As Tirek skipped another chunk of rock across the lava pool in his boredom, he let out a long sigh as he watched the rock eventually sink to the bottom.
This was one of the few places where he could relax. Well, relax as a demonic being as old as Equestria itself could in his home, a cave like fire-scorched plain that could reach anywhere between 2300 to 57000 degrees Celsius at his will. It could usually go lower, but his air conditioner was broken. It was made to run on thermal energy, but melted when his home reached 25000 degrees. He had ordered it specially for his home, and was incredibly pissed at the inconvenience. The company promised him a perfect replacement shipped out to him in a week for no charge, but it did nothing to calm his anger.
He had ordered the machine specially from God's Mighty Blowjobs, a company that specialized in making air conditioners for higher beings. Satan had ordered an air conditioner from them months ago and he had bragged about it for months at Villain's Vengeance meetings. One-by-one, each of his friends had gotten one, and he began to feel left out, finally getting one for himself. The fact that it broke for him a week after receiving it through Malicious Mail made him wanna torture puppies.
Tirek was naturally angry as a being, but combined with the recent events of the air conditioner and being beaten by the tiny ponies AGAIN had made Tirek more irritable than normal, which made most of his friends avoid him, except his best friend, Hades. No matter what, he could always rely on his best friend since high school to be there for him. The same best friend that appeared next to him in a sudden flash of blue fire, with a mischievous grin and blackened toga that Tirek had come to know his friend by.
"Hey Teerie*, what are you up to? I haven't seen you since the VV meeting 3 weeks ago. Where you been, big guy?" Hades asked. "You haven't forgot about us, have you?"
"of course not," Tirek replied. "I've just been busy. I'll be at tomorrow's meeting. Promise."
Hades of course didn't believe this for a second.
"C'mon, what's wrong Teerie? I'm your pal, you can tell me. Is it..." Hades stopped for a moment, as if remembering something, then continued in an somewhat shaky voice. "Is it... Is it that same problem you had a couple weeks ago? If so... I don't think I can help you again. My ass is still a little sore from last time and..."
"No no no!" Tirek quickly sputtered back. If Tirek's fur wasn't already a blazing shade of red, it would've been lit up like a Hearth's Warming Tree with the amount of embarrassment he was feeling. "I got that out of my system! I just...
"Ok, Ok, sorry I brought that up, but why the long face? Something bothering you, champ?" the being questioned. Normally the blue-flame haired ghost would've continued talking with his normally cheerful, sassy attitude, but he could tell his friend was seriously down.
Tirek sighed. " I just... I've just felt like such a failure lately. 2,000 years ago I was beaten by ponies because of my brother, a failure on my part for not seeing how weak and foolish he was. Now, I have been beaten once again by those stupid, puny ponies and Discord, which everyone laughs at me for now, especially Cthulhu. Then again, he's been really cocky since he returned from that place he calls "Earth". Bragging about how much destruction he created with a small fat raccoon. Just pisses me off." Tirek said with an obvious rise of anger in his voice, then continued to speak realizing he was getting off topic. " Now this air conditioner thing has me pissed off, and for some reason I feel like it was my fault, even though I had nothing to do with it."
Hades just stood by his friend, listening to him explain his emotions openly, something he never would of thought would happen. He didn't realize how his friend felt about himself, and it seemed odd now he knew. Tirek wasn't exactly cocky normally, but he never seemed to lack self-confidence. As he continued listening to his friend confess his feelings, an idea started sprouting in his mind.
"And... I just don't know what to do anymore. Try to plan out some invasions again to only fail, or just sit home and not worry about. Just accept I'm a failure. My dad was right. I fuckin' suck." Tirek finished with a sigh, slowly being replaced by silence.
Hades knew Tirek had always had daddy issues, but not to this point of sorrow. Hades was sure of himself now, though. His plan might not be perfect, but anything is better than what he was going through currently.
"It sounds like someone needs a new life." Hades said in an almost inviting manner, wanting Tirek to respond so he could explain his plan to him.
But Tirek didn't. He simply sighed at his friend's words and said nothing, allowing the silence to once again take over the conversation, the only noise in the area the quiet crackling of nearby flames. Hades took on a slightly annoyed expression due to his friend's lack of response, then quickly returned to a normal, somewhat sullen expression on his face. He hoped his friend didn't notice the facial change, but his fears were quickly relieved as he saw his friend just staring at the ground beneath his feet.
Hades then decided to take a different approach. "You know, I think I have an idea on how to deal with your problems, but before you say no, at least hear me out, then make up your mind. Deal?" Hades asked of his friend. Hades may have had a sarcastic, witty, almost seemingly foolish way of expressing himself, but underneath that sass was a being very familiar with and very good at playing mind games. By seemingly letting his friend have a "choice" in the matter, the minotaur would be far more likely and comfortable to listen to him, and be more convincible. If he tried to force the already emotional minotaur to do anything he didn't want to, he would just get angry, making him more likely to refuse to listen to his ideas, and making things considerably more difficult in the long run.
To his surprise, Tirek didn't respond, at least, not orally. Tirek simply looked up and stared him in the eyes, almost as if looking into his soul. Hades was alarmed for a moment, but quickly recognized the certain look he was being given. Tirek was questioning Hades seriousness. Being the comical person he was, it was hard to take him serious at times, and separating the jokes from the cold, hard facts. Tirek continued to analyze his blackened, unblinking pupils of his eyes, and once he was assured of his friend's seriousness, he simply responded flatly, "Deal."
Hades smiled, with the bait taken. "Well, with the way you've explained yourself and your situation, you have two options: keep living the way you currently are, or..." Hades trailed off, trying to string the right words together in his mind. Once finding what he believed to be the correct explanation, he continued "or my plan, completely start a new life under disguise, getting away from all this negativity, then when ready, continue your own plan to destroy, "Equestria", I believe is what you call it."
. If Tirek wasn't interested or was onlying paying half attention to the benevolent seeming god beside of him, he was now, and gave the God of the Underworld his full, undivided attention. He wanted more details. The way Hades put it made it sound like a simple plan, but if it truly worked out , it couldn't be THAT simple. "Elaborate, Hades. What do you mean "start a new life"? Be reborn into a new form? Shape shift? I couldn't do either of those things in my current state. I'm not nearly powerful enough yet." Tirek questioned Hades, wanting more information.
"No, nothing like that. " replied Hades. "Just simply return in your "normal pony" form like you did last time, minus the magical energy stealing, then get a job and a house like a normal pony and blend in." Hades stopped speaking for a moment, and seemed to be confused. "Never thought I'd ever say that sentence. Well anyways, over time, you can prepare a plan to destroy Equestria from inside Equestria itself. Being inside, you'll have an element of surprise whenever you plan to attack and it'll let you eavesdrop on news going on, letting you know when the best time to attack will be and when their defenses are down.
Tirek took all this at once, his mind swimming with the information being taken in and processed. Disguising himself inside that hell then attacking when ready and alert of news? Could it really be that easy? There remained one question unanswered, possibly the most important of all. "How do I get to Equestria? I'm not powerful enough to teleport yet, and to walk to Equestria would take me hundreds of year as it did before. However, you wouldn't have told me about this unless you already have an answer for that, would you?" Tirek implored, curious to learn Hades' plans for travel.
"I'll have that taken care of by tomorrow. Don't worry about those details. They aren't important right now. All you have to do is say yes to the plan." Hades replied, trying to redirect the conversation. Tirek knew this, but said nothing at first, simply sitting silently, contemplating his options.
He could stay and not do anything and resume his life as he has for most of the past 2000 years. It wouldn't risk anything. It would be the safest option, but would also change nothing about his current life.
He could question more about the way of travel. It could possibly risk the whole plan in general if for one reason or another Hades doesn't want to talk about it. Questioning him about why he is questioning him, thus ending up in a fight and Hades not helping at all. Of course, it could always end up with him getting information about the way of travel, causing more fears while also relieving fears. It could end either way.
Agree with the plan with no questioning involved. This is the way Hades wants him to go, without telling him his mode of transportation, but no idea why. With everything they've been through, and how long they've been friends, Tirek should trust Hades with this, but he can't help but feel untrusting of Hades in this situation. What could it be that Hades doesn't want to tell him? Going along with the plan means Tirek could definitely be transported to Equestria, but at what risk? Definitely the most dangerous overall, but at the same time could lead to safe uninterrupted travel with no worries along with it.
Choices, Choices...
This is where you, the readers make the choice. What do you want?
In the comments post your choice below for Tirek to make. The choices are 1, 2, and 3, corresponding to the scenarios above. Understand? Good. Vote away!
Author's Note
Thank you for reading my story. To be honest, while writing this, it ended up becoming much darker, longer, and in my opinion, more interesting as a story than originally intended. It's the first chapter of my first story I would like to continue, though I have very little time to write. Please leave comments and suggestions down below so I can keep getting better.
Special thanks to Silverlinings as co-author/editor.
P.S. In the following chapters, I will try to include more humor and references. This Chapter was the beginning to set the story, thus not many opportunities to be comedic. Name the two references in this Chapter, and receive a cookie! HINTS: God's Mighty Blowjobs isn't an actual reference, just a joke, and Characters are/can be references(easy enough, right?).
