Chapter 2: Home Sweet Home
“So... where are we exactly?” asked Ethan as he threw a stick into the nearby treeline, only for Cerberus's pounding steps to follow. Tirek brought a hand to his chin and lightly pulled on his beard while looking around.
“Judging from the nearby mountains and trees, I would have to say we are near the Smokey Mountains,” he replied.
“Okay, but where are we going exactly? I've just been following you for the last few hours.”
“Yes, I'm well aware of your presence, it is quite suffocating,” said Tirek with a smirk causing the human to feign hurt. “But we are going towards Canterlot, it is the city of unicorns after all. I get my power from the magic found within creatures and unicorns are abundant there.”
“Wait so how do you do that though? Do you like... grab them or something and perform some weird centaur ritual?" Ethan said while gesturing wildly with his hands. "And what about the unicorns? Will that kill them? 'Cause you know I draw my line at killing.”
Tirek rolled his eyes, “Once my magic returns, I will be capable of taking the magic from them. Doing so will not kill them, but instead leaves them incredibly weak and incapable of defending themselves. There magic would eventually return over time, but it would take years for them to get the same amount of magic again without me returning it myself.”
"And you're sure that there is no other way for you to absorb magic without targeting living creatures?" Ethan asked with a cautious glance towards his companion.
“I could take magic from the surrounding areas and plant life, but I would need to wipe out forests worth of trees to get the same amount of magic as Canterlot's unicorn population," he explained with a wave of his arm.
Ethan hummed in response and watched Cerberus come out from the treeline. The three headed dog, now carrying a dead tree with his heads came to a stop in front of Ethan before dropping his new 'stick'. The tree hit the ground with a boom and Ethan felt the ground shake. Looking into the dog's eyes, he could only deadpan and sigh before turning back towards Tirek, who took the time to stop as well.
“So how long do you think it'll take until you can use your powers?” asked Ethan, causing Tirek to think while nodding his head side to side in contemplation.
“I do not know, it could take weeks, months, maybe years. Until then we will have to wait. Although... how about you do something useful and look for a suitable area to make preparations for when the time comes to invade Canterlot?”
“I guess one of us actually has to do something, and I know it's never going to be you. Your arms are thinner than toothpicks,” Ethan said while walking towards the trees, which caused Tirek to look at his arms and silently agree. 'Without some magic I am pretty weak, and not nearly as handsome either.' Tirek thought to himself.
Several hours later...
“Hey, you think this'll work!?” shouted Ethan to the lounging Tirek, who took to resting against a tree in the shade while the human looked for a good temporary 'home'.
'I can't believe I'm even thinking of considering this creature worthy of finding a home suitable for us... us? No no, just for me, he's just an annoying parasite.'
Sighing, Tirek got up and moved towards Ethan, who waited patiently by the treeline. Once Tirek was close enough, Ethan turned around and waved for the centaur to follow. Leading him through the forest, Tirek couldn't help but admire his surroundings, the trees were so close together that one would be lucky to see one-hundred hooves away.
Moss lined many of the trees, with thick grass and bushes covering the ground. Tirek could imagine that a pony would be terrified to be in a forest like this alone, especially at night, but the duo found it peaceful, both enjoying the solitude and calm the forest brought.
Looking straight, Tirek saw a break in the forest. Getting closer he noticed that it was a somewhat circular clearing with a river running through the trees and into the open area. The nearby trees were large enough to provide some cover from the elements too, but the waning light of day and coloring sky could be seen through a gap in the treeline in the middle of the clearing. The clearing wasn't very large, probably able to hold a small two story home on either side of the river, but it would have to do till his magic came back.
“I'm surprised you found something worth while, I almost thought you weren't going to return after the second hour passed,” snarked Tirek as he walked towards the small river to get a drink of water.
Ethan rolled his eyes, “You'd like that wouldn't you? Oh by the way... Have you seen Cerberus anywhere? I saw he wasn't with you, and he didn't come with me...” asked Ethan with some concern, that dog had been growing on him from his time in Tartarus. It would suck for him to up and leave.
“That mutt is probably just looking for a bone. Good riddance I say, but he might come back, unfortunately he can't seem to resist those belly rubs you give him with your hands,” said Tirek in a semi-consoling way, getting Ethan to nod in return.
With Cerberus
Cerberus had his nose to the ground, sniffing like no tomorrow, having caught a wonderful scent while waiting for his owner to come back. Not being able to resist, Cerberus started trailing the smell and had been following it for the last hour.
No longer was the dog in the forest. Instead, he was now in the open planes. Feeling the smell getting stronger, Cerberus picked up his pace before suddenly stopping. The scent had grown to be almost overwhelming, and knowing what needed to be done, he began to dig.
Piles of dirt were tossed back with every massive paw, before long one wouldn't have been able to see the dog from eye level. This continued on for a few more seconds before a loud Clang sounded throughout the area and a chest was tossed into the air and landed haphazardly on the ground.
Cerberus jumped from the hole and went towards the chest. For several minutes he pawed at random spots, trying to figure out how to open it. Getting lucky he pawed right at the lock and with his great strength accidentally ripped it from the chest.
Once it opened fully many gold coins and jewels of all kinds could be seen. Ignoring the useless junk, Cerberus knocked the chest on its side and went for the real treasure. Digging his head in the valuables he bit down on his prize with one of his heads and pulled out a massive golden bone.
Kicking the chest and most of the items back into the hole, Cerberus covered the open chest back up with dirt till the hole was filled up and began heading back in the direction of his owner.
Back at Camp
The night was beginning to reveal itself to our favorite pair, who were trying to start a fire.
“It is quite sad to see that you are much too weak to do something so simple. You have to have at least a little bit of strength to back all that talk you spew,” mocked Tirek, causing Ethan to huff irritably, but he still tried to rub faster. After a few more minutes of nothing, the human shouted out a curse and threw the sticks onto the ground, giving up. Tirek, who watched this happen, began laughing deeply, enjoying the failure of his comrade.
“I'd like to see you give it a try Tirek,” said Ethan with venom dripping from his tone and a burning glare from his eyes. Tirek smirked at the human, not finding him intimidating in the slightest. He then stood up and made his way over towards the pile of sticks and leaves they've been trying to turn into a fire, small stones making a circle around it to prevent the fire from spreading.
“I will show you just how much better I am,” said Tirek picking up the tossed sticks and going back towards their makeshift fire... well... soon to be fire. Cracking his neck, Tirek began rubbing the two sticks aggressively to make as much heat as possible. Several minutes passed with nothing happening, the self-proclaimed ruler of Equestria began building a sweat and not a minute later did the exact same thing as Ethan.
Who was on the ground, rolling with laughter, and gasping about not being able to breathe.
Tirek snorted before simmering in anger and shame from not one-upping the human. Looking away, he crossed his arms and huffed, though before long both looked in the direction of sudden rapid pounding, with the human quickly composing himself and standing up. A few tense moments pass, but both released their held breaths at the sight of Cerberus. A smile grew on the human's face as he looked at the massive bone in one of Cerberus's jaws, it had to be the size of his leg. Walking closer to the guard dog, Ethan's jaw went slack when he got a closer look at the bone.
'Is... is that thing GOLD encrusted?'
Ethan turned to Tirek, who was trying to light the fire again, his claws a blur. Surprisingly, the human watched as light smoke began to come from the sticks.
With a growing smirk, Tirek quickly placed both sticks and some dry leaves on the fire pile and the five heads watched as a small fire started from the small leaves and dried grass. The centaur fist bumped the air and taunted the human, who grumbled under his breath about 'beginners luck'.
“I, Lord Tirek, do not need mere luck to accomplish such a measly task as starting a fire!” Shouted Tirek in triumph. Rolling his eyes, Ethan grabbed the other longer and thicker sticks from their stick pile and began making a wooden tent for shelter. Using thin, flexible pieces of bark as makeshift rope to tie the ends of the sticks at the top so his new residence doesn't fall apart in the middle of the night.
Once his foundation was done, with Tirek shadowing him some feet away, Ethan grabbed some of the brush and leaves they took as well and placed a layer of each, with the leaves on the outside to prevent too much water from getting in if it rained.
The tent was shaky and a mere breeze would knock some of his roof from the intertwined sticks that serve as walls, but it was the best they could do with the things they had. Ethan went to grab the finishing touch, his pillow, aka, his lunchbox, before remembering he forgot it in Tartarus next to Tirek's cage.
'Dammit, I feel like I have amnesia with how often I forget things.' Ethan thought, exacerbated with his own ignorance.
Getting comfy, well as comfy as solid ground with no pillow or blanket can get, Ethan closed his eyes and tried to will himself to sleep. Instead of sleep, the only thing both Tirek and Ethan received was the loud crunches from Cerberus as he chewed on his newfound bone. Attempting to ignore the sound, they both went back to empty thoughts, only for that too to be broken when loud growling and low barks from Cerberus caused them to groan and poke their heads out from the tents.
The sight that met them was confusing at best, the two outside heads of Cerberus were pulling on either end of the bone trying to have it for themselves, with the remaining head gnawing on the middle of it. Seeing this, Tirek felt the veins on his head get ready to burst as he climbed out from under his tent and grabbed part of the bone himself before yanking with all his might, shouting all the while.
“You stupid mutt! We're trying to sleep and all you want to do is make noise! Give me the bucking bone and lay the buck down!”
Ethan could only snicker to himself and watched with amusement as Tirek somehow managed to pull the bone free and hurl it as far as his thin arms could manage. All three of Cerberus's heads watched the bone fly through the air before disappearing over the treeline. Once out of sight, the heads glared and snarled at Tirek, who shrieked and dove under his tent in response.
The, now boneless, dog put his nose to the ground and sniffed attempting to find the scent of his bone. As soon as the scent hit his noses he quickly began going in the direction of the lost bone. Ethan smiled as he watched Cerberus leave and once out of sight he turned to watch the fire for a few moments before laying his head on his hands, closing his eyes to get much needed rest.
With Cerberus... again
Cerberus sprinted through the trees for his bone, but could never seem to catch it. Every time the trail would get strong, it would suddenly change directions. Running towards the scent after yet another change in direction, Cerberus found himself back outside of the forest and in the distance could see a timber wolf making off with his prize. Barking loudly, Cerberus gave chase, pumping his stubby legs as fast as he could.
The timber wolf though, with it's more athletic body, was easily able to outpace the giant, three headed dog. For the next few hours both ran, one, back to it's pack after barely catching the smell of the bone on the breeze, the other, in an attempt to take back what was rightfully his.
Cerberus watched as the wolf ran into a different forest than before, and attempted to follow through the narrow trees. He managed to topple a few before being halted and forced to come to a stop. Cerberus growled near deafeningly, only to whimper when he realized he had no clue where his owner was now or where his bone went. He attempted to smell the air, but could only smell wolf, nature, and manticore. After a while Cerberus laid on the ground, but kept his body awake and ready to defend himself, not wanting to be caught off guard while asleep.
Soon enough Cerberus began getting droopy and rested his heads on the ground. Slowly closing his eyes, the guardian of Tartarus fell into a fitful sleep, lost and upset, unknowing of what the next day held for him.
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How dare u take his bone u monster!
yea this is why im guessing anon will just walk out again if he is put in tarturus
I like it so far
10293367
Thanks, I try.
Tirek couldn't take magic away from items, would it be here ? Good story!
10299317
Tirek mentioned the thing about wiping out forests to put it in perspective how much magic is contained inside unicorns. He meant he could slowly take the ambient magic from equestria like every other magical being can do when they're missing magic, just at a much faster rate due to his ability to abosrb magic.
And if by "items" you mean magical artifacts like grogar's bell, then no he can't absorb that magic. I meant that he can take the magic from any living thing. Whether that be plants, animals, or the more mythical creatures found across the world of mlp.