Dark Friendship

by Silver Shadows

Chapter 1

Cozy Glow was a young filly locked in Tartarus. No joke. The princess decided to lock her in the jail after she attempted to conquer Equestria through the means of friendship, as if she was the first pony to attempt that. Cozy noticed that there weren’t any other pony villains in Tartarus. She could see her old pal, Tirek, sitting in his cage. While Cozy had attempted to make some small talk to try to erase eternal boredom, Tirek merely grunted and ignored her.

Cozy had been there for around five hours, even though it felt more like a decade, trying to kick the cage open. Regardless, she knew that magic was needed to open up the cages, and the inside of the cages were magic repellent, probably by some ancient magic. If only they had some temporal magic to give to some creature with absorption power to blast the cages open...

She glanced at Tirek, knowing that if some creature willingly gave up part of their power, Tirek had the highest chance of getting out. Cozy might be young but she was certainly intelligent and manipulative. Otherwise, she would’ve never come as close as to become ‘Empress’. Cozy knew that she made a filly’s mistake; she had been too rash in front of the audience and had put all her eggs in one basket quickly, thinking that she had won already. There had been flaws and she was determined to not make any mistakes again.

Now, Cozy was no expert in actual magic. Most of her ideas had come from Tirek through mailing. The mailing system was actually an old book she had found in Twilight’s office when she was there. Now, it didn’t say how to talk to Tirek but it did give some pointers to Tartarus and eventually, through a few more books, Cozy was able to figure out how to get a message to Tartarus. She had to steal a few artifacts and had sent a message. Tirek had soon told her how to set up a small power base and how to close it to communicate. The rest, of course, was history.

Cozy glanced at the other creatures. While the cage might prevent from flying for whatever reason, Cozy should still be able to use her diplomatic ways to manipulate the creatures. After all, that was how she earned her cutie mark and she still had her cutie mark. And cutie mark magic was... undiscovered, even though there were a few attempts to research it.

The filly could see how the place could tick creatures off. She felt her already strained sanity being tugged even more. The worst place was a place of isolation. Cozy hit the sides of the cage angrily before sitting down, the bruise of her hoof already beginning to form. She couldn’t even die here. There wasn’t any food in Tartarus but the atmosphere made the creatures semi-immortal in the sense that they can’t die by hunger nor age. Otherwise, Tirek would definitely be dead by then.

Cozy asked the creatures, “What did Twilight promise you? She shouldn’t had been able to get out without an extra boost of magic.”

Tirek huffed, “Something about never being able to recover Equestria magic again. It doesn’t matter- I was an idiot for believing her for a second.” Finally, a reaction from Tirek.

Cozy started, “Well, it is awfully rude of them to not keep their promise, especially since it’s the Princess of Friendship. Now I want to get out of here even more, not only for myself...”

Tirek asked hesitantly, “What are suggesting?”

“I can’t wield magic myself so I can’t blow this cage apart. Tirek, you’re a natural magic absorber- in fact, that’s how you get stronger, according to Princess Twilight anyways.”

“That’s correct. I still don’t understand what you’re trying to suggest though.” In return, Cozy gave him a small wink.

Cozy continued out loud, “I can’t open the cages either, I will be truthful. Only the princess’ alicorn magic can get prisoners out, unless there’s some other way I don’t know about.” Cozy had inferences that it needed a lot of power, even though it could be entirely wrong. Still, each creature was hanging on her words, as if it might be one of her last ones before she would fall to the boring place from before.

The filly said, “However, Tirek can get out of this cage and get me out of mine- our cages are close so one blast should destroy both- and have enough magic to open the door.” Tirek turned to her, finally catching on. Tirek gave a pointed look to the 3-headed dog, which the filly immediately recognized as a potential threat. The dog must’ve been fueled by Loyalty to continue guarding faithfully every single day.

Cozy called, “Cerberus! I know that you are loyal to Equestria.” The dog turned to her, all three of them looking very angry with looking at a prisoner. Tirek backed away a bit, not sure about what the dogs could do to them. Tirek was practically traumatized by the dog.

He had once tried to annoy the dog because he was that bored (most of them were traumatized after attempting this) and Cerberus had decided that the cage might be fun to play with. One thing that he never wanted to experience was dog spit. He could still remember the gums and the rotten teeth that the dog had, which made him wonder about his own condition. Tirek could see Cozy’s matted coat already, even though it kept its bright color for some unknown reason. Most of the prisoners became dull after one hour. Tirek had to admit that the filly was stronger than he had originally realized.

Cozy tried again, “Cerberus! You may be my guard and myself, inferior to you at the moment, am not able to do anything... but... what have I done to personally wrong you?” The three headed dog stepped closer to her cage. Tirek winced as its jaws snapped at the cage.

Cozy backed up in fear, “Listen... Just please give me a moment. Isn’t that common courtesy?” The dog bit down the cage and drooled all over it.

Cozy finally shouted, “Put me down right now!” Confused, the three headed dog out her down and blinked at her. Cozy gulped, knowing that she would have one chance for the dog to listen.

Comments

[Starlight Nova]

Why spoiler out that there will be death in this story? Doesn't the death tag give that away?

[ExplosionMare]

I’m excited to see where this story will go

[Silver Shadows]

9515195
Whoops. Completely forgot about that tag. I’ll delete it. Thanks.

[NobodieZ]

Good start on this.

[UmbraEquinae]

I like the concept, very unique!

There is just a few issues I would like to raise up; not to be rude, though:
Despite Cozy Glow and Tirek having conspired against Equestria, Tirek is most likely only using Cozy Glow so he can steal all the Equestrian magic she stole. He would almost certainly backstab her when she has gotten a hold of some magic, or do so when she is at her prime. After all, he despises friendships and ponies will a burning vengeance.
Secondly, I thought Fluttershy was the only pony capable of communicating with animals, including Ceberus. Cozy Glow is trying to bribe or manipulate Cerberus, and he apparently understands her?

[Silver Shadows]

9535651
I just rewatched the Tartarus part of the episode. All along I had thought it was Twilight, but I guess that I was wrong... Thanks for bringing that up.