Cookies and a Devil - the full story

"Grrreat!" He grinned and pointed at the glowing moon in the sky, "that is razlads place by the way. Not visitable by the common devil but I have a grey CM. That means we can take a peek there if you want. Also these other rings are all planetsized. Like equus, you know? There is no bridges but teleporters. We can visit some tomorrow if ya want."
"Wait, so Razlad is ... Tartarus Mare in the moon?", she smiled and then chuckled.
"Moon and sun are the same thing here. It is basically a palace that is used as those. At daytime, it becomes bright and hot and at night, it shifts its plates ibto a moon.
"But why does it look like our moon? Why does everything else here look so different instead of sun and moon?", she asked curiously.
Artyom shrugged, "i'd say ask someone who is old enough but thats only razlad and she is hard to contact," he said and then pointed at a far away ring, "thats the prison all the damned souls go to. Sometimes, when they are lucky, a devil comes around and takes them in as a slave. Its always snowing there as well because snow is fucked up. Hmmm that one is the one i work at, we go there on monday morning and meet my boss, Bananasplit to get in some missions... oh and we so have to visit the border of one ring. Thatd be fun"
"So much new stuff. I hope I can keep up with all the new information and sights", she said smiling like a child on christmas.
"Mhm," and the day progressed like any other.

Suddenly Lucy saw that there was no milk left and a world was about to collapse, at least for her. "Artyom, there's no milk left!", she nearly hyperventilated.
Artyom sat up and pointed at the door phoenix wright style, "to the discounter, follow meh"

She was right behind him making sure, that they finish their mission, their holy quest, to find new milk and to fill the fridge with that white tasty goodness again.
Once in front of said shop they walked in line normal ponies. Artyom headed to some magazines first. While lucy headed in the direction of white light. Where always milkproducts were. She did not look where she was going, her eyes on the possible milk. She walked around a corner and

Lucy looked around and it looked a bit like in her world. >So if this is anything like in our world the milk has to be ... <, she saw a white lighted section of the shop, "... there!" Her thirst for some milk was so big that she made a run for it. >White goodness here I <, her thoughts stopped as she bumped into something. It was hard, but at the same time fluffy. >A pony ... <, was her first thought, so she got up quick and without thinking asked the something she bumped into if everything is okay.
The pony that stood up groaned in pain a vit but steadied herself. She had white fur alongside pegasi wings at her side. In fact, her fur was so fucking white that Lucy seemed grey in comparison, her eyes were blue and on her forehead, instead of two horns, was a single one that finished in a square with a flying golden ring around it, "uh i am fine, thank you" the mare was a bit taller than lucy

In kind of a reflex from her older days as a support mare for the Dark Hunt she stomped her right hoof on the ground and a blue ring appeared around it. "Here, let me check real quick", she said moving her hoof quickly up and down again. The ring scanned the mare in front of her for any injuries. "Thank goodness, the ring kept blue." She felt like a boulder would lift from her heart.

"Dom worry "

"An angel is sturdier than that," she said and then Artyom came around looking at lucy, "yo lucy. Look, the evil ads forced me to buy more than we planned... " he looked at the mare with a deadpan expression. "Artyom..." the mare tried to say
"Mother"
Lucy could feel the tension. "Oh, oooooh, well this is kind of an interesting first meeting", she said but didn't really realise it, then it hit her like a rocket. "Wait... what? Are you going to tell me that I ran into your mother nearly crushing her to death as first impression?", the boulder had returned.
"That would have been better than now..."Artyom muttered.

Lucy thought about that for a moment and remembered back when she met Artyom's sister. >They don't have a very good relationship, huh?<
She thought she'd better keep quiet so she did.
His mother sighed and looked downcast, "you know i am sorry..."
"That can't be forgiven, mother," Artyom turned away and trotted to the exit with the bought products in tow.
"Oh, that bad", she said quietly. Her ears fell flat as she followed Artyom.
Once out of the shop he stated, "what happens when pegasi put an unicorn on a cloud?"
"Well, the floating spell is the most basic spell for unicorns, so I guess she would try to use that? Otherwise, she would fall to her death", she answered not knowing why he would ask such a thing.
"Unicorn foals that never tried magic," he added.
"Well yeah, they'd fall to their death. They're way too heavy to be held on a cloud." She said thinking about the possibility of a foal discovering her magic talent if it would otherwise die. Just like a bird, that starts to fly because his parents pushed it off the edge.
"Without help from a spell, the foal would always fall through the clouds. No mattr how hard the pegasi try. They try and try. Catching the foal everytime and setting it back on the cloud. Until they have to realise that the unic-"

"Until they have to face that the unicorn is not an.. angel but a devil meant to grow up in fucken tartarus but then it is too late... the foal hates them." He shuddered at the memory of heaven, "mom tried to raise me as if i were an angel," he gave away in the end.

"I'm sorry to hear that, sweetheart. So does that mean not both of your parents are angels? Also, why is she buying at a store in tartarus? Don't they have that in heaven too?", she asked.
"Father was a devil, yes. And fuck if i know. Sister said she wanted to visit me. Maybe she stays in tartarus for a period of time? Anyway... once we got the milk home we can visit any ring you'd like today"
At this time Lucy didn't have any clue if she could help, if he even wanted help or whatever, but she sure as hell or heaven knew that she wanted to. "Would it be easier to go from the outer rings to the middle or from the middle to the outer rings?"
Artyom derped for a moment but smiled, "from here to the inner rings of course." He looked up at the sun and said, "maybe the royal palace?"
"Right at the start? It feels like it would be the highlight of the whole thing", she said with a smile.

"Heh. Nah, oh lets go to the border of the ring and from there to the palace from where you have an excelent view on all seven rings, eh?"
"Okay, let's do that", she was still a bit in her own thoughts about Artyoms mother. >Can't do anything for now, I guess. Maybe I should talk to him about her later. Hopefully he is not going to hate me for it<
They took a cab to one of the outposts of the ring and lo and behold it looke like if a planet was cut in half and you stood exactly where the cut was made. A clean cut to be said as well. On the streets were some 'normal' races, either watching as tourists or working low paid jobs. It could be remind one of some bridges where artists try to make money with their paintings and stuff. Artyom waited for lucy reaction.
That ... is deep", she said. "What the hell is beneath all of this? Just nothing?"
"Ye. The outside of the rings are for industrial purposes. If you fall long enough you might come across some towers on the other side of the ring. But we are not for mass suicide here." He pointed at a large building, "there are few options of travel. Teleport or spaceship?"
Lucys eyes sparkled as she heard spaceship. "I can teleport all day, but I never traveled with a spaceship."
"Aye. But we only be passengers and no pilots tho. Eh lets go"

"I didn't even think about us driving a spaceship", she said a bit surprised. "So yeah, that's no problem."
So they boarded a ship and flew towards the sun. Then the ship landed somewhere inside and they ended up in some kind of park with a ton of other tourists and devils around. Artyom walked toward a certain room. Once there they saw the nightsky through special göass and with that the other rings that floated about.

"It's beautiful. I wouldn't have complained doing my training here instead of our tartarus."
Artyom nodded then asked, "tell me about your Tartarus"
"Well think about a land on fire. Everywhere you look is death and despair and corpses and ... you just have to see it. It's a horrible place."
"I understand"
"Maybe it's the hot version of your prisons here for the damned souls?", she suspected.
"Maybe... wanna see my office? Its on that ring" he pointed at a random one
"Oh, you have your own office?", she asked a bit surprised.
"At the place, i work at, yeah. A few rooms only for me, my desk and... someone else. Also , i feel hungry and we get free food there"
She turned around her eyes wide open. "Free food?"
"He he. Follow me then. We take a teleporter directly there"
"Okay, yeah it was just that I wanted to be in a spaceship for once." She smiled and followed Artyom. Also, Lucy felt a bit guilty that she didn't show Artyom a lot of her own world.
Once in another special room they entered a hall and after a little wait of a few minutes they left it and were on said ring. In front of the office building known as Artyoms daily bread and butter. They entered and Artyom made some turns that would confuse lucy. At last they were waiting in line at a buffet in a cafeteria. Then Artyom pointed to someone of the workers behind the register, "hey look, does that one look familiar?"
"Does who look familiar?", she looked around.
"Remember the vampireboy we killed? He is there at the register"
"Wait, why is he here? This is another dimension, shouldn't he be burning in our tar... wait is he from here?", she asked a bit shocked. "That means he wasn't from our dimension?"
"Ehh he died in my presence... and i said see you soon or something. Maybe my tartarus claimed his soul and know he has to slave away in this cafeteria. Lets say hi!"

"Someone likes drama", she said but followed her devil.
"Yo vampireboy.hi," said Artyom to the vampire boy who instead of his cape and suit wore the uniform of tartarus. Some kind of star bucks ripoff.

He said, "oh hi.. and my name is simon"

"Wow, do they brainwash ponys down here?", she asked more out of a joke than anything. "How are you?"
"I am fine. I 'live' kinda. I only work here because i get some money that way. In truth, i ended up as bananasplits... pet." He sighed, "better than with a real stallion"

Lucy was kind of impressed that his attitude had changed that much. "Well at least you're not Dukaans pet anymore, trust me that would've gotten a lot worse after he got what he wanted."
"maybe... maybe not. It doesn't matter anymore. he is dead as fuck and I am here flipping burgers and getting money. What does one want more in the afterlife?" he chuckled a bit, "So... what can I get you before my boss screams at me again?"
Artyom looked at Lucy for her to order first
"Well, I'm not a devil so have anything vegetarian?", she said a bit embarassed, that she has to get special treatment, because she doesn't eat meat.
"ye... salad and salad... with cheese"

"want fries too?"

"Yes, thank you I'll take exactly that", she smiled. "By the way what's with that other guy that fought with you? The tall quiet one."
the devil turned to the one, lucy was pointing, "Uhh... "

"Thats the other guy ya'll killed. His name is Olaf," explained simon.
"yo olaf, they wanna talk to ya"

Lucy was a bit nervous. Would he also be a bit nicer than he was before? Well, it seems she was close to find out.

"Yeah. Whats up? Oh its you..." the other mumbled

"Well, it seems you're not in tartarus in our dimension. Are you two actually from here? From this dimension", she asked.

They shook their heads then simon said, "we woke up in heaven and then the angels sent us here; not claiming our souls cuz we were not 'interesing' enough. "

"This dimension is clearly different from ours. But at least you weren't send to our tartarus or even hell", she said remembering her training.
The others just shrugged and simon looked at Artyom as olaf left for the kitchen again, "your order?". "Ah yes, hmmm changeling salad please!" Simon nodded and gave the orders back to the kitchen.
Lucy kept quiet for the rest of the "getting food process".

Once seated at a table, lucy could notice that many devils had Artyoms color scheme but some are darker, some lighter and of ourse the cutie mark is the same, except the rabbit emblem part. Lucy got salad, salad with cheese and some fries. Artyoms 'salad' was just a cool changeling corpse cut in many small pieces and pressed into a salad bowl
Lucy tried to not think about what Artyom was eating. She wouldn't even think about touching a changeling. But it seemed to be his favourite thing to eat so she kept quiet about it.

"They seem so different from what they were before", she tried to find something to talk about and those two had really changed a lot.
"Yeah. Probably broken when faced with the after life. Or when you wake up in heaven and the angel says 'boring' before sending you to tartarud"
"Boring, is that really how they decide who gets into heaven here?", she asked.
"Yeah" he started to devour his salad
"That's so odd, but I guess this is another dimension after all", she tried to make sense of it by just remembering, that other dimensions have other customs.
"Well it is like that, ppl die and angels have the right to decide first and then we. No clue where the souls would go to if we don't claim them but its boring. Really. Thats why its ajob for interns," he wa half finished.
"It sure is something else. At least it sounds like some things aren't that different though", she said carefully.
"It is not like there is a higher power that scolds us anyway"
"Yeah, ponys in our dimension aren't even sure if there is a heaven or not. But if there is ... I've seen some paintings of angels and read about them. They sounded very ... snobby and uptight", she wasn't sure if it was okay to say such things, because of Artyoms mother being an angel, but you never know until you try.

"That is a big understatement," said a new female voice from afar. It was a black mare that approached them. She had a wild mane with a blonde streak running down her eye, she had a white fluffy underbelly and a grenade apple as a cutie mark. She nodded to them and then focused on Artyom, "well well well. Artyom, you are supposed to roll in tomorrow"
Lucy just ate her salad and fries and watched, what would happen.

"Ma'am." Artyom nodded, "i wanted to show my partner this place beforehand," he nodded at lucy and the new mare looked at lucy this time, "i see. Ah yes, lucy moon, right? Razlad told me about his talk with this 'Nevio'... so how do you like this place so far?"

"It's different and interesting. You're Bananasplit then? I hope my skills and work will be satisfying to you. I'm sure uncle Nevio wouldn't be very amused to hear that I'm not doing my best, so count on me", she smiled like she always did.
BS nodded and looked at the kitchen, "well then, i wanted to pick up simon. It is feeding time." She grinned and her tail changed into a normal devil one that whipped because she was excited. She looked once more back, " . My office." Then she left.
"Well at least she's having a lot of fun with him and not killing him over and over and over and taking out his... sry, I just got sort of some flashbacks from equestrian hell", she explained.
"Mmm. He probably gets a good amount of blood to survive. Banansplit was actually the one who suggested to visit baltimare. She was there three years ago"

"It's not that big of a deal. Tourists are mostly visiting canterlot or ponyville. Interesting, that she chose such an uncommon place to visit."
"She had six months to see equus as well. Only in her last two weeks did she visit baltimare."
"What's equus by the way?", she asked trying to remember where she heard that before.
"Thats what we call your planets"
Planet*
"Oh okay, well that's a lot of time. Then there must've something happened there if she likes that place so much. But I'm being too curious again. Let's finish and continue on."
After Artyom had a few more refills and swallowed the changelings did they leave the building again and were now on the streets, walking. "Alright, anything else you wanna look at?"
"Honestly it has been a lot to remember and think about already. But maybe just one thing. It doesn't have to be today, but if it's possible I would like to visit the part of the rings, that normal tourists don't visit."
He hummed and looked around in the sky, looking at the rings.
"The prison ring?"
"Yes", she just said, without any further ado.
They went to a teleporter and traveled to the furthest ring there was. The prison.
First, they were in a warm building. The only office ran by devils.
"This is the only place with a heater by the way"
"I'm not afraid of the cold. Actually I really like the cold. It's been my home for a long time." She always visited not only the nice, but also the horrible places of a state or country. It made the whole thing feel real and not like a wonderful dream she could wake up out of any second.
"This place is minus 60 degrees at its warmest. We wont go out anyway. We accompany the ressource train there." He pointed at a giant object that was piloted by some devils, filled with food and other stuff for the prisoners.
"You saw the stuff that's written all over me, trust me I wouldn't care. But that is a lot colder than I ever felt that's right.", she looked at the train. "Then let's get this over with", she sighed. It wasn't her favourite part to see the bad parts of a world, but it was a part of the experience and so she didn't want to miss out on it.