Chapters The Hunter and The Hunted
Episode One
'The Red Ball'
"Pinkie, do you have a ball I could borrow?" Twilight hesitantly asked the pink party pony. Pinkie darted towards a hole in the nearest tree a reached in, pulling out a colorful red chew ball for a dog.
"I have balls scattered all over Ponyville, incase of a ball emergency!" she laughed as Twilight magically levitated the ball over to herself.
The large, three headed dog, Cerberus had gotten out of his post at the Gates of Tartarus, and since Future Twilight had come to warn her of something very bad happening on Tuesday, it was her duty to bring him back.
Twilight still had no idea how far the Gates of Tartarus were, she only knew that they were up north, but they couldn't be as that far, could they? There could also be an epic pony war at stake on Tuesday, but the gates containing all the most evil of demons was being left unguarded, so Twilight really didn't have a choice.
"I'll be back after I return Cerberus to the Gates of Tartarus!" She said, galloping of into the outskirts of Ponyville, towards the Everfree Forest. She all on her own, besides the dog, which towered over her. If anything counted as a threat, she was sure Cerberus would take them out.
After all, it was his job to protect the world from evil, no matter how big and ferocious he was. This was going to be a piece of cake, and by the time Twilight had reached the Everfree, Cerberus started calming down and lightening up around ponies. He seemed pretty angry when he arrived in Ponyville, which was a mystery.
"What got you into such a big fuss, Cerberus?" she asked. She knew that he could understand her, but him still being a dog, he could only communicate like a regular one.
He whimpered, all three of his head did. That couldn't be good, it would have to take something pretty powerful to even nudge this age old beast, let alone scare it away from its home.
As they trekked through the forest, which was easily done because of Cerberus toppling all of the trees over, Twilight was trying to recall if she read any books on the Gates of Tartarus in her vast memory. She was taught how to memorize extreme amounts of data by using magic.
She thought of it as a 'magic storage closet' filled with the most important things any unicorn as high in the royal status as her would have to know. That was why she wasn't too sure if she could pull anything up on the Gates because they were never an important part of her studies.
"Cerberus, slow down!" she said. He took the ball with him and was frantically rolling around, destroying the ecosystem. He was going to be a lot of responsibility that was just bestowed onto Twilight like it was nothing. She stopped for a second to get a bit of self confidence back into herself.
She hadn't had a pet before her owl, but that was nothing like this. The only sense she could feel was a sense of dread, not knowing what would happen on this trip, but every pony was counting on her back home. Who knows what would be happening Tuesday morning. Only time would tell the tale.
Cerberus stopped to examine the magical mare.
"Cerberus, what's wrong?"
He barked loudly and it made the ground shake.
Then, Twilight found something in her vast mind on Cerberus. A key tip to having your own guardian of the underworld, and something that would help Twilight, but at the same time, lower the standards of an easy trip by a million.
"If Cerberus is extracted from his post at the Gates of Tartarus, his immortality is relinquished and his size is reduced drastically if he is away for more than fifteen days."
"Fifteen days?" Twilight gulped ferociously. A panic overtook her, but she was able to relax before totally loosing her cool. Cerberus wasn't shrinking, which means he could have only been gone for for a few hours, she was jumping to conclusions to fast.
Cerberus lied down in front of her and stuck his middle head out and dragged his large tongue across her just like the manticore did wild Fluttershy. Twilight thought of it as an act of compassion, but instead, it was to get her attention.
Twilight examined the large dog and noticed that the collars on the left and right heads had something lodged in between them. One had a scroll, but it was to hard to notice from a distance, which is why only Twilight could see it when she got close enough. The other had a quill and a small enclosed vial of what appeared to be ink.
She levitated the scroll over to her and opened it up.
Thy dearest reader,
Thus have partaken in the retrieval of the Guardian of The Gates of Tartarus.
Please return thy beast to his post be'ith any time, safely. This pact must be signed under oath that thy reader may not abandon Cerberus in case of his shrinkage or mortality.
It is of absolute importance that my pet be returned home to his post. I'm sure thy reader will understand. Please sign below.
Discord, The Spirit and Lord of Chaos
So this was Discord's... Dog? Twilight was having some second thoughts on this again and had to analyze the outcomes. First off, the date on the scroll was over a thousand years ago, so it must have counted as a failsafe in case of this ever happening.
Secondly, Discord was is stone, so he wouldn't be a problem, and Cerberus needed to protect the world from monsters. Even if it sounded like it was coming from a filly's bedtime story. That would be one dark and depressing bedtime story, but she would digress.
All things pointed to her signing that pact, and it was a pretty straight forward message; don't leave him alone and bring him back home.
She grabbed the quill and ink and signed her name.
She would soon regret that after she saw the scroll roll up and disappear out of thin air. The ground started to shake... And was it just her, or did Cerberus seem to be getting a little thinner?
The Hunter and The Hunted
Cerberus's body shook quickly,so fast that it seemed to leave a fuzzy outline around him. He started gently lowering down from twenty feet, to fifteen, to ten, then to about Twilight's height, and then to a little bigger than Winona.
The Gates of Tartarus, one small unicorn, and a pup of the most feared canine who ever existed, rendered useless.
"This is not good," Twilight shook her head, and the pup looked up to her in confusion. The entire thing was seemingly a waste of time and the most reasonable thing t do would go back to Ponyville and get some help.
Twilight started trotting back towards home, but was stopped in her tracks within a few more steps. First, there was a feeling that appeared in the back of her mind, and suddenly, a tidal wave of pain quickly overtook her. It was one of the most excruciating feelings she had ever felt.
She turned back to see Cerberus sitting in the same spot he was and then it hit her, the pact. She was not allowed to let Cerberus think Twilight was abandoning him... Or else.
"Cerberus!" she chocked out, "... I'm not going anywhere!"
The grip released from her.
After the feeling of pain subsided, she felt as if her being, her feelings, her own self merging with Cerberus. They were becoming one with each other and Twilight could read his mind as if it was being translated for here.
"Please, don't leave me," he said. Twilight's heart broke in her chest. It was a terrifyingly beautiful scene in the Everfree.
The bond had finally been sealed, Twilight could communicate with the dog telepathically, but it only made her realize even more that this was going to be dangerous, otherwise it wouldn't take this much time preparing.
"So... Now what? Do you know the exact way? What are we going up against?" Twilight asked.
"I know the way, but it is not an easy path. It will test out your strengths, weaknesses, your faith in yourself, your fear... I am truly sorry about this, but it is the only way back."
"What made you so scared to have come running a trip of fifteen days all the way here?" Twilight pondered the pup as she started following the stumpy legged black dog.
"I... I can't rightfully remember... All I know is that I started running, and I went blank. Then I snapped back to it when you wagged the ball in my face. It must have brought me out of a trance. I would like to thank you for that."
Twilight agreed, the only thing she was truly worried about would be Ponyville and the next Tuesday morning. What happens if she got back and it was all just... Gone? How could she live with herself? Her face spoke for her feelings as Cerberus noticed.
"Listen, if this is a little to much, we can slow down and take a break," he said.
"No, it's just that if I looked at this from third person, I would have thought that I would go crazy if I figured out time travel was real, I could talk to dogs, and I would be risking my life over the possible destruction of Ponyville to deliver a dog back to the Gates of Tartarus."
Cerberus looked at her in confusion.
"What I mean is, normally, I would be freaking out! But I'm not, which startles me a bit. I guess that if I just stay calm, I would be able to take it down easier, and who knows, maybe this trip will be easy. How will I get back?"
"I know what you mean, uh... I'm sorry, but I don't even think I have properly got your name?"
"Twilight Sparkle."
"Well, Twilight, I'm sure we will find a way to get you back. Maybe my boss will help you."
"Boss?" Twilight asked.
"Maybe you have heard of him. We don't go by his real name, he does't like it, but if you are able to get on his good side, amazingly he can be pretty generous!" he replied.
"I hope so, but hope is the only branch I'm holding onto right now."
The Hunter and The Hunted
They traveled down through the forest, Cerberus leading the way by only a few inches to the left of Twilight. She looked at their surroundings, not having been this deep into the forest for a long time. Even Zecora didn't like to travel this far from her small hut. Time was passing by very slowly, and Cerberus hadn't spoken in twenty minutes. Maybe if she talked to him and got to know him better, it would make the trip a bit smoother.
What in Equestria could she ask him?
"So Cerberus, how's your life back at the Gates?"
His ears pricked up and he communicated, "It's okay, I guess. It's not really a walk in the park, but it's better than being locked up in there yourself."
"You were locked in the Gates of Tartarus?" Twilight asked, hearing this information for the first time.
"Yes, around seven hundred years ago. They chose me because I was the baddest of the bad the most loyal of the loyal."
"Even more loyal than Dash?" Twilight thought to herself.
"Who's Dash?" he asked. Twilight forgot that they could hear each other's thoughts.
"Rainbow Dash is one of my friends back home in Ponyville. She is one of the Elements of Harmony, Loyalty. Along with my other four friends, we make up the circle."
"Elements? I remember when Celestia made those things. I was just a pup, smaller than I am now. There was a big debate between the Council of Darkness in Tartarus, Discord was the boss then. He was a lot more grumpy after being imprisoned in stone," Cerberus started.
"Wait, the books say that Discord was frozen in stone in the Royal Gardens, never to be touched!" Twilight butted in.
"Who told you that? That's probably just a cover up story. The stone statue could still communicate with us telepathically like you and I are doing. We... They were debating over Discord's plans to return to Equestria when his imprisonment spell was finally broken. I was in the corner listening."
"You must have the memory of Star Swirl!" she said.
"Maybe," he said, "but anyways, things didn't go to well for Discord as you can see. He was a bit too... ambiguous."
They walked on for another few miles in silence, they were getting to the end of the Everfree, up towards the Grand Bridge of Bail-oh. It crossed over the Fall River, filled with the leaves of the Running of the Leaves celebrations. It was a six hundred foot drop. Over the years, the bridge has seen it's time, now it was a direct version of what it used to be in the beginning of the New Celestial Age.
"Be careful..." Cerberus hushed.
"I know, just watch your footing, if you fall, I fall with you."
"You don't sound happy about that," he smirked.
The bridge was ragged, destroyed, and rickety.
"I remember when they built this, to unite the Northern and Southern Equestrian Borders. Equestria was a nation divided. We don't really talk about those times back at Tartarus," the dog sighed.
"Based on you stories," Twilight started, nearing the edge of the bridge, "the creatures in Tartarus seem to be very intelligent."
"Well, that is because we are! Tartarus isn't just monsters, we have ponies as well. Don't think of Tartarus as a prison, but more like a city. A city filled with various types of personalities and skills, most used for evil, but we do have some ponies that have gotten lost on their way."
"That can't be good."
Cerberus started walking to the end and made it across with ease. The trip was going to take a toll on him just as much as Twilight.
"So, Twilight, I-"
Twilight was gone, and there was a hole in the bridge the size of a pony to fit through, or fall through.
Panic hit him in the face like a bucket of cold water as he raced over, but when he looked in, Twilight was nowhere to be seen, which would surely mean she fell down to the bottom of the ravine.
Cerberus, still being a dog, was lost without an owner, and he sat down next to the hole in disbelief. She was gone.
"No, no, no, no, no."
Suddenly, a sound pounded against his eardrums, it was his name bing called, and it was Twilight. His tail began to wag as he stuck his heads in the hole, only to notice that Twilight had fallen through, but had caught onto the ledge of rocks underneath the bridge itself. all she needed to do was shimmy across and pull herself up, which Cerberus helped with.
"I'm sorry if I scared you, Cerberus, I wasn't looking where I was going, it was irony at best."
He couldn't believe what he was hearing. Twilight Sparkle, who had just fallen through a bridge and almost died at the bottom of a six hundred foot drop, was apologizing to him. She really must care for him and his tail wagged harder.
"Don't, Twilight, it was my fault. Let's see if we can keep going with the least interruption. It's only mid afternoon, it wont be dark for hours."
Twilight smiled. It seemed like this was going to go a little more smoothly, all it took was a bit of appreciation.
The Hunter and The Hunted
"I was young, my father and mother wanted me to study at the Canterlot Academy, so I studied hard. Very hard, harder than most ponies would tend to even think of, which was the reason I was alienated from the other foals."
Only a few more hills and they would reach Las Pegasus.
"Do you blame your parents for not having any friends?" Cerberus' middle head asked.
"That's a tough question..." her head bowed, sweat dripping off her nose. Twilight wasn't comfortable talking about her past, but she felt like as if something was telling her to spill her guts.
"It's okay if you don't want to talk about if, I could just read your thoughts if I tried hard enough," he smiled.
"No, no. I don't blame my parents, but they are one of the reasons. I blame myself more than anybody. I should have been more outgoing, but when I look back, I never would have met my friends in Ponyville if I never tried."
"Time sure does have strange tales to tell. The only way to fix something is with something stupid like time travel!"
"Stupid? How?"
"Never mind, I just believe that time travel can be used only when it is a last resort, and if your trying to actually stay back in time, like forever, that takes masters."
"But what about the ones in the Canterlot Archives?" she asked.
"Well, I'm sure if they have some there, then they can only send you back in time for a few moments at best."
"That explains future Twilight coming and visiting me," she said.
"You were talking about your foalhood?"
"Ah yes, well, I was accepted obviously. I didn't see my parents after that, but all I needed was my brother, or that's what I told myself to help me sleep at night. I always missed them, but I used my studies to cover the feelings up. I loved... love my brother, but we started growing farther apart.'
Cerberus took in a deep breath as he trucked up the hill that should be looking over L.P.
"You seemed to be very lonely. Why didn't you find yourself a coltfriend?"
"I didn't see the point in taking any serious relationship to a farther level than just friends, which I didn't have many of. It would have taken me away from my studies," she huffed up the hill, noticing Cerberus at a halt on the over looking hill.
She looked over the mound of hill made of sand and L.P. was situated beyond a few more dunes. The colourful buildings and houses were shining in the hot sun, which was lowering. The temperature was going to drop soon and the desert creatures were going to start leaving their burrows, hungry.
"The journey is going to be a lot harder if we don't have protection," Twilight said, getting an idea.
"What did you have in mind?"
"We find a body guard, or better yet, two, but just somepony to help out."
"I suppose, but who would take a job going to Tartarus?" Cerberus asked.
"Trust me, you can find anypony to do an job in Las Pegasus."
They trekked up to the gates on the outskirts of the city, there was a huge line stretching for hundreds of feet, the only thing to do was wait until the line shortened. The line finally started to physically move when the sun was down, night had settled in, and there were strange noises coming from the dunes.
"If we wait out here any longer, we are going to be done for," Cerberus said.
"Please, I'm pretty sure the guards wouldn't let anything happen to its patrons."
A few moments later, the gates opened and a few gryphons were dragging out a colt in a sack, blind folded and gagged, and took him over one of the dunes. They waited, and the gryphons came back without the colt.
"Never mind," Twilight said.
"We're gonna' die out here," he said back, "we need to find another way in, do you know any other way?"
Twilight though for a moment. She did know one way, but the odds were crazy off. They had a better chance getting killed out there, then they did where Twilight was thinking.
"I do know one way, every city has a sewage entrance."
The Hunter and The Hunted
"Twilight, we need to hurry, if they catch us, our journey will end."
"I'm trying, I'm just so thirsty, once we get in, we need to get a glass of water somewhere."
"If we get in."
Twilight used her magic to unlock the lock to the sewer gate and they entered, but with no hurry, they didn't exactly want to go in that way. The sewers in Las Pegasus was not just a dump, but also a pest infested system of catacombs. Only the brave and bold of creatures would survive the mutations that lived in there.
"I hope we don't run into any spiders, I'm not a fan of spiders," Cerberus said.
"Don't dogs eat insects? I've seen Applejack's dogs eating flies and stuff..." Twilight started, but was interrupted by Cerberus.
"The only time dogs and cats eat insects is because of the annoyance they cause us, they taste horrible, and yes, I'm terrified by spiders."
"Well, I wouldn't get our hopes up, this place is crawling with them... Or so I heard, I haven't traveled to Las Pegasus before, but I have read all about it," she said as she illuminated the tight space as they trotted down the hall.
"You must read a lot, how much do you think you actually have learned from books?"
"All together?"
"All together."
"A majority of my knowledge comes from my learnings from the academy, but I have read my number of books over the course of my life," she said, her hoofs splashing in the mucky water that was traveling the opposite way of where they were going.
"An how many books have you read?"
"Around six hundred," she returned.
"Your entire life?"
"No, since seven weeks ago," she smiled as Cerberus laughed, spitting out a mouthful of the water that he scooped up. His faces where about at ground level, so he tried not to get any diseases or something worse every time he tried to take a breath.
Suddenly, a shadow and a splash came out of nowhere down the hall, causing Cerberus to jump onto Twilight's back. They both paused in fear and relaxed a few moments later when nothing happened.
"Hey, this is pretty comfy!" he said, stretching out on Twilight's back.
She didn't argue with him since he was such a small dog and it multiplied their speed.
"I would be more worried about what made that noise, I'm gonna' go investigate around the corner."
Cerberus was already snuggled into Twilight's back fur so he didn't have much of a choice anyways. Twilight expected to turn the dark corner to find a spider, but what she found was only semi correct to what she thought.
It was a spider, but it was much larger than the small ones she would step on in her treehouse library. It was the size of Cerberus and when it noticed her, it began a full attack on them both, with it's fangs dripping.
A quick spell detained and shocked the spider, sending it hurdling across the lengthy hallways, and on it's back where it seemingly died as it went limp with a thud.
"See why I hate spiders?" Cerberus sarcastically asked.
"We should keep moving before anymore could show up. There must be a nest down here, and I think that was an Equestrian Desert Spider."
"Equestrian Desert Spider? More like Ed's. Short, sweet, and to the point," Cerberus pointed out, hopping off Twilight's back and prodding the dead spider with his paw.
"Ed's? What ever, we need to make our way out before more show up, we're in their territory now."
"Listen, Twilight, if I start freaking out if we do run into anymore spiders, please don't tell anyone about it, it would kinda' ruin my reputation back at Tartarus."
"Speaking of that, do you have any friends in Tartarus?" Twilight asked, making her way through the labyrinth.
"Of course, Discord, who owns me, the other guardians, Basilisk, and others."
"You're friends with Discord? He is the definition of chaos and evil, how could you like that?"
"He's... was nice to me, but you are right, he started going into a weird state of mind. He wanted to rule the entire world, outside of Tartarus," he said, hopping back on Twilight's back.
She agreed.
The labyrinth was seemingly endless, but in the depressing atmosphere of darkness came a beautiful assortment of lights from the dazzling city. She galloped, Cerberus holding onto her back while being bounced around in all directions, until she came up to a locked gate leading into the drainage building in the center of the city, where a wide window could be seen on the other end.
The city was alive and was showing its colors and assortments of casino and bar lights. Twilight magically broke the lock on the barred door and made sure no one was in the room with them.
They exited the building and where now able to free roam the city, but first they would want to get some ice cold water. They started walking towards the closest casino.
"So, do you think we are still going to need some protection?" Twilight asked.
"Yeah, we are."
They entered, the place was much cooler. They asked for two glasses... or one glass and one bowl.
"We don't serve dogs here," the server said.
"But he's technically not a dog, so I think the rules don't apply here," Twilight corrected him.
" We don't serve three headed freaks either."
"Who are you calling a freak?" Cerberus yelled, but only Twilight could here his voice, the rest heard angry barks.
"Guards, please escort these 'patrons' out of here, have them be dealt with; severely."
The guards, who technically were armed bouncers, shifted their lever action repeaters to their fronts, and pushed them out the front door. Twilight and Cerberus were rebellions at first, but a quick bang on the head rendered them useless, and were being stuffed into bags themselves, with ropes tied around their legs.
The Hunter and The Hunted
Twilight woke up, a strange haze of darkness overtook her, but the glow of lights could be seen shining through the threads of the bag she was in. She could feel the terrain change from concrete of the road, then to cobblestone of the entrance gates, and finally sand, in a matter of minutes.
She started shifting around but her legs were tied and when she tied to use her magic, she would be refused by a massive headache. After what felt for miles, she was tossed out of the bag.
She was met with the end of a hoof operated rifle in the face and an itchy trigger 'finger' of a bouncer behind it.
"Listen, we just wanted some water, we didn't mean any trouble," she started.
"Orders are orders, we don't make them, we just follow them."
"So you're gonna' shoot us over water?" She asked, trying get out of the way of the line of fire.
"No, try not to think of it like that, but what if we do let you go, and we get in trouble for not following orders, then you go free, and we end up in your position!"
Cerberus could be heard around one of the dunes behind the bouncer and by guess, he was dealing with the same situation, but the bouncer he was dealing with wouldn't start up a conversation with a dog.
What a pickle.
Twilight expected to hear a gunshot go off around the sand dune, but when nothing was heard, Twilight's bouncer started getting a little worried by not getting a response.
"Hey! You okay?"
Suddenly, a gunshot did ring out, but not from either of the bouncers. This one came from over the dune behind Twilight, and the bullet penetrated the rope around her legs, just missing her skin, and setting her free.
"What? That's impossible. Nopony could pull of a shot that accurate," she thought as she scuttled around the dune the shot came from, having nowhere else to hide.
A figure slid down the dune, causing a trail of dust to pick itself up into the air and blind the armed thug. He shot randomly into the cloudy environment, but was not able to hit anything but the ground as he was swiped up, thrown down, and have his for leg be twisted and snapping at the front joint.
He yelped out in pain, but was smacked unconscious by the butt of a different rifle.
Twilight was approached by the shady figure as the cloud died down, it was wrapped in a dark red cloak that blended in with the desert sand. It examined her and spoke.
"You look like you needed a hoof."
It was a female, an earth pony, her eyes light blue, her mane and tail a dark blue, and a cutie mark with a red crosshair and circle. A scoped rifle was slung across her back.
"Hawk, come on over here, and bring that dog I heard!" She called out.
A colt's voice was heard over the dune.
"This thing's got three heads, Bull!"
"What? Who are you ponies?" Twilight asked, getting up.
The cloaked pony turned around, "We're the ponies that just saved your life, my friend, I think the least you could do is say thank you."
"I'm sorry, but why did you save us?"
"Well, me and Hawk, who's comin' around the corner right now, were on our way from Phillydelphia when we heard you guy's over the dunes. I hope we made the right choice and din't hurt the wrong ponies... You were the victims, correct?" Bull asked.
"Wha... Yes, we were the victims, and thank you, but I still have a few questions..."
"Shoot away."
"Who are you?"
"I'm Bull's Eye, my friends call me Bull."
Hawk came around the corner, "More like bull sh-"
"Hey, no cussin' in front of ponies who we just saved!" Bull snapped a look at Hawk, who was a green pony with yellow eyes and a yellow mane. His cutie mark was showing from his cloak, another crosshair and circle, red.
Twilight was confused for a moment.
"Wait, your cutie marks are the same, how is that possible?"
I was technically impossible for a cutie mark to be the same unless twins were involved, but they looked nothing alike.
"Oh, these are not our real cutie marks, they are symbols. We had them replace our cutie marks for the things we really wanted to be, marksponies," Bull explained.
Cerberus came around with Hawk as well.
"This is just dandy, this colt come rolling in and shoots a guard or whatever he was right in the chest!'
"He shot too? I only heard one shot," Twilight said.
"Uh, who are you talking to there, my unicorn?" Hawk asked.
Twilight remembered that all they could hear were barks. It would take way too long to explain why she wasn't a cray pony talking to dogs, so they head to find a place to settle down.
"Never mind. My name is Twilight Sparkle, and I'm here to bring this dog to a certain place far away. I'm from Ponyville, but it's my mission to get him there. I can tell you the rest if you have a place to go."
"Ya, we can get a hotel room, but it will be the last of our bits, we are running short on cash," Bull said.
"I can see that you have met my friend Bull's Eye, but I haven't properly introduced myself. I'm Tomahawk, but my friends call me Hawk for short. I'm a pegasus if you haven't been able to tell under my cloak. We're traveling mercenaries, but friendly ones, so don't worry about us robbing and shooting you."
Bull elbowed Hawk in the chest and motioned them all to come back to the city.
"Need anything else before we get a room?" Hawk asked.
"Just some water, please."
The Hunter and The Hunted
The room was much larger then expected and had a celestial theme that could be easily predicted when they opened the door. They didn't exactly fit with the white tiles and blue bedsheets, but they were there for only a night.
"So where did you guys say you were heading?" Bull asked, taking off her cloak and sitting down. Hawk did the same and shifted towards the window, spreading his wings, cracking the bones in them.
Twilight was hesitant at first, but how else could she say it. It might just be better to tell them that they were going and hope for the best, but when she wanted to say 'Tartarus', something else came out your mouth.
"We are going to go as far as Neighpolis, which is around our destination," she guessed, which was probably where the Gates were if it was that long of a journey.
"That's a lengthy distance. You said you're from Ponyville? Well, you probably have a twelve day journey ahead of you, minimum," Hawk said.
"That's almost at the end of the known world! Why in Equestria would you want to take a dog there?" Bull asked.
"Twilight, just let me talk to them, allow me to bond minds and I'll tell them about it," Cerberus said, who was pattering into the room.
"Fine."
"You're talking to yourself again, Twilight Sparkle. Are you okay in the head?" Hawk said.
"Mind your manners, Hawk!" Bull said, "But in all seriousness, you have been talking to nopony for quiet a while, I'm getting a little nervous."
Twilight just succumbed to the questions she was being thrown at. She took a breath and backed away as Cerberus came in front and closed all six of his eyes.
"This is Cerberus, he's a guardian of the Gates of Tartarus, and I'm supposed to get him back," she said.
Bull's Eye was starting to get a little edgy, but a smile overtook her face as she started to laugh. Hawk did the same thing as Cerberus readied his power to connect the links between their minds. His eyes opened and tow beams of light penetrated both their foreheads.
Twilight thought it was one of the most amazing things she had ever seen and when the link was finished, the duo mercenaries stopped their laughing, and looked at Twilight with a serious face. Their eyes were sunken in, like they were sleep deprived for a few days, then they collapsed onto the bed.
"Cerberus, what did you do to them?" Twilight asked.
"Relax, I established a link between them, but their will power wasn't exactly 'strong' enough to accept my 'invitation'. They just passed out and should be able to hear me when they wake up."
"When will they?"
"A few minutes, their minds are on idle now, and are in a magically induced micro coma," he explained.
"When did you become the scientist, Cerberus?"
"Actually, I have no idea what I'm saying, I was just told that's what happens when I was training to be a guardian."
Twilight and Cerberus waited until the pair woke up from their sleep, their sunken eyes vanished, and they looked good as new.
Hawk was the first to speak, "What happened? I feel like someone bashed my head in..."
Twilight began to talk, but Cerberus cut her off, "Now you can hear me!"
Hawk jumped at deep voice of Cerberus, he looked around the room to find the source of the voice, but couldn't. It felt as if the voice was in his head, like a living conscience.
"Bull, do you hear that?"
"I sure do!"
"Listen, you two. My name is Cerberus, everything Twilight told you is correct, I am a guardian from Tartarus, and I needed help getting back home. As you can see, I'm basically a dog in this form, but I'm much taller when I have all my powers. We came in search of protection. That is where you come in."
"Wait a sec, Cerberus, we never agreed that we would choose them," Twilight said.
"Twilight, these guys could shoot a fly out of the air, you say how Bull shot that rope off your legs. They're the perfect body guards, and they said they weren't heading anywhere in particular, they could be up for hire!" Cerberus explained.
"You need us?" Bull asked.
It was now that Bull started making decisions for the both her and Hawk.
Cerberus stepped in the conversation first, he wanted something, and he was going to get it one way or another.
"You say you are not on any specific job?" he asked.
"Yes, at the moment."
"So, you are available for hire?"
"Yes, but under these circumstances, I don't think we have an agreement," Bull was being pushed away from the idea of going to the kingdom of evil.
"If we are lucky, it should be a straight walk forward with only minor close encounters of obstacles."
"When you say obstacles, what do you mean. That is what I'm most concerned of," she returned.
"Your weapons will be used on this trip, I assure you, but I would not want to make you think that it is any different then being an escort mission," Cerberus said.
"But it is more than that, Cerberus. We regularly go on escort missions, but only to a few town over. You guys are talking about a twelve day trip, maybe even two weeks! I don't know how you will be able to pay us for this. I'm sorry, but we can't do this," she said.
"You've made up your mind?" Cerberus asked.
She had and it would take something big to change it. Cerberus still had one trick up his sleeve.
"What if... I told you I can repay you, when we get there."
Bull's ears pricked up.
"How much?"
"As much as you want," he returned.
"I don't know, I can think of quite a lot."
"You'll get it."
"What will we be up against?"
"Monsters, things that go bump in the night, bounty hunters looking for me," Cerberus said.
"Bounty hunters? What does he mean? " Twilight thought. She should have realized it sooner, that with all the commotion Cerberus caused throughout the cities he ran through, they must have posted some posters with a bounty for the three headed demon dog.
"I hate bounty hunters," Hawk said from across the room.
"So, all the untold riches you could desire for an escort mission. Sounds like a good deal to me..." Cerberus trailed off.
Bull went over to Hawk for a few moments and whispered quietly to each other. Twilight prayed to Celestia for a yes, but Cerberus had a straight face, or faces.
Bull came back, a nervous smile splashed on her face.
"Okay. We'll leave tomorrow morning, I have a map." she pulled it out, "We're gonna' have to cross the rest of the desert, which is twenty miles, which should take us a day at the least if we trot. Then we reach the woods, which should lead us up into the mountains in the Griffon Kingdom. We can get better directions there."
Twilight finally spoke, "Thank you."
"Don't mention it, seriously. I'm having second thoughts on our agreement already, but I think that I should just get some sleep before I go risking my life again," Bull replied.
The Hunter and The Hunted
Episode Two
'Roamers'
The new morning sun beat down on all six heads, but a quick splash of a stolen canteen from the Las Pegasus gift shop and a few pounds of sunflowers and dog food from the market took care of it. Hawk and Bull were up front a few steps further, so Cerberus and Twilight could talk to themselves.
"So, we just follow them?" she asked.
"Yeah, they guard us, we pay them, all's well."
"Wow, I didn't know it worked that way. I thought you would have to do some sort of contact or some ritual," Twilight explained.
Cerberus's middle head laughed at Twilight's gullible gestures.
"Where did you hear that? Not all dark deeds are done in some back water shack with rituals. You Canterlot ponies-"
Twilight stopped him; "Canterlot? I live in Ponyville now, thank you very much."
"Okay, you Ponyville folk rarely ever see any action, besides your run in with Discord," Cerberus said, trying to tease the lavender unicorn.
Twilight was prone to easy agitation when provoked, which only made her all the more gullible.
"Ever since I came there, we have defeated Nightmare Moon, taken out Discord, saved the town from parasprites, and tons of other things. I think all of us down in Ponyville have seen their fair share of despair."
Cerberus slowed down for a moment to think, but then caught up with a new playful comeback.
"What ever happened to Ponyville before you came?"
"That's a good question, but I don't see your point. Explain yourself," she returned as they started climbing over another dune. This must have been the fiftieth one they passed.
"I'm just saying, maybe your the trouble, Twilight," he trailed off.
She chuckled, "Me? I am not trouble, Cerberus. It's trouble that finds me, not the other way around."
"Hopefully, because I don't want to end up dying on my way back home!"
"I don't appreciate you judging me, we have only known each other for such a small time, why don't you tell me more about yourself," she asked, hoping he would agree.
"You already know about me from all those books you read. You probably even know what day I was born, am I right?"
"On the contrary, I don't. Why don't you tell me what the books wouldn't dare tell me."
Cerberus took a breath and looked at the ground, "Sure, why not. What do you want to know?"
"You said that you went to an academy or something to train to be a guardian of Tartarus. What was your life like before that? Where were you born?" Twilight asked.
Hawk looked back, "Hey, keep it up back there!"
"Sorry, we're coming!" Twilight shouted back.
They were a lengthy distance away from them because Twilight had not been paying attention to them. They were two dunes ahead of them, and on the horizon, barley visible, was a tree line, and an enormous mountain range started appearing through the clouds.
"I was born here, in the world you live in now," Cerberus said.
"Here?"
"Yes, my mother was a dog, so was my father."
"But you have three heads, is that a deformity of some sort?" Twilight pondered, but then realized what she had just said, and became embarrassed, her lavender cheeks turning a bright red.
"Don't be afraid to ask, Twilight. No, it is not a deformity, I'm just a normal dog, but I was given these heads when I passed the final test."
"Are they dummies or something?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, are your other two heads alive and have different consciences? I have only seen your middle head the most active. Are there two other of you in there?" Twilight was getting really deep in to her questions.
"No, they don't say much, they bark and stuff, but they don't communicate. My main brain is in the center head, or my head. I don't have control over these other two fella's." he said.
"Okay, tell me about your life," Twilight returned.
"I was born in the the great woods of Neighpolis, which span for hundreds of miles around the center city. I lost my parents after I was old enough to walk around myself by a forest fire. I lived in a den with dozens of other dogs." he said.
"Their is a society of dogs? Like, domesticated dogs?" Twilight asked, astonished by his story.
"Yeah, we are not as technologically advance as you ponies are, but we get by."
"Please go on, would you like some water?" she held out the canteen from around her long neck.
"Yes, please."
She spilled a stream of cool water into his open mouth and a bit more on the top of his middle head.
"So, anyways," he began, "I made my way out of the woods, on the opposite side of the woods from Neighpolis, and too the mountains. I met a dragon there, whom could have eaten me in one bite, but he didn't attack. I entered his cave and he didn't attack."
"Did you befriend this dragon? What was it's name?" Twilight asked.
"His name was Hannibal, but that was not his given name, it was just what ponies called him. He was, more or less, friendly, caring, and supportive. He replaced my father, but not my mother. My mother was replaced by his partner dragon, Pandora. She shared the same motherly feature as mine did."
"I thought that the guardians were supposed to be vicious, evil, and doom brining immortals," Twilight said.
"As did I, but when it was time for me to go and leave my foster dragons, I was ready to take on the world."
"But wh-"
"Twilight, Cerberus, get down here!" a harsh whisper from Bull shot out. They all slid down the dune they where trotting on, and where stuck in between a ravine of sand.
"What is it?" Cerberus asked, panting.
"I think there is something moving towards us, coming down the trench," Hawk said.
They pulled their guns and other weapons and aimed down the trench and a wind blew through it, and then there was silence.
Silence.
Silence.
Then something appeared from the sand in the trench, a spider. A spider like the one Twilight and Cerberus encountered in the Las Pegasus sewer. The two appeared, then five, then a group of seven.
They locked onto their targets and started firing away, hitting two of them, and the yellow sand mixed with the green blood from the venomous arachnid beasts.
"Bull, don't miss that one," Hawk said, flipping a few long bullets into the rifle and sliding the bolt in place.
"I got it!" Bull said over the roar of her rifle.
They wasted no bullets, shot seven rounds, hit seven spiders.
Twilight realized that she put her hoofs over her ears.
The Hunter and The Hunted
"Is it over?" Twilight asked, removing her hoofs from here ears. Cerberus made sure the coast was clear, as did Hawk, and Bull helped Twilight up. Bull was a little nervous because of the fact that Twilight had never been around guns before.
Twilight never felt safe around guns, which was probably why she liked the fact that Canterlot guards only carried spears or swords.
Hawk took out a few vials from one of his small pouches and gently drained the fangs of the mutilated spiders. Hawk signaled that it was okay as he capped the corks on the vials of green liquid and stowed the away.
"These spiders are a pain to deal with, but if we're going all the way to Neighpolis, we are going to find more than just spiders," Cerberus said, kicking over one of the bodies.
They pushed on through the desert, water was running low. They where still a few miles away before they started growing weaker. The desert had a limited number of oases along the edge of the desert that connected to the woods so travelers could fill up their water supply before venturing into the forests.
They stopped by one just as they felt as if they could go no longer.
"So, you where telling me about your life, Cerberus?" Twilight asked.
The Hunter and The Hunted
Chapter 11
Twilight sat down around the edge of the crystal clear pool as she talked with Cerberus, who was lapping up water greedily.
"The two dragons who cared for me raised me like one of their own, they saw no difference between canine and reptile. They received this outlook from their own parents. I was, as you could say, lucky to find them."
"Yeah, Spike is like a little brother to me."
"Yes, but I missed my old family, I longed to be with the others, but I was out of luck on that situation."
Twilight took a long sip of water and pricked up her ears, "But they're thousands of dogs everywhere, aren't you the same?"
"Dogs like the ones you know don't communicate with each other, they just bark and bark. My group developed an actual civilization where we could talk with each other. We are not the same."
He made a thumbless fist with his front paw. A look of sadness over took him and Twilight gave him a belated look of encouragement after a small silence that was only disrupted by the small chatter of Hawk and Bull.
"You guys almost ready to head out? We'll need to travel for another few hours before we can set up camp on the edge of the woods!" Bull asked from across the pool.
"Alright."
Traveling light weight was a good idea, but Twilight couldn't shake the feeling of wanting more supplies for later. They traveled for miles and the same things were happening over and over again. Twilight counted the planets and stars in the sky every twenty minutes, Cerberus repeatedly nipped at his other head's ears, Hawk was sharpening his tomahawks, and Bull was cleaning out the barrel of her rifle.
Hawk undid a few of his sheaths to spread his wings and flap around for a bit. He flew up to the top of a dune and took out a small pair of binoculars. He scanned the tree line for a moment.
"It looks all cle-"
BANG!
A shot ran out and grazed the upper part of his left wing, and he dropped, hitting the soft sand, but tumbled down, holding his hoofs on his pen wound as small amounts of blood spurted out. He yelped in pain as he landed on his gun, bruising his back, and sending it off its sling and away from him, towards Twilight's hoofs.
They all ducked down, and Bull went prone and covered herself in her cloak, blending in.
"Twilight, grab the gun! Get behind the dune!" Bull violently whispered.
"Ah! Bull?" Hawk yelped again.
"Stay down, Tomahawk, I'll wait until he get's closer."
The sound of hoofsteps in the sand became a bit louder as a male voice could be heard, and the sound of a bolt action rifle being cocked. Around the corner came a colt, a rugged one, like one you would find in the slums of Flankfurt. He had a lit cigar on the edge of his mouth, and didn't notice the other ponies except for Bull.
He walked over to his target and knelt down, poking at him with his gun. He pulled out a piece of paper.
"Hawk, isn't it?" he said.
Hawk didn't say anything.
"You have a mighty big bounty on yer head, but where's yer girlfriend?"
Hawk turned and spit in his face, "Up yours, you don't talk about her."
The bounty hunter then started to pound down on Hawk, planning on killing him, but Bull motioned towards Twilight, who was levitating the gun above her head. Twilight had never fired a gun before, but even though she didn't enjoy killing or death, she couldn't stand to see a pony be killed mercilessly.
In a split second, Twilight fired, but missed, and the bullet impacted the sand next to them, which gave Hawk the chance to reach for his tomahawk while the hunter was looking at Twi.
The razor sharp mini hatchet stuck right into the side of the hunters neck, one third of the a way to decapitation. He gurgled and sucked in air with extreme effort, but let out a single sigh and died in the sand, painting it a scarlet red.
Bull got up and took out a few bandages to wrap Hawks wing in. Twilight picked up the sheet of paper that was splattered with drops of blood. The message was clear.
"Hawk... Bull... You are being hunted?"
"... I'm sorry, Twilight. I'm sorry Cerberus. You guys remember when I said that we are mercenaries?"
They nodded.
"Well, we were mercenaries... And we got into some trouble with our Brotherhood of marksponies and they might be a bit ticked off," Bull said.
"But your a mare, how can you be in a brotherhood?"
"That's where the problem comes in. I pretended to be a colt so I could get the education I needed to survive in the real world when Hawk was excepted. I met Hawk while I was training to be a marksmare, and we have been best friends ever since."
"So what now? Cerberus, you, and Hawk are being hunted by bounty hunters? How many hunters are there?" Twilight asked.
"There are eight High Marksponies of the Brotherhood, and they probably sent a few for each of them. I think they have been following us for some time, we should be heading out now... Try not to think of it, we put you, our clients, in danger, and we are going to get you to Tartarus," Hawk returned, getting himself up.
"Here's your gun, Hawk."
"Thanks, Twi. Let's practice your shot once we get out of the desert, eh?" he said and Twilight blushed.
She glanced at Hawk's wound, "We should camp here until Hawk feels better in the morning."
Cerberus was going to object to the thought of waiting another minute in the desert after the encounters, but Bull interrupted, "I think you may be right, Twilight."
Cerberus kept to himself.
Time passed like hay in a hand basket and there was no fire, only Twilight's horn that was glowing as a torch. Bull and Hawk split their many robes and used them as sleeping blankets to lie on.
Hawk and Cerberus were both asleep, but Twilight, who was lying next to Bull's Eye, and Bull herself, were both awake.
"Bull's Eye?"
"Yeah?"
"What are we looking at in terms of threats?"
"What do you mean?"
"How much danger are we in, not counting Cerberus' bounty hunters, if there are any..."
"Twilight, we are taking you both to Hell. It's riches must be untold of and we have promised to take you there. We will keep our clients safe, it is our guarantee."
Twilight huffed.
"I want to believe, but I can't... yet. Maybe I just need to read a book. This is the longest I have gone without one."
"By the way, how exactly did you get stuck with Cerberus?"
Twilight had forgotten all about Ponyville succumbing to the terrible event that was going to happen Tuesday morning. A rush of emotions came to her like a flood and she tried to hold back tears she didn't even know were coming. What if Future Twilight was wrong, maybe they were already dead. Twilight closed her eyes, she wasn't going to tell Bull the truth yet, but she didn't want a friendship to be built on a lie.
"I guess I was just... that pony at that place at the wrong time," Twilight nervously said.
"I know that feeling. The Brotherhood would always test their students by putting them in those kinds of situations without them knowing."
"How was it in the Brotherhood?"
"Well, it wasn't as brotherly as I expected..."
"Go on, please," Twilight curiously said.
The Hunter and The Hunted
"Hawk told me never to tell anypony... but you seem trust worthy enough, are you sure you want to hear this? It's a long story," Bull said, her eyes closed as she lay flat on he back, looking up at the stars.
"I won't tell a soul," Twilight returned.
"Okay. Back when I was a little filly, my dad had boughten me a single arrow and he told me to make a bow out of a flexible wood and a string. He was an expert markscolt himself, so I guessed he just wanted his little girl to follow in his footsteps. I grew up in Germaneigh, so the trees grew short and flexible all year 'round."
"I've never been to Germaneigh before."
"It's a wonderful place, very peaceful and quiet. Anyways, I was given only one arrow because my dad told me that you must always make the first shot count, there is no second try when you intend to kill something."
Twilight began to tense up a bit after hearing such a dark piece of advice. Bull noticed, but quickly corrected herself.
"He didn't mean killing other ponies, he meant hunting sport."
"Oh, then please continue," Twilight nervously laughed.
"I didn't like the idea of my dad choosing my future for me, but I went along with it. I was much more soft spoken back then than I am now. One day, my pet cat was out in the front yard of our house, and a dog came up from the woods across the road. He was about twenty yards off. The dog looked a little... unusual. He was swaying from side to side, and started barking wildly when he saw my pet. He began charging at it. Before I had time to react, he was on my feline, tearing it apart, and all I could do was watch. When it had finished, I raised my bow, took my one arrow, and aimed. I released, the arrow shot through the air, and penetrated the dog through the side of the head."
"I'm sorry to hear about your pet..." Twilight trailed off.
"My dad saw what I had done, but even though he was sad about our cat, he was proud of claiming my first kill and living up to his advice. From there, my destiny was set. He worked tirelessly to find me a school or a guild or anything for gifted marksponies, which I proved to him more and more over the years."
"Is that where you found out about the Brotherhood?"
"From a friend."
"I see."
The cold desert wind gusted over them.
"The only way I was going to get the proper education I needed as well as a place who could make me one of the greatest shots in all of the world, and that was the Brotherhood," Bull paused.
"The school or academy was called the Brotherhood?"
"Well, the Brotherhood is like the ruling guild over the academy. It is the prestige honor where only the best of the best go. My dad wanted me to achieve that greatness, but they only excepted male students. When the forms came and the interviews happened, I was told to act like a colt, think like a colt, and basically become a colt."
"Become a colt?"
"No, I am not a colt, I'm a mare. Trust me," Bull laughed, "I had to get into shape, grow muscles, and change my appearance. Luckily, they bought it. It took months of preparation, but I got in, and on the first day, I met that pile of lazy bones sleeping next to your dog."
Tomahawk moved in his sleep. He slightly groaned as he rolled on his bad wing.
Twilight whispered, "When did you tell Hawk that you where a mare?"
"After six years."
"Wow, that must have been a shocker."
"Actually, he said that he had a feeling that I was going to say that," and they both silently laughed.
"As the years went by, I got my education, and I was liable to take the tests that would put me into a position eligible for the Brotherhood. The test directions were easy, I had to beat one of the Brotherhood members in a shooting competition. I beat him easily, and they were happy to take me in. I worked my way up to the ranks and became an honored member."
"That is quite the accomplishment," Twilight added.
"Hawk made his way up to the Brotherhood as well after a few months and we stayed friends."
"But how did they find out that you were a mare?"
"I'm not too sure about that. One day, I just got tip from hawk that they might be on to me and they are going to start an investigation on my case as soon as possible. I wrote a letter to my dad saying that I would soon be figured out and how they would come for him. He moved to Trottingham immediately and I promised I would see him when I got things sorted out. I haven't seen him since. Hawk was a close friend of mine, and he knew that I was a mare all along, but refused to tell the High Marksponies about it, which made him an enemy to the Brotherhood. We both snuck out and we became fugitives."
"But what did you do in the Brotherhood?"
"We were mercenaries. Paid to protect ponies from other ponies, to fight wars that were not even ours," Bull returned.
"They let you kill ponies?"
"Yes, but not... publicly. It was all just black ops, things that went on the down low. If they knew that I was telling you about this, the bounty on my head would go up a million bits," she laughed.
"You're not scared?"
"Of course I am, but I have been running away with Hawk for three months now, and I was sure that our trail had gone cold, but apparently not. I truly am sorry we have got you and a guardian of the Gates of Tartarus into this, but we will keep you safe, and that is all that matters," Bull said.
"I'm worried about you two, don't forget you need to take care of yourselves as well," Twilight's maternal instincts were kicking in. She was remembering how she would tell Spike to be careful. That was some time ago, though.
"I'm gonna' hit the hay, but remember, me and Hawk, we are just roamers, looking for a way to escape. Don't worry about us, we are just dust in the wind." Bull she turned on her side. She was out like a light within minutes.
Twilight turned over and closed her eyes, but instead of seeing darkness, she could only see a scarlet red splashing on a rocky ground.
The Hunter and The Hunted
A bird swooped down from one of the branches of a great oak tree off in the distance, gliding itself through the air like a leaf blowing in the wind, it's read feathers making streaks in the sky. It dove down, spotting two figures walking through the now blazing heat.
Twilight gazed upon it as it swooped only a few meters away from them and finally disappearing of into the horizon. She smiled for a moment, but it evaporated just like the rest of the liquids in the surrounding area. Cerberus had his tongue hanging out of his mouth.
"We need to get some water."
Cerberus looked up to Twilight, "No, really? Dogs can't go far without proper hydration. Please tell me that we are getting closer to the next town, I can't remember if I passed any on the way here."
"I think Las Pegasus is down the road," she licked her dry lips. They had been walking for a few hours and were starting to get tired and the moon was almost creeping around the corner.
"After Las Pegasus, we could take a train to Appleloosa, we are going to have to go that way anyways if we are going to proceed North, a land bridge on the other side of the desert will lead us into the next country. The Gates are that way, correct?" Twilight said, then asked.
"That is one of the few things I can remember. Are you sure they will let dogs on the train?"
Twilight laughed at his question.
"No, I'm serious."
"I know... but it was funny," she giggled.
"Why don't we just tell some stories to make the time go by faster," he suggested.
"Like what?"
"I don't know, you know so much about me from books and all that, but I don't have the slightest idea who you are."
Twilight thought for a moment and tried to think back to the farthest memory she could remember, and with her extreme amounts of matter and space in her smart mind, she could probably think back to the moment she became a conscious equine foal.
"Twilight, I don't need to know that much," he said, reading her mind.
"Okay, I guess I can start at the beginning," she said as she started her story.
