The boy still looked slightly floored, emerald eyes wide, as he looked at the floor.
"...Well?" The centaur's croaky voice suddenly sounded painfully loud, and Spike could hear the wicked smile in his voice.
"I...I'm sorry..."
That took the centaur offgaurd. Sorry? Sorry???
Sorry for what?
"Y-You're...sorry?"
"Y...Yeah..." The boy shifted uncomfortably. "L-Like...a thousand years being completely static...no f-food or water, or anything...t-that...that sucks."
The centaur blinked profusely. "Yes...y-yes it does." He murmured softly.
He was floored. Someone actually...got it. A little over a millennia ago, after he had been tried and found guilty by the Equestrian high court, they had sentenced him to this...this hell. The dull, monotonous, unchanging torture of Tartarus. For centuries upon centuries.
And yes. It sucked.
And this dragon...understood that. This dragon somehow gave a damn that he had been left to rot in this miserable hole for centuries.
Tirek felt something.
Something he hadn't felt in ages.
He felt...grateful. Grateful that someone understood just how much he hated this place, how much he didn't want to be here, how much he missed the sky, and the open air, and food, and drink, and actually stimulating conversations, and his magic...
"Tirek? What's up? You're spacin' out a little, dude..."
The centaur snapped back to reality, and looked at the boy, who was gazing at him with such...genuine concern. It was almost...unsettling. No one had looked at him like that in ages.
"I...I was thinking. And it's Lord Tirek."
The concern on that face melted away into unimpressed dryness, and the centaur almost felt thankful. He couldn't...take being looked at like that.
"Uh huh...so, we both, uh...answered some questions. I'm gonna go ahead and head home. You look like you need a nap...and I don't need Twi finding out that I snuck out."
"I do not need a-!"
"Yeah, yeah, buddy, no need to screech at me, whatever. You look like you need rest. That's all."
The dragon packed up his things in his basket, expression thoughtful. "G'night, Tirek. I'll see ya when I see ya, yeah?"
"...Yes. I suppose you will." Tirek muttered, not realizing he more or less had invited the boy to return.
Spike smiled softly, before walking away and down the stairs, the prisoner watching him the entire time, until he disappeared from view.
Tirek then looked up at his cell ceiling, then the floor...
Before heaving a great sigh and flopping down tiredly, rolling onto his side. "Gods damn that boy..."
His stomach felt as though it had been filled, and sleep came to him rather easily.
"Father?"
"Yes, Tirek? I'm busy, you know..."
"I-I...know, father. It won't be long, I promise."
A sigh. "Alright then...out with it."
"...Where did mother go?"
There was a soft, barely audible sound, as a quill tore slight through the document it had been pressed to. "...Haydon is in the nursery, with Scorpan."
The young prince scoffed. "Not her, father. I mean my real one. She can't just replace her. I want Mother back."
Vorak said nothing, face stony and impassive, as he stared off to the side.
"...She is departed."
The prince huffed, front hoof pawing at the ground. "Yes I know that, she left over two years ago. But when is she coming back, Father!? It's fine if Lady Haydon is here to keep you company or whatever, but she can't just replace my mother! It's been too long, Father! I want her-"
Vorak stood up from his desk with a roar, hand slamming down with enough force to crack the oaken wood. "DEAD. YOUR MOTHER IS DEAD. SHE PASSED ON DURING THE TRIP, AND SHE WILL NEVER COME BACK! NOW BEGONE WITH YOU, YOU BOTHERSOME CHILD!"
The young prince had begun to shudder slightly, as he stared up at his enraged father...before the king sunk back in his seat, rubbing his temple.
"...Leave me in peace, Tirek. Go."
Spike had slipped into his bedroom stealthily and sneakily, setting down his basket behind his bed and beginning to strip doen to his sleeping wear.
Ah, ah ah...a little dragon sneaks his way back home, and before dear Purple finds out. How odd, but interesting~"
The boy stiffened, freezing up.
A brightly colored snake slithered out from behind his bed, with large, glowing red eyes, marked with stunning golden scleras.
As the snake slithered to the boy, it slowly but surely transformed into...
"...Hey, Discord..."
The draconequus grinned down at him, expression somehow both innocuously teasing and maliciously crafty all at once.
"Hey, indeed, Spikey-Wikey~..."
Gods damn his bad luck.