Pick Your Poison

Tirek was defeated, again. Defeated by a bunch of stupid little ponies. They had taken every ounce of his strength away with “ the power of friendship”. He, Lord Tirek, would not respect them for it either. Had It been Discord, maybe.

No, Discord would never have his respect either. That stupid pony Fluttershy had ruined the former lord of chaos. Ruined with false promises of friendship. New Discord had been reduced to a mere ponies pet. Discord hadn’t even tried to fight him.

A poison, that’s what friendship was. Friendship was a poison that ponies used to trick and and enslave other beings. And yet, it gave them so much power beyond that. Not just power over others, but power akin to magic. A source of power that he seemingly couldn’t affect.

How could friendship, of all the asinine things, translate as a tangible force? Tirek had gone down this path of thought before, and as always came to the same dead end. He sighed and shifted in the sandy pit of his prison. He was weak with out his powers. Today though, he could barely stand.

Tartarus, contrary to what some would expect, was a very cold dank place. Even wrapped in his cloak and curled up Tirek had lost feeling in his hands and feet. Being away from the sun so long the former lord had lost track of time. After his last defeat it was difficult not to let the mind wander. It was easy to forget where he was, to pretend he had hope.

No, he had to keep moving. Tirek would not let this be his fate, he would be free. He would escape again! He shook his head trying to stay awake. Tirek freed first one then the other of his withered clawed hands from the confines of the cloak.

Reaching out a short ways from where he lay he began, albeit feebly, to claw into the cold wet sand. It was slow and laborious but it was better than nothing at all. Tirek’s hands ached fiercely in protest. He was was glad, almost happy, there was pain reminding him he was still alive. He would have revenge.

For what seemed like ages he dug. The ache had spread and intern become searing torrents of pain. Tirek didn’t care anymore. It just meant he was here, in Tartarus, and he was going to escape. Not become lost and die in a dream.

Tirek had hope. He had some life left to live. LORD TIREK would rise to power again! He smiled at this thought. Yes, he would have power again...and this time NO mistakes!

There was a sizable amount of sand displaced by the digging, but little downward progress. There were stones mixed with the sand now. Jagged shards of shiny black stone that cut and bloodied Tirek’s hands. Tirek frantically clawed at the growing mess. The rocks and freezing damp sand cemented in place.

With one last surge of desperation Tirek latched his bloodied sore claws into one of the larger rocks in his way of freedom and tugged with every ounce of energy left. It very suddenly came loose sending the old demon tumbling back. Tirek did not move. Still clutching tightly to the offending stone he passed out from exhaustion. This little triumph would have to wait.

Tirek awoke still clinging to the stone as if for dear life. Had he done it? Was there a chance of digging through? He discarded of the rock and went to examine the hole in the floor. Bedrock, a solid floor of bedrock is what greeted Tirek’s eyes.

He threw back his head and howled in rage. He cursed the Mane Six, the celestial sisters, Discord, all of pony kind, and above all else friendship. He was tired weak, and now possibly grievously injured. He was through with it, he just wanted out. For the first time in eons Tirek wept in grief.

Once again he wrapped himself in the cloak, huddling in a dark corner, trying to forget where he was. In his mind it was hopeless, beyond hopeless. Maybe being lost to this world wouldn’t be so bad. Just to be somewhere not dark and damp. Somewhere free from this oppressive cold.

Slowly Tirek let his weary mind wander as he stared blankly at his surroundings.
Rocks, sand, more rocks and not a soul to speak to. How dull he mused.Is this how it’s going to be? The rest of eternity alone,with out so much a single visitor to share the boredom with?

The centaur let his fogged vision refocus again, near the rock he had thrown earlier. Next to it was...a doll. A small fillies doll. Just sitting on the ground innocently. It was yellow, with brown button eyes and black yarn hair.

Tirek stood, shakily, and approached the doll. He stared at the doll, and it stared at him. Mocking him,daring him to do something. Daring him to try to escape he thought. For lack of any better ideas he stooped over and picked up the doll.

The doll stared back from dusty button eyes. Tirek hated it already. With a renewed wave of anger he threw the doll away, trampled it, strangled it, screamed, cursed,and in short abused it any way he knew or his frail form would allow. He hated Equestria, ponies, anything even remotely freindshipy, especially the doll.
Oh how he hated it.

Soon though his feebleness came back with a vengeance. Tirek’s muscles gave out and he was forced to sprawl on wet sand again. The doll still in his grasp. “You started this, you and your stupid friendship...” Tirek hissed, “Stupid pony.” The doll just stared back.

“When I am free...I’ll make you pay for this. Discord will pay for this. He betrayed the ponies, and they still forgave him. Stupid Discord is free. Free only because he...has friends.” Tirek choked on the last two words, unable to talk over the bitterness rising in his stomach.

For the second time that ‘day’ he was crying. Discord,unlike himself,was free. And, as much as Tirek hated it, he was free because of FREINDSHIP. Tirek, down here in Tartarus was alone...except for the doll. Now he felt really awful.

The one being who kept his company, and he had hurt it. Tirek didn’t care anymore that it was ‘just a doll’. If friendship was the way to freedom he would take it. Tirek would prove he could do better.This was his chance,and it was the only one he had.