Strait From Tartarusby Leaf SparkChaptersChapter 1: Leafea VineChapter 2: Love and TravelChapter 3: A Surprise From TartarusChapter 1: Leafea VineLeafea Vine: I walked into the town of Ciciair, a small town that is unbeknown to most of Equestria. I had a hooded cloak on, so no one would recognize me. I walked up to a stand selling strawberries. Behind a stallion with a maroon coat, I gaped at the sight of Discord being rejected of service. Discord was an infamous being, even- maybe especially- in Tartarus. He is a traitor to the evil doers, having been reformed by the Element of Kindness. He wrecked havoc only once after, a few years after the elements mysteriously disappeared. Princesses Celestia and Luna had to stop him, but instead of returning him to stone they trapped him in some odd prison made of magic. "Get away, you demon!" The seller said to Discord, who dramatically threw his arms up and said, "You refuse this customer of service?! Why!?" The seller said nothing, but her fear turned into irritation. She just pointed to a sign that read, "We reserve the right to refuse customers for any reason." Discord snapped his eagle talons and turned into Princess Luna. "How about now?" He asked. The mare glared at him. This time he fired up the horn that his disguise granted him. He turned into Princess Celestia. "Now?" He asked. The mare glared impossibly harder and pointed outside of the town. He laughed as he turned back into Discord. With a flourish, he flew out of the town, laughing the whole time. He even stopped to bend over backwards once. I saw the flicker of pain in his eyes that instant. Those beautiful eyes. I stopped the train of thought as quickly as it had come and wondered where it had come from. The stallion with the maroon coat bought his strawberries without complication. When I went up to the stand, the seller asked, "What's with the cloak?" I couldn't say why, so I merely shrugged. She returned the gesture as I placed six bits on the table. She gave me two brown bags made of cotton. "Here," she said, "have a nice day." I nodded my head as a thanks and walked away from the stand, putting the bags in my saddlebag with my magic. When I got far enough away from the town, I flew in the direction of Forest Everlast, one of Ever Forests. As I flew over the forest, I spotted a pack of an advanced generation of timberwolves. These advanced versions looked like regular wolves, but they were made out of light brown wood. They were circling around a colt, preparing to attack. As I flew downward to get a better view, three of the wolves launched, and the colt jumped up. Missing their mark, the wolves landed, each a perfect distance away from each other. As if following a script, a timberwolf from the group that didn't attack jumped onto the colt, disrupting his path to safety. Being an earth pony, the colt tussled with the timberwolf, and they rolled back and forth. After a bit, they went into hoof to paw combat, the colt getting kicks in as the timberwolf got scratches in. Suddenly, another timberwolf knocked the colt to the ground. I felt a wave of sadness as I watched, knowing that I couldn't help. I kept looking as the colt kicked the timberwolf off, but a different one immediately took its place. He kicked the timberwolf off after a small tussling, and then rolled to dodge another one. He started running to the town, and spun on his front hooves to kick three timberwolves away. He kept galloping, but the timberwolves were too fast. Without thinking, I flew down until I hit the ground. Glad that no one had noticed me, I used my magic to summon huge tree trunks and threw them at the timberwolves. As they turned to me I told the colt to run. The timberwolves and I stared at each other for a moment, their piercing, glowing red eyes glaring into my green eyes. Then I started to charge at one of them. With a flurry of magic and hoof to claw combat, I eventually defeated all of them, and they were no more than ashes in the wind. There were two reasons for why I flew down to help the colt, despite the risks. The first was that I couldn't just watch the earth pony die, not when I could have saved him. I wished that that was the only reason, but it is not. The second reason is that the demon inside of me wanted to kill the timberwolves, to see them suffer and vanish. I hope that the demon will die someday, hope that it will vanish when I have learned the values of goodness, but chances are it is here to stay. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Discord: My wings went up and down over and over, always in this tedious motion whenever I took flight. I could use my magic to tell gravity to ignore me, but I decided that since I had wings, I should use them. I looked into a memory that the original Discord had had. He was trying to use his wings, but since they were two different kinds he had struggled, taking about a month and a half to master them. He had thought that he could master it in a week, and when the second one came by he started to curse at every failed attempt. He still had trouble when he had flown for the first time. He had stayed up in the sky for about two minutes before he came crashing to the ground. He had teleported to safety before he hit the solid mass. As he kept trying, two minutes became ten, then 35, and after that he could fly without the worry of crashing. When I was flying out of Ciciair, I noticed a pony in a hooded cloak. There was this weird atmosphere about her, but I can't pinpoint what was so weird about it. It felt...familiar. Chapter 2: Love and TravelLuna: I walked up to Nightmare Moon. She was the reason I started to use the official Canterlot Voice. At first I was using it because that was the voice that I was used to. After Nightmare Night, though, I had started to use the voice that regular ponies used. That is until I had slipped up when talking to Celestia, saying we instead of I, and used the voice to cover it up. "Hello, Nightmare," I said. "Luna!" She exclaimed. She wrapped her hooves around my neck and gave me a gentle kiss on the lips. I was wrapped in warmth as we fell to the ground, each in each other's embrace. She was so beautiful, a black coat and a mane comparable to the night sky. She looked similar to me, but she was so much...more. Her black coat was dazzling compared to my boring, dull one. Her frame was delicate but strong, while mine was weak. "I love you, you know," I said as we pulled away from each other. "I love you more," she said as I kissed her neck. She caressed my cheek, and I was about to lean in for another kiss if it weren't for a voice that shouted, "Luna!" I jumped. It sounded like my sister. "That sounds like Celestia," I said to Nightmare Moon, "I'd better get going." I gave her one more long kiss that lingered on my lips. As I let a dark blue spark surround me I gave her an apologetic smile and vanished to reality. Nightmare Moon: With a blue spark, Luna vanished, leaving me all alone. I let out out a sigh that I had been holding in and pulled up a screen showing what Luna was seeing. She was talking to Celestia about something. I let the sounds fade to the background as I had thoughts about how amazing Luna was. Even when I had taken over her body, she had doubts about what we were doing, if it was really the right thing to do. We had fought before we committed ourselves to doing the deed, but I had convinced her to let me do it, convinced her to let me condemn ourselves to 1,000 years in the moon. She had such a pure heart compared to mine. That was the thing that I loved most about her. I had hoped to model myself after her, but soon enough I found that impossible. I was true, pure evil. Even now, seeing Celestia talk to Luna, I could see blood pouring out from Celestia. I hated myself for that. I wanted to be good, I wanted a pure heart, but I didn't have it. I hated Luna for being so good, hated her for being so amazing. But then again, I loved her. Was it possible to hate someone yet love them at the same time? Leafea Vine: My eyes landed on the colt, who had watched the whole scene. He had started to say something, but I was already galloping away. When I was deep enough into the forest, I spread out my wings and took to the skies, feeling the cool air around my feathers. This was the part that I didn't like about my life. I couldn't hold a conversation with anypony for more than about a minute of time, in case they would ask the wrong questions. Even in the brief conversations it would have to be trained on survival and business, and not stray to small talk. Having no specific direction to go, I banked northwest, towards the direction of Canterlot. I loved the vibrant colors there, and the abundance of ponies made it easy to blend in. Having a cloak still made me stand out a bit, but it was easier in a big city rather than a small town. I considered taking a train rather than take the several days to get there by wing, and eventually decided to do it. I was still hesitant, though, for I had only thirty-four bits left. The train ride would bring me down to twenty-nine bits. Not knowing how I would get anymore bits, I tried to eat the strawberries sparingly. It was mind verses stomach as my brain told myself to forget about food while my stomach yearned to have more. Chapter 3: A Surprise From TartarusIn Tartarus, where the shadows and ghosts are most alive, Tsyinu and the ghost of FireFlight were speaking to each other. “What will we send on Ponyville?” Tsyinu asked. “We have planned to send the ursa minors,” FireFlight’s ghost replied. “They will depart tonight, when the sky is at one of its darkest grays.” “Cerberus is loyal to us?” “Yes.” “Are you certain?” “If he doesn’t do his part of the deal, we don’t do ours. It is too big of an opportunity for him to pass up. He is loyal.” “Why don’t we all attack now?” Tsyinu wondered aloud. “It will catch everyone off guard, and when they have the chance to attack, it will be too late.” “Do not be impatient.” FireFlight advised. “It is what Grand Master commands, and we do not question him.” “You still talk to me as if I am still under you.” Tsyinu said with a small smile. FireFlight returned the smile. “I will always think of you as someone under me.” Silence fell upon the two friends for a few minutes. They gazed at the slowly darkening sky, waiting for the shade of gray that would announce the time for the first attack. FireFlight frowned, thinking something over. He tilted his head slightly and asked, “It is odd, though. Why is our attack not larger?” Tsyinu shook his head. “We need to make it look as if the ursa minors just decided to attack. If it is too large, the guards may be suspicious. We are sending a few spies out, though, to see how everyone will react.” “We have some room to undershoot, but none to overshoot,” FireFlight agreed. The sky reached a deep gray, and a beast with an eagle’s wings and dragon’s body and a owl’s head led the group of ursa minors towards the gates of Tartarus. Most of the ursa minors’ bodies had shades of purple mixed in with the blue, signaling that they were close to being fully grown. The faintest glow of orange surrounded each of them, and a pony would have to search hard for the glow to find it. Under the beast with the owl head’s spell, they walked with the thirst for blood. They growled as they eagerly waited to be shown their target. “Who is the one controlling them?” FireFlight asked. “Many simply call him Beast,” Tsyinu replied. “Of course, no one calls him that to his face. One did, and he was killed in cold blood. Twice. Forth time he had died.” “Got quite the temper. I am surprised that I have never heard of him.” “I think that he is just unstable.” “There’s the shade of gray,” FireFlight observed, nodding at the sky. There were three loud howls, and Tartarus’ two colossal gates slowly opened outward. They were like two plain black walls inside of Tartarus, but the creatures on the outside could clearly see the ones inside. Cerberus stood just outside of the gates, drool coming out of the corners of his mouth in strands. “Anyone that is coming must come quickly. If this gate is stays open for more than ten minutes, the princesses will know that I have opened them.” He turned and walked out, not waiting for his followers. The spies went out first. All of them were shadows, creatures who had died and came back as the 3-D versions of the shadows that they had cast on the ground and walls when they were living. Beast and the ursa minors followed, and a few seconds after they passed the gates they closed. The corridor was wide, and although there seemed to be no light source, it was the same deep gray as inside of Tartarus. It was half a mile long, and the floor slanted slightly upward. The silence created an eerie atmosphere, setting everyone on edge. Even with that nervous feeling in place, each one was feeling an exited anticipation. As they neared the end of the corridor, three howls sounded, and a final set of gates, just as massive as the other set, opened. The only difference between the two sets of gates was that, for this pair of gates, both sides were opaque. All of the creatures winced as light flooded into their vision, pushing out the darkness that all of them, excluding Cerberus, had experienced for years. After their eyes adjusted, Cerberus turned to Beast and asked, “I will receive my payment?” “As long as there are no catches,” Beast rasped. Cerberus nodded and returned to his regular position as guard of Tartarus. The creatures stepped outside, wincing once again as more light pooled in. Everyone looked in awe at the onslaught of colors, and threads of color appeared out of the darkness on the shadows, showing the emotion each was feeling. “Everyone,” Beast said. “We will depart soon. You must leave before I do to see what the ponies do before the attack. Do you understand?” All of the shadows nodded. Everyone, excluding the ursa minors, sat down, but no one was at ease. They all waited for their powers, dulled from Tartarus’s magic, to start to flow again. After several minutes, the shadows disappeared without a word. Beast took that as the signal, and he attempted to use his magic to teleport the ursa minors and himself. His magic not coming back as easily as the shadows’, though, and he failed several times, sending the magic he tried to use painfully back through his beak. In a fit of rage, a shot of stray magic came from his beak and hit a tree, doubling its size. Several more attempts later, he cast the spell correctly, and the ursa minors and himself teleported to the edge of the Everfree forest. They were near an unkempt cottage, obviously abandoned years ago. A collection of small buildings could be seen in the distance, and the sun’s final rays bathed them in gold. Beast could see none of this, however, for he saw only his target, saw only a place he was ordered to attack. Using the spell that he had on the ursa minors, he silently commanded them to attack the small town, to kill some of the ponies but not to a major extent. With a roar, in unison, the ursa minors minors surged towards Ponyville, each one eager to cause mass destruction.
Chapter 1: Leafea VineLeafea Vine: I walked into the town of Ciciair, a small town that is unbeknown to most of Equestria. I had a hooded cloak on, so no one would recognize me. I walked up to a stand selling strawberries. Behind a stallion with a maroon coat, I gaped at the sight of Discord being rejected of service. Discord was an infamous being, even- maybe especially- in Tartarus. He is a traitor to the evil doers, having been reformed by the Element of Kindness. He wrecked havoc only once after, a few years after the elements mysteriously disappeared. Princesses Celestia and Luna had to stop him, but instead of returning him to stone they trapped him in some odd prison made of magic. "Get away, you demon!" The seller said to Discord, who dramatically threw his arms up and said, "You refuse this customer of service?! Why!?" The seller said nothing, but her fear turned into irritation. She just pointed to a sign that read, "We reserve the right to refuse customers for any reason." Discord snapped his eagle talons and turned into Princess Luna. "How about now?" He asked. The mare glared at him. This time he fired up the horn that his disguise granted him. He turned into Princess Celestia. "Now?" He asked. The mare glared impossibly harder and pointed outside of the town. He laughed as he turned back into Discord. With a flourish, he flew out of the town, laughing the whole time. He even stopped to bend over backwards once. I saw the flicker of pain in his eyes that instant. Those beautiful eyes. I stopped the train of thought as quickly as it had come and wondered where it had come from. The stallion with the maroon coat bought his strawberries without complication. When I went up to the stand, the seller asked, "What's with the cloak?" I couldn't say why, so I merely shrugged. She returned the gesture as I placed six bits on the table. She gave me two brown bags made of cotton. "Here," she said, "have a nice day." I nodded my head as a thanks and walked away from the stand, putting the bags in my saddlebag with my magic. When I got far enough away from the town, I flew in the direction of Forest Everlast, one of Ever Forests. As I flew over the forest, I spotted a pack of an advanced generation of timberwolves. These advanced versions looked like regular wolves, but they were made out of light brown wood. They were circling around a colt, preparing to attack. As I flew downward to get a better view, three of the wolves launched, and the colt jumped up. Missing their mark, the wolves landed, each a perfect distance away from each other. As if following a script, a timberwolf from the group that didn't attack jumped onto the colt, disrupting his path to safety. Being an earth pony, the colt tussled with the timberwolf, and they rolled back and forth. After a bit, they went into hoof to paw combat, the colt getting kicks in as the timberwolf got scratches in. Suddenly, another timberwolf knocked the colt to the ground. I felt a wave of sadness as I watched, knowing that I couldn't help. I kept looking as the colt kicked the timberwolf off, but a different one immediately took its place. He kicked the timberwolf off after a small tussling, and then rolled to dodge another one. He started running to the town, and spun on his front hooves to kick three timberwolves away. He kept galloping, but the timberwolves were too fast. Without thinking, I flew down until I hit the ground. Glad that no one had noticed me, I used my magic to summon huge tree trunks and threw them at the timberwolves. As they turned to me I told the colt to run. The timberwolves and I stared at each other for a moment, their piercing, glowing red eyes glaring into my green eyes. Then I started to charge at one of them. With a flurry of magic and hoof to claw combat, I eventually defeated all of them, and they were no more than ashes in the wind. There were two reasons for why I flew down to help the colt, despite the risks. The first was that I couldn't just watch the earth pony die, not when I could have saved him. I wished that that was the only reason, but it is not. The second reason is that the demon inside of me wanted to kill the timberwolves, to see them suffer and vanish. I hope that the demon will die someday, hope that it will vanish when I have learned the values of goodness, but chances are it is here to stay. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Discord: My wings went up and down over and over, always in this tedious motion whenever I took flight. I could use my magic to tell gravity to ignore me, but I decided that since I had wings, I should use them. I looked into a memory that the original Discord had had. He was trying to use his wings, but since they were two different kinds he had struggled, taking about a month and a half to master them. He had thought that he could master it in a week, and when the second one came by he started to curse at every failed attempt. He still had trouble when he had flown for the first time. He had stayed up in the sky for about two minutes before he came crashing to the ground. He had teleported to safety before he hit the solid mass. As he kept trying, two minutes became ten, then 35, and after that he could fly without the worry of crashing. When I was flying out of Ciciair, I noticed a pony in a hooded cloak. There was this weird atmosphere about her, but I can't pinpoint what was so weird about it. It felt...familiar.
Chapter 2: Love and TravelLuna: I walked up to Nightmare Moon. She was the reason I started to use the official Canterlot Voice. At first I was using it because that was the voice that I was used to. After Nightmare Night, though, I had started to use the voice that regular ponies used. That is until I had slipped up when talking to Celestia, saying we instead of I, and used the voice to cover it up. "Hello, Nightmare," I said. "Luna!" She exclaimed. She wrapped her hooves around my neck and gave me a gentle kiss on the lips. I was wrapped in warmth as we fell to the ground, each in each other's embrace. She was so beautiful, a black coat and a mane comparable to the night sky. She looked similar to me, but she was so much...more. Her black coat was dazzling compared to my boring, dull one. Her frame was delicate but strong, while mine was weak. "I love you, you know," I said as we pulled away from each other. "I love you more," she said as I kissed her neck. She caressed my cheek, and I was about to lean in for another kiss if it weren't for a voice that shouted, "Luna!" I jumped. It sounded like my sister. "That sounds like Celestia," I said to Nightmare Moon, "I'd better get going." I gave her one more long kiss that lingered on my lips. As I let a dark blue spark surround me I gave her an apologetic smile and vanished to reality. Nightmare Moon: With a blue spark, Luna vanished, leaving me all alone. I let out out a sigh that I had been holding in and pulled up a screen showing what Luna was seeing. She was talking to Celestia about something. I let the sounds fade to the background as I had thoughts about how amazing Luna was. Even when I had taken over her body, she had doubts about what we were doing, if it was really the right thing to do. We had fought before we committed ourselves to doing the deed, but I had convinced her to let me do it, convinced her to let me condemn ourselves to 1,000 years in the moon. She had such a pure heart compared to mine. That was the thing that I loved most about her. I had hoped to model myself after her, but soon enough I found that impossible. I was true, pure evil. Even now, seeing Celestia talk to Luna, I could see blood pouring out from Celestia. I hated myself for that. I wanted to be good, I wanted a pure heart, but I didn't have it. I hated Luna for being so good, hated her for being so amazing. But then again, I loved her. Was it possible to hate someone yet love them at the same time? Leafea Vine: My eyes landed on the colt, who had watched the whole scene. He had started to say something, but I was already galloping away. When I was deep enough into the forest, I spread out my wings and took to the skies, feeling the cool air around my feathers. This was the part that I didn't like about my life. I couldn't hold a conversation with anypony for more than about a minute of time, in case they would ask the wrong questions. Even in the brief conversations it would have to be trained on survival and business, and not stray to small talk. Having no specific direction to go, I banked northwest, towards the direction of Canterlot. I loved the vibrant colors there, and the abundance of ponies made it easy to blend in. Having a cloak still made me stand out a bit, but it was easier in a big city rather than a small town. I considered taking a train rather than take the several days to get there by wing, and eventually decided to do it. I was still hesitant, though, for I had only thirty-four bits left. The train ride would bring me down to twenty-nine bits. Not knowing how I would get anymore bits, I tried to eat the strawberries sparingly. It was mind verses stomach as my brain told myself to forget about food while my stomach yearned to have more.
Chapter 3: A Surprise From TartarusIn Tartarus, where the shadows and ghosts are most alive, Tsyinu and the ghost of FireFlight were speaking to each other. “What will we send on Ponyville?” Tsyinu asked. “We have planned to send the ursa minors,” FireFlight’s ghost replied. “They will depart tonight, when the sky is at one of its darkest grays.” “Cerberus is loyal to us?” “Yes.” “Are you certain?” “If he doesn’t do his part of the deal, we don’t do ours. It is too big of an opportunity for him to pass up. He is loyal.” “Why don’t we all attack now?” Tsyinu wondered aloud. “It will catch everyone off guard, and when they have the chance to attack, it will be too late.” “Do not be impatient.” FireFlight advised. “It is what Grand Master commands, and we do not question him.” “You still talk to me as if I am still under you.” Tsyinu said with a small smile. FireFlight returned the smile. “I will always think of you as someone under me.” Silence fell upon the two friends for a few minutes. They gazed at the slowly darkening sky, waiting for the shade of gray that would announce the time for the first attack. FireFlight frowned, thinking something over. He tilted his head slightly and asked, “It is odd, though. Why is our attack not larger?” Tsyinu shook his head. “We need to make it look as if the ursa minors just decided to attack. If it is too large, the guards may be suspicious. We are sending a few spies out, though, to see how everyone will react.” “We have some room to undershoot, but none to overshoot,” FireFlight agreed. The sky reached a deep gray, and a beast with an eagle’s wings and dragon’s body and a owl’s head led the group of ursa minors towards the gates of Tartarus. Most of the ursa minors’ bodies had shades of purple mixed in with the blue, signaling that they were close to being fully grown. The faintest glow of orange surrounded each of them, and a pony would have to search hard for the glow to find it. Under the beast with the owl head’s spell, they walked with the thirst for blood. They growled as they eagerly waited to be shown their target. “Who is the one controlling them?” FireFlight asked. “Many simply call him Beast,” Tsyinu replied. “Of course, no one calls him that to his face. One did, and he was killed in cold blood. Twice. Forth time he had died.” “Got quite the temper. I am surprised that I have never heard of him.” “I think that he is just unstable.” “There’s the shade of gray,” FireFlight observed, nodding at the sky. There were three loud howls, and Tartarus’ two colossal gates slowly opened outward. They were like two plain black walls inside of Tartarus, but the creatures on the outside could clearly see the ones inside. Cerberus stood just outside of the gates, drool coming out of the corners of his mouth in strands. “Anyone that is coming must come quickly. If this gate is stays open for more than ten minutes, the princesses will know that I have opened them.” He turned and walked out, not waiting for his followers. The spies went out first. All of them were shadows, creatures who had died and came back as the 3-D versions of the shadows that they had cast on the ground and walls when they were living. Beast and the ursa minors followed, and a few seconds after they passed the gates they closed. The corridor was wide, and although there seemed to be no light source, it was the same deep gray as inside of Tartarus. It was half a mile long, and the floor slanted slightly upward. The silence created an eerie atmosphere, setting everyone on edge. Even with that nervous feeling in place, each one was feeling an exited anticipation. As they neared the end of the corridor, three howls sounded, and a final set of gates, just as massive as the other set, opened. The only difference between the two sets of gates was that, for this pair of gates, both sides were opaque. All of the creatures winced as light flooded into their vision, pushing out the darkness that all of them, excluding Cerberus, had experienced for years. After their eyes adjusted, Cerberus turned to Beast and asked, “I will receive my payment?” “As long as there are no catches,” Beast rasped. Cerberus nodded and returned to his regular position as guard of Tartarus. The creatures stepped outside, wincing once again as more light pooled in. Everyone looked in awe at the onslaught of colors, and threads of color appeared out of the darkness on the shadows, showing the emotion each was feeling. “Everyone,” Beast said. “We will depart soon. You must leave before I do to see what the ponies do before the attack. Do you understand?” All of the shadows nodded. Everyone, excluding the ursa minors, sat down, but no one was at ease. They all waited for their powers, dulled from Tartarus’s magic, to start to flow again. After several minutes, the shadows disappeared without a word. Beast took that as the signal, and he attempted to use his magic to teleport the ursa minors and himself. His magic not coming back as easily as the shadows’, though, and he failed several times, sending the magic he tried to use painfully back through his beak. In a fit of rage, a shot of stray magic came from his beak and hit a tree, doubling its size. Several more attempts later, he cast the spell correctly, and the ursa minors and himself teleported to the edge of the Everfree forest. They were near an unkempt cottage, obviously abandoned years ago. A collection of small buildings could be seen in the distance, and the sun’s final rays bathed them in gold. Beast could see none of this, however, for he saw only his target, saw only a place he was ordered to attack. Using the spell that he had on the ursa minors, he silently commanded them to attack the small town, to kill some of the ponies but not to a major extent. With a roar, in unison, the ursa minors minors surged towards Ponyville, each one eager to cause mass destruction.
