tartarus

i was very angry. i was always angry. for a thousand years...

"oh, lighten up jim."

shut the fuck up dean. i don't know what's making you so happy, but i don't like it.

"simple! i have a gut feeling that we'll free soon!"

failsafe?

"failsafe."

great, we have a plan. now, lets escape as soon as possible.

"but of course."

"and over here, is the statue of discord." cheerilee was having a good day. so far, nothing had gone wrong. so far. she could not stress that too much. for some reason, every foal she dealt with seemed to get their plots in trouble at one point or another. she talked a bit about the statue, and of course, apple bloom, sweetie belle, and scootaloo, got themselves in a fight. getting those three apart, and assigning them extra homework, she quickly herded them to the next statue.

"whath thith one, cheerilee?" twist pointed at a statue partial hidden by shrubbery. it was tall, far taller than most of the other statues. it was a minotaur, frozen in a pose of extreme agony. the head of the statue, oddly, was engulfed crystal, making it look like the skull, which was made of some sort of black element in the middle.

"i- i don't know twist. i've never seen this statue before." she shook her head and smiled at the filly. "tell you what. we're going to see twilight and the other bearers of the elements of harmony later, you can ask them about it." twist smiled, and willingly walked away with her.

fools. they know not that they gaze upon the magnificent form of Tartarus, lord of the underworld!

"RP'ing again, jim?"

shut the fuck up dean. i gotta keep my sanity somehow. and besides, the only reason the demons follow me is because they truly believe me to be their leader.

"i thought it was because you were big and scary?"

kind of. now, we both watched Mlp back in the day, and we both know who that was, so get us the fuck "out of here!" my eyes widened as i heard my own voice for the first time in a thousand years. "ah, it's good to be back." i cracked my knuckles and relished the sound. "many moons have passed since i was able to say this, but you did good." he grinned and looked away.

"thanks. now we have three choices. we could go through with the original plan we cooked up, which i'm sure you remember?"

"of course."

"or, we could go after Celestia, which may not be such a good idea, because she still has the elements-"

"except the bearers are in ponyville."

"yeah. and the final choice is that we could hide, take our time, and make a conceited effort not to be caught."

"hm. all of them are good plans. is following the regular plot an option?"

he shook his head. "not in the slightest. i'm not going back to a statue. and i'd rather not be befriended by worst pony."

"ah, right. i forgot that you hate fluttershy."

he shrugged. "just a personal preference. i just like mayor mare better."

i smirked. "you just like older mares."

"what? no!"

"need i remind you of your top five ponies list? ahem." i summoned a pair of granny glasses, similar to the ones silver spoon (best pony) wears, and a small black book. "deans favorite ponies, from last to first: Mayor Mare, Cup Cake, Cherry jubilee, twilight velvet, and-" i didn't have time to read it, as it turned into a paper pigeon, flew away for a few moments, then exploded into confetti.

dean crossed his mismatched arms and huffed. "lets just do the thing." i nodded, and turned around.

just in time apparently. an earth pony guard, with a whistle in his mouth, blew as hard as he could.

"shit."

"understatement of the year."

"shall we run."

"YOU can. i want to see if my combat skills have gotten shoddy." i summoned my ebonite Warhammer and grinned at the slowly

princess Celestia was brooding. something was happening. something big.

she donned her armor slowly. it had gone a very long time since she had needed it. the last time was when she- she shook her head. no need to bring back bad memories. her horn lit up, and she had just sent sent a message to the elements to come to canterlot, and had sent a few chariots to pick them up. she put her helmet on, and looked at herself in the mirror. the armor of the sun. covered in so many runes, enchantments and wards that a pony wearing it could survive in the void, for a very long time. not forever, but close. but what really fascinated her was her own eyes.

they were scary. she had spent a thousand years putting on the benevolent persona for her ponies she had begun to believe it herself. for them. it was all for them.

ebonite was a strange metal. a hybrid. a mix of uranium and ebony.

CRACK

even the dullest ebonite blade was able to cleave straight through unenchanted steel. not that that was a factor.

SMASH

normal magic completely evaporated upon meeting the metal. it was rather fun seeing guards jumping to their deaths because they thought their  puny magic shields could stop my hammer.

CLANG

somewhat paradoxically, ebonite was one of the most enchantable metals in existence. most spells and enchantments were only able to be fixed into a specific piece of armor, but you could put any enchantment into ebonite. you could breathe underwater with a dagger.

i was brought out of my thoughts by the last guard falling to the ground. i had reached the front of the castle. stupid blood rages.

"moan."

i looked down, and saw a small stallion right in front of me. well, small to me. he was probably big in pony terms. he looked familiar. oh shit, it was shining armor. great. After checking to see if he was still alive, i continued on into the castle. him dying would be bad. for the plan. anyway, the castle was a fucking maze, as usual.

"need some help?" i turned around, fully willing to smite the pony who dared to think that i would need help- oh it's just dean.

"oh its you." he smirked and snapped his fingers.  i was blinded momentarily, and we appeared in front of the throne room. "hmph. i would have found it on my own soon enough."

"no, you wouldn't have. Princess Celestia put up thousands of wards over the years mean to keep demons like you out. they're really annoying. i just bypassed them. you're welcome. now, if you don't mind." he