//------------------------------// // Chapter 12 // Story: Trickster Priest // by Fresnor //------------------------------// The Gates of Tartarus. Entryway to the home of many of the most dangerous creatures known to ponykind. The guardian of the gates were one of the most feared creatures in existence, so feared in fact that even alicorns would have issues dealing with him if they were ever forced to fight. So the sight of Cerberus chasing after a ball whenever a smaller bipedal figure sent it flying was not something that one would expect. The figure clapped his hands together as the three-headed dog bounded back towards him with the spherical object in one of his mouths. “That's a good puppy; bring the nice ball-shaped monster to me.” After a few moments of struggle Xellos finally gets the large canine to drop it in front of him. “Now are you finally ready to talk now or do we have to continue persuading you?” He stared at the ball for a few moments before part of it slid away revealing a head beneath what appeared to be armor. While it was clear that it was supposed to be of a white coloration, the tinge of green across its face showed that it wasn't completely unaffected by its trip. “You'll get nothing out of me you traitor to the monster race. You'll never learn how we are escaping from Tartarus or his plans for this world once we do!” Xellos just shrugged at the spherical monster's reply before turning his head towards Cerberus and bringing his stuff up to his shoulder. “Well you heard him Cerby. Fetch!” With that he swung his staff around like a golf club and sent the creature screaming off into the distance with the guardian of the gates in tow. With them vanishing into the distance it left him with some time to himself to think. “As fun as this all is I still don't know how they are escaping from this place. I don't think I could dent this door even if I poured everything into a single point.” He tapped his staff on the door for emphasis before putting an ear against it trying to hear something. When there was nothing he just backed away before rubbing his chin in thought. “Well since I won't be figuring that out anytime soon then I might as well focus on some other problem. I still don't know what it was that was that drove me away from Luna like that. I've never felt a draining sensation so bad that it made me feel sick to my stomach.” He sat there thinking through everything that happened at that moment until he was interrupted once again by the return of Cerberus with the monster in his mouth. “Hah! You think this will be enough to shake me? Nothing can get through my armor. Nothing!” As the monster cackled to itself inside of its shell Xellos stretched both of his arms above his head. The monster continued to cackle but if it had opened its shell it would have noticed that Xellos' eyes were opened and looking at it full of malevolence. “Well if you aren't going to talk then I see no reason to delay anymore about keeping you around. Of course now I'm going to have to say goodbye; oh and it won't be painless. I'm afraid circumstances make that a bit impossible.” The cackling of the monster stopped as Xellos says this and its body tilts to the side a bit as if in confusion. “Didn't you hear what I just said? Nothing can harm me in me armor. Dozens of creatures have tried, even the oldest of dragons but nothing has been able to scratch me yet!” Its voice held a tone of pride but the ominous laughter from Xellos sent chills through its body. “Oh dragons are nothing compared to me, but even then it wouldn't matter since I don't even need to break through your armor.” Leaning against the figure he rapped his knuckle on its shell a couple times before continuing. “You know armor like this is worthless if you keep opening it to look outside. Something could easily sneak in if you aren't careful.” The armored creature's eyes widened as a small cone-shaped object floated into sight on the inside of its armor. Before it could do so much as twitch a sharp pain ran through it as the cone pierced through its cheek. The object then ricocheted off the inside of the armor and began to bounce around inside of it gouging out pieces of the monster as it went. Outside of the armor, screaming could be heard as the monster was slowly torn apart bit by bit without a chance to defend itself. Eventually the screaming stopped and a stream of black oozed out of the bottom followed by the cone which soon flew over to merge with Xellos. Turning back to the large canine he leaned on his staff before gesturing towards the now empty ball. “Well I guess you have a new ball to play with for a while, don't you Cerby?” He glances at it and notices the dent marks from the guardian's teeth and he wondered how long it would last. “I guess it's time for me to head out now but I'll be sure to try and visit more often.” Reaching up he gave the dog one more scratch behind the ears before he flew away from the gate. Taking one more glance back at the shrinking figure of the three-headed canine he gave a slight smile. “He really is such a puppy even after all these years. I guess for something to live a long enough time and still stay sane they either have to go crazy or have a young and innocent mind.” <><><><><><><> “Hmm. Maybe teaching them wasn't all that great of an idea in the first place, at least without keeping an eye on them afterwards.” Xellos watched from atop a cloud as Fluttershy and Twilight chased after the Cutie Mark Crusaders, two of them at least, while they flew around just out of reach. “Of course this is also entertaining in its own way, isn't it Sweetie Belle?” He looked over to the unicorn filly that was clutching the cloud next to him in fear as she looked down at her friends. Clipped to her ear was a decoration that glowed slightly that was given to her by the biped next to her. “Mr Xellos? Can you please let me down now? I'm not very comfortable up here.” Xellos reclined back on the cloud as he looked up at some of the clouds above them. “Oh it's perfectly safe, especially with that ear clip I gave you before bringing you up here. It's just as good as it was when it was first made for the minotaur princess five hundred years ago. Thinking about it she had the same reaction when she first tried it out as well. That's why she decided to 'lose' it by giving it to me back then.” Looking back towards her he saw the pleading look that the filly was giving him and he capitulated. “Oh fine, but it's not like anything would happen to you even if you did fall with a certain cyan pony keeping watch.” He pointed up towards a nearby cloud that had a rainbow tail sprouting from it before slowly dragging the cloud towards the ground. “You can keep the clip though; never know when it would be useful, especially since your friends could fly you around as well since you never got the hang of it.” He was about to say more, but as they reached ground level his vision was blocked by a pair of cyan eyes. “YOU! What were you thinking teaching two fillies something so dangerous!? Don't you know what can happen if you don't keep an eye on ponies when they first start flying?!” She was about to continue but she was stopped when Xellos' eyes rolled up in his head and he collapsed at her hooves. “Oh Dear! Di-did I just...” At the thought that she may have injured another being she joined the biped in the realms of darkness. Twilight walked up to the buttery pegasus and started waving a hoof over her as Pinkie Pie sat over Xellos with a towel. “Well this is a rather unusual situation. Princess Celestia said that nothing they did ever seemed to work on him before but he just fell over from Fluttershy looking at him. Fluttershy just fainted, but how is Xellos doing, Pinkie?” Looking over she saw Pinkie using a stethoscope on him while her pet Gummi was on her head wearing a doctor's outfit. Suddenly she stood up straight and looked over at the alabaster unicorn. “I have absolutely no idea.” Twilight facehoofed at her response but was distracted by Fluttershy slowly coming awake again forcing her to focus on helping her out. When she turned back she found that the two had vanished causing her to sigh as she said her farewells to the pegasus as she rounded up the three fillies and she made her way towards the Everfree. <><><><><><><> Xellos groaned as he woke up and rubbed his head at the pain that was running through it while he looked around to see where he was. He didn't recognize where he was, but he could guess from the organized piles of party supplies around the room. He suddenly remembered what had happened before he woke up here forcing a rare groan out of him. “Ugh, I knew getting hit by that would be bad, but I didn't think it would be this bad. Now to figure out exactly where I am now.” He jumped a bit when a voice rang out behind him, showing just how out of it he still was to let anything sneak up on him. “Oh you're finally awake, Uncle Xelly! You've been out a couple days now so I brought you to my special party cave while you got better. I've never seen Fluttershy's Stare do that to anypony before.” She paused for a moment in thought before shrugging and continuing on a different tangent. “While you were sleeping you missed out on a lot but I kept a list for you just in case you wanted to know. Let's see you missed Twilight being turned to stone, Gummi cutting a rug at the dance club, the Cutie Mark Crusaders crashing into Rainbow Dash's home-” Xellos partially tuned her out for a moment as he tried to clear his thoughts a bit until she reached the end of her list. “-and finally the Cutie Mark Crusaders ave been cleaning up their new club house.” He frowns for a moment as some of the things registered while he thought things over. “Too bad I missed out on that statue bit with Twilight. I guess she didn't have to worry about anybody coming along with a marker then; it would have been a fun prank but with how things are I still might get a chance later. Maybe I'll add it to my list sometime.” He paused to consider this before shaking his head. “Maybe later, but thanks for watching over me Pinkie, I appreciate it.” Pinkie just nodded and bounced away before sliding up the slide that led into the room. Xellos just watched as she did this before shaking his head and vanishing into the astral plane. “Too bad I also missed when Twilight tried to figure her out. Maybe I can convince her to try again so I can watch.” Getting a good stretch as he floated out of the building and into town he found that Pinkie's party cave was hidden under Sugarcube Corner. Since he was out for a few days he considered stopping for a snack until he spotted the Cutie Mark Crusaders running off. “Hmm, I wonder what they are up to. If those three are together then it is bound to be entertaining.” Smiling to himself he flies after the three and watches them attempt various things in an attempt to get their cutie marks, many of which left him laughing at the seemingly impossible results. When he saw that they were heading towards a building that appeared to be a salon he got an idea that he almost felt ashamed of dumping on them. Flying above them he phased into view again. “Going to the salon next? I bet Sweetie Belle's sister has many more interesting things at her place for that, plus you could get a good look at her mane to see how some of it could be used.” The three skidded to a halt at his words before looking at each other for a moment with Sweetie Belle replying first. “I don't know, she really doesn't like anypony touching her things.” Scootaloo, being the brash one of the three, quickly pushed the idea forward though. “Come on Sweetie, he's right. I'm not even sure what half the stuff I've seen in her bathroom are for but one of them is sure to help get our cutie mark. We just have to try.” Sweetie Belle glanced over at Applebloom in hopes of her being reasonable but it was obvious that it wasn't to be. Soon the three were running off towards Carousel Boutique with Xellos sneaking along behind them. Luckily Rarity was napping at the time, after having finished a large number of orders, so the three were given free reign over everything. Soon he was flying away from the building laughing harder than he had been that entire day while making a mark on a scroll he had pulled out. Moments later a scream could be heard ringing out from the building that even the diarchs in Canterlot could hear. “XELLOS! I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!”