Tartarus High

“The Wendigos arrived three minutes ago. We have the timberwolves, changelings, Tartarus Guards and our own here. We’re just waiting on the Dragons and the Griffons.” Spike reported to Twilight.

“Griffons are here, Dragons were sighted.” The radio buzzed.

“We’re all set up for the forward push, that gate has seen better days.” Dash’s voice buzzed.

“Once the Dragons and Griffons are prepared we’ll make one huge push. Don’t pick any fights that aren’t warranted, there are hundreds of things in there that are peaceful or that won’t attack us. We’re going to blow through the place as fast as we can and get out with the Gatekeeper even faster.” Twilight said over the radio.

“Everyone’s armed and ready.” Vinyl said, coming in with Octavia.

“You two stick back in the push a bit, weapons and armor might break so you’ll be there to supply us with new ones if that happens.” Twilight said.

“Fine, is this going to be a huge fast paced charge or are we going to be careful about it?” Vinyl asked.

“From what we got out of the higher ups with the Tartarus Project we know exactly where Nightmare Moon is, we’ll get there as fast as we can but once we’re there we’ll slow down.” Twilight said.

“Where exactly is she being held?” Luna asked over the radio.

“The old Gatehouse, the one that got overrun a thousand years ago.” Celestia’s voice answered.

“Hey this is Black Claw, we’re all set and ready to go. Those Dragons are almost done too, we’re working on getting them headsets that work with them.” The Griffon Chief’s voice buzzed in.

“Alright, Everyone get into position. Have someone put a telepathic glyph on those headsets and enlarge them to fit.” Twilight said. She exited the crumbling building she was currently in and walked towards where a great mass of different races all preparing for the push were preparing.

“You’re leading almost every single race there is in a massive push to storm the old gatehouse that’s full of hostile demons. How does that make you feel?” Some reporter asked. Twilight had no idea how the hell she got in there.

“I have no idea how you got in here, but I don’t feel anything out of the ordinary. I’m saving Equestria by doing what I’ve grown to do best. Now get the hell out of here, we’re about to push.” Twilight said, teleporting the reporter miles away.

Apparently something didn’t want them to start off without a surprise. The doors on the massive gate to tartarus slowly creaked open. There were guards and nightstalkers preparing explosives to blow the doors out, but that obviously wasn’t needed anymore.

“Everyone at the gates fall back and set those explosives to detonate on my command. Whatever’s coming out might not be friendly.” Twilight said into her headset.

“I don’t know what it is... But it’s big.” One of them said. Twilight prepared the flare of magic to detonate the explosives, but nearly burst out laughing when a familiar canine head poked out.

“Cerberus, what are you doing here?” She asked with a laugh as the massive three headed dog finished opening the door and crouched down to her level when she reached him. It might be the fact that they’re part Timberwolf, but Twilight understood the creature without the normal telepathy spell.

“I came to help! I miss my master. There’s more Denizens of Tartarus that want to help as well, we cleared a path to the river for you. Those blade arm guys aren’t much of a threat but the rest are very dangerous.” Cerberus explained.

“Yeah, we’ve figured that out.” Twilight said with a smile, scratching the main head under the chin for a moment.

“Right. We’ve got a clear path to the river. Way back when, the old gatehouse was near the center of Tartarus itself. At the time it wasn’t very big. Having cerberus to guide us will help us greatly.” Celestia’s voice came over the radio.

“When we get to the river, the Ferryman should be on our side. We’ll fit all we can on the boats and have the rest fly. The river isn’t deep so the dragons could probably walk through it and your scales should counter the cold.” Twilight planned.

“If the demons have any semblance of a brain they’ll know we’re going to take the river. They know the place better than we do so they might have ambushes set up along it.” Luna’s voice came.

“The others will follow you and scout out anything nearby.” Cerberus said, somehow hearing Twilight’s radio.

“We can hide among them and radio in.” Chrysalis said.

“We can freeze them out.” Frost said, appearing next to Twilight with a wave of cold.

“Right. They’ll obviously send resistance, so we need to designate what does what. Tartarus Guards will obviously be on the boats as well as the some odd hundred or so Nightstalkers that don’t have wings. They’ll do what they can when they can. The rest of my Nightstalkers and I will do the same, but we aren’t limited to the boats. Wendigos and Changelings will focus on countering ambushes and scouting. Dragons, I think you can handle any Wyrms that get by.” Twilight explained.

“What about us?” Kirin asked.

“I think you guys are about in the same situation as my grounded Nightstalkers.” Twilight replied.

“So, what are we waiting for?” Dash asked, touching down next to her. Twilight turned back towards the graveyard city and found that pretty much the entire force assembled was waiting behind her. There was something else, though, something she noticed not long after they first arrived.

“For the hunters to come out and play.” Twilight said and turned directly towards where she knew people were hiding. Instead of coming out, like she had anticipated, the group of five men ran off screaming.

“They know what we’re up to now...” Twilight said.

“What relevance does that have?” Frostbite asked.

“It means they could gather up a force and get into Tartarus themselves.” Celestia said, stepping up next to Twilight.

“And if they do that, they’ll slaughter anything in sight that’s not human. Hostile or not.” Luna finished, taking Twilight’s other side.

“I know who can help with that.” Cerberus said. He turned around and called a few things into the door and soon rumbling steps could be heard. They all looked in awe as two massive stone gargoyles stepped out of the gate and waved. They were nearly as tall as the gate itself.

“The old Gate Guardians... WHere have you been these hundreds of years?” Celestia called up with a laugh.

“Sleeping... The new gatehouse didn’t need us.” One of them replied.

“Will you stand vigil and not let anything through?” Twilight asked.

“Of course.” The other replied. The forces scattered a bit when they moved to either side of the door so they weren’t crushed. The two beings proceeded to ground themselves, shoving their claws and feet into the ground. As they did this, massive runic markings etched into their bodies started to glow.

“What’s happening?” Twilight asked Celestia.

“The Guardians are doing just as you asked. They ground themselves, dipping into the nearly limitless store of energy in the ground and use it to power ancient glyphs that create an ethereal wall where they specify and only those they allow may pass through it.” Celestia explained.

“How come the old gatehouse fell then?” Twilight asked.

“The stores we tap into are not limitless, and back then the ones who attacked was nearly the entirety of Tartarus.” One of the gargoyles said.

“Which is about four times the size of our force.” Luna finished.

“The hunters won’t even put a scratch in it then.” Dash said with a grin.

“I hope so. Thank you for your help.” Twilight said to the creatures. They inclined their heads and Twilight turned back towards the gate.

There wasn’t a signal.

No handsign, no chatter, no flare of magic, no indication whatsoever.

Twilight stepped through the gates with not even so much as a batted eye at the drastic change. Right behind her, her army. Her nightstalkers quickly fell into pace, Timberwolves and tartarus guards not far behind them. Chrysalis and her changelings scattered in all directions, taking many different forms to blend in. Frostbite, her father and their Wendigos shot off into the air in their spectral forms and soon became nothing but shimmers of blue in the black that was the sky. With a triumphant roar, the dragons took to the skies directly above them.

Her friends formed up around her as they all stopped at the river to see massive ships and smaller frigates and even rowboats lined up.

“Well, come on then. I haven’t got all eternity.” A disembodied voice said and a skeleton clad in dark robes swung a lantern around, basically hurrying them over.