The Friendship of Evil Grows

by Zizi Tachyon

Seventh Chapter - Behind the Gates

Author's Note:

I've taken a few creative liberties in regards to Tartarus's layout.

The outermost part of Tartarus was as dull and somber as the exterior. Just enough light was coming from somewhere to create a permanent twilight, of the sort in which shapes can be discerned but all color is depleted. Aside from the metronomic dripping of water off some stalactite, which softly echoed through the tunnel, there was a tranquil silence. Rather than ominous, the gloomy atmosphere of the premise was soothing.

Tirek waded through the thick fog that hung above the ground, being careful not to make excessive noises. He figured Cerberus would have returned Cozy to the place she and himself used to be imprisoned: the center of Tartarus. He kept going straight ahead, leaving the entrance tunnel and entering a more open section of the complex. Dreadful monsters were confined here in dungeons that lined the walls. His presence stirred a slight disturbance amongst the creatures, but he paid no attention to them; his mind was preoccupied with getting past the guardian dog.

He was still carrying his travelling equipment, but nothing he had with him was particularly suited for taking out the likes of Cerberus. Through his earlier skirmish he had already figured out that magic had no effect. He could try to outwit his foe, but he had no idea what to expect up ahead and he couldn't come up with an effective ploy for his life. Cleverness was never his strongest trait, he hated to admit. His best bet was to get the jump on Cerberus and try to take him out right away, but, again (the thought gnawed on his mind), it was Cerberus who had the tactical advantage here. Knowing his sense of smell and hearing, even spying on him from a distance would be a considerable feat of stealth.

Tirek clenched his fists in frustration. Why did he go back into Tartarus? He was fully aware he was risking his life; Cerberus might have easily restrained Cozy, but he himself, as a powerful centaur, an infamous criminal and a trespasser at the same time, would require a harsher approach. And he didn't even have a plan! He could have just let her be taken away and completed his quest by himself. Maybe she wasn't in immediate danger, and he could just explain the situation to the Princesses and ask them to let her out again.

No—he shook his head—he had to act. He couldn't be sure that Cozy was alright; if she was still in danger or in any way injured, the only one who could save her now was him. Seeing what state she is in, she couldn’t be abandoned, certainly not in a place like this, or she will surely succumb to psychological trauma—insofar as Cozy was scarred already. Even if she was lying and scheming behind his back this whole time, she needed to be helped. Besides, though he didn't really care much about it at the time, he did promise to Twilight Sparkle that he would look after her; and Tirek was a creature of his word.

But as he reasoned this, he realized that this wasn't this that was bothering him. Rather, it was the fact that he had acted without thinking it over. Even if he would have done so anyway, he threw himself back into Tartarus without deliberation, driven by pure instinct. Is this what the ponies call "friendship"? "Friendship is like a disease," Chrysalis put it when they were at the summit of Mount Everhoof. He was already infected, and now he was showing surefire symptoms.

He let out a heated sigh, and put a hand on his throbbing forehead. It was getting warmer: the central ring was getting close.

---

Cozy Glow could finally feel herself regaining control over her muscles. From the second the unleashed hound set his six eyes on her, she had been in a total state of shock. All of her motor skills were shut down by an overwhelming fear for her life, leaving her dangling like a stiff puppet while she was being carried back to her former prison. But right now she wasn't feeling anything.

She stood up, trying the strength in her legs, and looked through the bars of the cage. Cerberus was vigilantly guarding the narrow stairway that led to the spire upon which she was being kept. He noticed the filly was watching and turned around. She cautiously put up her most charming smile and waved with her hoof.

"Hey Cerberus! This cage is so cold and hard, won’t you please find me a better place to stay? If you let me out I promise not to fly away!"

She could barely finish these words before Cerberus barked back at her. Startled, she stepped back, tripped and fell down again on the cold floor. Her smile was shattered.

"Why don't you do what I want like everypony else," she whispered to herself, "I'm just an adorable filly, I'm weak and small so you should treat me like I'm innocent."

She lay still for a minute.

"Oh, forget it, I'm only kidding myself at this point. Of course pretending to be nice isn't going to work anymore. Twilight is still falling for it, but what does that matter?" She glanced at the cutie mark on her flank. "Even if I do everything as good as I can, even if I have everypony under my hoof, somehow me and my stupid mouth just end up here again. I didn't even do anything this time, so why does this only happen to me?"

She dusted herself off and sat on her hinds, her head hanging down in defeat.

"I wish Tirek was here. He might be only slightly smarter than the average pony, but he was a nice distraction. He's probably happy to have lost me, because he doesn't really need me. He will get stronger than all of Equestria combined and will succeed without my wits. And I was only joining him because of Twilight and her dumb ideas, so what does he care. I should have seen this coming. I was careless and let him have the upper hoof. This is all my own fault!"

She was suddenly filled with a bitter rage. Tears were welling up in her eyes. She wanted to stomp on the floor and pull at her mane. It made no sense, it served no purpose, but it was the only thing she could do.

But before she could act out her despair, a loud clang rang out of nowhere, and seized her attention. She started, and looking for where the sound came from she noticed a pebble just outside of the cage, barely within reach.

"Huh?"

She stretched her hoof through the bars and picked it up. "Where did this come from?" she muttered quizzically to herself. Did somepony throw it at her? She put her head between the bars and looked outside.

Off to the side, half-hidden behind a big boulder she saw an imposing, hooded figure waving his red, muscle-bound arms at her. For a second Cozy couldn't believe her own eyes. Was Tirek here to save her? Newfound joy welled up in her, and she had to suppress the impulse to squee. If she wanted to escape, she had to stay cool.

Cozy waved back discreetly, careful not to draw the attention of Cerberus. Then when she saw she had Tirek’s attention she put her hoof by her muzzle, gesturing caution, and pointed to the guardian dog, who was still patrolling the bottom of the stairway. Tirek couldn't be seen by him from where he was standing, but conversely he didn't have a good view of the area, either.

Tirek, with a face dead serious, responded by putting his hands up in a shrug and then pointed with open palms also to Cerberus.

Cozy took a second to read his body language. "Wait," she thought, "don't tell me he's come all the way here without a plan! That dumb oaf, how is he supposed to break me out now? Can I count on him doing something useful for me for once?"

Or maybe… this is just what she needed. Tirek still had the strength to break her out of her prison and to fend off Cerberus, and best of all: he still had the element of surprise.

At that moment Cerberus suddenly turned around and, seeing the filly standing up, he fixed his suspicious eyes on her. It caught her off-guard, and she reflexively forged another smile. It only lasted a few seconds but this one hurt to wear, and she was relieved when he looked away again.

She tapped her forehead, trying to regain her focus and pondered, "Think, Cozy Glow, think, think! How can you use all of this to your advantage?"

"Hey Cerberus," Cozy practically shouted to make herself audible through the entire space, "you have been doing such a good job dungeon-keeping, and I thought you deserved a treat. Do you want a cookie?" Out of her saddlebags she took a bag of cookies that Twilight had packed for her and took one for herself. "They're veeeery delicious! Come get one if the path is clear!"

One of the heads, the most docile of the three, was eager for a snack, but the others seemed more skeptical. They would probably have scolded her again if they weren’t promised food. The three heads entered a small argument but it was soon settled: Cerberus would stay put.

"Well, so much for that idea," Cozy thought. She didn't expect Cerberus to fall for such a simple distraction, but that wasn't the real purpose of her move. She was really signalling to Tirek, and she hoped he had understood it.

Now it was time for plan B. Using some rope and a blindle that she had with her she crafted an improvised sling. With it she would launch the pebble Tirek threw at her, hoping to hit the metal bars of a big empty cage that was standing near the wall and distract Cerberus. It was a long shot, and she had only one try, but it had to work.

"Of all those bogus classes at the School of Friendship, I never thought lassoing practice from Applejack would prove useful," she whispered to herself as she put the projectile in the pouch and took aim.

Cerberus was looking the other way. This was her chance. Putting the end of the rope in her mouth, she swung the sling around several times and then released. The pebble went through the bars of her cage and shot through the air like a bullet, invisible to the eye. Cozy's ears pricked up, awaiting impact, and true enough, just a couple of seconds later she heard the distinctive noise of metal being struck echoing from the other side of the complex.

Was her plan working? She didn't dare to take a look right away and see if Cerberus had reacted to it, she didn't want to raise any suspicion. She had to lay low and wait.

Half a minute passed in dead silence before Cozy took the risk and peeked through the bars. Cerberus was still standing right at the foot of the stairs. His tail was wagging intensely. The middle head, the most ferocious one, was tugging at the others, trying to get them to move to that dark corner from whence the sound came.

"Come on, go check it out!" her lips articulated inaudibly.

The other two heads didn’t want to move; Cozy held her breath to see what Cerberus was going to do. But knowing that the other escaped prisoner may be hiding there…

Slowly Cerberus began making strides in the direction of the noise, sniffing and examining the area in three directions at the same time. Reaching the corner he looked back one final time and then disappeared from view.

This was their window of opportunity! Cozy saw Tirek was already scaling down the elevated rock he had sat upon waiting and stole towards the stairs and swiftly scaled them. Just a moment later he stood before Cozy's cage.

"Golly, Tirek, you've made it! Can you break me out?"

Tirek grabbed the bars of the cage and bended them with ease. Cozy jumped through the opening.

"No problem for these babies," Tirek boasted, flexing his biceps with a sense of pride. "Mission accomplished."

"Not quite," Cozy retorted tensely. Cerberus was already returning from his excursion. When he saw the Centaur standing by the prison he growled and started sprinting.

"We might be in trouble. Do you have another plan?" Tirek pointed at the charging hellhound. Their previous spar had proven that attacking Cerberus head-on was a dangerous idea.

"Sort of. The plan is to defeat Cerberus by working together," Cozy explained. "I will distract him, then you come in to take him down. Then we will make a run for it."

Tirek scratched his head in hesitation. "If he catches you you'll be toast. Are you sure it will work?"

By now Cerberus stood at the bottom of the stairs, blocking only way down. He was about to climb up.

Cozy gulped, "It's our only chance to escape. I'll just have to keep my distance." She turned around, spread her wings, and took off, making a beeline in the direction of the exit. She didn't fly at full speed, hoping that Cerberus would see her escape her and chase after her. As expected, she was spotted by one of the heads right away. With a considerable distance between her and the dog, she stalled, turned around and teased, "Hey you dumb dog, try to catch me now!"

Hesitating to pursue the fleeing prisoner, he put a paw down from the stairs, but a second's deliberation later he retracted it and proceeded creeping up to where Tirek was.

Cozy panicked a little. Though she had hoped for better luck, going after Tirek first was the logical move: without his strength she would have been stuck anyway and could be taken care of later. However, that did leave Cozy with little choice: if Cerberus had to be drawn away from there, she had to get closer.

She turned around and flew back. With clenched teeth she fluttered over the canyon that divided her prison from the rest of Tartarus. She was out of range of Cerberus's bites and swipes, but close enough to lure him into going after her. Cerberus could only growl at her. In order to lead him away from the stairs she flew behind his back, prompting the dog to step back and turn around. She had to be extra careful now: one miscalculated wing flap and she could end up in his paws. The thought of it sent a chill over her back.

As Cozy slowly hovered backwards, Cerberus snuck after her with silent steps, preserving an even distance between predator and prey. Should she fly higher, or was she safe at this elevation? Should she flee right now, or wait a little longer? Panic overtook her, she tugged her body to turn around and flapped her wings with all her might. Unable to see the threat behind her anymore, her vision went dark from fear and she plummeted to the ground. She could hear Cerberus approaching, his mean, three-mouthed growl increasing in volume as it came closer, it was less than a hoofstep removed from her—

"Now I've got you, you mutt!" Cozy opened her eyes. To her shock, Cerberus was indeed practically looming over her. But try as he did, he couldn't get any closer, something was stopping him. Behind him stood Tirek, holding Cerberus by the tail.

"How about you go sit in the corner for a while!" Tirek pulled Cerberus back and started swinging him around in circles. After several turns of building up speed he let go, crashing the dog into a nearby rock structure and knocking him out.

He reached out his hand to Cozy Glow, who was still lying on the ground.

"You're not hurt, are you?"

"No, I'm fine, I think." She allowed herself to be pulled up. Rubbing her temples, she felt her senses were finally returning. "Come on, what are we waiting for, let's go!" she commanded, upon which she flew up and held on to Tirek's shoulder. He took off as fast as his hooves could carry him.

"The exit isn't too far away, but how are we going to get through the gate?" Tirek wondered.

"You're just going to have to use raw magical power!" Cozy replied. "Twilight combined the magic of all creatures in Tartarus to break out, but now that you are all strong and mighty you can do that all by yourself, right?"

Tirek smiled. He always appreciated it when his brawn was recognized. "Twilight Sparkle has nothing on my power, just you watch!"

Still holding on tight, Cozy looked over her shoulder. Cerberus, it appeared, had already gotten back up. Though he tried to push on, his movements were slow and sluggish and with each step he nearly stumbled over. He was unable to give chase. Instead Cerberus sat down and lifted his three heads into the air, and they howled in unison. It was a sound so awfully distressing and ominous that not even Tirek thought he had ever heard a noise so dreadful in his life; he covered his ears to silence it.

It didn't stop. Like an alarm gone haywire Cerberus was trying to announce to the whole world that his prisoners were fleeing.

"What is wrong with that dog?! Enough of the yelping already!" Tirek snarled irritatedly, his palms still firmly pressed against his ears.

"T-T-Tirek!" Cozy cried with clappering teeth. "W-w-w-we're being chased!"

"How in the—I thought we'd lost him!" He glanced over his shoulder to see what Cozy meant.

No, it wasn't the hellhound; something much larger and much more daunting was hot on his heels. Bones that lay scattered throughout the dungeon had started moving on their own and were being assembled in the image of a gigantic horse galloping at incredible speed. Its nostrils produced a torrent of black smoke that shrouded everything behind it in darkness.

"It's getting closer, hurry up!"

"I'm going as fast as I can!"

The duo passed a corner. Another long, dark passageway. At the opposite end stood the gate.

"There's our exit!" Tirek shouted hopefully.

"Charge your magical attack! We've only got one shot to do this right. Wait for my signal to fire!"

Tirek accumulated all his magical reserves between his horns into ball of pure magic, which was rapidly expanding. Cozy could feel the heat radiating off it. With one hoof she blocked its blinding light from getting into her eyes; she had to keep track of the distance to the gate. If Tirek'd fire too soon they would compromise on power and accuracy; on the other hoof, if he'd fire too late they might get caught by the blast radius.

Cozy didn't want to think of the monstrosity behind her. She swore she saw the smoke creeping up into the corners of her eyes, ready to swallow them both. She knew this escape was no longer a calculated plan with clever mind-games and a foreseeable outcome—her own inevitable victory. It had come down to unknowable odds that decided if she would live or die. Ponies long had a name for the emotion that tethered one’s sanity to the unbearable, fatal ambiguity that life may bring, but this was the first time she understood what having hope felt like.

As the tunnel straightened and the gate was only seconds removed from them, the entire cacophony of stamping hooves, clattering bones, hissing smoke and most of all Cerberus's howling was further amplified, as if the whole world was crumbling apart.

"Blast it open now Tirek!" Cozy yelled.

Tirek aimed his horns forward and shot a concentrated magical ray with the color of molten lava at middle of the gate. The beam exploded upon contact, creating a powerful shockwave that ran back into the bowels of Tartarus. Cozy pressed her eyes shut to protect them from the debris. She stayed like that until she could feel the light through her eyelids—the sunlight of an overcast day that seemed so drab before now felt warm and inviting.

She and her companion had come to a standstill. The world gone silent again, save for Tirek's intensive heaving. Opening her eyes, she found herself back at the entrance of Tartarus. The gates were standing wide open and out of the opening projected an assortment of bones, as dead as they once were. The sunlight had vanquished the darkness that animated them.

Tirek rested his arms on his knees for a second before he dragged himself towards the doors. Only a slight pull turned out to be necessary for them to close on their own; and fortunately so, because he didn't have a whiff of strength in him anymore. He figured they were finally safe, and reached his hand around his neck and patted the pegasus foal who was still clamped to his shoulder on her head.

"Are you still in one piece, Cozy?" he spoke with a soft chuckle, as if trying to lift the mood somewhat.

"I've made it without a bruise, I think,"—she yawned—"but I do need rest. I don't think I can trot much further."

"Hmm. This adventure into Tartarus has cost us a lot of time, and we must leave this forest before night falls. If you really can't go on, I suppose you can rest on my back."

"Okay." Cozy let out a sigh, in which Tirek detected genuine relief. "Thanks, Tirek." She shuffled down from his shoulders and lay down comfortably on the centaur's backside. It was a remarkably pleasant surface to lie on, and she felt herself dozing off almost instantly.

"If it wasn't for your cleverness and your bravery we would still be stuck there," without looking back he pointed to the gates of the prison that he was leaving behind for good, "I think it's I who would be thanking you."

He didn't know if Cozy was still listening. It didn't really matter to him.

Comments

[vito]

Sweet update, glad to see they made it!

[asdtroi8895]

That was certainly intense. Very creepy ability that Cerberus had.

[Zizi Tachyon]

10166209
I had to give him some terrifying special power. He's the guardian of the hell realm, that has to count for more than what we have seen in the show.

[Animation Crusader]

Yay, they got back out! That was some good teamwork between them.

And yeah, for being the only guardian of the place, Cerberus definitely needed a power upgrade. Hopefully he doesn't bother them again later on.

Cozy sleeping on Tirek's back is an adorable image to imagine. Great update!

[Zizi Tachyon]

10167464
It's hard to beat a tired Cozy sleeping in terms of cuteness. If Vito does commissions I would definitely would like to ask him to draw the scene.

[Razzy]

D'awwww~

[Juicer]

Skeleton

No, it wasn't the hellhound; something much larger and much more daunting was hot on his heels. Bones that lay scattered throughout the dungeon had started moving on their own and were being assembled in the image of a gigantic horse galloping at incredible speed. Its nostrils produced a torrent of black smoke that shrouded everything behind it in darkness.

Here I saw a shadowmere version of Arvak