Not Exactly Heroes, Are We?

by AngriestDislestia

What Is Going On?

Tirek's eyelids pulled slowly apart like they were freshly glued together, as his chest rose in deep intake of breathe. The breathe inhaled more plentiful oxygen and much more pleasant smells than Tirek was expecting or remembered, and when his eyes focused, he remembered why; he was in the ruler of Equestria's marecave. Not in a dingy cell of Tartarus. His still tired eyes and mind gazed upon a white figure, who he eventually recognised as Celestia. His sleepy mind wasn't fazed easily and this caused him to gaze thoughtlessly upon her for some moments. He took in her white fur, kaleidoscope main and tail, and cutie mark, which was when he realised he was staring and shook his head in frustration, wishing and waiting upon an awake mind. Rubbing his face, he grunted. He never used to be interested in the time, but now he found himself curious of it. It would be humerous for the Princess to miss her queue for night time. He sniggered once and got up to search for a clock.

Upon inspection, the lengths of this princess mundaneness was almost as long as his; dusty books which she never really found interesting or was going to read and old gifts from people who she no longer knew particularly well. All things that should suposedly be dear to one, but to an immortal...those things just lost their meaning and were about as special the immortal found themself. Not very. Memories were plentiful and too many were bad. She had been so open to him and yet he had not shown her even a small amount of trust. Worse yet, here he was snooping.

Not that he felt bad or was liking the Princess, he had just felt like ruining her sleep. He couldn't find a clock.

Tirek leaned over the Princess, who was slouched against the side of the filly's cot, and stretched his finger to meet her shoulder.

"Excuse me." Tirek cleared his throat and rubbed his hand on her back, trying to shake her slightly. "Your highness" Tirek mocked.

It was at that moment, the Princess made an adorably feminine noise. The one where a female is waking up and they sound slightly startled and annoyed. The one that is almost the same as a cats reaction to being woke up.

"Mm?" The tired mare asked, shakily forcing herself off the floor. Just looking at her made him feel tired.

"Are you aware of the time?" Tirek asked, and soon after he did, he realised he had said something slightly too different from what he meant.

"Mm!?" Celestia's voice pitch rose and she stood on all fours stiffly. "We slept for four hours! Hopefully Luna will have lowered the sun for me."

Darn it. Tirek had not thought of that. Celestia left the sleepy filly safe in her cot and headed swiftly for the exit.

"Hopefully she hasn't" Tirek mumbled underneath his breathe as he seconded the Princess out of the mundane marecave.

"I heard that."

--

Strolling through halls, Celestia noted a lack of pony guards, but if it were night, maybe there were fewer and she showed no signs of concern, which would stop Tirek from noticing anything wrong.

Untill it became obvious that something was wrong.

As they reach ground level, they realised it was still bright outside; understandable only...there was no moon in sight. Maybe Luna, too, had fallen asleep. Celestia shrugged and supposed that she would do both. Trotting hastily to her room, from which she oversaw her kingdom and set the sun, she noticed Tirek in slight puzzlement. She continued to play it cool, but by now she definitely should've come across at least 5 ponies.

"Where are we rushing to?" Tirek queried from behind.

"We're not rushing." Celestia replied firmly. Tirek raised a brow and hand to his chin.

"Where are all your ponies?" Tirek may as well have shot her in the heart. Celestia's eyes filled with sorrow.

"They're not MY ponies, they are their own, and judging by the time, they may be asleep." Celestia's voice became shakey as she reached the doors to her chamber. Judging by the colour scheme and items, Tirek knew where he was.

"Tis your sleeping quarters?" He asked. The question was dismissed with a nod and Celestia rushed to her balcony to look over ponies. As Tirek peered around her room, Celestia stood terrified above her kingdom.

...it looked empty. Abandoned.

What had happened to everypony? Where were they!?!?!?

The look on her face was soon noticed by the centaur and he trotted over.

"Are you struggling to raise the moon?" He asked. Celestia gulped and shook her head.

"Oh no...i um- I just remembered that I left Flurry Heart down in my marecave." She sighed and swiftly lowered her son, making way for the rising of the moon. She then turned to quickly rush back to the filly, in, what she saw as, foalish worrying that she, too, may disappear. But where did u get the idea anypony has disappeared!?! Nopony has disappeared! The hall was now dark and it stopped her. She lit her horn but darkness was a always a deep fear in her, and she was already creeped out enough. She again went back on herself. "Tirek?"

He whacked the air with his hand dismissively.

"No more running around! We were safe down there, she'll be safe down there." Tirek huffed aggressively.

"Who says anypony isn't safe??" Celestia's voice rose in fear. Tirek leaned back with confused expressions.

"Well...its night. I know she's a foal and she needs attention during the day but at night it should be safe to leave her alone in a crib."Tirek looked slightly concerned. "That's all I meant."

Celestia took a deep breathe.

"Oh..." Her panting continued for a while, much to Tireks confusion. What had her so worked up?

"Are you okay?" Tirek was surprised how much it sounded like he cared. No, it was just unusual for the Princess to seem this way. Celestia blinked as she realised her actions. She rose and calmed.

"I'm fine! Running straight after waking up sure isn't a good idea!" She smiled.

"No..." Tirek sceptisized. He should be ten times as tired as her. Celestia gulped, fully aware Tirek didn't fall for her act.

"Well, I suppose we can return to sleep now." Celestia strolled over to her bed and neatly lifted the covers. She climbed in and almost lowered the covers on herself before realising Tirek had no where to sleep. "Oh, sorry." She climbed off her bed and held the covers again. "Have my bed."

Tirek had not been invited on to such a comfortable looking bed in all his life, and fully leapt onto the chance of stealing it from the mare. He did not say thank you, because he didn't want to.

He climbed slowly onto the bed with a heave here and grunt there, but eventually found comfort in a position, then Celestia lowered the covers on him, and although he didn't show it, that was the most pleasant and comforting feeling he'd felt in his life. He had had no mother to tuck him in, nor any female to act so nurturing. Not even when he was a young boy. And since it was too late in his life to find much joy in the new, he carried his bliss with a shakey sigh. Noticing she had no place to sleep, a smirk crept slowly onto his face. She had lowered herself onto the floor and was lying with her head on a cushion, levitating the rug atop her shivering nerves. Tirek sniggered slightly at her discomfort, and she turned around to him slowly, frowning, disappointed by his gesture of selfishness.

"Goodnight." She said firmly, staring with her still disappointed look in to his eyes.

"Sleep tight." He spat, smiling back. Celestia knew that she had to wait it out untill morning before conclusions and actions could be made, and the best way for this was definitely sleep! And with a few pressured thoughts, she fell into it. Tirek had no worry in the world at this particular moment in time; he was in a Princess' bed, in a Princess' castle in the most cozy - pathetic - Kingdom on the planet. The sheets were fresh, the covers kept him warm and the pillows were so soft his boney face and arms sunk softly, resting in what felt like a warm, dry cloud. And to top it off, one of his enemies gave it up for him! How noble. How pointless. How pathetic. A worthless offer really, though it would provide some sweet rest. The sight of her made him smile cruelly and he decided that for the first time in a long time, his night visions would indeed be sweet dreams.

----

Celestia woke at a certain time of night as automatically as an alarm clock, and so when her eyes shot open she knew that now was the time. Moment of truth. The sleep had not swept any fear away, though had persuaded her slightly that keeping her cool no matter the odds was the top priority. There was always a solution for every problem, and problems would always occur! Only she hadn't been the one to sort them for quite some time now and it wasn't like Tirek could be of much help. But what would she do if everypony was gone? Sit around helpless as usual waiting for Twilight and her friends, or Starlight and her friends, race to the rescue. It made her feel utterly useless and her brows furrowed in stress.

Thoughts of aggressive contemplation took her to the balcony once more, and she gazed over. To see nopony. Still, she thought, they could still be sleeping. That would be normal. Only where Luna was was a mystery. Celestia gulped. She didn't concentrate much on the making of day. The job was fairly rushed and impatient, and she longed to see ponies waking and leaving their houses, getting on with their everyday lives. She sighed and began waiting, occasionally glancing to Tirek who looked ever so cozy in her bed. Even when frail and "small" for him, his limbs sprouted off the bed. He didn't seem like the type to sprawl themselves and he wasn't; being a centaur just involved many a limb! It was then she realised that her bed was too small. It was also then when she remembered a certain somefilly.

"Oh goodness!" Celestia gasped and rose fast to attend to Flurry Heart, whose cries became louder as she raced down the castle, leaving Tirek all alone.

Celestia's gasp had slightly shook him from his sleep, of which he was used to lots, but didn't fully awaken him. Small slow thoughts entered his mind. How warm but not hot it was, how revived his dead body felt, and how extremely he had overslept.

Lovely.

With a frail tug and slide, Tirek flopped from the bed, curious as to whether or nit the Kingdom was any more lively than yesterday. He peered slowly over the edge. It didnt fill his own being with dread but what he had seen, he knew, was something that meant bad news. There was nothing.

Comments

[Cozybro]

It might just be that I'm tired, but this chapter felt really good in reading.
I mean, REALLY good.

[Sharp77]

Oh dear...........