Gates of Tartarus, Present Time; Cerberus’s Point of View
Cerberus was bored out of his mind. It had been ages since anyone even came near the eons old gates of Tartarus, much less had the cajones to step up to the three headed monstrosity. But he stayed watch, ever vigilant, knowing what would happen if he would leave, after all; a quiet Tartarus is a happy Tartarus!
The actual doors to the prison realm were massive. Towering above any castle or tower in Equestria, and far thicker than any normal gate, their width unbelievable to those who would gaze upon them. Indeed, these doors were designed for one sole purpose, to keep things in. Unfortunately, it seemed only the gates had such a measure, and indeed the actual prison had more than one way of escape. There were three different ways to escape the hellish landscape, each more difficult than the last. One: to defeat the current ruler of Tartarus, taking his or her place and allowing the newly crowned ruler partial freedom, two: Forcing your way out, as if that would ever happen! Or three: to challenge the trials of Tartarus.
Of course, the third option was implemented for only the most heinous of criminals, as it is the only option available to them, and the most difficult. If a prisoners deeds reached a certain level, they were placed at one of the many levels of the Bottomless Pit, where the trial begins. The first step of the trail was to exit your cell, which is in and of itself is a challenge. Magic is nullified by the bars and the cavernous walls followed the same plan as the gates, being nigh unbreakable. The second step was to descend to the bottom, the actual name more for effect than literal meaning. The Pit did have a bottom, and there the one running the gauntlet would face their second challenge. There the current ruler would be alerted to your presence, where he or she would offer you a challenge.
The challenge would usually be one of wits or intellect, say a game of chess that was more rigged than a casino or an extremely difficult riddle. Sometimes if the current ruler was an utter bone head then they'd challenge the escapee to one-on-one combat. A fight to the finish where the only way to win was to get the ruler to yield or be killed in the process. Should they manage to complete the second task, the defeated ruler would hand them the key to the gates, a deceptively small medallion. And finally, the third and final task, was to get past Cerberus. This was arguably the most difficult challenge of all, as his function was not only to keep people out, but to force others back inside. While two heads may be sleeping, the third was constantly on alert, looking for any sign of intruders or demons who may have passed the second challenge.
And thus he waited, one head forever on alert, and today he would not be disappointed. The distinct sound of locks clicking could be heard behind the gates. Of course, the gates had a number of locks, some archaic and small while others were massive and more durable than the mountain the prison was carved in. The locks and runes clicked and slammed, a cacophony of metal, stone, and magic unwinding and screeching open. Finally the last lock gave way, a small clink, and the sounds had stopped, giving way to an eerie silence. The calm before the storm.
The doors began to part, the sound of the stone moving against the rock reverberated throughout the cave that the gates resided within, as Cerberus tensed his muscles waiting for the doors to fully part so he could once again savor the sweet and tangy taste of battle. Finally the doors had opened completely, but he didn't need to wait for the dust to settle, he could smell the approaching demon. Unlike prior demons which smelt of burning and brimstone, this thing smelt like… death.
Not the sort of rotting stench of corpses no, but the sort of smell one might find at a funeral. A scent of sorrow that had yet to pass, misery and despair the likes of which would crush any sliver of hope you may have had for the future. Of course the smell wasn't the only thing one would notice, no, the smell was the first thing Cerberus felt, but what came next not even he could have expected.
The air grew heavier, as if it had been laced with iron, making it harder and harder to breath, and it only got worse. Cerberus’s eyes began to widen at what was happening. It felt as if a waterfall of lead ingots were descending upon him, forcing him to buckle his knees. But the invisible force wouldn't let up, only getting heavier and heavier, more weight fell upon the poor canine accompanied by each step the encroaching demon took. Each foot step seemed to add weight to the invisible barrage, closer and closer the footsteps came as Cerberus was forced to lie down to deal with the constantly increasing pressure. Not only was this taxing on the physical body, but on his spirit. Dread and tinges of fear were all the poor mutt could feel while prostrate on his stomach, unyielding in their intensity.
Finally the footsteps and painful cascade ceased. He opened one of each of his eyes to see the assailant. He looked, and beheld a pale horse, and his name that sat upon him was Death, and Hell followed close behind him.
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Outside the Gates; Ulquiorra’s Point of View
I looked at the pitiful creature. This was the mighty guard dog Cerberus? This?! My cold, soulless eyes met the dogs, this thing couldn’t even handle a portion of my reiatsu, how did it manage to keep everything else in before I had come along? Normally I wouldn't or couldn’t feel anything, but this creature was an exception. Somehow it had managed to fill me with a sense of… disgust and loathing...
I had heard that outside of these gates was supposed to be a ferocious three headed monster, a guardian of the gates of Hell for who knows how many years, able to push back any assailant, the doom of many thousands before me! Now I see only the three heads bit was true. In front of me now was nothing more than a whimpering, neutered lap dog. If I had my blade on my person, I would have done the honors myself. Pathetic.
“Get up and fight me…” I commanded in my toneless voice. The beast obeyed, more likely out of fear than anything else. One of the heads even managed a growl, a pathetic attempted but valiant none the less. ‘Had this thing truly been the executioner of so many prior prisoners?’ I thought to myself, ‘If so, they need to up their standards.’ “I said, fight me.” I practically growled at them, to which they responded in kind.
It lunged at me, leaping into the air with all three of its jaws coming down. In any other case I would have been scared to death of this towering mongrel, standing at least twenty to twenty five feet tall. But this was the here and now. I stood my ground unmoving, not with resolve but with boredom. I knew what was going to happen next. His three heads descended, each going for a different limb. One head came down upon my own, attempting to bite it off, the two others going for my arms. This was the strategy he must have used with prior escapees, immobilizing the arms then going in for the head, a noble effort.
The first head did exactly as I foresaw, coming down on my own head and bringing me into his slobbering maw. The other two went for my arms, biting into them. I mentally sighed. I may as well use this thing to send her royal majesty a message.
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Cerberus’s Point of View
Pain. He yipped and immediately released the escapee, his own force the main contributor to the injury. He could feel that he had lost at least five or six teeth in each month from biting down on this two legged thing. He looked, and found that the creature hadn’t moved, two reptilian eyes not even bothering to glare but simply glance, as if he had simply annoyed it. Upon further inspection, the three heads noticed that where they had bitten down, with all their strength, they hadn't even managed to puncture its robes.
That horrible feeling again, immeasurable weight coming down, but this time focused in one area. One of the things claws were being wrapped with some sort of red glow, a ball forming around his claw. A ball?!
After injuring him, did the thing want to apologize and be friends? What kind of question was that?! He had a ball!! Of course he wanted to be friends! Forgetting the transgressions, the heads smiled several broken grins and ran at the creature, knowing it would throw the ball!
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Ulquiorra’s Point of View
Not only was this thing weak, it was stupid. Unbelievably cartoonishly so. Then again, I was in some universe of My Little Pony, so this didn't surprise me. “Fetch.” I said, appearing in front of it facing its center head. I launched my fist forward, giving the thing a haymaker it had never seen. My balla granted was weaker without my sword, but the energy I put into it was easily matching the force of any cero I could manage in this state. The balla exploded, shattering the heads teeth and probably wreaking the skull and jaw. Time slowed down as I watched the mutt whip back from the force, shards of teeth and droplets of blood flying past. I sent the thing rocketing high into the sky, unconscious or for all I know dead. Not that I cared about it. The thing was weak and had served its purpose, it no longer had any reason to live.
The only thing I regretted was that a good chunk of my hand had been blown off. My fingers had been replaced with stubs, only a quarter of my pinkie had been spared by the blast. I focussed, reiatsu being channeled into my the painless injury. Flesh began to reform onto the charred and blown off stubs, giving me back my appendages.
This was common practice to me now, more a reflex than anything else, much like my hollow hole. On the bright side, I sent that bitch a message. Bitches love messages.
Canterlot Castle, Present Time; Celestia’s Point of View
Things could not be better. The day court was almost empty, which meant there were little problems to deal with. Paper work was dismal, and at the end of the day the royal chef had prepared for me some rich, delicious, chocolate cake. My mind filled with fantasies of the rich chocolate and creamy icing, how lush it would be once in my mouth, licking my lips at the mere thought. All was well.
“Unforgivable! Simply inexcusable!” a familiar whiny, accented voice filled the hall. All was well. Trotting into the court was a fuming Blueblood, no doubt enraged by a speck of dust that had found its way into his room of a measly amount of dirt in his mane. I’d rather have been impaled by rusty nails or sit in an enraged Ursa's den than deal with this. “Aunty! Aunty!” He whined.
I mentally sighed, but maintained my composure, “Yes, Blueblood?”
“I demand you fire that incompetent Captain of the Guard! The nerve of him! I ought to have him punished! Thrown in the dungeon!” He was fuming, I had to remember to thank Shining Armor later.
“Why would I fire our Captain of the Guard, nephew? Is it because he got dust on your hoof during patrol?” I mockingly asked, feigning concern.
“That, and he allowed some giant, three headed mongrel to fall into the castle gardens!” Wait, what?
“Say again?”
“You heard me! He let some three headed mongrel fall from the sky, into the gardens! While I was modelling for my eighth statue! It ruined my perfect mirror image! Oh woe is me!”
I ignored the rest of Bluebloods whining and hurriedly stood from my throne, trotting to the Balcony and flying off to the gardens. I landed outside, guards already on the scene, clearing a path so I could see the poor beast. Sure enough, there was Cerberus, lying back first in a small crater from his fall, whimpering in pain as one of his heads was bleeding from the mouth, possibly unconscious, missing several teeth in each jaw. Tartarus had been breached, something had escaped! But what? What could possibly be strong enough to send this massive guard dog from one end of Equestria to the oth- Oh no.
A torrent of memories rushed from the back of my mind. Death and destruction on a mass scale, screams of the dead and deceased, Griffons, Minotaurs, Ponies, suffering of those who had lost their loved ones, a dead stare of emerald reptilian eyes, a hole where a heart ought to be, a green javelin, those terrible black wings. "Captain Shining Armor!" I called, he turned from addressing his men and faced me, saluting. "Yes your Majesty?"
"I want you to take a troop of guards to the vaults beneath Canterlot, find vault A-34 and guard it with your lives! Assign guards at all entrances of the city and castle, no one leaves nor enters!"
“Yes Princess!” he turned and began shouting orders, taking several dozen guards with him inside the castle, the rest began flying or trotting to their assigned posts. All had been well.
and yet another of sealed can of evil has busted open and is about to take another chunk out of her plot time to call in her personal attack dogs/tool box aka Twilight and the other elements
nice update by the way, poor doggy
Awesome chapter!
guessing it his sword in vault A-34? bet some ponies tried to use it didn't they?
I think your Bleach crossover is better then mine man.
Umm arancar are created from menos grande (huge hollows). Size has noting to do with fear there.
http://bleach.wikia.com/wiki/Arrancar
4052873 You're forgetting that this guy isn't actually part of the Bleach world. He was a normal human who became Ulqiorra, and what he's referring to here is how he would've reacted back when he was an ordinary person.
4052873 This is a cosplay fic. Where the main character was once human, but then turned to whatever they were cosplaying as. But no worries though, I understand the... ( •_•) ( •_•)>⌐□-□ (⌐□_□) Coufnsiou!
Also,
4052899 The last name varies in spelling I believe but I'll make the edit, also I totally agree. As for the character thing I was planning on using the actual character for instances in the future while using "Mark" in the past, of which I will write about in later chapters.
4052845 Wanna hear something funny? YOUR fic inspired me to make THIS ONE!!
Great chapter.
there were three different ways
which is in and of itself a challenge... ... the cavernous walls were nigh... ...more for effect than literally... he would then offer
Finally
so he could once again savor the taste (suggested word change) the doors opened completely, but Cerberus (add a but it help the flow of the sentence)
change heavier with worse (you use heavier a few to many times it is slowing the flow of the paragraph. another suggested change.)
more weight fell upon... .. accompanied by each footstep.
change mass to pressure. pressure is better because it is his spiritual pressure for one and it sounds and applies better to the situation.
capitalize if (If)
fells like a state testing question. please revise to "each going for a different limb" delete the rest
as if he simply annoyed it (Cerberus should know his own gender. at least i hope he does)
no actual grammar mistake here just wanted to say that i'm glad you did your home work. but im gonna be nitpicky and say that a balla is not actually as powerful as a cero (though ulquiorras balla posses the strength to go completely through others) it is approximately 20Xs faster than a cero
a dead stare
i would like to say sorry both to the author and to the readers of this Fic for my lateness in editing this chapter. i was called into work on an emergency and was unable to attend to it till 20 or so minutes ago. Even with this excuse i know to some this is unforgivable, but i hope you all can find it in your heats to forgive a foolish youngster. Especially you Coufnsiou. You have been wronged, and i hope will forgive me this once so i may have another chance.
Yours truly,
Ponyclaws
4053036
4054737 No problem at all! A late editor is better than none! Anyways, credit where credit's due, Special thanks for the author!
4055183 well that's a relief its been a while since I've actively edited a story but unless something really unexpected happens again like a 12 hour shift right before a story is posted there shouldn't be any problems.
I love the espada but Cifer is my all time favorite and you have managed to find a way to make me love him even more Keep up the good work
This is gonna be the first I've read of this new type of story, Humans acting villainous right? Gotta say that I'm interested, and I gotta give you props for the story cover art, loved it!
a quite Tartarus is a happy Tartarus!
quiet
“Fetch.” I said, sonidoing in front
...I don't even.
Also,
"Had i had my blade with me I would have done"
Had my blade been on my person
While you need to either find an editor or go through your chapters better. Some of the errors I found could be handled with Word autocorrect.
I would advise using any resources available to you.
Of course everyone may not be in the same circumstance, so I'll give you a handy little tool, use it well.
Auto revewer app
It's not as good as a real flesh and blood editor, but it can do for the meantime.
new update or not? punch the update button by mistake?
Lies! There is no update!
umm where is the update?
I saw a new chapter but when I click it was gone. what a mean trick...
I'm sorry! It was a mistake! But seriously the update IS coming, hopefully by tomorrow if not Saturday... patience is a virtue.
4077668 alight.... hope!
for those of you who want to know i finished editing five minutes ago i just need confnsoui email so he can post it it is now on him fingers crossed guys
the chapter should be on its way for those of u who want to now
Seriously?! They're going to try stopping FREAKIN' ULQUIORRA from his Zanpakutō? Tch. Like that'll work.
SEND IN THE CANNON FODDER!!! because they can so stop him...