The next day, it was rather peaceful. The group that knew of Future Twilight's warning kept calm, distracting themselves with their usual activities. But it still nagged at them that Cerberus was supposed to show up. It was the guardian of Tartarus for a reason; absolutely no magic worked on the three-headed beast. This, coupled with the giant dog's size, speed, strength, loyalty, and ferocity in pursuing prisoners; made him the perfect guard for Tartarus. Also, he was ageless, and had been guarding the gates since Faust first called the dreadful place into being.

He ensured that whatever foul being Faust literally dragged across the world and into the depths of that damned place never made it past the gate. Beings so big, so powerful, that their drag marks still remain to this day as the oldest roads known to civilization. When someone says; “all roads lead to Tartarus” or “the path to Tartarus is paved with good intentions”, they are saying phrases that had and still have literal meaning. And so it is that all roads lead to Cerberus. From Cerberus.

That's intimidating.

So when they heard a trio of howls sounding over the whole town, and some panicked screams, they prepared for the worst, and burst out of the front door, all prepared to fight for their lives...only....

“Tee-hee~! Chase me!” Pinkie and Citrine were running down the street, the giant black and gray three-headed bulldog with three collars from left to right labeled, Cer, Ber, and Us, chasing sedately barked playfully, and when they caught them, they proceeded to pin Pinkie with a bombardment of three slobbering tongues. “Ah~ He got me~! Run Citrine~!”

“No!” Citrine cried with her adorable new-found squeaky voice of the past couple weeks, and dramatically tried to beat the dog off her mother. “Momma!” However, her giggles gave away that the intelligent little crystal filly knew they were safe, and the Cer head began licking her instead, getting her to giggle even more.

Meanwhile, the rest of the town watched on amused as they went about their normal lives. The group that knew he was coming though...all blankly stared in abject disappointment. “He's...a big puppy....” The Twins dejectedly commented.

“Yep.” The three mares all chorused, before they all sighed, and Zecora and Trixie went inside.

“Well you two, I guess escorting Cerberus isn't going to be that much an issue. But whatever you do, be careful. Whatever my future self was trying to warn you about involves Cerberus and Tartarus. So...I expect to see you back soon.” Twilight nuzzled her lovers, and went back inside.

“Well...we've got a puppy to return to his yard.” The Twins stated exasperatedly, and approached the rolled-over Cerberus, who was currently getting a belly rub from Fluttershy. “Okay Cerberus...Cerberus?” The big beast ignored them in favor of the mares lavishing him in attention, and they sighed. “CERBERUS!” At the sound of the Royal Canterlot Voice, Cerberus bolted to his feet, and sat at attention, completely composed. “IT IS TIME TO GO HOME! FOLLOW US!”

Getting a chorus of confirming barks, the dog stood, and they began flying in the direction Twilight had told them yesterday was where Tartarus could be found.

===//////>

“HEEL BOY! HEEL!” The Twins shouted for what felt like the thousandth time. This old dog had serious obedience issues. He would only respond to the Royal Canterlot Voice, and even then, his attention span was literally divided three ways. Cer was always looking around, Ber was actually focused on them, while Us seemed more interested in all the smells. “BER! TRY TO GET YOUR BROTHERS TO FOCUS!” Ber backed in confirmation, and bit and tugged gently on his sibling head's ears when they got distracted. “GOOD BOY!” They wagged their stubby tail so much the Twins thought his rump would fly off.

'Thank Faust we're almost there!' Kamina thought to her brother. Even though they knew Discord was essentially the oldest being of this world's mythos, it was Faust who laid most of the groundwork.

'Don't jinx it! For all we know, something horrible will go wrong the moment we get him back.' Animak replied to his sister. They'd been flying in the same direction for nearly 12 hours now. With his size, Cerberus could have crossed this sort of distance at a run within a few hours, and their flying would be the same, but with all the interruptions of getting Cerberus on task, things constantly stalled.

“We're here!” The Twins shouted to themselves in joy at seeing the gates to near-eternal punishment...yeah, that sounded morbid. The gate was actually a giant, solid black monolith jutting out from the side of an even bigger cliff. It dwarfed Cerberus so much, the Twins wondered how any of the monstrosities inside couldn't get past the beast. But for all they knew, this was Cerberus at rest, and when in action, he probably grew several times bigger. It wouldn't surprise them. “WE'RE HOME BOY!”

The giant guard dog yipped in joy, and began rolling around the bare, desolate ground. From the massive black monolith, a great number of smooth, plant-free dirt roads spread in all directions, creating a sort of ultimate crossroads in the middle of nowhere. At each road corner were black stones, similar to the monolith, engraved with the names of the beasts dragged here that created the roads, and their sentencing. All in ancient Equine. It was so badass.

“Whoa...this is the drag mark of Nidhogg the Terrible!” Kamina gushed as she read the stone marker next to the largest road. Nidhogg, in myth, was the greatest, biggest, most spiteful, powerful, and greedy dragon in existence. His black scales were so strong, it was said not even Faust could penetrate them. But she was able to subdue him, and drag him to Tartarus for his crimes against the world.

“Ugh...sis...seriously? Twilight's the nerd in the group, don't get all geeky on me.” Animak groaned, until he noticed that Cerberus was sniffing him curiously. “Hey fella. Glad to be ho-?” He was interrupted by Cerberus licking him, and the Twins collapsed in pain at the sudden and unexpected ancient sample. “Ugh...ow....” They whimpered and nosed Animak in worry. “No...no you're fine. We're fine...blegh!” Animak spat out some of his teeth, and felt around with a talon to feel a new set of molars even more efficient at masticating had grown in. “Ugh...legendary dog teeth.”

“Ew! Dog teeth!” Kamina complained as she spat out her old teeth too. “Dang it...I liked my flat molars....” She licked her new teeth, and frowned at the feeling of the sharp new grinders rubbing on her tongue. “I'm going to miss my smooth back teeth.”

“Get over it sis, these things happen.” Suddenly, they all perked, up. All of them. And began sniffing the air, Cerberus getting excited. “I smell something...off.”

“Curious...I do too.” Kamina confirmed, and took a long whiff. “Whatever it is, it was here not long ago.”

Cerberus howled in excitement, and took off down one of the many roads. “Not again!” The Twins complained as they took off after the supposedly loyal guardian. “How are we going to get home if he can't stay at his post?”

“Ah! Cerberus! There you are boy!” At the sound of the deep, and amicable voice that rumbled over the desolate plain, the Twins paused to see something even bigger than Cerberus come from around a mesa. “I'd have been happier had you not wandered off like that. Now we've got an escapee.” The being before them was a little hard to describe, but he matched the descriptions in books of the ancient race of centaurs.

He had the white body of a horse, with black hooves and black tail. But where it would end in a head, the upper body of an advanced primate existed. His burly chest reminded them of iron will, even coated in white fur. But his big, beefy arms made even Iron Will look scrawny. They were a hairless pale blue, rippling with muscles so strong they could probably crumble foundation just by flexing. Finally, his head was like a monkey's, the face itself was hairless, but framed heavily in bushy white hair reminiscent of a mighty beard/hair combo, and his long curved-in horns extended a good distance above his head. He utterly dwarfed Cerberus in size, and by extension; them.

“I wish you were here sooner boy. But by now, the trail will have gone cold.” The giant centaur turned his attention to the worried and confused royal siblings. “Were you the ones to return the little scamp? Thank you. Might I ask your names?”

“Um...I'm Animak, and this is-.”

“SEXY~!” Kamina burst out, and flew up to one of the giant being's arms to squeeze his biceps. “Feel them! They're hard as rocks!” The Twins jolted, and barely managed to keep flying as they added yet another DNA sample to their bodies, which didn't make much more of it before returning to normal. “Ow...sorry bro!”

“Damn it Kam! And you say I have little self-control when it comes to my impulses!” Animak grumbled, and flew up towards the amused centaur. “I'm Animak, and my lecherous sister is named Kamina. We're the children of Celestia, and we were just-.”

“You're the offspring of Sunfire? I thought that young spitfire would never find a stallion.” The centaur pealed off in a boisterous laugh. “It is a pleasure to meet you! I am Scorpan. A Jailor of Tartarus.”

“You're one of the Jailors?!” The Twins replied in shock. As many legends as there are of the eternal prison's inmates, there were just as many of it's jailors and the Warden. They had to be strong enough to corral the cruel beings, and were often considered just as cruel if not crueler in order to keep riots from breaking out, and the gates from being smashed down. If that happened, not even Cerberus could do anything to stop it. What made the Jailors so imposing though, was that they were all volunteers. Meaning they entered that proverbial hell willingly to contain what it held from the world.

“Yes. I joined the prison's roster of guards when I neared my death, in order to ensure that my brother never escaped from his just punishment.” Scorpan snorted, the gusts of wind from his nose causing turbulence. “Unfortunately, due to this little runt running off; that very thing has happened.”

The Twins paled. “What?”

“My brother; Tirek, roams Equus once more.” Scorpan dropped the proverbial bomb on them, and the Twins about fell to the ground far below in shock. “I can go no farther than this. This mesa is as far as us Jailors can stray from Tartarus before our bodies begin to wither and die from lacking it's invigorating magics. In this sense...perhaps Cerberus having run off was a mixed blessing. Had he not run off, Tirek would not have escaped, but if he had not, you would not have come here. As you can guess; we do not have a convenient messaging system, as Nidhogg's plasma breath is too powerful to harness for dragonfire delivery. Bring this message to your mother.” Scorpan took a deep breath, and his horns charged with magic so potent it nearly sparked a tornado, and a large scroll, just barely small enough to be held by both of the Twins together appeared before them, and they took it in their talons.

“We'll deliver it right away.” The Twins nodded to the giant, and charged their horns to teleport.

“Oh, one more thing. Tell Sunfire I miss her, and wish to tell her that aside from my brother escaping; Tartarus is just fine.” The Twins nodded again, and warped away, leaving a worried and sighing Scorpan petting the heads of the comparatively small dog.

===//////>

When the two warped into the middle of Celestia's Day Court, to say there was a commotion was an understatement. However, they were all shut up by. “SILENCE! WE BRING THIS SCROLL FROM SCORPAN OF TARTARUS!” Dead silence filled the room, and a wide-eyed and scared Celestia slowly got up from her throne. “Mom...read.” They unsealed the giant scroll, and it rolled open along the floor, ending just at her hooves. It was in Ancient Equine, and the message was a formally written, and clear order of recapture of the prisoner Tirek, ordered by the Warden. “On a lighter note...Scorpan says hi, he misses you, Tartarus is fine otherwise, etcetera.”

Celestia seemed on the verge of panicking, but took a deep cleansing breath to get a hole of herself. “This is terrible. Awful. SISTER!” Tia called in her most powerful voice into the ceiling. Shortly, a tired Luna flashed into the room, looking ready to blow some heads off.

“WHERE ARE THE INTERLOPERS WHO DARE THREATEN...oh, hello my kin.” Luna brightened up upon noticing no quarry to battle, but easily saw the giant scroll, skimmed, and balked. “HIM?! Why, of all the prisoners, did it have to be HIM?!”

“Mom, Auntie, what's so bad about this Tirek guy? We can sort of understand if he's anywhere near as big or powerful as Scorpan, but he can be taken down, right?” They asked, only for the sisters to shake their heads.

“If Scorpan were free of his restrictions of Tartarus, then yes; we could fight him into submission.” Celestia admitted sadly, as she looked around the court at the scared and worried nobles. “My Little Ponies, I need your help. Scramble your information networks to be on the lookout for a centaur of any kind. He is to be taken down and apprehended with extreme prejudice, and if he cannot be captured...you have my permission to end him.”

The nobles all shouted their assent to the order, and quickly filed out to carry out the urgent task. “It is a shame that Tirek performed the genocide of his race...you would not have had to put out an order for “any” centaur then.” Luna sadly commented, and sighed. “Listen my kin, listen well. For a dreadful tale of greed, pride, and evil we must tell.” Upon them moving the giant scroll aside, they all sat down, the Twins paying rapt attention.

“Long ago, before Equestria had even properly formed under our rule. Two centaur brothers, one of white and blue, the other of black and red, sought out our lovely land for it's abundance of magic. They had learned a dark art, one that allowed them to steal all the magic of others, leaving them mundane, their flanks blank, their eyes faded. While they were committing their thieving rampage, the brother of white and blue; Scorpan, felt that what they were doing was wrong. But his brother of black and red; Tirek, only reveled more and more in the pain he caused.

It was on one of these rampages, that Scorpan stopped, and instead engaged a pony wizard in conversation while his brother was blinded in his glee of the torment he wrought. That pony, was Star Swirl the Bearded, our instructor who taught us more of magic than we ever thought we could know. They quickly befriended one another, and to save him; Scorpan hid Star Swirl from Tirek until they parted in an argument.

It was then that Star Swirl, along with us as barely mares, and Scorpan, fought Tirek together. It was a long, arduous battle that lasted days. Through it all, the only one who could actually contest Tirek's power was Scorpan, as he was immune to his brother's magic stealing power. However, we eventually wore Tirek down, until he could take no more, and collapsed, returning all the magic he had stolen. Scorpan helped us drag him to Tartarus, and threw him into the gate, where the Jailors took him in.

Scorpan then returned the magic he had stolen, and lived out his days alongside Star Swirl as a life-long friend. But when he neared his death, he went to Tartarus to ensure that with his aid; his brother, and other villains within would not escape. It would seem his worries were founded, and yet he can do little from Tartarus in this situation.” Luna finished.

“Whoa...this is heavy....” Then the Twins blinked. “Wait, when did Tirek slaughter his race?”

“After he and Scorpan went their separate ways. Tirek felt betrayed by his brother, and sought to vent his frustration and hatred upon his own people, who were few, and helpless before him.” Celestia clarified sadly, and shed a tear. “That is why we deemed him foul enough for Tartarus. It takes an especially cruel and evil being to kill anyone with such intent, but to kill an entire people?”

“And where was Discord in all this?” The Twins asked, only for Scoddri to trot in.

“Someone mention me?” Upon being informed of the situation, Scoddri sighed and shook his head. “Sorry, I was on a sort of vacation off in the solar system at the time of that dour business. Turning the surface of the nearest planet habitable...actually...I should check on it, see if anything's come of it.” They all gawked at him, and Scoddri blinked in confusion. “What? You think Equus is the only planet I've helped kick-start? I've done dozens of planets. Never named any of them though, left that to any species that sprouted up from them.”

“Well this is all well and good, but Twilight and the others must be ready to freak without us. So we're going to-.” The Twins didn't finish, because they were interrupted by an odd whirring/whooshing/churning sound, and a familiar blue police box faded into existence before them, stunning them all. When it finished solidifying into the space-time of the court room, the door opened to see a frantic Doctor Hooves, who sighed in relief upon seeing the Twins.

“Oh! Thank goodness! I caught you before you could cause a paradox. Greetings your majesties. Scoddri.” Hooves nonchalantly greeted as he trotted to his fellow Time Lords. “Listen; you cannot show yourselves to the others until after Tuesday morning.”

“What? Why?” They asked in confusion.

“Because you didn't do the action that Future Twilight was going to warn you against, which didn't result in you being accidentally thrown into Tartarus in a skirmish with Tirek who was only a few minutes north of the path you took.” Hooves calmly informed, and held up a hoof to stave off questions. “Now, since you have avoided that fate, she is none-the-wiser. But, the TARDIS tells me that if you remain missing until after Twilight delivers her message to the past, then she'll try to impart a similar message with the same results.”

All was quiet for a moment. “What would have happened to us if we were thrown into Tartarus?” The Twins asked nervously, and the four others around them all sadly looked at them with the obvious answer. “We would've been imprisoned?!”

“AK, listen; just throwing baddies in there has been a practice kept standard since Faust created that foul place. Without proper documentation, they'd just assume you as being low-threat criminals tossed in by vigilantes or something, and keep you for a week.” Scoddri informed them. “Well, that or feed you to the more unruly inmates. That's what they do with death row members.”

“And if I ever found out they did such, which I would have found out, there would be no Tartarus soon after.” Celestia growled darkly as her eyes slitted, and her teeth clenched.

“Sister, calm.” Luna forcefully stated, and put a hoof on her sister's shoulder. “They're safe. We all are.”

“Oh no, please, let a bit of old vindictive Sunfire back out won't you? I missed the old spitfire.” Scoddri eagerly stated. “Oh Sunfire my sweet, fierce, fiery goddess. It is so wonderful to see you again.

“I've always been Sunfire Scoddri, I just don't let my anger control me so much anymore....” Celestia blushed as she looked away bashfully.

“Whatever. We're just going to lay low up in the library tower. You all have fun. Thanks Hooves.” The Twins waved goodbye to the Doctor who waved back gladly, before trotting back into the TARDIS and leaving as the trio of lovers all had a lighthearted conversation. 'Geez, you'd think that a dangerous genocidal monster hadn't just escaped Tartarus with the way they go on.' They rolled their eyes as they left the courtroom. '...Is it genetic?'

Author's Notes:

Low and behold; Tirek is loose. No, this is not over. This just means that while they'll be searching for him, they'll have no luck with him staying off the grid to recover and plot.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9AN7WpRy2Y

Ugh...too...much...spaghetti.

On a depressing note, my aunt Barbara died this morning. I didn't know her, but my dad is taking it very hard with the loss of his little sister. I'll be busy consoling him for a while, so sorry for any delays.