Destiny: The Wrath of Tirek

by Jack_Trade

Chapters

Prologue: How the Light Came to Be
The First Ghosts...
...the Final Guardian

Prologue: How the Light Came to Be

December 15, 206 A.D. (After the Daemons)
1:57 p.m.

Name: Twilight Sparkle
Class: Voidwalker Warlock
Affiliation: New Monarchy
Age: 27

Audio Transcript #1

BEGIN RECORDING -

Twilight: "Hello? *tap tap* Is thing on? It is? OK. *sigh* But where to start?"

Twilight: "From the beginning? OK. Well, if we're going to do that, I might as well start with the reason we're all in this mess.

The Daemons."

I, of course, don't remember what it was like being alive at the time, but back then things were a lot better than they are now. Everypony loved each other equally. There wasn't any fighting, no strife. Even most monsters weren't a problem as long as you stayed away.

But then they came.

The Underworld was the dumping ground for all the monsters who would attack villages, or ponies deemed too dangerous for society. Once they passed judgment, they were either temporarily detained, or, for the more extreme cases, cast to the depths of the Underworld.

How foolish we were to think that solved everything. In the Underworld, you don't die because, for all intents and purposes, you are already dead. Once you pass the entrance, there is no way to return, and the magic of the Underworld will make sure you stay alive to properly pay for your crimes.

Or at least that’s the way it was until Tirek reared his ugly head. Uuughh. What I wouldn't give to…

Interviewer - "Umm. Excuse me, Ms. Sparkle? Can we stay on track please?"

Twilight - *sigh* "Sorry. Forgot we were recording this. It's just, oh I don't know. I'm not usually the type of pony who holds a grudge against another without getting to at least see them face-to-face, but Tirek? He's the reason we have to do this stupid interview, why we had to do the things I'm going to tell you about. He's the reason she's…"

(As she speaks, she starts to cry. This interview is obviously bringing up some painful memories.)

*sniff*

Twilight - "I'm sorry, I don't know if I can do this right now. Can we continue later?"

Interviewer - "But of course. This will take as long you need it to. There's no hurry."

Twilight - "Thank you."

END RECORDING -

December 15, 206 A.D. 2:06 p.m.

Audio Transcript #1a

BEGIN RECORDING -

Twilight - "OK. I think I'm fine now. *sniff* Where was I..?

…

Oh yeah."

Tirek came from the North. He claimed to want friendship, to trade. He seemed friendly and trustworthy at first, but nopony knew his true agenda. He started to spend time at the Gates to the Underworld. When questioned why, he simply stated that he heard stories of it growing up, and was curious about it.

He was curious alright, but they didn't know in what capacity until it was too late. He wasn't just interested in the Underworld.

He was interested in the prisoners.

As I mentioned before, the Underworld was for the lowest of the low. Criminals, murderers, untamable monsters. All of them were down there.

And Tirek wanted to free them all.

And free them he did.

I'm told that I was alive back then. That I had been close to beating him and that it's the reason I was chosen. It had something to do with, the Elements I think they were called? I can't remember. No one ever remembers who they were before their Ghost wakes them up. This is our life now.

But anyway, back to what happened.

We may think we have it bad now, but now we have Canterlot. They didn't back then. When Tirek opened the Gates, all of the Daemons, the souls of those we'd sent to damnation, came in full force. If it weren't for Celestia and Luna, there might not have been any survivors.

But bless them. They formed the team we now know as the Savior Six, took on the mantle of the Elements from my past self and those who were with me, defeated Tirek when we weren't able to, and banished Tirek to the Underworld. It took them a few years, but they still did it.

Talk about karma, huh?

But it wasn't without a cost. During the fighting, Celestia was gravely injured. Luna and Helia, their team's healer, did all they could. In the end there was only one way. Luna brought her Moon down above Canterlot. I don't how she did it. It should've been impossible. But I guess grief can help us do incredible things. She anchored the Moon above Canterlot, and sealed herself and her sister inside.

Some say she died that day. I beg to disagree. I mean, how else would I be sitting here, talking to you today?

Her Moon is truly a special thing. Luna had, and has, been alive for more than a thousand years. Every night, she would use her magic to raise the Moon. It seemed that was the extent of it. But now we know that's not all that happened. To help the Moon glow, she would feed it a bit of her magic. It didn't take much, in fact, she frequently overcharged it. I don't really know the specifics since most of this is just speculation. But over the course of a thousand years of this happening, it kept absorbing more and more of her magic till it was a near limitless supply.

The Light.

It took some time, but from the Light were born the Ghosts, small magic-powered constructs whose sole purpose was to find those worthy, living or dead, and give them the Gift of the Light.

I guess that brings us closer to modern day, though not quite. You should ask our Ghosts for more about what happened before they chose us.

Spike - "Sure thing! Just let me setup a new recording…"

END RECORDING -

* NEW GRIMIORE UNLOCKED *

Twilight Sparkle
The Daemons
The Underworld
Tirek the Unforgivable
Canterlot
The Savior Six
Princess Luna
Princess Celestia
The Moon
The Light
Ghosts
Spike

Author's Note

Hey everyone! This is my second ever attempt at a story, and a first attempt at fanfiction. Updates might be kind of slow and spotty, so apologies in advance. I've got a lot stuff going on in my life right now. School, potential job, building my career. Bleh. Ah well. I'll write when I can. Hope you guys enjoy!

There will also be an accompanying blog for Grimiore Card entries. They aren't absolutely required for understanding the story, but I figured it could add to the immersion. I'll be able to provide more info that way too since things will be different in some areas, whether be from Destiny or MLP. I'll be focusing on getting that up and running first, and then get back to the core story.

The First Ghosts...

OI----------------Spike----------------IO

The first thing I remember was darkness. Everywhere. It consumed everything. It had been terrifying.

No sound, no sight, I couldn't even feel the air around me. I slowly gained most of those sensations, but I still could not see.

But then, they appeared.

One by one they winked into existence, small points of light. At first there were only a few, maybe ten at most. But not long after they grew in number.

15, 20, 30, 50, 100, 500! They kept multiplying until I almost couldn't count them.

And as if that wasn't wondrous enough, she appeared. Our mother.

Luna.

"Do not be afraid little ones," she said, "You have all been created for a wonderful, noble cause. Darkness has fallen over our land, but the ones to defend us were lost to us."

"W-what do we have to do with it?" asked one of the lights, her voice laced with a hint of fear.

Luna drifted over to him, and answered reassuringly, "You shall seek out these fallen heroes. You will bring them back to this life for a second chance, and allow them to defeat the evil that has befallen the land." She started to turn away, her voice taking a sinister tone.

"We must not rest until he has paid dearly for his crimes."

"He?" Another light asked.

Hoping to help, I called out "What can we do?"

Turning to me, she called out to address the rest of the lights, her voice raising to near deafening levels, yet still retaining a soft quality to it.

"You shall all find one worthy soul, living or dead, that has a true heart and strong will. It may take years, decades, maybe even centuries! But each of you will find your Guardian. You are my Ghosts, the final remaining pieces of my essence. I wish to be out there, lending you aid, but if I were to leave this place, it would spell doom for those left. There is no more time for talk. I must send you on your way."

Suddenly, in a flash of light, she disappeared. In her place was an orb of light. I felt drawn to it, as though I were meant to go through it. I drifted forward. The closer I came to it, the more awake, more alive I felt. I soon came close enough to be able to look at it up close. Through the light were shades of green and blue, but nothing clear enough to make out.

Seeing no other option, and trusting this to be Luna's intention, I flew through it.

======OIO======

A castle stood, or rather slumped, deep in the forest. Anypony who saw it would agree that it would've been a privilege to see it way back when. It would have been quite a sight.

But now it sat in overgrown ruin, one of the few places lucky enough to be spared during the Collapse. Time had been its only enemy.

But now, finally, after centuries of waiting, the castle had a visitor. A lone speck of light, making its way across the night sky. It slowly bobbed and weaved, occasionally emitting a cone of blue light, as though it were searching for something. It's body, a purple metal shell, ticked and spun as it flew around.

It hovered around the courtyard for a while, and soon made its way inside. Upon entering the main hall, it seemed to perk up, as though something caught its attention.

It now moved with purpose, moving toward the lower levels of the castle. Its shell started opening and closing, as though to contain excitement. It kept scanning everything, making doubly sure it didn't miss anything.

Finally, it stopped at a pile of bones. The Ghost took one look at it, not even bothering with a scan.

"There you are!" it exclaimed, sounding tremendously relieved and jubilant. It then called upon the strongest magic in existence, requiring so much energy even the Light wouldn't be able to sustain it more than once per Ghost currently out there.

For just one second, a second sun appeared from the depths of the ruined castle. But one second is more than enough.

On the hills overlooking the ruins, a pair of eyes hungrily sought out its prey.

...the Final Guardian

----------------Twilight----------------

It was strange at first, like waking up from a dream that was… not quite pleasant, but you didn't want to leave either. I remember before sleep a flash of light then, nothing. Then another flash as I woke up, as well as a voice.

"It worked. You're alive! I thought I'd never see you again."

I shook the groggy feeling from my head. As soon as I was lucid, I brought the… floating, light, orb thing into focus. It had a purple shell that ticked and spun every now and then. It all hovered around a single green eye.

"W-where am I?" I asked the orb. I tried to pick myself up, but immediately collapsed into the rubble.

Now that I'd given it attention, I became aware of a deep ache throughout my body. It wasn't particularly painful, but it wasn't easy to ignore either. Regardless, I did my best to put it in the back of my mind and clambered back into something resembling a standing position. In the meantime, the orb responded.

"Deep in the Everfree Forest. You must've been hit pretty hard way back when, there almost wasn't enough to put you back together."

"'Put back together'?" I asked, "What do you mean? Did something happen?"

"I'd say so. Judging by the damage done before I healed you, you'd been killed by a pretty powerful spell. Almost to the point that'd be overkill for the Goddesses. It's a miracle I was able to put you back together."

"Wait. I died? But, then, how am I alive?" I asked, confused. I didn't remember much, but I knew that the dead weren't able to be brought back to life. Once they passed, their souls went on to their place in the afterlife, their purpose fulfilled. Even now just sitting here felt… wrong, strange. I still wasn't firing on cylinders at this point though, so that might've been the culprit.

The orb chimed in, breaking my train of thought.

"The Mistress of the Moon. Luna. She was one of the two sisters of old. She created us in Equestria's greatest struggle, the conflict that finally ended us. Once she realized she couldn't win by normal means, she sealed herself and her loved ones in the Moon and created us to carry out a single task."

Luna.

The name seemed familiar, though I couldn't quite place it.

I didn't have much time to mull it over though, as a spine-chilling howl sounded from outside the ruins of the castle.

"Oh you're joking. Why in Luna's name can't anything ever go smoothly! Come on, we're in danger here!" exclaimed the machine.

That snapped me out of whatever grogginess still clung to me, replaced by a primal fear for my safety and, to an extent, the orb's.

"Come on!' he barked, "We have to get to the city! NOW!"

======OIO======

I had long lost track of how far we'd been running. Or at least how far I was running. My Ghost got to almost lazily float beside me the entire time. But even with that, I was glad for his being there. If not, I'd have been dead long ago, in both respects of being brought back in the first place, and also the bolts of magic flying past my head. Yeah. That was an issue.

"DUCK!" he screamed, prompting me to receive a mouthful of dirt as a bolt sizzled past. Seeing a tree nearby, I scrambled as fast as I could behind it.

"That was fired a long ways away," said the Ghost, "Either we're losing him, or we have a sniper on our hands. Great."

I peeked my head out slightly in the direction the bolt had come from. I was rewarded by a flash of light from the ruins of the castle and nearly getting beaned in the face. It buried itself into the tree, leaving a sizzling crater from the impact. I whipped my head back behind, not wanting to test his skill, and my luck, any further

"Yup, sniper." I reported.

Please don’t let me get hit by one of those things.

It was then I realized my mistake. I'd been paying attention to the sniper for too long. With barely a rustle in the bushes, one of the creatures leaped out and tackled me to the ground. Luckily, I was pinned in such a way that my back was on the ground and my belly to the… mutant… flickering… pony, if you could call it that, allowing me to curl my legs beneath me, and buck him off with all the strength I could muster. He flew and hit the tree before slumping over, dazed it seemed. Not for long though. Almost instantly he recovered and leaped at me again. Before he could reach me though, his head exploded into a brilliant light, and like a marionette with its string cut, it collapsed into the dirt. A knife dropped beside it, clearly what had killed it. Where had that come from?

Then, even as the light was still fading from the former creatures neck, a crack sounded through the air, different from the one who'd been trying to kill me. A body fell from the castle wall.

Then all was silent. Deafeningly so. Only the sounds of the forest and the ticks of the Ghost broke the quiet. A voice called out, seemingly to no one in particular, yet everyone as well.

"Yeah! How ya like that?" it echoed.

I wasn't sure what to make of it, so I stayed quiet. My Ghost however, had different intentions.

"Dash? Damn, am I glad to see you!"

"Huh? Who was-? Wait, Spike, is that you? Yeah! It is!"

Whoever it was, they sounded friendly. I figured it wouldn't hurt to meet them out there. I stepped out from behind the tree. What happened next, I won't be forgetting anytime soon.

She (her voice sounded as such) had been running at a pretty decent pace towards us, and events happened to line up properly. First off, she got a good look at me, a look of surprise lancing across her face. Then, she caught a weird angle on a rock. Both of these things probably would've been fine by themselves. After seeing me, she could've taken a bit of time to recover, but would be no worse for wear. Tripping on the rock, she could've caught it, compensated, and kept going.

But both happened at the same time. This resulted in her losing her balance, flailing her legs, and faceplanting not 3 feet in front of me.

My hero.

"Uh, hi." I offered as she peeled herself off the forest floor. "Thanks for saving me back there."

"Heh, yeah," she replied, clambering to her hooves and brushing herself off.

Now that she was in front of me, I was able to get a good look at her. She had a dirtied cyan coat and rainbow mane. I looked as though she'd been out here a while. Encasing her was an elegant set of armor, all covered by a flowing (color) cloak. Was she a type of warrior?

"Don’t mention it!" she wheezed, having the knocked from her. "Though I guess to really be honest, I didn't even know you were there. Wait. Oh crap! The knife! Hope I didn't get you!"

"Wait, you mean this one?" I said as I picked up the offending tool.

"Yeah! That one." She reached out to take it, but hesitated.

"You know what, go ahead and have it. I take you're a newbie right?"

"'Newbie'? Oh, you mean just brought back? Yeah, I guess I am then."

"You're welcome." chimed Spike

"Oh right, thanks by the way. Didn't exactly have time to say that before. You know. Creepy murderous ponies and all."

"Meh. No big. I get it." my Ghost said, accepting my apology.

"Anyway, yeah, newbie. That means you're on your way to Canterlot right?" Dash directed the last question at my Ghost, Spike was it?, who replied.

"Yeah. She's still pretty shaken up. I wanted to get her there before anything happened, but I guess it was too much to hope for."

"For sure. Yeah, the only constant thing out here is chaos. Anyway, come on. We don’t want to be just standing around here at night. There's more where your welcome committee came from."

======OIO======

It was dawn by the time we even got close enough to see it. Canterlot.

"It's beautiful." I commented.

And beautiful it was. High towers growing from the side of the mountain, a wall tall enough to rival them. Lush green forests. But the centerpiece put it all to shame.

It just, hung there. Serene. Unyielding. Piercing the heavens.

Dash caught my staring. She smiled and came up beside me.

"Quite a sight isn't she? Come on. We'll be in the city soon enough. You can get a better look at her then."

* NEW GRIMIORE UNLOCKED *