Better Lairs and Landscaping

by Titanium Dragon

Day 371155

Lord Tirek sat in his prison of steel and stone, his eyes flickering between the magazine that lay open in his hands and the guardian of Tartarus, looking for any sign of a reaction to an intruder; there was none as of yet, and he was beginning to grow impatient.

"She is late," he rasped, licking his lips. His eyes returned to the magazine's final few pages. "There must be more to the castle than this; if these pictures are to be believed, the castle is almost too easy to assault from the air. Do they fear the might of the griffins no longer?"

The hooves on rock drew his gaze upwards; it seemed the pony had arrived. "Ah, excellent."

The little gray pegasus dropped the magazine on the ground just beyond the edge of his prison cell, retreating backwards as Lord Tirek advanced, looking down at the splash of red against the stone.

"The fabled rose gardens of Maretonia," he said quietly, before chuckling to himself. "Those ponies do love their flowers."

His gaze flicked upwards as the mailmare spread her wings, holding up a hand. "Wait!"

The pegasus stopped, cocking her head to the side, looking at him with one eye as the other drifted away. "Uhm... what is it?"

"Mmm... the pony is afraid of me. No matter. I will not harm you. Indeed, I need your help."

She stared at him dumbly, slowly poking her hoof at the rock.

"Not very talkative, are you? No matter. You see, I have nothing to use for a bookmark in this cage. It is very easy to lose my place. I was wondering... could you fetch a stone for me to use as one?" He reached out between the bars, pointing towards one of the crumbling mountains nearby.

"Uhm, okay," she said, backing away further before spreading her wings and soaring off.

Lord Tirek bent down, grasping the magazine between his withered fingers before pulling it inside, paging through until an image of Canterlot Castle sat before him once more, in all its splendiferous glory – and vulnerability. "They do have a certain appreciation for aesthetics, but," he chuckled darkly, "it seems they have forgotten the ways of war. When I escape, I will have to remind them."

His mouth twisted in a smirk, but his good humor was quickly lost as he lifted his head, the reality of his circumstances returning to him. Grimacing, he watched as the mailmare picked up a rock from the crumbling promontory, her landing sending several smaller rocks tumbling down the mountainside. His eyes snapping to Cerberus, it seemed that the three-headed monster had taken notice, barking loudly as the stones slid down towards him, before tumbling down into the fiery depths between the peaks.

His eyes returned to the magazine once more, flipping through the pages slowly. "Maretonia, eh? What foolishness. Do they truly believe they are not under the hoof of Princess Celestia?" He shook his head, flipping to the next page as one of the ponies – a unicorn, by the look of her – stood by her pet, her dull-eyed companion gripping a ball firmly between its teeth, the sphere as red as the roses in the garden surrounding them.

Lord Tirek smiled as his eyes slowly moved over the page, then the next, then the next, each covered with vast fields of roses as an idea slowly began to form in his head.