“Seriously, does anyone know how we manage to keep spontaneously bursting into song simultaneously?” Applejack asked.

“And how we all know the lyrics?” Rainbow Dash added.

“Eh, it’s just my eldritch powers kicking in.” Pinkie said, smiling.

“What was that, darling?” Rarity questioned.

“Nothing, nothing!” Pinkie said, smiling and looking innocent. “So Twilight, can we have a big Tirek-was-just-defeated-and-sent-back-to-Hell party in your castle tonight?”

“Sounds like a plan, Pinkie.” Twilight said. “When do you-“

“Excuse me.”

The mane six looked down the path leading away from Twilight’s new castle. Slowly trotting toward them was an earth pony with a tan coat and shaggy brown mane. His tail was long and skinny, and his cutie mark was a golden bit.

“A thousand pardons.” The stallion said, bowing deeply.

After an awkward pause, Twilight said, “You may rise.” As the stallion straightened up, Twilight continued, “Who are you?”

“Please, Princess… I would like very much to continue this conversation… inside.” The stallion said. His orange eyes flickered around to the others of the mane six. “In private.”

Twilight’s gaze hardened slightly. “We can go inside, but whatever you can say in front of me, you can say in front of my friends.”

“As you wish, princess.” The stallion said, nodding. Twilight opened the door to her castle, and the seven walked in.

As they walked down the entrance hallway, Fluttershy decided to make a little conversation. “So… why is your cutie mark a bit?” She asked, smiling gently.

“It represents the debt I can never repay.” The stallion replied, not looking at the Pegasus.

That effectively killed all conversation for a bit.

Eventually, the seven ponies reached the throne room. “All right, now please, answer me. Who are you?” Twilight asked politely.

The pony sighed. “I must beg you not to scream; this next bit can be quite… disturbing.”

The mane six looked at each other nervously. “Go ahead, I guess.”

There was a pause. Then, the stallion grunted. The grunt changed to a groan of pain, as the stallion doubled over. Twilight was about to help him when she saw it: the stallion’s fur was lengthening, growing shaggy. His mane grew and spread, to encircle his whole neck, turning into a mane.

Bat wings sprouted out of the earth pony’s back, as he began to rear onto his hind legs. His forelegs grew hairless, sharpened claws, while his hind legs grew long, hairless feet. His joints shifted and changed, turning him bipedal.

The stallion growled as the fur fell off of his face, his snout lengthening, turning into a bizzare, alien face; the closest thing Twilight could compare it to was a bat.

Finally, the creature’s long tail solidified, and turned into a lion’s tail.

The ponies huddled together, and stared in horror at the thing in front of them. Then it knelt, sinking to one knee, bowing its head respectively in front of the six.

“I am Scorpan.” The creature growled in a low voice. “I believe you’ve met my brother.”

“Twilight, run!” Rainbow Dash said, dashing towards Scorpan. She abruptly kicked him in the jaw, knocking him back.

“No, I only want to –“ Scorpan said, before an apple was lodged in his mouth.

“Get back, ya filthy varmint!” Applejack cried, throwing apples at the thing.

“Where’d you even GET those?” Pinkie asked, tilting her head.

“Yeah, you’re really one to talk.” Applejack said, rolling her eyes.

“Will you two STOP IT!” Twilight roared at Rainbow and Applejack. “God, that’s just like you two! Beat the horseapples out of it first, ask questions later! Just slow down already!”

“Slow down?! But I’m Rainbow Dash!” Dash protested. “That’s like asking a-“ She was abruptly cut off when Scorpan picked her up by the scruff of her neck, and held her up to his face.

“Your princess gave you an order.” Scorpan growled. Rainbow gulped, eyes darting to the monster’s large teeth.

“Scorpan! Put her down, NOW!” Twilight yelled, charging up her horn. Scorpan immediately obliged, bending down and setting Dash gently on the floor, who skittered away, frightened.

“Okay…” Twilight said, breathing deeply as the glow disappeared from her horn. “Let’s try this again.”

“Darling, how can you be so sure that this… thing… means us no ill will?” Rarity asked, glancing between Twilight and Scorpan.

“Because I know him.” Twilight replied. Seeing the confused looks, she hurriedly added, “from a book! I read about him in a book from… the library…” Twilight felt a tear form in her eye,  as she remembered the scorching, hollow wreck that was once her home.

“Princess.” Scorpan said, walking forward and kneeling down, gently taking Twilight’s hoof in his claw. “You have my deepest condolences for my brother’s… impact.”

“No, no, it’s fine.” Twilight said, shaking her head. “Anyways, why are you here?” she politely inquired.

“Well, you see…” Scorpan replied. “My brother and I have this whole ‘magical mind-link’ thing going on. I can’t exactly communicate with him, but I can sort of see through his eyes if I concentrate.”

“So you saw him when he started to gain power?” Pinkie Pie asked, walking up.

“Precisely.” Scorpan replied. “I came here as quickly as I could, but I only just got here in time to see you six banish my brother away.”

“Oh… uh, sorry… did you want to talk to him, or something?” Twilight asked, tilting her head.

“In a way.” Scorpan replied. “I was hoping that I could convince Tirek not to bring Equestria to ruin.” He saw the disbelieving looks on the ponies’ faces. “Yes, I admit, a far fetched idea. As a last resort, though, I would fight him if necessary.”

“You’d fight him?” Fluttershy asked. “But why?”

“Scorpan is sort of an anti-hero.” Twilight explained. “Basically, he used to be evil alongside his brother, but then discovered the magic of friendship.”

“I’ve watched you ponies for hundreds of years now.” Scorpan continued. “I used to think you scum and filth… but then, I realized that you, I, even Tirek… we are not so different.”

“What?! I’m nothing like that red freak!” Rainbow Dash cried, rising into the air indignantly.

“We wanna help Equestria, and that overgrown rotten tamater just wants ta destroy it!” Applejack added.

“You misunderstand.” Scorpan said patiently. “We are all living creatures. No creature deserves to be treated less than another… we are all in the same boat, so to speak.”

“Scorpan… what exactly made you decide to come over to the ponies’ side?” Twilight asked.

“I am not quite sure…” Scorpan said. “But I think it was one day, when I was plotting from the towers of the castle, I saw a young filly and her mother. They were yelling at each other, and I was actually getting some sick enjoyment about it. Then, it happened: a thought came into my mind, as if placed there by an alien.

“ ’This isn’t right.’

“And I leapt down, and pulled the filly and mother apart, shaking my head. And the two snapped out of their angry rage, and looked at each other, and realized how silly they were being. Then they hugged.

“I was punished by my brother afterwards, oh yes.” Scorpan turned around briefly, and stretched an arm back, tracing a discolored scar which ran down his back. “He gave me this, after he found out. It took me weeks to recover from the whip’s poison.”

“He WHIPPED you??” Twilight asked, her eyes widening.

“Tirek is awful.” Scorpan shook his head sadly. “I have no idea how I somehow remained blind to his cruelty for so long. I can’t believe how long it took me to realize that what I was doing was wrong.”

“I know why it took so long.” Fluttershy said, stepping forward. The rest of the ponies looked at her, in shock. “It’s because he’s your brother, and no matter what happens, no matter how awful he gets, you always want to believe the best of him. He’s your role model, your guiding light; of course you’d just assume whatever he did was right.”

Scorpan took pause, digesting Fluttershy’s words. Then he sighed. “That… makes sense.” He said. He tried to smile, but the shape of his lips distorted it to what looked more like a leer. “Still…”

Scorpan’s “smile” fell, and he sat on the ground. “The things I did while I was blind to the cruelty… the unspeakable acts I performed…” Scorpan covered his face.

“It couldn’t have been that bad –“ Fluttershy began, but Scorpan cut her off.

“I HELPED MY BROTHER COMMIT GENOCIDE.” Scorpan said. Droplets of blood began to roll down his cheeks from his eyes; was he crying?

The six ponies huddled back together as Scorpan stood up, his face twisted with rage. “You ponies, you foolish, naive, innocent little ponies… so blind to the horrors of this world! So ignorant of the terrible sins of ages past!”

Scorpan glared at the six. “You were not the first dominant race on this planet.” He growled. “Before you, there was another: an ape-like species, which walked on two legs, calling themselves humans.”

Scorpan chuckled darkly. “My brother HATED humans. He called them ‘impure filth, undeserving of living, polluting this planet with their very existence.’ And the thing is, he was right.” Scorpan laughed more heartily. “Those foolish humans warmed the atmosphere, drained the water, darkened the skies themselves with their filth. Finally, Tirek decided he wouldn’t take it anymore. He vowed to eliminate every single human on the planet, no matter what.”

“So what did he do?” Applejack asked, enthralled by Scorpan’s grim little tale.

“My brother descended into the depths of Hell – or Tartarus, whichever you prefer.” Scorpan rolled his hand around. “It was seven days and seven nights before he reemerged. He wielded new power now: dark power, black magic never meant to be used by mortal hands. You saw this power in action – when he stole the magic, flight, and very life force of your fellow ponies.

“This power did not come without a price, however. In exchange for this power, Tirek agreed to a condition made by the devil himself: that if Tirek ever laid a claw against me, his very soul would be forfeit to the depths of Tartarus.

“Tirek was careful to give me a wide berth, not willing to risk attacking me. He completed his goal: he destroyed every human on the planet, using his new powers. After that, he decided he would design a new race, in his own image.”

“You mean…” Twilight said quietly.

“Yes. Tirek created ponies.” Scorpan said quietly. “And the first two he created were those of the sun and moon.”

“Jeez,” Pinkie Pie said, “You’d think with how fearsome and savage Tirry is, he’d think up a scarier race than THIS!” She squished her own face, distorting it.

Scorpan let out a low chuckle. “Yes, I admit I couldn’t believe it either. However, Tirek had a reason for making you ponies so innocent and loveable. He vowed to make the most harmless, naïve race which ever existed. That way, there wasn’t even a chance that they would become like the humans.”

“That… actually makes sense. Mostly.” Twilight said, raising an eyebrow.

Scorpan nodded. “And so, the era of ponies began. However, as the years turned to decades, and decades to centuries, Tirek grew… dissatisfied. He saw the same trends in ponies that he had seen in humans, before the humans had begun to destroy the planet. And so, he vowed to destroy the ponies, just as he had the humans.”

“However, by this point, I had finally realized that what Tirek was doing was wrong. And so, I snuck away, in the dark of night, and told the royal sisters of night and day about Tirek’s plot. Together, we marched back to Tirek’s midnight castle, to stop him once and for all….

XXXXXXXX

”TIREK!!” came a deafening female voice, and the doors of Tirek’s throne room were blown to pieces.

“You DARE plot to harm my subjects?!” Celestia roared at Tirek, who hadn’t moved an inch from his throne. “Don’t even try it! Don’t even try denying it!”

Tirek laughed, the sound booming through the halls of the palace. “My darling Princesses, I would never insult your intelligence by lying to you.” He said, resting his cheek on one hand, smiling. “To humor you, yes, I am indeed planning to destroy my precious pony creations. They have been most entertaining to watch, but this show is really starting to go downhill.”

“You will not lay a finger on our subjects!” Luna roared, firing a magic blast at Tirek.

Tirek deflected the spell with his palm, yawning. “Darling Luna, I do believe you’re forgetting something. You may have created the ponies, but who created YOU?”

Tirek’s grin widened, as did the princesses’ eyes. He held out a hand. “Oh, that’s right. ME. As such, they are not your subjects, but mine. And if they are my little toys…” Tirek crushed his open hand into a fist. “I believe I reserve the right to break them.” Tirek leaned forward, leering at Celestia and Luna.

“Isn’t that right, daughters.”

“WE ARE NO CHILD OF YOURS, TIREK!” Luna yelled in the royal canterlot voice. Then her eyes shone white, and her horn’s aura began to fizzle and crack.

“TASTE THE WRATH OF THE MOON!” Luna roared, and a beam of blinding white light blasted through the ceiling, enveloping Tirek.

This blast seemed to last forever, though it was really only a few seconds. Soon, Luna’s eyes closed, and she flopped to the floor. Her magic dissipated, and the beam disappeared.

“Luna… Luna, please wake up…” Celestia whispered, shaking her sister. “I… I can’t do this alone, sister… I need you…” Tears flowed freely from her eyes.

She was cut off by someone clapping. Her head whipped forward to behold Tirek, who hadn’t even moved a muscle during the bombardment.

“A valiant effort.” Tirek said, ceasing his clapping. “You might have almost singed a hair on my mane, if not for the impenetrable barrier I have set up.” A ripple flowed through the air, and Celestia briefly saw a bubble surrounding Tirek, glowing red.

“But, as amusing as this game has been, it is time for my favorite part…” Tirek said. He raised a palm, and an orb of flame formed.

“When the game goes into sudden death.”

With that, Tirek launched a fiery laser at Celestia. The alicorn closed her eyes.

Then there was a howl, and Celestia opened her eyes just in time to see Scorpan leaping in front of her, absorbing the blast. He was blasted backwards, into the roof of the castle, before plummeting toward the ground with a sickening crunch.

“Scorpan, you idiot.” Tirek said, rolling his eyes. “Let’s try this again, shall we, Celly.” Tirek said, another orb of flame appearing in his hand.

Then he screamed.

Celestia watched in horror, as the flame spread down Tirek’s arm, then across the rest of his body. When he was covered in flames, the screaming warlord began to sink into the ground. Fiery hands grasped him, pulling him down into the abyss.

Just like that, Tirek was gone, as though he was never there.

Celestia ran over to Scorpan. She knelt down in front of her savior, tears flowing from her eyes. She could sense that his life was gone, his heart stopped from trauma and shock. Desperately, she pumped a healing spell into him. Sparks flew from Scorpan’s chest as Celestia tried a second, and a third time, to restart Scorpan’s heart.

Finally, on the fourth time, Celestia felt Scorpan’s soul and life return to his body. His eyes jolted open, and he gasped. He looked over at Celestia, smiling weakly.

Celestia smiled, tears still flowing from her eyes. She held out a hoof to Scorpan’s cheek even as her horn glowed, healing the beast, repairing his internal bleeding and slowly stitching bones back together. “Don’t scare me like that.” Celestia whispered, her smile widening.

Scorpan coughed a deep, shuddering cough. “Oh, how you’ve changed, Celly.” Scorpan said gently. “I look at you, and I still see that little filly, bouncing on my knee as I read stories to her, way back right after you were first created. Heh… it looks like you don’t need my protection any more.”

“Scorpan… what…” Celestia said, the look on her face giving way to confusion.

“With Tirek gone…” Scorpan coughed. “…there’s nothing in this world you and your sister cannot handle. And so, I no longer need to protect you two. After I’ve healed, I’m going to go and make a life for myself somewhere else.”

Celestia’s tears redoubled. “No! No, Scorpan, I’m not losing you! You’re not going anywhere!” She whimpered.

“You defeated Tirek. You no longer need my protection.” Scorpan said simply.

“No, Scorpan, no, it was you, it was YOU who dove in front of me and stopped him!”

“Yes, but it was YOU who came up with the plan in the first place!” Scorpan snapped back. Then he coughed. “Celestia…” He said more gently. “You are far more clever than even I could possibly have imagined. I have faith in you, that you will no longer need me. You’ll see me again, but you are destined to rule Equestria. I…I am going to go and search for my own destiny.”

Scorpan smiled once more. “I believe in you.” He said quietly, before lapsing into unconsciousness. Celestia poured more healing magic into him, until she was sure that he would be fine. Then she laid her head on his shaggy chest, feeling it rise and fall, and slowly fell asleep, like she had for so many nights as a little filly.

XXXXXXXX

“I was true to my word.” Scorpan said, wrapping up his story. “I left Equestria, in search of my own life, and my destiny; in search of a place where I could once more help others, as I once helped Celestia.”

Scorpan looked at the mane six. The ponies’ jaws were all dropped, and they stared at him. “Um…” Scorpan said, looking around as the group stared at him. “I’m starting to feel a tiny bit uncomfortable here.”

“Sorry, darling.” Rarity said, shaking her head. “It’s just… I had no idea you were so good at describing scenes like that.”

“Neither did I.”

Everyone looked up as Princess Celestia descended in a pillar of light, which dissipated when her hooves touched the ground.

“Scorpan.” Celestia said with a warm smile.

“Celestia.” Scorpan said shakily, slowly walking up and placing a claw on Celestia’s cheek. “How you’ve grown.” He said, a blood tear rolling down his eye.

“Scorpan.” Celestia said firmly, grabbing his attention. “I wanted to ask you something.”

“Anything.” Scorpan said, his eyes widening.

“Have you found your destiny?” Celestia questioned.

Scorpan sighed. “I’m afraid not. I still search for where I belong, and I will continue my search when I leave.”

“Scorpan… I would like to make a formal request.” Celestia stated, standing tall. “Would you be my royal advisor?”

“Your… advisor?” Scorpan said, his eyes widening.

“You are wise beyond your years, Scorpan; almost as wise as Star Swirl was. It would be an honor to access your vast knowledge of the lands beyond Equestria, as well as your experiences in talking and diplomacy.”

“Well… I am good with words…” Scorpan said slowly, rubbing his chin with index finger and thumb.

“Scorpan, don’t you get it?” Celestia said, walking forward and placing a hoof on the beast’s shoulder. “This is your destiny. To be my advisor, and help me in my decisions. You will not only be invaluable, but it will be good to see you around the castle again.” A tear rolled down from Celestia’s eye. “I missed you, Scorpan.” She said, quietly.

Scorpan thought for only a second more, then knelt once again. “milady, I would be honored to be your advisor…” he said hesitantly.

“but?” Celestia said, raising an eyebrow.

“But if I do help you, how will I ever pay off my debt to this world?” Scorpan questioned. “For goodness’ sake, Celestia, I helped murder an entire race!”

“And saved another.” Celestia said, and wrapped her forelegs around Scorpan, lightly hugging him. “It was Tirek who performed those acts all those years ago, Scorpan. You are not to blame for your brother’s faults. Indeed, you are one of the greatest heroes that have ever walked Equus.” Celestia smiled wider. “Please, Scorpan, accept my offer.”

Scorpan paused, then twisted his lips into that crooked smile once more.

XXXXXXXX

“And it is with great pleasure that I dub you, Scorpan, the princess’ advisor!” Celestia said, smiling as she levitated a sword and tapped each of Scorpan’s shoulders lightly with it.

Celestia’s throne room erupted in cheers. The ponies watching the ceremony stomped their hooves in approval.

Scorpan turned, and smiled once more, waving. Blood tears fell from his eyes as he spotted Twilight and the rest of her friends. He winked at her.

She winked back.

And for the first time he could remember, Scorpan felt truly wanted, needed… important.