Even if they didn’t like an order, they were programmed, made and trained to act on it regardless. They were soldiers. Soldiers are loyal, and loyalty goes to their superiors in the First Order.
It’s what Nines, Finn, Zero, Slip and many other troopers had been drilled into them since the First Order had begun raising them together, to form a adherent team and a tight unit.
It was supposed to be traitor-free. But then again things don’t always go as planned when in war.
And right now Nines was doing everything he possibly could to reach Tirek and hit him with his Z6 control baton.
“Nines stop!” Twilight yelled, Tirek’s expression was starting to change from confusion to annoyance. And with the way Nines had his arm sticking through the bars like that it was very easy for Tirek to simply grab and break his arm.
So Twilight’s horn glowed, using her magic she wrapped it around the enraged soldier and pulled him back against his will.
She didn’t release Nines till he had calmed down.
When that was over and Nines was calm, Tirek approached his cage and grabbed the bars staring down at the young alicorn and the strange soldier that had attacked him. He snorted, then asked in a raspy voice: “Why do you call me a traitor?”
“Because you forsook family!” Nines stated. And with that said, he did his favourite trick that intimidated most opponents he had come to face.
The spins of spinning death.
“I hate traitors! FN-2187 was one, and I couldn’t redeem him, but I sure will redeem you” the soldier vowed. But before he could rush towards Tirek again, the centaur slammed one of his hooves and the ground and pawed it angrily.
Tirek glared at Nines.
“Don’t ever compare me to my brother. Do you understand?”
Nines stopped moving, and allowed his Z6 to fall slowly to his side. He stared at Tirek, studying his body language, studying his features.
The centaur looked just as angry as he did, as he was. And from what Twilight had told him on the way here, Tirek was immortal, which means he had been harboring whatever hatred that made him trick and betray Discord, much longer than Nines had grown to hate Finn for betraying their home.
The two of them had an understanding. One Nines wanted to know about before he delivered sweet whacking justice.
The soldier stopped his assault, for now and let his weapon fall back in place to a hold on his side. “Explain yourself, traitor.”
Tirek’s eyes narrowed, before he glanced over at Twilight who was staring at him with skeptical eyes.
The old centaur released the bars of his cage, his shackles banging metallically as he moved to the center of his prison. There he stood, and took in a deep breath as he allowed memories he had sealed to flow out.
If he used this time wisely, he could drain Twilight’s magic as he gathered the energy required to suck up her magical element.
He frowned, and moved the hood off his head, letting the anger in his eyes come at full blast as he stared between trooper and alicorn.
“Sit down. And listen carefully, I’ll only tell you this once.”
“I’m sure you’ve heard of this from that Princess of yours, but I had a brother. A younger brother. One whom I cherished more than anyone or anything in my entire life. We were close, Scorpan and I. But apparently, we weren’t close enough.”
Twilight raised a brow, skeptical of what was being said. “Oh really?” Twilight asked, “what could have possibly broken a bond so strong between you and your brother if you two were as close as you say?” she said with a smug smile.
That smile...was a mistake.
Tirek charged at the bars, instantly surprising Twilight and threw a hand between the bars trying his best to grab her even though she was well a good six inches away from his hand.
“Back I say!” Nines stated fiercely, shocking Tirek’s hand with his weapon, forcing the centaur back into his cell.
Tirek rubbed the back of his hand and snarled at the two as he took his place in the center of the cell once again. “You happened” he hissed at the princess of friendship.
Twilight stared confused with furrowed brows. “What do you mean “You happened?” That doesn’t make any sense?”
“Doesn’t it?!” Tirek asked in a mocking tone. “You ponies disgust me to no end. You talk of friendship, yet you don’t seem to think about a single thing that happens after you force friendship down someone’s throat! My brother and I were like warriors. Warriors who fought side to side, back to back, hand in hand whenever we were sent out to gain more footing, more land. But the moment we got here, he changed.
“Scorpan was smart. But weak minded. Too open minded for his own good. Something I disliked greatly about him. More so since he betrayed me, but the thing I hate most” Tirek said as he moved out of the center and towards Twilight. “Is you and all of your kind” he hissed.
Nines smacked the bars with his baton, making Tirek back away and look at him. “We aren’t done yet Traitor. Continue your story” the stormtrooper ordered.
Tirek snarled, resumed his previous position and continued.
“As legends may have said by now, my brother and I come from a far away land. I will not bother explaining it to you, I don’t owe you an explanation of my home. And as legends have said, we were interested in studying and harnessing Equestria’s magic.”
“That is till your brother, Scorpan got a little too involved as you began your research on our nation. Am I right?” Twilight asked.
Tirek begrudgingly grunted his approval. “Yes, that is correct. My brother and I came to learn that friendship, the so called “magic of--” the centaur paused, as he forced himself to say the disgusting word. “The magic of friendship, could solve anything. And was the strongest form of magic in the entire world.”
“Well that’s true” Twilight said with a confident puff of her chest. “It is.”
“Not” Tirek finished for her.
“Huh?”
“Friendship, is not magic. The kinship your princess, Princess Celestia and Luna offered to my brother poisoned his mind. It made him change from a wise warrior prince, to a kind and way too gentle soul. It disgusted me.
“We spent two years on your world. Learning, studying. All this time away from home, away from our loved ones, on a mission to learn about your world. And after spending two years of learning the ways of your magic I found something I hated about it more than anything in the world.”
Twilight was beginning to grow a bit upset with Tirek’s claims, but she remained silent and listened. Nines had said nothing, he simply stayed quiet and listened intently.
“I found that your supposed friendship, does more harm than good. Look at Discord, when I knew the master of chaos, he was at his prime. A king of kings of all kinds of entropy. But since he joined sides with you once more, he’s become an errand boy, even worse than my brother after he threw away your friendship for me. And what’s worse is that your friendship doesn’t do anything but confuse him.
“You may not see it, but his actions back when I was free, are proof enough. He turned on you after I tempted him. He didn’t have to, but he did. And when I showed him his mistake, he was confused, baffled, and astounded. The friendship you offer may help in some areas, but it does more damage in others-”
“You are lying!” Twilight shouted at the centaur. Her wings flaring and a scowl forming on her face.
“Am I? My brother and I were closer than you and your friends whom you’ve know for how long? Two maybe three years? I’ve known my brother my entire life. Yet two years here, and what does he do when I tell him we should begin taking your magic for further use and study.”
“He says no” Nines replied for Tirek. It was just like when he had seen Finn blacklisted by the First Order as a traitor. He had been outraged, confused, and that brief moment when he called out to him and they looked at each other before the fight. He had asked him why didn’t he try to come back and rejoin the order. Make amends.
The look in Finn’s eye at that time when he had raised the jedi’s lightsaber was simple. Finn had flat out told him “No” when that saber rose in defiance, and that was all he needed to see to deem Finn unworthy of anything but a traitor.
Nines looked at Twilight, she was upset. Angry, confused. She didn’t like what she was hearing, but she had to hear it. She needed to hear this, just like Nines wanted to know who the traitor was so he could beat them senseless.
“That’s right” Tirek said. “My brother said no. He tried to get me to stop this. All of it, two years of work, two years of constant study, gone. To throw it all away that the creatures of this world should be left alone and we should return home empty handed. With nothing to show for our efforts.
“And that’s when I knew, that this friendship your kind constantly flaunts about, granting mercy and forgiveness like it were candy. Giving away friendship without truly understanding the relationships between others, was nothing but poison that had taken my brother away from me. So I did what I had to. I told him he had made a mistake, this wasn’t him. And that we should do what we had to.
“At first Scorpan was silent. He said nothing to me, merely looked at me with those....eyes of his, full of ugh pity. And then said he would do what he must.”
“But ultimately he ended up lying to you”, feeling a bit of sympathy for the centaur. But that was soon pushed aside when she thought about his words.
“But you had a chance” Twilight argued. “He gave you a chance to change, and you didn’t take it! So in a way you betrayed h-”
Tirek slammed the chains hanging off the shackles around his wrists against the bars, the sound that came off it as metal hit metal echoed throughout all of Tartarus, making both trooper and Twilight cover their ears.
Tirek used that moment and grabbed Twilight by the horn, lifting her around the pits. “I am not my brother. Do you understand?” he snarled tightening his grip on her, Twilight squirmed then shot the centaur in the face with a concentrated bit of magic, Tirek dropped her and reflexively dodged the blast.
It hit the dirt and died out before the centaur could get the chance to concentrate it and eat.
“RRARGH!” he snarled slamming both his forelegs on the ground.
Silence reigned for a few seconds as the trooper helped Twilight rise, keeping himself between her and the centaur now.
No one said anything for a good while, till finally Tirek spoke up. His voice was still full of venom, even in its slightly low, and raspy state. Yet at the same time it sounded extremely tired, and for the first time the alicorn could see just how tired the centaur was. Nines himself saw it. He wasn’t a stranger to the oldies of war, he could tell that Tirek was tired of this all. And just wanted everything to end.
“Do you know what it's like, to have your own flesh and blood betray you? To travel, and grow up together. To conquer and do many things together, both in merriment and lament. Only to have you and him turn against you, after he realizes something for himself?” the centaur asked, his back was facing his visitors now as he stared at the darkness that was his ceiling.
“I’m tired. Tired of being given Scorpan’s letters. he has sent them every year, for the past 1,990 + years since before I escaped, and not once does he ever apologize for betraying me. I know because I’ve only ever opened one, and since then I’ve never looked back. I don’t want his letters, I don’t want to talk to him. I don’t want to look at him. And I don’t want his apologies.”
“That day when I went to do what we were meant to do, he forsook me and everything else. Our friendship, our brotherhood, and anything else we had in terms of a “good” relationship between brothers the day he sided with your kind” said the withered and tired centaur.
His yellow eyes were now slanted, only reflecting rage as those yellow irises stared at Twilight and her soldier like friend. And for a brief second Nines felt he understood where the centaur was coming from.
That moment was broken as Tirek’s chains and shackles made sounds as he moved away from his visitors.
The centaur had changed his mind on taking Twilight’s magic. This had only brought up memories he didn’t want to remember nor he liked retelling.
“Leave” Tirek said with finality. “And let me rest in peace.”
*** **** ***
Nines and Twilight now made their way back to Equestria, both were silent. Neither said a word. The stormtrooper stared outside in silence, then glanced at Twilight. Her ears were drooped and she was thinking about what she had heard from the centaur.
Obviously, Princess Celestia and Luna, never meant to do something like this, she reasoned. They were just trying to protect their home. But what Tirek had said was slightly disturbing. One thing that bugged her.
Was she really oblivious of the repercussions friendships could make? With Sunset Shimmer that had been her only solution for redemption, but didn’t she leave the mare to work on this on her own back there.
And even if her friends counterparts were willing to help the former she-demon didn’t it seem a bit much to ask for forgiveness after you literally destroyed half of a building?
“Twilight” Nines voice called to the alicorn.
Twilight looked up and stared at the troopers face, or more precisely his helmet.
“Do me one more favor. You know time travelling magic right?”
“Yees?” Twilight said with a look of confusion. “Why?”
Nines nearly replied as he grabbed his Z6. “You’ll see.”
Two beings stood near Equestria’s border. One a centaur, the other a sphinx. Both stared at each other with different looks. One giving his brother a look of displeasure. The other giving his brother a look of pity.
“Why do you want to side with them?” Tirek asked.
“Brother, you do not understand I-”
“TRAITOOOOR!!” came a voice from above.
Scorpan watched as a soldier clad in strange armor headed his way. The sphinx side stepped, and watched Nines land on the ground, with shattering force that made the earth underneath him form a crater.
Scorpan and Tirek stared at this being confused. But before either of the brothers could get a word out.
Nines launched himself right at Scorpan while doing the spine of spines with his Z6, before landing a loud and painful whack right into the Scorpan’s gut. Shouting the word “Traitor” with renewed force as he beat the sphinx to the ground.
“What are you doing to me brother?!” the past Tirek asked moving forward to stop this madness but Nines ever the smart one. Raised his hand for the centaur to stop as he stopped wailing on Scorpan.
“You’ll thank me later.”
With that said, Nines turned on the electricity on his weapon, and unleashed its jolting fury upon the curled up Scorpan, shielding himself from Nines numerous whackings.
Tirek watched Nines, beat his brother up and kick him numerous times in utter confusion before a portal appeared and sucked the trooper back into his own time.
Scorpan never forgot that whacking for the rest of his life.
