//------------------------------//
// Prologue 
// Story: Equestria and the Olympians 
// by Mrtyranno 
//------------------------------//

Humiliation, that was the only word that came to Tirek's mind. He had it within his grasp, all the power in Equestria, his to do with as he pleased. Then those ponies he had thought beaten had flung him back to his prison, placed in a new cage.

Tirek snorted as he shuffled around his cage, noting his familiar surroundings, his four hooves shivering which each step taken on the cold floor. His red and black fur looked worse for wear, and his small stubs that were once massive horns, looked rather pathetic on the bearded centaur. Looking up far beyond the confines of his cage, he could see millions of various gems, metals and precious stones lining the great grey ceiling. With jagged stalactite shaped rocks poking through the cavalcade of glittering stones. The air was just as he remembered too, wisps of biting cold randomly infused with burning heat. It was effective at making sure prisoners could not adjust to the temperature, Tirek noted gloomily.

Still he could at least note that things in Tartarus were not well, even upon being flung back he had managed a glimpse of lots of empty cells, their chains broken apart. He noted the empty pool that lay far beyond the steps that led to his cage. A fruit tree was bent over with it's branches touching the surface of the pool, but there was no one to grab the fruit. Further still, a great boulder was left abandoned at the bottom of a steep hill, bearing the marks of constantly being pushed.

Tirek heard a loud whoosh followed by the roar of flames. Looking out of the corner of his eye he saw another familiarity. A great flaming wheel spinning through the skies of Tartarus, but this wheel also lacked a prisoner, the golden shackles were broken and that gave Tirek a great deal of satisfaction. Lastly there were deep gouges in the earth where it looked like gigantic figures had scrambled out of great crevices.

Tirek grinned to himself as he thought, "The master of the house was going to have his hands full."

Suddenly Tirek heard loud hissing, and he was filled with dread. Above him descended three black serpentine shapes, growing ever larger. As they landed Tirek took notice of their appearance. Gigantic winged snakes, their wings coated with fibers. The hair each of them had was simply a mess of smaller snakes all hissing and looking at him with menace in their eyes. The three were each clad in black robes with a single line of colour running through the robe, one of gold, another of silver and the third of bronze. They were the Erinyes, Alecto, Tisiphone and Megaera, seekers of justice for crimes committed against the upper world.

Tirek gave a yelp as they inched closer to his cage, hurriedly backing away as the sound of their hisses became too loud to bear. Alecto, unfurled her golden-lined robe, revealing a talon like hand swarming with snake limbs surrounding it as she thrust her hand into the cage to grab at Tirek. The other two rattled the cage, shrieking and laughing as Tirek was tossed around in his prison. Then, as abruptly as they started, they stopped their actions and held serious looks on their faces. Tisiphone stared at Tirek intently, opening her maw, venom glistening from her fangs as drops fell to the ground, landing on the floor with an acidic hiss.

"Poor Tirek," Tisiphone hissed out, "All alone in his cage."

"He must be so mad to be back in Tartarusssss," Megaera chimed in, prompting a chuckle from Alecto.

"Stay back!" Tirek yelled, mustering the courage he could, but it was futile, he was weak and as if reading his mind the Erinyes threw their heads back and gave discordant laughter.

"Tirek, be at peace," Alecto cooed, mockingly fluttering her eyelids, "We are not here to play today. Our master hassss sssssome questions for you."

Then the colour drained from Tirek's entire body, he fell back on his rump as he wrestled with despair, knowing who was coming next. Sure enough the ground rumbled as shadows began to crawl towards his cage. The Erinyes slithered backwards as the air was once again filled with the sound of beating wings. This time however, the sound heralded the score of thousands of winged beings soaring above. Tirek could see their gnashing fangs and eager claws. Their bodies had the appearance of large grey moths, with the head and neck of a vulture. Multitudes of insectoid clawed limbs clicking in the while long spiked tails thrashed about. These were the Keres, harbingers of death on a large scale. Wherever there were large pockets of sickness and death due to battle they were sure to be found, dragging the kicking and screaming souls back down to the underworld to be judged by the members of the high court.

Then the shadows coalesced and rose, and as if the shadows themselves were but a veil, they parted to reveal a gigantic armoured figure standing before Tirek's cage. He wore a black helmet in the style of the ancient Pegasi that covered most of his face. A long flowing cape the colour of multitudes of precious stones flowed behind him as the wispy air lifted it up. He was covered head to toe in black and gold feathers, his face like that of a Screech Owl. Gigantic brown wings unfurled themselves from underneath his robe, jutting out behind his shadowy black armour. The figure knelt down on his large large legs as he gazed into the cage, scrutinizing Tirek. For this was Hades, lord of this kingdom of souls and he was very much displeased.

"Tell me, Tirek." Hades demanded with a voice that lay between a raspy screech and the hoot of an owl, "Where did the others go to?"