Tartarus High

“You sure they were here?” Twilight asked Spike.

“Yeah, they found us. They might be watching right now.” Spike said.

“Hey! If there are any Timber Wolves out there we wish to speak to you!” Twilight called out. Three entered the clearing.

“Fire People, you have others? They smell of the tree people...” the leader asked.

“Most of us are Half Demon, but our enemies are the ones you fight. We seek refuge with your pack, or if you know of another place.” Twilight said.

“Why do you seek refuge? Your answer will determine mine.” the Wolf asked.

“The Tartarus Guards that don't have demon blood have begun hunting us, even though we were part of them.” Twilight answered.

“What do you plan to do?” the leader asked.

“We plan to continue to eradicate the hostile demons and stop them for good. As for the guards, we will remain neutral to them unless they strike first.” Twilight said.

“You are a leader of strong will and heart. You look and smell like a monster, yet you are not one. You and your kin are free to come and go, but you will need to work with the pack to earn it.” the Leader said.

“We hadn't planned otherwise. We also plan to gather more of our kind, if they earn their keep would you allow them to stay as well?” Twilight asked.

“Of course. My name is Kirin. Welcome to the pack.” he said. He lead them to a part of the forest that was nearby. It was slightly more spacious and there were many holes in the ground. They looked up and noticed what looked like a simple town built into the trees. Down the holes they spied movement.

“We live in the trees. Some of us live underground. The tunnel runners are messengers for patrols. You will build your own den up above or down below. We have tried building inside large trees, but didn't work. Magic may help, your choice. Meet in my den, middle of town, when night falls. Until then find and start your Den.” he explained. They nodded and he leapt up, using platforms hidden by branches to make his way up. Wings and jetpacks flared as they all scattered to find a place.

“This will definitely work...” Twilight said. On the very outskirts of the tree town there was a massive tree. There were a few other smaller ones, but this was the biggest. It was about the side of Ponyville itself in diameter.

“Dash, go round up the others. If they can use magic send them here, if not let them know where we are and tell them they know when to meet Kirin.” Twilight said. Dash saluted and dashed off.

“You are taking charge rather easily Trixie Thinks.” Trixie said.

“Yeah well...they all need somebody to look up to. Wasn't my choice, they all chose me. I'm just filling the role they need.” Twilight answered as about nine of the half demons landed.

“Right. Here's the layout I have planned for now. We're going to go twenty feet downward using the roots as tunnels to connect to the other tunnels. We'll go all the way to the top. The walls will be two feet thick not including the bark. Once we have that hollowed out Celestia, Luna and I will make the interiors. Don't destroy any of the wood, stack it where you can. It's incredibly difficult to grow it from scratch.” Twilight ordered.

“How will we hollow it out?” one asked.

“Use a simple veil of magical energy and use it almost like a chainsaw. You're basically going to shave and chip away the wood and catch what comes off and form it into planks like so.” Twilight explained, snapping and slowly cutting out a door and using her magic to create a hinge.

“This door will be hidden, since it is on ground level. Once it meets where the walkways above are make another door and use some of the wood to connect the walkway, unless you'd rather jump from the platforms to here every time. Here's how you'd hollow it out.” Twilight continued, doing the same thing but instead of a chopping motion it was like her hand had a chipper extended out of it. It quickly and smoothly cut about three inches in and shaved everything out wherever her hand was pointing. So walked all the way inside, creating a mall tunnel of sorts, and then stood in the middle and did the same, but with both hands, and spun quickly. The resulting effect was the entire section from ground level to about a foot from her head, minus the two feet of the walls, hollowing out. The shaving flew around in the air and formed the ones floating around from the last cut. With a snap they all came together and formed stacks of wooden planks next to the door. She then pointed straight down and made a tunnel down the twenty feet about the diameter of her hand.

“There, that's the limit for how low you should go and where the walls are. That took a lot out of me, and I need to go watch for Applejack. If you get tired try to help out around the Pack.” Twilight ordered. They all saluted and got to work happily. This surprised her.

“Wow...I was expecting a bit of reluctance...” Twilight said.

“You're the perfect Leader. You would be side by side with them if you didn't just do so much at once. And knowing you, you'll be back once you get Applejack to help right?” Celestia said.

“You got me there. It's odd, but I really like it...” Twilight said.

“Like what?” Celestia asked.

“I have a whole little community of people that are my responsibility...Before it was just spike...with the old team we really didn't have a leader...but now I'm that leader of more than just eleven others, I'm leading over thirty and they all look up to me. And I can deliver. It's a great feeling to know you can fill that responsibility...” Twilight explained.

“It is. No go watch for Applejack. I'll make sure none of them overwork themselves.” Celestia said.

“Thanks.” Twilight said. She pecked her on the lips and flew off.

“Hey Applejack, took you a bit.” Twilight said two hours later from her spot sitting on a tree in the clearing.

“Ah lost that pebble of yours a few times luggin' these. Ya mind?” Applejack asked, panting. Twilight giggled and dropped to the ground. She snapped her fingers and levitated the large baskets of apples off of Applejack.

“Thank yuh Kindly. Now. There's sumthin' Ah gotta tell ya and sumthin' yuh gotta do.” Applejack said, cracking her back with a sigh.

“Sure.” Twilight said,

“Look at me with that fancy eye of yers and see if you can find some old magic and cancel it out.” Applejack said.

“Uh...sure. What'd you need to tell me?” Twilight asked, switching from her left eye to right.

“Well...Mac's doin' some travelin' soon and he said he'd point and half demons he found in our direction. He also told me that Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo are half demons, though Rarity wouldn't know.” Applejack explained.

“Really? What about Applebloom?” Twilight asked, locating the magic and breaking it.

“Well...he also told me that mah mom was a Demon an' that Bloom and I are half-demons...Guess it's true.” Applejack said as she observed her body changing. Her eyes became slits, small spikes sprouted form her elbows and she got two horns atop her head like Twilight's, but smaller. She yelped when some ridges along her spine shot outward and some on her forearms, tearing through the jacket she was wearing. The tattered and ripped top fell to the ground, exposing Applejack's skin. She covered herself with a red face as she shivered slightly in the cold.

“Wow...two things. First, nice body. Second, I've never seen one of ours like that...” Twilight said with a laugh. The spikes were mostly out of the way of her main body and they had all retracted to be just small ridges, but the damage was done. Twilight noticed her shivering and used her magic to fix up Applejack's top and jacket.

“T-thanks...” Applejack muttered.

“Right. These apples will help us out a lot, thanks. We're making our Den, or home, now.” Twilight said and led her to the giant tree, explaining what Kirin had.

“Whoa Nelly...that's one big tree...and Ah thought the Library was huge...” Applejack said. The tree had been completely hollowed out down the twenty feet and all the tunnels at this point. There were some touching it up but most of the workers were making their way upward slowly now. There was a massive amount of wood planks nearly blocking the tunnels, but it'd all be used soon.

“Hey Twi! We found a huge underground pool of water! It's massive! We could use it!” Dash called from below. Twilight hopped down the twenty feet to the tunnels and followed Dash's voice down one of the many tunnels the roots had been carved out to find Dash and Rarity. It was a massive cavern, but it was filled with crystal clear water. Twilight heard a few waterfalls in the distance.

“I'll have to modify the layout plan...but add a few pipes and magic that feeds off of the tree to finish it and we can have running water.” Twilight said, looking up and around, seeing many smaller roots around the cavern and dipping into the water everywhere.

“The Tree? Aren't we killing it by what we're doing?” Dash asked.

“Normally yes, especially with the roots down here. But if you remember I put a few glyphs on the outside. They use a tiny part of the energy the tree generates to keep it fully alive. Whole it would generate enough energy to power Ponyville indefinitely, but that energy would normally be used to sustain everything. With most of the inside gone only a tiny portion goes to the tree, the rest being absorbed by the glyphs. Tapping into that we have power. We can make touch glyphs instead of light switches and stuff.” Twilight explained.

“Dude...you're a fucking genius.” Dash laughed.

“Darling that is simply marvelous! Just off the top of your head like that? I can't wait to see how this whole thing works out it will be absolutely marvelous!” Rarity exclaimed.

At around early evening, two hours before the sun would fall, Kirin came by to check up on their progress. He found Twilight clearing sections that would take the others much longer to clear while they had a rest.

“Hello Kirin.” Twilight said, breathing heavily.

“Greetings Twilight. I see you are fine with your new Den. I noticed some of your kin are elsewhere in the village, doing small favors for my kin and the sorts, and thought I might check here. I see now that not all command magic. Their help is nice and we are grateful, sunset is in two hours.” Kirin said, reminding her.

“Yes I remember. Alright guys, I'm beat. Your turn.” Twilight said, stepping out. There was about fifty of the three to four hundred foot tall tree left to hollow out and the new door and walkway had been connected, Kirin was in the doorway. The others were quick to recover from their resting and even quicker to get back to work.

“They are loyal...more loyal than any other followers I have seen.” Kirin commented.

“I'm not sure exactly why. But they did choose me to lead them. At first I thought it was because they were scarred of me but that's not it.” Twilight said.

“I spoke to many of them in the village. They say they follow you because you weren't always one of them, yet you act as if you were. You were the only one strong and brave enough to stand up to the prejudice. They follow you almost blindly because they know your heart and mind are pure and you would do them no ill.” Kirin said.

“Really? I just did what I thought was right...anyways I was going to tell you when we met but you're here now...” Twilight started and relayed what Applejack had told her about the new arrivals likely to flood in.

“We will alert our patrols. As for the little ones coming form your old town we will station a patrol in the clearing and near the potion woman.” Kirin said.

“Thank you so much. I should get back to work. If I should lose track of time and not notice the dropping of the sun I mean no offense, we will start making it livable soon so it is very possible.” Twilight said.

“I will send a runner five minutes early.” Kirin said. Twilight smiled and nodded, then got back to work.