Heavy chains clanged against a brimstone floor, their wearer attempting once more to break the cuffs that bound him even though he knew it was a futile effort. Pure steel dipped in miriliam and infused with the magic of two alicorns, nothing could break them. His cell was of a similar design made from the exact same alloy although the aesthetic design was infinity more complex. Unfortunately it wasn’t often that one of his fellow inmates considered the structure that imprisoned them, they were always more interested in a way of getting out.
“Hey Cerberus, won’t a bone boy? Come on, just come over and I’ll give it to you” In the cell next to his own another inmate tried his luck for the third time that day, or night, he couldn’t really tell what time it was what with fires burning non-stop, somehow never exhausting their own fuel supply.
“You do realise for that to work you actually have to have a bone, which I know you don’t have because there’s literally nothing else here but us! So will you please stop, you’re embarrassing villains everywhere” The words echoed out into the expansive realm of Tartarus and as always there was no one else around to hear. Of course there were other prisoners down in his hellish home, he wasn’t ignorant of their presence, but they occupied the maximum security area. Unsurprisingly they appeared to be the only ones in it, he had realised long ago that it seemed that the only reason they were there was to justify having a maximum security area in the first place.
“Quiet, freedom is within my grasp” Though he couldn’t see it through the solid wall he shook his head, tired of his neighbour’s full proof escape plans that had been becoming more and more desperate as the centuries passed by. Sometimes he wished he could explain how incredibly unlikely it was for anyone to ever escape Tatarus, then again he was the only one who knew every little detail of the fortress prison, how could he not know the structure’s smallest details, he built it after all.
Already exhausted by the pathetic attempts for freedom he sat down on his not so soft bed, allowing his red wings to sag while he rested his head in his clawed hands. He looked up from his shackled arms to glance over at Cerberus. He thought about the prison’s guard, as well as the door said guard was watching over. In retrospect, he probably shouldn’t have had it so the exit sat right next to where they would be keeping the most dangerous of villains.
It took a minute for him to notice Cerberus staring back with all three heads. He involuntarily smiled at the triple of heads and in return received a smile from each. They didn’t last however as the three heads expressions became rather solemn, as did his own.
Hastily he turned away from the dog putting his back towards the exit. He scolded himself for his speed, he couldn’t blame Cerberus for what had happened, he wasn’t the one who imprisoned him. Panting and the sound of drool dribbling to the floor got him to turn back around to find Cerberus with front paws on his cell’s magic wall. It pulsated from where Cerberus’s paws met the invisible energy.
Cautiously he walked over to the wall where Cerberus stood, avoiding tripping up on his own chains. He placed a hand against the magic barrier and Cerberus mimicked the action. Cerberus’s three heads looked to each other, silently consulting one another. After they finished their silent contemplation Cerberus withdrew its paw and the barrier fizzled out, allowing the slightly larger dog to pounce on him and vigorously lick away at his face in glee.
“Ah ah, down boy, Ha-ha stop that, I get it I missed you too buddy” The assault let up after a few seconds more when Cerberus climbed off of his old friend. They stood at almost equal height.
“Wow, when did you get so big?” He went to pet the big dog but his shackles caught on themselves and he couldn’t quite reach far enough. Cerberus watched as he tried three more times before giving up.
“Don’t suppose you could do something about these cuffs could you?” Defeated, he held the linked cuffs in front of himself and sighed feeling rather nostalgic of the old days, when a young architect didn’t get involved in regal matters. Without warning, the cuffs broke apart into pieces, crumbling away into dust below his feet. He looked to Cerberus for an answer.
“Did you just...” A trio of excited nods gave him his answer. Magic began to flow through his ancient veins again, revitalising his weakened body back to its original prime. His hands became engulfed in a dark blue fire that burned deeply. Similarly, his eyes now shimmered the same colour, becoming empty, their usual kindness replaced by the all consuming power. Cerberus now sat uneasily; unsure if is his decision was the right one.
“Don’t worry Cerberus, I’m going to fix everything, make things how they used to be” They hugged, or rather, Cerberus almost took knocked him over again with a embrace that lasted for a decent time, eventually though they separated.
“Hey, how about a game fetch, remember how we used to? Come on, I still got your favourite one” Blue magic swirled in the air between his hands summoning forth an old Frisbee made from rock, the cracks in it glowed hot with magma. Cerberus wagged his tail in excitement. Pulling back he prepared a mighty throw and a second later he released the built up tension, sending the Frisbee far into the distance. Without hesitation Cerberus gave chase, disappearing out of sight quickly.
“Sorry boy, but I got to go topside before we can play again, some unfinished business to take care of first” With a lingering glance into the distance he marched down the stairs of his cell to the raised platform that led to the exit.
If it had been anyone else they would’ve likely tried to leave through the exit but he was not just anyone. Long ago he had decided that should one of the inmates somehow get past Cerberus there would need to be something else to stop them from waltzing out. He formed a rock in his hand and lobbed it at the massive portal to the surface, he watched as it disintegrated against an invisible field.
“Glad to see you didn’t undo all my work then” Growls from behind him drew his attention away from the massive gateway.
“It was that easy? All you had to do was ask nicely and he let us out, why did you not do that four hundred years ago!” The hybrid glared at him but he did not fear the supposedly powerful beast, he was beyond mortality, though he almost felt guilty, time didn’t flow the same way for him as it did for his neighbour.
“Perhaps you should quite your complaining, be happy you’re free” An old hand pointed a threatening finger at him and a burst of red energy sparked across the gap between them. It deflected off into the ground without much affect. Lightning sparked around his claws, it burst forward striking the weakened creature down when he held his own hand up towards his enemy. He strolled over to the cloaked pile of limbs as it clambered back onto his feet.
“How did you do that? You’re an Eon, you can’t hurt others” The electricity returned to his hands, this time forming into a ball of super charged energy that vibrated dangerously.
“No, we actually know a lot about hurting others, we just try not to do it anymore, but you, to end you would save them a world of pain” The cloak laughed causing him to stop in his approach.
“Then, we are quite alike, I too know the pleasure of inflicting pain as well as the sting of betrayal” His face contorted into a snarl and he slammed the ball of energy into the ground as he roared at the old villain in rage. He stopped soon after, turning his back on his fellow inmate.
“I am and will never be anything like you” behind, he could hear the cloaked hybrid snicker, shuffling forward until he pasted him, obviously intending to use the gateway. For a moment he considered allowing him to be vaporized but then he knew it wouldn’t be right.
“I don’t think you want to do that, there’s a oblivion veil that’ll destroy anything that tries to leave Tartarus, minotaur’s included” The warning was not met with the appreciation one might have expected.
“Are you saying that now that I’m out of my decrepit prison I am still trapped here in this infernal place? With you as company, I think I might prefer oblivion than this” He gave his mouthy acquaintance a very unimpressed look, something that they both shared.
“Fine, if it’ll stop your constant complaining I’ll help you out” He received a mixed look which consisted of confusion, suspicion and anger, it was a impressive show of the control he had over his face, the shadow that was cast over his face from hood may have aided him to perform this feat.
“Why would you help me?”
“Because I’m feeling generous, and there’s the added possibility that you’ll get killed trying to take over the world again” Honestly, the centuries spent listening to his neighbour’s boasts of world domination really made it difficult to care about the cartoonish evil villain.
“My first bit of help in this, drop the whole, I am the mighty conqueror stick, it’s not impressive it’s just makes you sound like a comic book villain” Unsurpsingly the cloaked figure scoffed thinking nothing of the advice.
“It will be a fitting title once all fall beneath me” An expected role of the glowing blue eyes followed.
“Sure, and one of Tia’s students will learn about the magic of friendship with her new friends, defeat the dreaded nightmare moon, tame discord, stop whatever plan good old Sommy’s got and become a alicorn princess” He scratched his head while the cloaked one just stared at him.
“That was...Oddly specific” He moved his hand down to his chin grip it in contemplation.
“Yeah, it was” Silence fell over the two like a thick mist that cut off all chatter, it didn’t last long though.
“Anyway, for my second bit of help I’ll teleport you to the surface” Trails of blue light began swirl around his hoofed companion, startling the ancient creature.
“Wait, if you can teleport me to the surface why do you not do the same to yourself?” The light started to expand becoming thicker with each passing second.
“Because it doesn’t work on me” He was engulfed in the light and once he was sure he could not hear him he whispered the end of his explanation.
“Also, I don’t want to have my energy drained by a rough teleport, I probably should of mentioned that before I started” Finally, the energy shrank into a small orb that shot up into them above tartarus, up towards the surface, taking his now former neighbour with it.
“Sorry Tia, just a little thorn in your side before the main event, don’t worry about it though, I drained most of his energy so he shouldn’t do too much damage” He looked around and found himself alone.
“And now I’m talking to myself, seriously? Four hundred years of sitting in prison and you decide to go crazy when finally you got out? Brillant” He sighed and began his journey towards the true exit not too far away, he knew it was one of the many problems that wouldn’t be solved by doing it more, so he decided to refrain from addressing thin air for the remainder of the day.
At some point during his accent up the hundred step bone-case he had started hovering rather than walk, a sign of his power returning to him already. Everything passed him by with little notice to anything around him, a goal had been set and he would see it completed. Though, as he pasted by a cell embedded into red rock wall, he stopped. There by the cell door sat an old mare chatting to the cell’s occupant, he knew both of them.
The inmate was no other than Grogar, an ancient unicorn well known for his practice in the arts of necromancy. He could easily be mistaken for a young stallion in his twenties even though he was way over two hundred years old. Two red eyes watched him as he watched them. Grogar’s visitor, an old Pegasus named Sky Prancer sat dangerously close to the bars of Grogar’s prison, though by the lack of insults being thrown his way, it was unlikely that Grogar was in a violent mood.
“Ah, Aeon, come to join our nice chat? Come, sit with us” While he didn’t show it, the kindness evident in Grogar’s voice surprised him. His eyes darted between them until they settled on Sky Prancer.
“Why are you here?” Grogar wasn’t the kind of pony who had normal friends, or any friends for that matter.
“Well I believe I’ve come for the nice company” He was sceptical to say the least.
“Perhaps you are unaware of this one’s true nature, be warned, like me he too walks the path of evil” To his annoyance the two ponies laughed hysterically.
“Oh but I’ve changed, I used to believe all I wanted was power, wealth, everything imaginable, and then when I was defeated, she would visit me” He kept his distance and remained wary of the two encase of some unforeseen trap.
“Every day of the year I would come here to see him” It didn’t make any sense, villains don’t get friends, they are not cared for, so he couldn’t understand why this mare would waste her time with Grogar.
“I didn’t understand either you know, eventually though, I realised why she would visit"
“She could see something no other could, a pitiful spark of goodness still remained in my heart, she visited because she believed if somepony could just see that goodness, if they could just break away at the darkness and the isolation, then it could blossom into something wonderful” Before he could vomit from the hearing the sappy words he stopped himself.
“Compassion, kindness, love, all of it useless emotion, I have no need of such pathetic triviality, my heart is stained black, there is no goodness in my heart” This time there was chuckle instead of the hysterics that had come before and it came from only Grogar this time.
“You know that is not true, I can see no trace evil within you, it is only your want for revenge that blinds you from the truth, you see, deep down you still care for the others” Fire balls burst into existence above him but they quickly diminished into nothing without an incident.
“I have more important things to be doing, goodbye” He turned and left the pair behind, climbing up onto the elevated pillars nearby, he was not far from the safe portal now. With each pillar he climbed he could see further and further into Tartarus, most of his work seemed to have been left as it was strangely.
A shriek of terror caught up with him suddenly, it caused him to spin around on the spot to gaze down to where he had conversed not long ago. Down below snarled a infernite, a two headed wolf like creature that stood on two legs, it stalked towards sky prance who had her back to agains the metal bars, he could see Grogar trying to use his magic to no avail.
He closed his eyes and turned back around, he didn’t care, he was evil, he didn’t care, what did it matter to him if the beast ate them, he didn’t care, it would not hinder him if they were to perish, he shouldn’t care, but he did. With gritted teeth he dove off the edge of his pillar dive bombing towards the beast with the intent of inflicting some damage.
In a massive collision he knocked the infernite into the floor. They got back to their feat quickly, he charged up a bolt of lightning while the creature summoned forth the liquid fire within itself. An exchange of blows followed with creature singeing his chest with a plume of fire and at same time he struck the feral beast in the head, dazing it.
The infernite recovered faster and charge forward swatting him out the way, its real targer obviously sky prancer. Two blue chains ensnared the creature’s legs before it could get close enough to prancer. Using all his strength and fuelled by his rage he pulled on the chains hard whipping the creature up into the air and of into the distance. He took a minute to dissolve the chains and heal his wounds.
“Thank you for saving my friend” His head shot up rapidly to stare at Grogar.
“The beast would not have been satisfied with just her, I was merely getting rid of it before it could come after me, that is all, do not take this as act of heroics”
“Whether you're a hero or not is up to you, what I do know is that we won’t forget what you did and I hope you won’t forget that we consider you, a friend” Thankfully Grogar couldn’t see the smile that tugged away at his lips, he started to move back over to the pillars to begin his ascent again.
“Friends” He whispered the word.
Once at the top of the pillars he could see the exit portal humming with energy, the over world within clear sight on the other side. With a hand outstretched he walked through the portal. He could feel the forces pulling at his very being, stretching his energy apart making everything feel numb. Three seconds later he exited on the other side, unharmed. Judging by the feeling he was getting the jump had taken a couple of months.
Fresh air, the first in over four hundred years, flowed into his ethereal lungs like a sweet nectar that was far superior to the stale ash filled air of tartarus, something he would happily admit. Sadly, there was no time for sightseeing, he had work to do.
“What luck, arrived at just the place I needed to be” A hilltop that overlooked what he could only guess to be the old village of Ponyville, a village created in her name. He summoned forth a number of large crystal that burrowed themselves halfway into the group in a large cycle. To top it all off he formed a complicated mechanism in the centre that held a number of the same red crystals, these however were much smaller.
He huffed exhausted from the sudden amount of stress put on his body, he didn’t care about it, the only thing that mattered now was the task at hand, of course it was there was certainly no hesitance in his mind. Device now complete, all that remained was the activation crystal. Energy swirled around his hands more vibrantly to create the final piece, a multicoloured crystal pyramid, he placed it inside the small crucible that waited patiently. It whirred and whizzed loudly, power beginning to flow throw his machine. His happy smile disappeared after the mechanism continued to charge without an effect.
“Someday I’m going to have to learn how to do this without the stupid charge up first” He sighed and looked over his shoulder to spy a not too distant vantage point.
“I guess it couldn’t hurt to give it a look” With a little excitement in his step he jogged up the hill to find something he could have never expected. There, watching over the small town sat a crystal castle fit for a princess in all of its shinning glory.
“She still...After what happened, she still” He was at loss for words.
“She still used my castle design, like I always wanted” His smile betrayed his actions. With all the enthusiasm that was possible he pumped his fist into the air in victory and grin triumphant.
“Who’s the best architect now Tenos? It’s me! The Eon with a princess living in a castle he designed ha-ha!” His happy celebration ended abruptly and a look of shock spread across his face.
“What the heck am I doing? This isn’t me, I don’t blow up towns, oh man I got to stop this thing” He charged back over to the device, slamming his hand down onto the crystal once it got within reach, he yanked on it but it refused to budge. Red electricity sparked off the crystal occasionally catching his arm with its bite.
“No no no, stop it, why won’t you stop? Oh of all the times to decide to malfunction you think this is a good one?” Pulling with all his might he put one clawed foot onto the device to gain extra leverage, and then the other did the same. His hand joined the other in a miserable effort to remove the multicoloured power source.
“I don’t think Tia’s going to want to leave me alive after half her favourite town is obliterated, so come on we’re friends aren’t we? How about you just stop doing that and I won’t break you in half you miserable excuse for a soul crystal” The crystal didn’t seem to appreciate the snarky comments as it started to fire off sparks, accelerating itself towards the grand finale.
“Okay I’m very sorry, now will you please not blow up” It slipped from the crucible with ease, leaving him staring at the now dormant crystal.
“Huh, kind words go far I guess, now what to do next hmm, oh yeah, a blast from the past should be a good start” Two zaps to the crystal’s core and it found itself back inside the crucible charging up for the second time. Happily he stood back already planning his next move.
“Hey! Tall and evil, you better stop doing whatever it is you’re doing or you’ll be getting a super Dash flank kicking” Now that a voice he didn’t recognise, he spun around to find six fairly angry looking mares standing behind him. The fact he had a strange device slowly building energy up nearly went over his head.
“Heh, this isn’t what it looks like okay, I’m actually trying to do something nice” They looked to each other confused expressions on each of their faces.
“What are yah talkin’ about? Aren’t yah here to bring about some kind a damnation or sumthin?” Perhaps laughing wasn’t the best idea, their rather suspicious faces told him to cut it before he got rainbowed all the way to Canterlot.
“Let’s just say I turned over a new leaf” To surprise they didn’t believe him, he defiantly remembered that working before.
“You expect us to believe such an dramatic change of heart while that ghastly thing is sat next to you?” He had a feeling saying yes
wouldn’t be a sufcient answer, in all honestly he had no idea why he was even having the conversation in the first place.
“Why do you assume I’m evil, I mean I was but that’s not that point, I’ve never even seen you before” He was starting to grow weary of the odd reactions to his words, he started to wonder when the word of an Eon started to be questioned.
Finally, the device focussed its pent up energy into prismatic ball above its centre, causing each of the friends to start charging forward to stop it, except for the yellow one, she actually seemed to believe him. Before they could do anything the energy ball shot into the afternoon sky and exploded into an array of fireworks of varying colours. In the centre of fantastic display a message could be clearly seen that read, ‘I’m sorry Tia, friends?’, needless to say it stopped the six friends in their tracks.
“See, told you I changed my ways” They were all stunned by the display.
“So you’re just turning good? That’s it?” He nodded smiling a toothy smile.
“Yeah, forget that whole evil stuff, I prefer being good personally”
“Why the sudden change of heart mister? Oh oh, did you go on a epic journey with a sassy partner to fight evil while secretly moonlighting as a bad guy for a dark master and then you fell in love with your partner so you told her the truth while betraying your old master and now you’re sending a message to apologise to her? You just have to tell me what she’s like” He had to rub his head from the headache gained from the blur of speech that he just barely registered as a pony speaking.
“Erm no, nothing like that” If he was going start making friends he would have to come off as nice not hateful, so he tried to force a smile even as his teeth gritted together in aggravation.
“You see, during my time in tartarus I learned something” He hoped they wouldn’t notice that some of the fireworks were starting fires in the forest.
“Friends, no matter how good or old will hurt you, they’ll betray you and lie to you, but you should never hate them for it, sure you’ll feel down or probably angry, you might even want revenge” All feelings he had after their terrible clash.
“But if you are true friends, real friends, you’ll forgive them as they would do same for you” They would probably be less happy to listen to the story if they knew about the fact he was actually thinking about forty other tasks at the same time, including how he was going to convince the royal guard to let him into Canterlot.
“And when you feel like the world has abandoned you and your heart is filled with nothing but hatred, know that there are always some who still care about you, some who still believe that all that hatred is just a way of hiding you true self from the pain, never let petty squabbles ruin something so wonderful” Then again it wasn’t as if they could stop him, though he did see the issue with randomly teleporting into the royal bed chambers, Tia never did like surprises.
“You should never abandon your friends, no matter what happens” Another voice he knew, an old, gracious and friendly voice.
“T-tia, I’m sorry, for what I did” Upon seeing his old friend his eyebrows raised dramatically, he definitely did not remember the rainbow mane or the white coat; silently he wondered what had happened to the old pink style.
“I know, I believe the blame is to be shared for what happened”
“What exactly happened between you two in the first place? Must have been something real bad to land you in Tartarus”
“Well it was a couple of things, think It started when Tia over here came up with this crazy plan, you need the here this” Celest’a suddenly looked rather uneasy about her reformed friend.
“Alright get this, she was going to set up this whole elaborate scheme with this old student of hers and her friends, like you wouldn’t believe how many things had to go right for it to work, anyway they were supposed to fight a couple villains, save the day sometimes and generally work on this completely untested magic, friendship” Strangely the other six shared Celestia’s unease.
“Okay so there’s a lot more to it but the best part is that it was supposed to lead to them becoming some fancy council that could handle Equestria so she could, just believe me for a moment, go on vacation and generally lounge about” Remembering the ridiculous scheme brought a smile to his face though he couldn’t say the same for the others, it was stunned silence all around.
“I thought it was crazy but she didn’t see anything wrong with it, not the fact that one of them could die or something, or the fact that if they ever found out they could do some damage, eventually we kind of fell out about it and we fought, that’s it really”
“What?” In that instance he understood why the six were there, Tia’s grand council he thought.
“You err, still went through with the plan didn’t you” Had the situation not involve six angry not to mention powerful ponies he might have laughed about it.
“I’m guessing they weren’t supposed to find out were they?” A rhetorical question really.
“I had intended to tell them earlier, except Tirek somehow escaped his prison” It felt as if the glares from the other burnt even deeper into him.
“Erm, yeah that was my fault sorry” If he hadn’t been in trouble before he was now.
“We should probably leave” A good idea.
“I think that would be wise” Celestia took off into the sky leaving Aeon alone with the very displeased friends, each of which were approaching undoubtedly with the obvious goal of causing immense amounts of pain, maybe even give him a case of headache never endus.
“Hey! Wait for me” He took off after her, catching up quickly.
“Just like Las Pegasus aye Tia?” Flying had never felt so good.
“They chased us with pitchforks” The memories rushed back in a flood of warmth.
“Ah, good times”
When historians speak of this event, most recall it as the beginning of the twilight dominion and the spark that ignited the great rainbow wars of twenty twenty-two, some others even claim it to be the excuse to topple the old empire, in any case those are stories for another time.
Author's Note
So here we are (where are we?), just a quite story since it's all I've got time for nowadays. Wasn't really quite sure how to have Tirek speak, it's kind of hard recreating his mannerisms, fyi I hate pre-corrective text. Anyway thanks for reading and all that jazz, how you enjoyed it.
