Guardians of Tartarus
You never see us. Chances are, we don’t see you either. But whether you be in Equestria or in some other world, we have seen your horrors. Your monsters and damned beings all are placed here, in the bottomless and expressionless pit of Tartarus.
As for us, who we are and what we seek… well, we’ve never thought of it. As we're busy beyond all belief, we spend our days lurking down here, not to be Tartarus’s prisoners, but rather, its guard. We put effort forth to make sure these monsters never make it back into the living dimension. If they do, all hell will break loose.
We are the Guardians of Tartarus.
And we’ve made a big mistake.
It all happened in Equestrian year 5,000, or what you’d call the modern day. Or, that's our estimate. In Tartarus, there's no perception of time. In fact, it seems absolutely void, as I’ve been in my prime ever since the universe was created. The only way I can know of time is peering out the portals to the many worlds, seeing the sun rise and set, the moon following suit.
Whenever I could, that is. Tartarus is a vast prison, split up into four sections based on how powerful the beasts and captives were: the Lessers, the Lowers, the Reds, and the Highers. The Highers are at the center of the prison, paths branching out, creating a winding labyrinth that spanned leagues. Our first fifty years were spent up figuring out and memorizing the labyrinth, that was how big it was.
I worked with the Lowers, who weren’t too far from the portals. Seer worked with the Lessers usually, Darkwing and Silvershone worked with the Reds, and Strongarm worked with the Highers. This was our daily routine until someone or something broke out. When that happened, we took measures as far as going out to the world of the living to stop them.
I don’t know why, but I always found myself lingering near the portals, gazing out into the worlds of the living. Could it be the beauty, or the infinite possibility that, by nature, I found myself lacking? Whatever the case was, I always longed to be out there, to taste the air and food and drink, to feel my hooves on the millions of sparkling, dewy blades of grass out under the moonlight, to also be encompassed with the love I find out there and only there.
That's stupid, I thought, shaking my head. I was made to be here, as Strongarm always says. If I leave, I put Tartarus at stake. It was an inconvenient truth, one that made my heart wrench more. If Tartarus were to become unstable, we wouldn't have a home, nor be able to find one in the desolation the damned would wreak.
So, here I lay, peering out of the window and my only way to Equestria, the cool color of the moonlight flooded on my face, the wind bristling through my dull-colored coat. To think that one could relieve this curse was stupid, taboo even. So why did I long to escape so much?
“Slacking off once again, Zoram?” a low and normally soothing voice asked. But this time the voice seemed tired and ground to bits. I turned. Strongarm was taller and more muscular than me. He worked in the Highers, not necessarily to watch the prisoners, but majorly to tame the guard dog, Cerberus. From the many terrible battles, he had scars all over his body, a particularly big one stroke diagonally across his chest, one that I knew he took pride in. Parting his light blue mane was a horn, stained with dark ichor, and altogether could be bigger.
I rested my head against a broken stalagmite. “Let’s face it, you would be too,” I said, smirking.
Strongarm shrugged, the same smile spreading to his chapped lips.
And how good that smile felt, I can't put to words. “So, how’s Cerberus?” I asked plainly, picking at the grime on my hoof.
Strongarm let out a sigh. “Asleep. Thank Celestia for that.”
"Been causing you trouble?"
"Not really," Strongarm said after a pause, an eyebrow cocked thoughtfully. "He wasn't like last time, riled up so much he could've sent the whole Highers into the abyss." His gaze switched to me. "Speaking of..."
“I know, I know,” I said, "get back to work, as per usual." I stood up, glancing once more at the portal. "Everything in order with the others?"
A pause. "Everyone seems to be at work," he reported. "Unless you want me to get into detail about Silvershone."
"Oh, sure," I said, putting in so much sarcasm it hurt. "I would love to hear that."
Strongarm glanced at me a little dumbfounded. "Oh, well he's—"
My heart jumped. "Not literally!" I interrupted. "I was being sarcastic." A weight settled in my stomach, my cheeks burning. I used sarcasm like this all the time around the others. One would think, after five thousand years of knowing him, I would stop using sarcasm around him; he was a very serious stallion.
Strongarm's eyebrow was cocked again, this time, in puzzlement. "I... okay."
Strongarm, like Seer, has the ability to tell where everypony’s at, something that we decided to call the Sight. This was something I questioned at first, but saw the value of it when a prisoner would try escaping. However, since Celestia was very strict, misusing this power could end up in the dissolution of the power for a time. It didn't matter most of the time; prisoners rarely escaped. But when they did, it never went well, and without the Sight, who knew how difficult it could be?
We crossed the stone bridge in silence. The bridges were ridiculously long, maybe half a mile from the platform in the Lessers to the portal. While this could be used to our advantage, it was a pain to go to the portals every time I did. I cursed my perseverance. At least Strongarm didn't seem to mind the long walk.
He broke the silence when we were about halfway across the bridge. "How many times have you died so far, Zoram?" he asked.
“One hundred fifty-six times," I replied casually. "You?”
“Two hundred seventeen,” he said. "Good to hear your count hasn't changed."
I mouthed the numbers. "You've had two more deaths?"
"Yeah," he sighed. "Cerberus accounted for one. The other..." His voice faltered. "Just my plain stupidity. Wasn't looking where I was going."
I cocked my head. Something wasn't right. He was telling me a half truth, I knew it. But, I knew to never push him about it. I did once before, and that didn't turn out well. Not at all.
Suddenly, the bridge groaned beneath me, shaking to and fro. I collapsed on the dusty grey path, hugging the ground as to keep myself from shaking. Dust fell from above, and cracks appeared in the path. They seemed to be circling around Strongarm like wild dogs to their prey.
“Strongarm!” I yelled over all the noise. “Move away from the cracks!” Through one eye, I could see him army crawl away from the cracks opposite me.
“I’m good!” he yelled back, his voice jumpy from the earth’s shaking.
Eventually, the shaking came to a halt. No part of the path fell away to my knowledge, and Strongarm confirmed no one was hurt. I stood up once again, brushing off the clay-like dust from my coat.
“What in Celestia’s name was that?” I asked.
Strongarm scowled. “Whatever it was, it wasn’t good.”
“Strongarm! Zoram!” I turned to see a figure on a narrow path at 3 o’clock. She had a red coat and an orange mane to compliment it. Her horn and the shape of her eyes proved that she was a unicorn, and her petite figure confirmed that she was Seer. “We have a prison break in the Highers. The prisoner has gotten past Cerberus!”
Strongarm stamped his hoof and cursed. “Zoram, come with me post haste!” He and I sprinted down the meandering path to the depths of Tartarus, where pillars of light shone down on three platforms, outstretched from one another. We were informed by Seer that the left platform was missing its captive.
We met together on this wide platform. Darkwing hovered in the air, coat black and his red-tipped wings brushing slowly against the air. Through his grey mane I could see Silvershone, with his coat of silver and a rough brown mane atop it. The two were so close together, they could be brothers. But something was off between them, because they were isolating themselves from each other, not daring to look into the other’s eyes.
I tilted my head. “Strongarm, isn’t this…”
“The prison of the legendary Firebird,” he finished. “One magnificent bird.”
“But it never really did pose a threat.”
“Ah, that’s the interesting part.” Strongarm started pacing, kicking loose rocks off the edge. “It wasn’t the Firebird that brought ill to the living, rather, the living brought ill among themselves. Their greed for the Firebird is what forced it down here.”
Seer smirked. “I guess we can’t fit an entire world of people down here, can we?”
Strongarm returned the look. “But we must find the Firebird before it finds one of the portals and uses it. Celestia knows how a world will be killed.” He pointed around him. “We go from the perimeter and work our way back here. That should give us a good scan of the place. And, Darkwing, Silvershone.”
“Yes, Strongarm?” they said in unison.
“I don’t know what’s up between you two,” Strongarm stated, “but try to say as far away from each other as possible. We need to keep on track.”
They both nodded.
“Right then.” Strongarm stomped his hoof on the ground. “Disperse!”
☼☼☼☼
I walked with Darkwing through the Lessers to the portal areas. “I’ll take the path to Equestria,” I said.
Darkwing nodded. “I’ll be waiting for you in the Highers,” his soft voice responded.
We split at a crossroads. I had no clue why I wanted to take Equestria, as it was the hardest to get to, and the path is near to falling apart. I am an earth pony, so if I had put the final straw on the camel’s back and broke the pass, there would be nothing to save me but me revival back to the Highers. But fortunately the narrow bridge stayed in tact.
I breathed a sigh of relief as I caught Equestria in the corner of my eye. It was the afternoon, busy streets filled with busy people as the went to and fro one place to the next. I’d noticed every now and then the place displayed would change, from an icy wonderland to dry badlands. But it was almost always the same picture, people going out on their days as normal. Occasionally something would be off-- there was an explosion in one of them not too long ago, before Tirek was damned here.
I forced myself to turn away from the window into Equestria. I scanned the area around me for the Firebird. For the few times I’d seen it, its feathers seemed to glow with oranges and reds. So there was practically nowhere for it to hide. If it made a break for one of the portals, we would have it in a snap.
Then I noticed color out to my left. I turned. The Firebird had made its appearance. I looked at its feathers, the colors brightening from the back of its wings to the front. Its main body was a golden color with a pointed blue stripe between its eyes tapering down its back, black spots on its breast probably representing smoke or ash. It illuminated the walls around it as it zoomed straight toward me.
And boy, was it coming fast!
I took a step backward. My heart stopped and I held my breath briefly. “Darkwing!” I yelled out, my voice cracking. “Notify the others! Our Firebird is here!”
But there wasn’t any time for that. It zoomed toward me, faster and faster, its huge size becoming more apparent as it drew closer. I thought I saw sparks fly off its wings as it gained speed.
I stiffened myself up, even though my body disagreed. I need to stand my ground, I thought, if I try, I may be able to stop it. But when something is flying at you at more than the speed of a ramming Minotaur, your effort will be all for naught.
The Firebird took a sharp turn and sped straight at me again, tucking its wings in to gain even more speed. My instincts took over. I tried moving out of the way, but the breadth of the bird was larger than the path before me. I brought myself near to the edge of the path, and the body of the Firebird hit me, its shape spinning me off the path into the endless pit below me. Everything spun around me, and before I had the lung to scream, everything blurred.
☼☼☼☼
Almost immediately afterward, I woke in the Highers, sprawled on the ground. I got myself up onto my hooves slowly. One hundred… fifty… seven…, I counted. When I stood up, I almost immediately crashed to the ground. It was interesting to experience the aftereffects of death. I was dizzy but my vision wasn’t affected. I felt adrenaline but I was absolutely weak.
“You idiot…” someone said behind me.
I turned. “At least I did what I could when I was there, Darkwing,” I defended, brushing off the dust on my coat. “Did you happen to see where it went?”
“Yep,” Darkwing answered. “Straight into Equestria. While I was trying to save you.”
I cocked my head. “You out of all people should know falling is one of the most painless ways to die here.”
“Yeah, well, when you have a teammate incapacitated for a time, it makes things harder to handle.”
“Yeah, at least nothing else broke loose.”
“We don’t know that…,” Darkwing muttered.
I looked around and frowned. “So where’s Strongarm and them?”
“They’re questioning Tirek on the earthquake that happened earlier.” Darkwing gestured to the central platform. “We should probably head up there.”
“Yeah, good idea,” I agreed. We made our way up the long flight of stairs to see just what Darkwing said. Strongarm was doing the talking, and Seer and Silvershone were standing by, prepared for anything.
“... but seriously, if you honestly think I’ve something to do with this, you’re clearly mistaken,” Tirek said, coughing afterward.
“You out of all people here would have a clue,” Strongarm insisted. “You were here since maybe 100 Equestrian years after Discord’s rule to present. You would know as much as we do about Tartarus, and since you possessed powerful magic there, who’s to say you don’t have power to shake this place?”
“Look, even if I did, I wouldn’t make it far, because Cerberus would rip me to pieces, would he not?”
Strongarm opened his mouth once again when Silvershone interrupted, “He steals magic from other ponies, Strongarm. He wouldn’t be able to cast any. Heck, the only reason why he can’t steal ours is the protective barrier around him.” Silvershone punched at the cage only to have a blue hexagonal grid appear around the shock area.
Strongarm grunted. He glared at Tirek. “We’re not letting you out of this, centaur.”
Tirek managed to shrug his red shoulders in his small cage. “You wouldn’t be able to convict me anyway.”
Strongarm quickly turned around before his emotions got a further hold of him. I ran to Seer’s side. “What has gotten Strongarm so ticked at the guy?” I asked.
“That’s what Tirek is good at, apparently,” she replied, the warm feeling settling in my heart again. “If you’d been there earlier, you would’ve seen Strongarm open the barrier just to punch him in the face.”
Strongarm was always about negative thinking. He was easy to make angry, sad, and, quite contradictory to his stature, scared. The only reason why he made it this far was because he had to. But, beside all that, he was a deep thinker, and was the best planner on our team.
“Why haven’t we let Silvershone be the leader again?” I asked. Silvershone was smart enough to keep his emotions back, and bring out emotions in others solidly. He wasn’t a bad strategist, but he would normally be absent from his duty. Seer was somewhat like that, but took full responsibility over what she’d done.
Seer shrugged. “Strongarm is getting better, Zoram. And, as you know, they’re both pretty prideful. Neither of them would really win over one another.”
I nodded. Then I smiled. “That’s the reason why I like you.”
Seer looked at me, blushing. “W-what reason?”
I felt heat in my ears. “You’re always willing to see the good and better in others before the bad. That takes guts to do.” Seer was always a nice person, even before she discovered what she did in Equestria. Also, she was the smartest out of all of us, and could possibly be a better leader than both Strongarm and Silvershone. The only problem with her was similar to Strongarm’s problem. But fortunately, it wasn’t as extreme.
Seer smiled cutely at me. “Thanks.”
We stopped at the foot of the stairs, and Strongarm, face reddened with rage, violently paced around. “It has been three Equestrian days since the Firebird has escaped,” he grunted. “We need to find it, catch it, and bring it back before havoc breaks out.”
“How do we know that society hasn’t already fallen?” Darkwing asked. He was always a questioning person, as was I, but he was quicker to speak than I was. “It only took hours before every inhabitant in one world went genocidal for the Firebird.”
“The inhabitants of Equestria are strong in friendship and positive things. They will endure longer than anyone else with the Firebird.” Strongarm slowed his pacing and had mostly calmed down. “Now, there is a catch to going outside Tartarus. Beside the fact of us not being here to babysit the baddies, outside of here, we won’t be revived after we die. We cannot afford to be reckless. We have a good group running here. We don’t need for that to be ruined.”
I shot a look at Strongarm. That…, I thought. ...What’s up with him?
Strongarm shot a look to Darkwing and Silvershone. “Which means you two have to get along. Fast. Leave the petty faults behind and get work done, got it?”
They both slowly nodded.
“Good.” Strongarm stopped pacing. “We won’t have much time left. We leave immediately.” He stomped his hoof on the ground for a final time, and we made our way through the meandering path to the portal to Equestria.
I never felt so excited in my life. Finally, I would be able to go to Equestria, to experience what I’ve been longing for. But I knew that I couldn’t let these feelings get a hold of me.
“Do we know where the Firebird entered in Equestria?” Strongarm asked.
“Yes,” Darkwing confirmed. “Ponyville. Same place that Tirek was banished from.”
“Good thing. I think that’s where the portal is right now.”
When we reached the portal, we found that Strongarm was right; the portal was still on Ponyville, overlooking the square. There was a lot of people there that day, more than usual. And they didn’t look joyful, more of in wonder.
“This is our cue,” Strongarm said. “Let’s do this.”
We all jumped through the portal.
☼☼☼☼
The change in air pressure made my ears pop. When we suddenly appeared on the square, the whole crowd of people seemed to stop and look at us for a split second, then went back about their business.
My heart jumped. I was finally there! Ohmygoshohmygosh! I thought. It was so colorful there, with beautiful architecture and ample light. I was so giddy that I didn’t notice I was bouncing around.
Seer giggled behind me. “Bring your wits about you, ants-pants. We have a Firebird to catch.”
I stopped bouncing, and my face grew hotter than hot. Seer giggled again and we continued on.
Silvershone kept looking to the right. “Judging by the direction of entrance--” He pointed to the forest just beyond the buildings. “-- my bet’s that the Firebird took refuge in that forest.”
Strongarm thought about it and nodded. “Nice thinking. We’ll head there.”
“You’re absolutely crazy if y’all are thinking about goin’ there.”
We all turned to the speaker. Behind us was a mare, orange with a cream-colored mane, with white freckles on her cheeks and green eyes. She wore a semi-aged fedora that fit just perfectly on the crown of her head.
“We may be…?” I said with unsurety.
The mare cocked her head. “Y’all are new ‘round here, aren’t you?”
“...Yyyeah.” Silvershone picked at the ground with his hoof. “We’ve just arrived.”
“Well, let me introduce myself.” She shook all our hooves when she was talking. “My name is Applejack. I work at there apple orchard just on the outskirts of town.” She hesitated before shaking Strongarm’s hoof. “Y’all seem like a solemn bunch today.”
“We’re here on business,” Strongarm said.
“Oh, I see.” She bowed her head and crossed her front hooves. “Sorry if I’m interrupting you.”
“Don’t be,” Silvershone blurted. “It was very nice meeting you, Applejack.”
Applejack smiled. “Now, y’all don’t be shy to come by the orchard. We love visitors. See ya around.” She walked past us.
I shot Silvershone an eyebrow. “Well, don’t you seem all rosy right now, Silvershone.”
Silvershone jumped back. “W-w-whoa, whoa, what?”
We all laughed with Silvershone. I never figured him for any kind of romantic.
But, regardless of Applejack’s warning, we continued to the forest. We’d overheard that its name was Everfree, named by the freedom fighters back when Discord ruled Equestria. The trees were twisted and creaking, the ground lumpy and sort of squishy. The smell of the forest started to reek as we made our way further in. Equestria’s sun had started to set as we’d just about gave up.
“Seriously… no sign of the Firebird.” Strongarm wiped sweat off his face. “Does anyone remember where the village is at?”
That was when we learned that we had lost any sense of direction. “Crud…,” I muttered. “Can this get any worse?”
We heard a roar in the distance.
“For the love of Celestia, Zoram,” Strongarm cursed, “you could make it worse.”
“That roar…” Darkwing pondered, “... was that what I think it was?”
A big cat jumped from the shadows, its fur orange and black. On its back was two bat-like wings, the head of its tail was like a head of a mace.
“... or it could be a manticore.” Darkwing shrugged. “Could be worse.”
The manticore advanced, licking its lips at its new prey. “Seer,” Darkwing called, “cut off its whiskers with air magic.”
“Roger!” she responded. She closed her eyes and lit her horn. The light seemed to bend around the manticore’s mouth as its whiskers slowly fell to the earth. It went cross-eyed, wondering where its precious sensors had gone.
Darkwing smirked. He stepped forward and popped the manticore in the nose. It stumbled backward, roaring in confusion. Darkwing lifted off the ground and batted air into the manticore’s eyes. It shielded them, and Darkwing got dangerously close to it. He slapped his hooves on its ears. The manticore stumbled back again, swaying dizzily.
“Okay, Strongarm,” Darkwing addressed. “Your turn.”
Strongarm popped his neck and lit his horn. Darkwing’s figure and his scent came in front of the manticore, and it swiped at it. The illusion disappeared, and the manticore followed it until it was plain out of view.
Strongarm released the spell, and we all celebrated our minor victory. Hoof bumps were shared, and… that was about it.
A mare jumped out of the shadows like the manticore, catching us off guard. We prepared ourselves for a fight when her soft voice said, “I heard a roar from over here. Are you all right?”
“Yes, we just barely chased it off,” Darkwing said proudly. “And you are?”
The yellow mare turned her head toward us, her floppy pink mane following. When she looked at us, I could tell Darkwing’s heart nearly stopped. Her cute greenish-grey eyes were inspecting all of us. “I’m Fluttershy…” Her voice seemed to decrescendo when she said her name, but it was just loud enough to be audible.
Darkwing’s jaw hung. He snapped it shut. “Hi…” He started blushing.
Silvershone scoffed. “See? And you were laughing.”
Fluttershy cocked her head a little. “What?”
“Nothing.” Silvershone smiled to himself.
Fluttershy examined us for a second again, then asked, “Do you have any place to stay? It is getting dark out.”
Strongarm frowned. “I don’t thi--”
“Strongarm, do you remember what Applejack said?” Seer had covered Strongarm’s mouth before he could speak again. “Staying out here in the forest where we are in danger is not going to be a good idea.”
Strongarm removed Seer’s hoof from him. “But we haven’t found the Firebird. If we can’t find it during the night where it’s roosting, Celestia knows who will try to capture it.”
Darkwing looked toward Fluttershy, his blushing not one bit subsided. “Do you live far from here, Fluttershy?” he asked.
Fluttershy shook her head. “Not at all. In fact, it’s less than half of a kilometer away from here.”
Strongarm scowled. “We were always near the entrance of the forest…”
While Strongarm stood in awe, I took the liberty to say, “It’d be wonderful if we could stay with you, Fluttershy.”
Strongarm adverted his angry gaze at me. “Z-Zoram!”
“Don’t worry, big guy, we’ll just pick up where we left off early tomorrow.” I lifted an eyebrow at him. “If you really think someone would venture out in the middle of the night to catch something unknown to them, then you’re really imaginative.”
Strongarm ground his teeth at me. Whenever one of us would try to overrule his ‘authority’, this would happen. He sighed. “Fine. We will take refuge with you.”
Fluttershy managed a smile, though she was obviously a little scared of Strongarm. “Glad to have you.”
We walked back with her. When the tip of the sun was barely on the horizon, we were at her cottage. It was pretty big, with what seemed to be millions of bird houses in front of it, and a few more on it. The green roof was lightly tinted orange from the fading sunset, and two floors of windows were lit with yellow light.
In one of these windows there was a silhouette of an abnormal figure. Long neck with a short-cut mane, and what seemed to be mismatched wings growing off of his slim figure. He placed his eyes to the window, and I could depict they were yellow with red pupils on top of a dragon-like maw.
I knew this person all right.
When we stepped in, we were welcomed to a couple nice pieces of furniture, and walls painted will a salmon-ish color, while the floor and supports were a paler tint of orange. There were bird’s nests in the supports, as well as a birdcage to the right, behind the draconequus’s head.
“Discord,” I recognized.
“Zoram?” His eyes were wide in surprise. In a zap, he disappeared, then, naturally, he reappeared beside me. “How wonderful it is to see you here!” He grabbed my cheeks and pulled them up, nearly bringing me off my hooves. “I can tell by the way you’re smiling you’re happy to be here too!” He teleported to the sofa at the other side of the room, taking a dramatic pose over the arm of it. “I’ve been longing to see one of my friends from Tartarus ever since I broke out.”
Fluttershy shot me a confused look. “You… know each other… from Tartarus?”
“Yeah.” I rubbed my cheeks, trying to get rid of the pain. “I heard he got turned to stone here, thus landing one half of himself in Tartarus. That’s one of the other reasons why he couldn’t soften until recently.” I looked at Discord again while he was readjusting to a more comfortable position on the sofa. “But I guess you reformed him.”
Fluttershy nodded. “Yes, I did, and he’s been a good draconequus since then.” She floated next to Discord, nuzzling him.
“Not exactly true,” Strongarm pointed out. “I heard from Tirek that Discord teamed up with him about an Eque-- a week ago.”
Fluttershy looked at Strongarm oddly and slowly nodded. “That’s true, but it turned out he helped us from the very beginning to imprison Tirek once again.” She then shifted her gaze from Strongarm to Darkwing. “What’s the matter?”
I looked to Darkwing, seeing that he was absolutely crushed. “I-I’m all right…” He bore a hole in the floor with his eyes.
Fluttershy raised an eyebrow at him. “If you say so…” She floated to the left toward the stairs hugging the wall. “I’ll get a couple pillows and blankets from upstairs. There is a guest bedroom up there if any of you want to claim it.”
It was really tempting to do so, but Strongarm projected what I was thinking, “No, we’re just fine down here.”
“Oh. Are you sure?”
“Yeah. We sort of live in Tartarus. We all have had worse places to sleep.”
“Alright.” We heard a door open upstairs.
I looked at Discord mischievously. “You don’t…?”
“Oh, heavens no,” Discord replied, hushing his voice a little, “Celestia would neuter me before I’d even get in bed with her.”
“I’d imagine,” I agreed.
Fluttershy carried a large basket of blankets and pillows balancing on one another down the flight of stairs. “Oh, I’ll get some of that for you, hon,” Discord offered. His slightly embarrassed expression proved that the ‘hon’ part wasn’t intended. He used his magic on the pillows and a couple blankets. They almost went spinning out of control when they suddenly stopped, and slowly set themselves neatly apart on the floor above the red rug.
Fluttershy placed the rest of the blankets below the pillows. “Is there anything else you need?”
Strongarm shook his head. “No, we’re good, thanks.”
Fluttershy nodded and went to Discord again. While I was setting up my sleeping spot, I overheard some of their conversation.
“You’re being really generous, Fluttershy,” Discord said, keeping his voice as low as possible. “I could probably mistake you for Rarity.”
“Maybe.” Then I heard a kissing sound that probably turned Darkwing’s heart to dust. The rest of their conversation was hard to pick up, but when I looked up, Discord was gone.
“Thanks for your hospitality, Fluttershy,” I said. “We really appreciate it.”
Fluttershy smiled. “Thanks for keeping me company.” She rushed and blew the lights out. “Goodnight!” she whispered, and she departed up the stairs.
“Goodnight,” we all replied in unison. I set myself under the blanket, and I was conked out as fast as lightning struck.
☼☼☼☼
I woke again in the middle of the night as I heard the door to the cottage close. I slowly sat up, rubbing my eyes, and checked around me. Everypony was there beside Strongarm.
When I noticed this, I woke up even more. Strongarm is always negative, I thought, and he is almost always by himself when… I shot to my hooves as fast as a bolting pegasus. I hurried out the door, making sure to be quiet when I closed it behind me.
There Strongarm was, sitting on his haunches, looking at the trees before him, then down at the grass. I walked toward him and sat next to him. He was picking at the ground, with a grave look on his face.
“You’re not thinking of doing it, are you?” I asked softly, trying to look into his eyes.
He shrugged. “It’s really tempting when you’re this close.” He turned his head and looked into my eyes, then looked at the trees again. “I… I don’t want to go back to Tartarus. I want to stay here, actually being something rather than a guardian who is bound to a sort of immortality where death is a constant occurrence.”
I nodded. “I know how you feel.”
Strongarm looked at me again. “Why do you think Celestia created us?”
I looked down to the ground and thought for a moment. “I don’t know,” I said, “beside the purpose we’re serving right now.” I looked back at Strongarm. “But, looking at it now, I don’t think anypony else would have the strength to do this. So that’s ought to count as something.”
Strongarm thought about it, and nodded slowly. “I guess.”
We sat in silence for some Equestrian time. There was one thing that had caught me off guard about him from the beginning of this journey.
“Why did you say what you did before we came here?” I asked.
“That?” Strongarm started picking at the grass again. “Well… you know I’m not the sort of person who values life as the rest of you do. But I said that… because I value this friendship more than I value myself. I owe that to Seer. Hell, I owe that to all of you.”
“Strongarm…”
We stood up and faced each other. “These last 5,000 years have been the worst, but thanks to what we’ve all learned, you guys kept me on track. You guys kept me from going to other worlds when I wanted to martyr myself. Because of that, I guess I can spend another 5,000 years doing this.”
I managed a smile. We’d sure been through a lot of stuff.
And that wasn’t about to stop.
Behind Strongarm, there was a light in the sky, like a flame ignited on thin air. When it got closer, I could make out a bird like shape.
“Oh no…” I stepped to the side and Strongarm turned around. It was the Firebird, wings tucked and zooming in the sky.
And it was coming straight at us.
“Ah, déjà vu.” I ducked. “Get down.”
But Strongarm didn’t move. He just looked at the Firebird in awe as it was about to impale him with its beak.
“Get down!” I jumped up and tackled Strongarm to the ground and the Firebird soared a centimeter or two above us, sparks falling from it. It gained air and flew into town.
“I guess I’m imaginative,” Strongarm said below me.
I got back up off him. “This is our chance, Strongarm. Wake Seer and them up. I’ll follow the Firebird.”
Strongarm nodded. “Right.” He galloped back into the cottage.
I took a deep breath. The Firebird isn’t hostile, I remembered, which means somepony’s controlling it. I sprinted toward town. If we can, we’ll damn it back to Tartarus before that pony notices. If not… we’ll have to kill the source.
A few Equestrian minutes later, I found myself in town. The Firebird was circling overhead, barely missing the rooftops ahead of me. I hid under a canopy before it could spot me. I looked all around me. I didn’t see the Firebird’s captivator, so when I had the chance, I galloped to the next cover. I peeked up at the Firebird, and it slowly made itself to the east end of town. I followed it and clumsily bumped into a set of empty barrels. The racket it caused could have woken the dead.
Okay, okay, I thought, panicked, maybe it didn’t notice me. I looked up, then realized the sky was clear.
“To the moon with that!” I yelled as the Firebird charged at me from behind. I ran as much as my legs would carry me, but the Firebird showed no mercy.
I didn’t want to disturb any of the houses around me, but that didn’t seem to be an option. I dove through one of the doors, taking it down with me. A disturbed couple burst out of their rooms and yelled at me. “Sorry, just passing through,” I said, running up a nearby staircase. Window, I thought, there has to be a window! And fortunately, at the end of the upstairs hall, there was one. I ran again to it and opened it up. The Firebird had its tail feathers to me. I examined the next building. It was close and shorter than this one, with a long span and a flat-ish roof. I looked behind me, and the husband was gaining on me, just about ready to tackle me. I jumped out of the window.
Unfortunately, the building was much farther away than I originally thought. I caught onto the edge, one of my hindlegs hitting its corner. I grunted, pulling myself up the rest of the way. I made my way up a slight incline, and Firebird-senpai had noticed me again. It opened its beak, a fireball growing from its gullet. I bolted down the rest of the slope and jumped. The next building was too far away.
“Ah, craaaaa-!” The Firebird shot the fireball right behind me, hitting the side of the building. The shockwave of the collision sent me through this next building’s window. I landed on the floor, hard, and skidded probably a meter on my chin. Scraped up from the window breaking, I stood. In the hallway I was in, there was another pony. She had a flowy black mane with a dark-brown coat. In her mouth was a feather that glowed the same colors of the Firebird.
“Now,” I grunted, “I wouldn’t imagine that’s from the Firebird...?”
She turned and ran to the window.
“Ah-ah-ah,” I intervened. “This building is maybe two stories above the ground. It would be such a shame to see your legs broken.”
She turned a corner.
“... Or there could be a staircase right there.” I galloped after her and flew down the stairs. Good thing this building is vacant, I thought. I saw movement near the door and ran to there, when a fireball clashed with the finished wood floor. I flew back, hitting the opposing wall. I slowly got back up.
… Because this place is going to burn down, I completed. I looked toward the doorway, realizing that it was demolished as well as part of the ceiling, some flaming debris blasted away from it. The flames where the fireball struck were already starting to rage. I scratched my hoof on the ground, taking a low stance. Without really thinking it through, I dashed across the room and dived through the flames. I barrel rolled on the pavement, making sure that I hadn’t caught any fire.
“Come to the world of the living and catch buildings on fire,” Strongarm added up. “Hmm… not on the agenda.”
“Well, aren’t you a good helper, Strongarm,” I joked. I brought myself back on my hooves. “Where are the others?”
“Not too far behind,” Strongarm answered. Then his eyes suddenly widened. “Zoram!” He lit his horn and threw me behind him when he was stabbed.
My stomach tied in a knot. “No…”
Strongarm didn’t fall to Cerberus, not to some mystical bird, but another pony who had enough cowardice to assassinate me. She looked down at Strongarm, about as surprised as I was for a moment. Then she grinned. “Aw, how cute. A big, bulky colt saving a small weakling from his demise.”
I was still in awe. “How…”
“It’s really simple, idiot,” the mare mused, walking over Strongarm’s body toward me. “You just take the weapon--” She picked up a shard of glass from the door window. “-- and stab it --” She impaled me with the shard of glass. “-- into your opponent.”
I staggered backward and fell onto the ground, blood gushing from my chest. “You… you little…”
“I know. But once I have this town for my own, with this bird on my side, I will be above all else! It’s perfect, yes?”
My vision started tunnelling when I saw Strongarm’s horn light. “Don’t… abuse this opportunity… Zoram.” I felt the flesh on my chest move, and the glass shard fell out. Lightheaded, I stood up. The blood wasn’t replaced, but no more bled out.
“You’re wrong!” I picked up the glass shard woozily. “You will never defeat this people. They will never have you as their slavedriver. In fact, they will come for you. And end you. But since that’s not going to happen…” I saw movement out of the corner of my eye. A mare with a red coat. “... Your end is right here.” I threw the glass shard to Seer, and she stabbed the mare.
“Darkwing, Silvershone, now!”
The Firebird staggered just enough to have them surround it. Seer lit her horn and cast a binding spell on it. She started muttering words of an ancient language when I stopped her.
“Do you know a melding spell?” I asked her.
Seer nodded. “What of it?”
“We should be able to meld the Firebird’s and Strongarm’s life forces. That way, Strongarm doesn’t have to die.”
“But that means…”
“I know. But we don’t want to lose him. He valued this friendship more than his own life. If we don’t take this opportunity, it’ll never be the same back in Tartarus. Trust me on that.”
Seer thought, then nodded. “Let’s do this.” She muttered a spell under her breath, and the Firebird and Strongarm were lifted.
I collapsed. My adrenaline was officially gone. My vision tunnelled even further and my focus was scrambled. I was awake long enough to see the light emit from the binding.
☼☼☼☼
One hundred… fifty… eight…
I awoke in the Highers. And boy, was that lovely to see.
“You’re still an idiot,” Darkwing said to one side of me.
“One huge idiot,” Silvershone agreed on the other side.
I smiled as I got up. I still felt weak, but at least there wasn’t any adrenaline to confuse me even further. “Well, we all have our idiotic moments.” I looked at Silvershone. “You two seem to be getting along. What was up anyway?”
Silvershone shrugged. “It was stupid really. Darkwing wanted to leave to the human copy of Equestria, but I denied, and a fight happened right then and there. It got pretty deep.”
I raised my eyebrows and looked between the two of them. “... Seriously?”
“Told you it was stupid.”
“You two can be such foals sometimes, you know that?”
“Yup.”
I shook my head, then remembered what else had happened. “How’s Strongarm?”
“He’s okay,” Darkwing said, “and, like expected, he’s imprisoned.”
“He’s not an Alicorn, right?”
“No, he’s still a unicorn. Just a glow-in-the-dark edition.”
I chuckled. “Of course.”
“... Zoram!”
I turned, and right as soon as I did I was tackled by Seer. She squeezed my so tight that I could see the veins in my eyeballs. About an Equestrian minute later, she let go.
“I’m so glad you’re not dead,” she said, wiping a tear from her eye.
“Heck, I’m glad as well! You did good up there, by the way.”
Seer grimaced and took a step backward.
“Seer, what’s wrong?”
“She’s still recovering from her first kill,” Silvershone said. “You’d better be glad you weren’t here the first day.”
I nodded. And I knew how to take her mind off of that. Hopefully. “Seer, let’s talk to Strongarm. It’ll be like old times. Just… him being behind bars.”
Seer hesitated then nodded. “Yeah,” she said softly, “let’s do that.”
We walked our way toward the Reds. The Reds had three floors at the time, and Strongarm, apparently was the first to occupy the third floor. We went up the staircases and walked to the first cell.
What we saw surprised us. There was a hole in the cage, still smoking from fire. Fresh ash was on the floor, stopping at the end of the platform, and continued on floor one.
“Oh, no…” I said, staring at the cage.
We are the Guardians of Tartarus.
And we’ve made a big mistake.
