Diamond sapphire woke with a groan, her eyes too heavy to open. Slowly her sense of feeling came back, and she felt an increasing pain on the back of her head. Oh, my head, she thought wearily as her eyelids sluggishly opened.
Her vision was blurry, from what she could make out, she was in a basement of sorts, lined with blurry objects. "Where am I?" She softly muttered to herself, as her, probably-drugged, mind dragged it's feet to retrace her steps. All she could dredge up was something about a dress. Her head spun as it felt like something was breaking out of her skull. She went to run her forehead with a hoof, but her hoof stopped short and chains rattled in response.
"What the?"She muttered, slurring her words as her head sluggishly turned to see what was wrong. She was chained to something, her arms stretched out to both sides. With a gasp she looked down to see her legs were chained as well, but parted slightly. Whoever did this even tied her tail back so it wouldn't drape between her legs.
Her heart began to pound in her chest, her breath quickening as she yanked and fought against her chains. "Help! Somebody!?"Diamond called out, her vision clearing. She was in a sort of basement, but it was run-down. It had a cement ceiling that was chipping and had numerous large cracks in it. The floor was made of rotted, and most times, missing or broken planks of wood. The smell of mildew almost made her retch. An abandoned cottage perhaps.
What are you doing Diamond? We can worry about what place you're in when we get out of here! She scolded herself, before returning to her futile battle against her chains.
Suddenly, she heard a door creak open and gently shut. "Well, looks like somepony's awake, huh?" A voice cooed from across the basement. It was soft, and sweet, a mare's voice.
"Hello!? Can you help me?" Diamond called out. Her hopes rising.
The mare stepped into Diamond's view. She was a snow-white unicorn with a sort of rainbow colored mane that swept over to barely cover her left eye. Her most distinct feature was her off-set eyes, one was a beautiful purple while the other was a golden yellow. Diamond paused for a moment, somehow, the mare was walking on the ceiling.
"You know, I was worried I put you in a coma when I hit you on the head yesterday,"She said with a cherry tone and a smile.
"What?"Diamond asked, some fright sneaking into her voice.
"Oh, it was so hard to drag you all the way down here," the mare giggled maniacally, "Especially chaining you upside down to that cross was challenging. But, hey, it'll all be worth it in the end, right?" The mare flashed a predatory smile as she trotted over to one of the shelves and picked up a stick of white chalk.
"What are you doing?"Diamond asked her voice hitching in her throat.
"Summoning a Demon Lord from Tartarus." she stated matter-of-factly as she carefully drew a circle around Diamond.
"You know, you can just let me go," Diamond said tears misting her eyes, "I-I promise I won't tell anyone...I don't even know your name. So, it'll be easy to get away."
.
"Autumn," the mare stated as she drew multiple inner-rings, "My name is Autumn. I can't let you go, so much went into preparing for tonight: months of collecting stones," Autumn paused after finishing a strange glyph and booped Diamond's muzzle with the chalk,"and you'll be the mortar."
The circle was very intricate, it was made of multiple rings, with lines and glyphs in precise locations and an eerie symbol in the center. Diamonds eyes traced the lines of the circle, it gave the impression of two great serpents dancing and moving with precise and fluid motions. Before she knew it, Diamond got a hoof harshly smacked across her cheek.
She looked up in confusion, only to be met with a furious glare from Autumn. "Don't stare at the circle," she commanded as she lowered herself to look into Diamonds eyes directly, "Unless you want to be lost to the serpents for the rest of eternity."
With that, Autumn stepped outside the circle and began muttering an incantation. Diamond couldn't understand the words, Autumn spoke them almost as if she was singing a dark and mournful song. With each syllable of the incantation, Diamonds mind glazed over and her heart filled with despair.
Slowly, Autumn's horn lit up and her song became more harsh and violent, like fire itself. The rings of the circle seemed to glow and slowly and levitate off the ground.
Diamond's heart slammed in her barrel as drops of sweat stung her eyes. She opened her mouth to scream, but then Autumn sung more viciously and aggressively, the song made her throat dry and a fire seemed to be burning inside her. The rings began to spin, each circle spinning in tandem, yet counter to the one closest to it.
"Please stop!" Diamond screamed with all her strength, but over the whirling of the rings and Autumn's incantation, it sounded like a whisper.
The rings blurred as they spun, releasing flurries of sparks and embers that spun around her in a sort of fiery vortex. Autumn's song became louder almost as if she was yelling. Then the lines sunk in below Diamond, they caved in the ground and opened a hole to an abyss. Then a second voice, deep and malicious, as if a dragon sang began to sing in perfect sync with Autumn.
Diamond's eyes darted all around as she struggled against the chains. In the abyss an orange glow began to rush up to her, the song was deafening. A sharp pain on her barrel caused her to scream in pain, she looked up and watched as an invisible force carved an X over her heart. Diamond glanced down to see a pair of great smoldering eyes rush up at her. Her scream was barely heard over the roar of the Dragon as it's maw engulfed her.
* * *
Diamond awoke, a searing pain in her barrel and her whole body felt like it was on fire. Her head ached and a ringing of her ears effectively made her deaf. She forced open her eyes, her body felt stiff and weak, she was on the floor and the cross she was chained to was in splinters all around the room.
Diamond looked up and saw an ash-grey stallion with a long, coal-black mane that flowed like an ethereal fire tower over a cowering Autumn.
Suddenly, the stallion turned to Diamond, his blood-red eyes seemed to burn right through her and she blacked out.
