Author's Note

Sorry for the delay, everyone! Here's the next chapter for y'all!

Please note that the first few bits of the chapter may have a few errors in it, as I barely had any time to make any proper edits, what with using the internet from a church, along with several other things dropping by. You can get the full story by checking my blog posts.

Anyways, please do enjoy the show... story... thing!

More will hopefully come a lot quicker than this one, since I have internet again... along with an apartment of my own and a job to help keep me busy!

First Contact - Friend or Foe?

Princess Luna sat on the throne, eyes closed, room empty, and mind elsewhere. With a clear picture of the creature, she was able to travel the Dreamscape, hoping to find any clues on where the creature may be.

She was surrounded by a vivid image of the stars, carefully browsing through the doors to every living creature's minds, filtering out the ponies and other sentient beings, and searching for any misplaced doors that she could find. Unfortunately, though, minutes quickly became hours, and once she reached the last door, she groaned in frustration as everything seemed to be ordinary.

Apparently, the creature wasn't sleeping, yet. Several doors continued to appear as more creatures began to appear and disappear, making way for the nocturnal ones to wake up.

After a while, she began to reverse the filters, and view the doors to the inhabitants of the world, be they pony or not.

Not too long into her search, her eyes caught sight of a peculiar looking door... or rather, a peculiar looking door frame. The interior was pitch black, and the frame itself was lacking a door. Curious, she slowly trotted up to the door frame and stuck one of her forehooves inside. The second she did, an unknown force quickly pulled her inside.

When she opened her eyes from the sudden pulling sensation, Luna gasped as she saw that she was standing inside a volcanic area with lakes of lava within the red and purple rocky ground. Fires erupted from several different cracks on the ground, the walls, and even the pitch black clouds in the dark purple sky. The sound of screams bellowed out of the lakes, and several apparitions of pure white wisps appeared and disappeared; corrupted fallen spirits, being tormented for all of eternity for their wicked ways in life. It surprised Luna when she saw just how many there were.

Regardless, though, there was no questioning, nor denying the location... this place was Tartarus, itself. As for why the door led her into it, she hadn't the slightest clue.

Not until she heard the sounds of laughter echoing behind her. Slowly she turned around, only for her jaw to drop and her eyes to widen as seven demons stood in a row, all staring at a figure hanging upside down from a pair of chains. The chains were attached to the top of an overhanging mountain, and appeared to stretch up for miles.

Upon closer inspection, Luna gasped as she saw just who that figure was... it was the creature from the drawing. And it was apparently a prisoner in Tartarus, as well!

It dangled loosely while the seven demons taunted it and laughed as its arms loosely stretched downwards, almost like it was unconscious... but Luna knew better to believe it. One can not easily dream of their own unconsciousness without being awake at the time.

The first demon, the closest one to the creature, was a muscular male with a disturbingly charming face. His body was thin around the stomach area, while on his chest was a tattoo with the word "PRIDE" written on it. His fangs were pure white, and appeared to be well cared for. His name, as his tattoo implied, was Pride.

The second closest demon was a much shorter one that rested on Pride's shoulders. He had a wide smile on his face as he stared at their prisoner, seemingly jealous of how the creature looked. His name was Envy.

The third closest demon was a very obese cyclops male with a vaguely familiar-looking machete in his left hand, as well as a sheath for the machete hanging over his left shoulder. All he appeared to be wearing was a loincloth, but even that was starting to show wear and tear. He was Gluttony.

The fourth demon was actually a succubus, with several long claws for fingers. She wore nothing more than a black leathery bra, black leather panties, a pair of thigh-high black leather boots, and a pair of shoulder-high black leather gloves. She was Lust.

The fifth demon was almost as short as Envy, and was shaped more like an egg. He was holding a scowl, glaring at the creature before him, and cracking his knuckles as he prepared for any kind of resistance from the prisoner. This demon's name was Wrath.

The sixth demon was twice as tall as Wrath, half as thin, and was hanging onto the creature and the chains that held it in the air, eying the outfit that it was wearing with morbid curiosity. He was constantly reaching for the creature's pockets, but was met with annoyed gazes from Wrath, stopping him from doing anything. He also had a pair of bat-like wings, while the others, despite being demons, surprisingly didn't. His name was Greed.

The seventh, and the furthest away, was an elderly-looking demon with a long white beard, but no hair. He sat on a floating chair and had his sleeping head tucked into his left palm while he snored loudly. He was known as Sloth.

Pride and Gluttony both stood about three times the creature's height, while Wrath, Lust, and Greed stood just as tall, if not slightly taller, with Wrath appearing larger around the lower half. Envy and Sloth half as tall as it, though.

Gluttony grumbled as Pride chuckled at the creature while poking at its chest. Then he rolled his one eye before asking, "Come on, Pride! Can't I just have a little taste test?! Who knows what kinds of flavor he has! And since humanity died out eons ago, I'm sure he'll have a nice aged taste to him, as well!"

Envy chuckled before tilting his head at the creature while Greed continued making attempts to pick through its pockets. "I don't know... I wouldn't mind copying its body, though! Might come in handy for certain things, if ya know what I mean!"

Lust rolled her pitch black eyes before her blood red pupils focused on the creature with a sultry smile. "Honestly, I wouldn't mind taking him into my chambers, and give him a ride of a lifetime before you guys get a chance at 'em!"

Pride sighed before shrugging his shoulders and turning to Gluttony. "Well, since you were the first that asked, I guess I'll let you decide his fate, Glut. Just... try to remember that there's others who are wanting to test him out, and would rather not have to dig through your feces to find him again."

Gluttony chuckled before shrugging his shoulders. "In that case, I'll just have to go for a small taste, instead!" He then gripped onto the human's left arm and stretched it out. Then he lifted the machete up to the human's shoulder; his grin getting increasingly wider. Finally, with little resistance, he slid the machete's blade across, then through, the human's arm, dismembering it completely.

Without wasting a moment, he gulped the arm completely, but started coughing a few times. "Guh?! METAL?!" He glared at the human before wrapping his right hand over his entire torso and lifting him up higher. Then he took the machete and sliced through the chains, leaving the shackles and little remainders of the chains on the human's ankles.

The other demons rolled their eyes and shrugged their shoulders. "Eh, not much we can do with metal... but perhaps he isn't completely metal?" Pride asked before eying the human wickedly. "Tell you what... test his neck. See if he bleeds, or not!"

Gluttony nodded his head and raised the machete up to the human's neck. Rather than slice it, however, he dropped the machete on the floor and gripped him with both hands. "I have an idea..."

He firmly planted both of his thumbs below the human's jawline and pressed them forward. After a little resistance, the human's neck began to make audible tearing sounds before his head popped backwards. Instantly, blood started to spew from the neckline, coating his arms in blood, and causing him to chuckle maniacally before attempting to remove the human's head from his body. To his surprise, though, the human's spine was still attached.

When he tried to pull the human's head off, the spine kept the head attached to the body. Even demonic strength couldn't remove it.

"Eh, might as well just swallow him whole, then... not like we had much use for an amputee, anyways." Pride mumbled.

Lust raised her claw in the air to protest, but Wrath beat her to the punch. "Oh shut it, Lust. You have uses for anything that could breed!"

Lust glared at him and stuck her snake-like tongue out at him, which only made him deadpan even more at her.

Gluttony shrugged his shoulders and did as suggested, gulping the human down without even bothering to bite.

Luna stared in disbelief. Whatever this "human" was... it must've been a spirit. More than likely seeking vengeance for his death.

Meanwhile, inside Gluttony's esophagus, the human's neck continued to spew blood around it. His right arm and his legs remained motionless for a few more seconds before they began to work again. He felt around the surrounding area until his feet bumped something metal. Dragging the object up, he gripped onto it with his right hand then spread his legs out, wedging his shoulders and his feet in-between the corners, while his head loosely dangled downwards.

He then examined the metal object by dangling it behind his back. When his head caught sight of what it was, he placed the flat corner of it over the area where his left arm used to be, and attempted to move it around. Sure enough, the object was his left arm.

With his right hand still holding the arm in place, he used his left arm to lift his head back up to where his neck was and gripped onto the disc where his mouthpiece was. Then, after twisting it counter-clockwise, the disc let out a small hiss before emitting a green mist around it.

The green mist flowed freely around his body, while green liquid started to flow through where his neck used to be. Upon making contact with his flesh, however, red muscles started to lift themselves from his neckline while the cloth and the leather pieces of his clothing started to grow back. The flesh that used to coat his metallic arms began to heal themselves as well, while the jacket and the glove rematerialized.

In the matter of seconds, the human's entire body was back in one piece.

No sooner when Princess Luna turn around, did she hear Gluttony gasp. She turned around and raised an eyebrow out of confusion, as she saw the confused look on Gluttony's eye.

Pride tilted his head and snickered. "Well, now... looks like someone's found their limit after all! What's the matter... indigestion?"

Gluttony groaned before punching his chest a couple times. This made him gulp once more, before sighing in relief. "Nah... the damn human just got caught in my throat, is all."

They all chuckled again before continuing on their way towards other corners of Tartarus.

Before Gluttony could catch up with the others, however, he coughed once, and spat out a mouthful of blood. This stopped the other demons and made them turn around, and stare at Gluttony with worried looks on their faces.

Gluttony wiped his lips and stared at the blood on his finger before sniffing it and gasping. "T-this is my blood!"

Suddenly, his chest protruded out at a discomforting length before splitting open. The protrusion was the human's left fist... which was attached to the human himself.

Gluttony yelled in agony as he fell to his knees and stared wide-eyed at the human, who managed to pull his upper half out of his chest... but it wasn't just the human that he was shocked to see.

Grasped in the human's right hand was a large, pulsing red organ with several purple and red attachments trailing towards his insides; veins and arteries... the human was holding onto his heart.

With Gluttony's mouth still open in shock, the human quickly shoved the heart into Gluttony's mouth, gripped onto his shoulders, pulled his feet out of his chest, and kicked his jaw shut with both feet, shattering the heart, and forcing Gluttony to fall to the ground completely. The pupil in his eye instantly vanished, leaving nothing but a lifeless yellow orb in its place.

The demons and Princess Luna stared slack-jawed at the sudden turn of events. Luna tried making sense of what just happened, but couldn't find any logical explanation to it. She witnessed the creature die before her, and yet there it was, almost like it wasn't even harmed to begin with. From the looks of it, the other demons were thinking the same thing.

The human stood back up and turned towards the demons without even showing any emotion. The demons, in turn, lowered themselves in a combat pose before inching closer to the human.

Envy was the first to strike. He charged towards the human with his eyes glowing yellow. Then he stopped when he was at a safe distance from the human before cupping his hands together. A pitch black smoke burst around him, and when it vanished, there stood another humanoid that looked almost exactly like the prisoner, save for Envy's face in place of the mask.

The human then tilted his head while Envy mimicked his actions almost exactly like a mirrored reflection would. Then Envy grinned and taunted, "Well now, human... good luck getting past me! Anything you could do, I could do better!"

While the human didn't say anything, Envy's mouth started to gargle out what sounded like words, but in a language Luna wasn't able to understand.

("Can you heal?")

The human and Envy both lifted their hands and gripped onto the front and back of their heads. This made Envy's eyes widen as the intentions that the vigilante had were clear.

His eyes glowed again, but before he could cast a spell, he twisted his head all the way backwards, resulting in a loud snap, a gargle, and a large amount of blood pouring out of his mouth.

When he fell on his chest with his head still facing up, he was able to catch a glimpse of the human walking past him, towards his comrades. His vision quickly blurred out, until everything faded to darkness.

Pride glared at the human and stuttered, "You... y-you're no mere mortal! W-what... what are you?!"

In a hushed whisper, Envy's head choked out, ("You will never know...")

The human gripped onto his head again and snapped it back in place before gripping onto his mask's disc again and twisting it; healing his wounds once again. Then he continued to walk towards the demons again.

Lust was the next to strike. She dashed towards the human with both hands arched behind her back and her clawed hands wide open, ready to slice at the human.

When she was within reach she leaped into the air and slashed both of her hands downwards. Before the claws could even reach him, however, the human stopped moving forward and stood there, waiting for her to strike. Then, in a blurry motion, the human caught both of her wrists with her fingers hovering mere inches above his forehead before lifting his right foot up and kicking her in the chest with both hands still firmly gripped.

She screeched loudly as her arms were ripped off, and she was forced to the ground. Then she tried backing away from the human, who slowly walked over her with her arms still in his hands.

Pride growled before dashing towards the human. Then he vanished into a red smoke and reappeared directly behind the human with both fists in the air, ready to strike his target down. The human, however was already aware of his actions and turned around with Lust's left arm still held in a reversed grip. Then he quickly plunged her arm through his chest, hindering his movement instantly, and causing blood to spew from his mouth.

Before Pride could say anything else, the human spun clockwise with Lust's right arm outstretched. In merely a split second, her claws sliced through his throat, sending his head flying backwards, and landing in front of Luna, who was still standing out of sight, speechless at the strange creature's demonic power.

The human turned towards Lust again, who was pushing herself further back from him with both of her legs, desperately trying to get away. The human then lifted her right arm over his shoulders and swung it downwards, piercing her pelvis in the rocks, and causing her to screech loudly. Then he tossed her reverse-gripped left arm in the air and caught it in a normal grip again before raising it over his shoulders, all while inching closer to her.

Finally, he walked around her until he was facing her upside-down and slowly lowered her left arm towards her head. He gently rubbed her lips with the claws of her arm before lifting it up once more.

She shook her head left and right then pleaded, "No... please, no! NO! N-" Her pleas were soon replaced by choking sounds as her claws found their way through her mouth and out the back of her head. Her legs twitched as the human placed his foot on the back of her hand and stepped on it, only piercing it even further into the rocks below her head. Then he lowered the arm and pulled it closer to him, eventually ripping through her jawline and detaching the upper half of her head from her body.

Her half-head rolled down the small slopes of the rocks until it straightened out and landed, with her cold, dead eyes resting on Wrath, who was charging towards the human, along with Sloth, who was still sitting in his chair, but wielding a small, thin tube-like tool in his left hand.

When they were close enough, Wrath leaped into the air with his huge mouth opened wide, all while Sloth pressed the button on the tool, engulfing him in green fire, and causing him to appear directly behind the human.

As soon as Wrath was within reach, however, the human caught him by the top and bottom halves of his jaw and turned towards Sloth, who was taking a deep breath. Before the human could reach him, Sloth exhaled a strange, blue vapor in the air; sleeping gas capable of putting one to sleep for three hundred years or more.

And yet, the human wasn't affected by it.

The human quickly lowered Wrath's fangs over Sloth, whose eyes shot open in panic. What only a select few would know, is that once he started exhaling the gas from his system, he was unable to stop until it all left his lungs.

Once the human had Wrath angled over Sloth, he closed his lips over his throat, causing him to inflate rapidly.

Wrath's eyes inflated first, nearly popping out of their sockets, before his purple and blue veins started to appear from his forehead. Then the human quickly lifted him up from Sloth's head and firmly gripped onto his lips. Then the human lifted Wrath over his shoulders and slammed him into the ground, popping him like a balloon, and sending most of his insides across the ground.

As Sloth continued to try stopping himself from exhaling, the human only turned around and lifted his right fist in the air behind his shoulders. Then Sloth tried to back away, only for the human to quickly grip him by the throat and lift him from his seat. Then the human placed his right hand over Sloth's mouth and nose, causing his head to inflate like Wrath's body did.

Rather than slam him to the ground, though, the human merely watched as Sloth's head started to shake rapidly. Finally, once the pressure was too much for him to handle, the back of Sloth's head blew open, sending several chunks of bone, hair, and brain matter backwards in a blue mist. Then Sloth's movement ceased and his limbs swung down, as the tube-like tool he held in his left hand fell to the ground.

The human then tossed Sloth behind his back, reached down, and picked the tool up, eying it curiously. As he did, Greed quickly backed away from his fallen comrades before taking flight and lifting his hands in the air, which produced fireballs.

He growled at the human before tossing the fireballs towards him. "TRY HITTING A FLYING TARGET, YOU BASTARD!" he shouted as the fireballs exploded on impact.

Greed continued throwing the fireballs at the ground several more times before panting and landing on a rocky spike protruding from the side of a mountain. That particular spike, ironically, was the one with the chain attached to it that held their prisoner for thousands of years, if not more.

As soon as he sighed in relief, a green flame erupted from behind him. Once he turned around, his eyes shot open as the human stood there with Sloth's teleporting device in his right hand. Before he could take flight, however, the human quickly gripped onto his wings and placed his foot on his chest. Then, with extreme force, the human pulled his wings back and kicked his chest forward, snapping his wings off with barely any effort shown on his part.

Greed screamed as he fell backwards, near the ledge of the spike. Before he could fall, however, the human gripped his throat and lifted him in the air.

Greed tried punching the human repeatedly in the face, but the human didn't even appear to show any signs of pain. Then the human placed the teleporting device in his jacket pocket before straightening his right finger tips out and jabbing his hand through the lower half of Greed's stomach.

Greed spurted out blood as he felt his insides fall from his stomach. Then he could only watch in horror as the human pulled his intestines out from his stomach and firmly tie them around his neck like a rope. The human then lied him down briefly to lift the chain up from above the spike, where it was tied to it. Then he tied Greed's intestines to the remainder of the chain before lifting him up again, and hovering him over the edge of the spike.

He choked and shook his head left and right before trying one last time to strike at the human with his fists... but once more, it proved to be a feeble attempt.

The human then lifted his right hand in the air with the back of his fist facing him. Finally, the human lifted his middle finger at him before releasing him from his grip.

Greed groggily screamed for help as he felt his intestines and other organs continue to fly out of his stomach. Eventually his vision started to blur as the ground below finally started to come into view. His intestines, however, were starting to reach their ends.

As soon as he was just a few meters above the ground level, his intestines snagged, and his neck snapped. As he hung there limply, the organs that flew out of his body finally found their way to the ground.

The human soon landed right next to Greed's dead body, but stood back up, seemingly unharmed from the size of the fall. Then the human started looking around, almost appearing to admire the work he's done before his eyes locked onto the place where Luna was standing.

Her eyes shot open and her heart almost skipped a beat as the human started walking towards her. She didn't believe that the human could see her, considering that this was nothing more than a memory to him, but she was still frightened about what it was that he saw in her direction.

She sighed in relief when she saw him stop in front of Greed's body and lower to the ground near his left hand.

Her relief was short-lived when she saw him lift the machete from the ground and raise it in the air, examining it closely. As he examined it, the harness that Greed wore quickly turned into a shadowy mist and flew up to the human's chest, re-materializing right below his jacket, but with the sheath materializing outside the center of the back of his jacket, facing his left shoulder.

The human didn't even appear fazed by the situation. He still remained as calm as can be. He lifted the machete in the air before sheathing it over his left shoulder. Then he turned his back on Luna and walked on, towards the front gates of Tartarus, which at the time wasn't guarded by Cerberus, yet.

Luna slowly trotted behind the human, but stopped once he did. Then he slowly turned back around until he was facing her, which only raised her curiosity.

Finally, her heart rate shot up once he pointed two fingers over his eyes, then stretched his hand out towards her, pointing one finger in her direction... a sign that she knew from the minotaur dignitaries that appeared from their homelands.

In a hushed voice, Envy's head murmured the strange language once again. ("You shouldn't be here.")

He lifted the tube in his right hand again and pressed the button, engulfing him in a green flame. Where he was standing was now replaced by nothing more than a small smoke where the flames scorched the land.

Luna was speechless at the whole situation. She was too nervous to even move; too nervous to turn her head.

Too nervous to even notice the tall shadow looming behind her.

She heard the chains from around his ankles clatter against the rocks behind her. Finally, she slowly turned around, only to find the human staring right at her.

Before she could scream, he pressed his left hand over her mouth and his right hand over the tip of her horn. The fact that she felt him only frightened her even more as her eyes suddenly glowed brightly and the world around her faded back into reality.

However, she still felt the human's hands on her mouth and her horn.

She opened her eyes and continued to let out a muffled scream as she saw the human still there, but with her in the throne room of Canterlot Castle. He removed his hand from her horn and placed its pointing finger in front of his mouthpiece.

She understood the sign and stopped her muffled screaming. Her breathing, however, was still highly strained as her chest quickly rose and fell.

The human then shook his finger left and right, along with his head, before he finally released her lips from his left hand. Then he lifted the teleporting device again and pressed the button. Once more, he was engulfed in a green flame, and gone without a trace, save for the burn marks on the carpet.

Luna just stared at the blank space where the human once was before her knees quivered. Soon her body couldn't take any more of the stress. Her eyes rolled up, her eyelids closed, and her consciousness faded. She unconsciously fell on the ground right as soon as the throne room doors shot open, with a worried-looking Princess Celestia galloping her way.

Everfree Forest, One Hour Later

Fluttershy carefully trotted through the Everfree Forest, nervously eying the shadows as they swayed back and forth with the trees and branches that they belonged to. Perched on her head was Hummingway, who appeared to be unfazed by the scenery; most likely due to him being familiar with the area.

While she trotted, she also called out to Elizabeak, hoping to at least hear her chicken's replies. She continued to trot onwards, though, despite the voice in the back of her head practically demanding that she turn back before the night time gets there.

Eventually she came across a strange, unseen area, where the trees started to look slightly taller and more spread apart than the rest. She eventually started to feel small in comparison to the strange trees. Regardless, though, she continued to press on.

Soon a strong breeze began to blow, causing her to flinch and hold Hummingway onto her scalp to keep it from sending him further out.

"H-how much f-f-further do you think Elizabeak went, Hummingway?" she meekly asked as she continued to nervously look around the area.

Hummingway remained silent, but appeared to be focused on something on one of the trees. Fluttershy looked up at him and noticed a greatly distressed expression on his face. "H-Hummingway? What's... w-what's wrong?"

Hummingway flew closer to the tree he stared at and nodded at, what appeared to be, several unnervingly deep claw marks on it, starting from the base, and rising up.

A loud thump suddenly sounded from behind Fluttershy. Her wings locked up and her eyes shot open as a strange, sinister clicking noise hissed from behind her right ear. She slowly turned around, only to back away once she saw the source of the noise.

There, towering over her by at least seven times her height, was a tall bipedal creature with purple skin. Its head appeared to be similarly shaped like a tribal mask with thick purple spines similar to roots protruding from behind its face. Its eyes were pitch black, but appeared to have three glowing red pupils aligned like a triangle in the centers of each. The lower half of the mask was split open from the top half, and the tips of both halves contained razor sharp fangs inside them, with multiple layers tracing inside its mouth. Its hands held four long, sharp claws that stretched out to be as tall as she was. Its waist was covered in a leafy waist cloth, and its feet had three toes, each of which appeared as sharp as its fingers were.

They continued to stare at each other for another moment before the creature opened its jaw and let out a loud, ear-splitting screech that sent the distant birds flying away.