Cookies and a Devil - the full story

She smirked. "Nothing here is safe, but it will be okay for a few days we should scout the area."
"Would it make sense to make a map of this place or does it change form and stuff ?"

"I'm not sure we would have to find out. But I don't know what we would need a map for", she thought about it for a while not finding a reason to make a map.
"Right. My base building senses were tingling. " they approached the dark mountain and Artyom moved his hoof to the side. A panel opened up at his hoof and he tapped on it. A cylindrical holograph appeared moving into the side of the mountain. It was long enough for three ponies in a row and high enough for one and a half. Artyom switched something off on the panel and the mountainside inside the cylinder disappeared. A clean cut hole was there. "Shelter for tonight," Artyom said and moved in, inspecting the walls

She followed him and took a weird looking pen out of her bag. "Well, you made the cave. Now take a step back don't stand in the circle." She walked to the entrance and a blue circle started to form beneath her it was filled with runes. She took her pen and wrote new ones to the ones already there.
"You securing the entrance? " he asked and let two matresses appear.
"Mhm", she answered but kept staring at the symbols. Then she finished and the blue circle turned black before vanishing. "Okay, that should keep us rather safe as long as we're in here.

Nevio had his ways to come around and keep with them even if Lucy magically closed the entrance. >Hm, she makes the same mistake as everyone else. I guess she wouldn't be able to know.< He listened closely and could hear a very distinct sound for him. "There they are."

Lucy looked at Artyom and the mattresses. "I'm not so sure if it was a good idea to use magic though. If I'm thinking about it. The only thing that's keeping animals alive here is to kill other animals. So wouldn't they develop senses a lot different from animals back home? What if they can sense magic?"
"That would suck," Artyom deadpanned and looked outside, "Where do you think are the monsters?"
"I don't know, that's why I think we should climb that mountain and look for them." She recalled something. "Wait, why did that wor ", then she noticed it. "Oh shit! We should hurry out of here!" In the back of the cave, the shadows started to build up to a black wall. Lucy made a run for it and headed just outside the cave they just made.
Artyom was right behind her.
Just as they left the cave the shadows made a really unpleasant sound and from one moment to another the mountain was back to normal. "I just remembered something. This land doesn't like change. It has a old magic protecting it. Changes made by outsiders, that don't use the magic of this land, won't last very long."
"Grrr... well then. Any ideas?"
"Yeah, let's start by climbing on top of that mountain. I feel like we should get ourselves a better view over the land and situation we are in." She looked up at the mountain top. It was a long way up, she wouldn't be able to jump up without using a lot of her energy. "Guess I'll need my energy, so normal climbing it is."
Artyom grunted and both began their walk, "So whatcha think Nevio is up to? He can't be watching us all that time, right ?"
"He will be watching us the whole time. For him, this is nothing more than visiting home. As for what he has planned for us I think what he said. He wants you to find a way to defend against dark runes." Soon they were halfway up.
"The problem with these runes were that my body thought of them as a superior in command. I need more samples to filter that out and I might feel better than"
"Your magic is weird, but okay lets torture you with some black magic then, but first we search for something to kill."
"Mhm..." Artyom spied something small moving in the far and pointed at it, "You see that?" he whispered.
"It's just one. There should be herds around here somewhere. Let's continue further up." But as soon as she wanted to make another step they could hear a loud growl. The little spot was slowly coming closer. "Ehm, that doesn't sound good."
A few weapons appeared around Artyom and he growled like a lion about to pounce its enemy
"Here? We're literally standing on the side of a mountain! That thing can fly. Hurry up!" She had no other choice and used her runes to jump up the mountain, fast enough to prepare for the encounter.
"Hm," Artyom was angry and sprinted along the mountain to the top. A black spot came up but in his anger, he used his swords and slashed it in half. He was at the top now, looking down, waiting for Lucy
She landed right beside him. "You're fast." The dot was now as big as a house. It was close enough to see what it was. It looked like a giant eagle with horns. As it came closer it ascended into the air. "It's getting altitude to crash down on us!" Lucy made a few runes appear and threw them at the bottom. They formed a line leading a few meters back. "When he is close to hitting us just walk back. Those circles will make you walk at near speed of sound."
Artyom clicked his tongue at that and pentagrams appeared around him as his horns glowed. The programs connected with the trigger of Lucys runes
The beast was coming
Lucy was just taking a step backward and with that, she was out of the reach of the beast. "Evading, success now for the harder part." She made a big jump onto the eagle. But before she could reach it the animal's tail hit her and she had to defend against it, which stopped her midway.
Artyom looked at Lucy and then at the eagle. "Lucy! Get away from that!" He had to step back. He did and vanished in a moment too, triggering the explosive pentagrams for the eagle
It was too late to get away from the explosion, so Lucy broke a cookie in half making an explosion shield around her. After the explosion, the shield was gone. The smoke around the eagle lifted. "It worked! It lost its left hind leg." The eagle tried to escape taking off into the air. "Oh, no you won't. Artyom jump!" A blue shimmer appeared beneath his hoofs.
Artyom jumped and catapulted himself on its neck, he took what might be feathers and yanked them put
Out
He glanced at a wing and fired another explosive its way
This time the black feathers absorbed the explosive. Lucy knew what this was. "It's adapting to your magic! You have to use something different!", she shouted then she thought about something. >Well I hope all that bow training was enough to do this. Siren, now we'll see how good you trained me with this thing<, she thought and held her hoofs up in the air. A bow made out of blue energy appeared in front of her. "Let's see. Take the bow, make an arrow, aim and ...", she shot the arrow and it hit the beast right in the right wing. The eagle screamed but continued flying.
Artyom did not waste time and decided to emulate pure white magic in his hoofs. Light touched dark and the beast screamed as its spine melted
That was the final blow the scream stopped and the monster's eyes turned from yellow to black. It fell back to the ground. "Get off of it!"
Sticky black shadows started to come out of the monsters feathers and body.
Artyom teleported beside Lucy and took her body, red wings spread from the air and they watched the beast turn to nothingness as they slowly descended to the ground

As Artyom teleported to lucy and both watched the beast die
As the beast vanished something changed. Lucy looked at her right hoof. "A sigil? Is it because we killed that beast?" She somehow felt stronger.
"Apparently," said Artyom and watched the nothingness rot, "I suggest we rest for a few hours and then explore some more "
"I ... do you feel exhausted? I don't feel any exhaustion. It's like it just vanished after we killed that thing." She came a bit closer to him.

"I... I feel a bit dizzy and weak actually... just a nap... nap...zzzz"
Artyom fell asleep while standing
"Huh?", she said surprised. "Artyom that's not a good spot to be falling asleep!"

Let him he can't help it. It's the nature of this land and your connection to each other." Lucy understood. "You mean because we share a special connection the land transferred the energy of the kill to me instead of him?

Nevio nodded. "I will help him only this once, he would never wake up again at this rate. You have to be careful in this land. If you use up all your magic there is only a little time before you loose consciousness and if you don't get energy real quick after that, you're done for."
The devil mumbled something in his sleep but continued to just stand there and... sleep
Nevio held his hoof right in front of Lucy and a black crystal started to form on his hoof. "It's edible, give it to him. It will give him enough energy for two hours. You need to kill prey for him or he won't get to his full strength again." Lucy took the crystal and stepped to Artyom. As she looked back Nevio was gone. "Well, here goes nothing." Carefully she shoved the crystal in his mouth. "Come on you need to bite it", she said as if she was sure that he could hear her.
Artyom licked the crystal and stirred awake. Weakened he bit ob the crystal and swallowed one half and then the other, "ugh, that tastes like mushrooms." He stuck his tongue out and breathed in, "how long was I out?"
"A few seconds Nevio gave me that black crystal. It should give you enough energy for two hours", she said. Then she blushed a bit. "Also he explained why this happened."
"Why the blush?"
"W... well I have to tell you, so no hiding it. It's because of our relationship. Because of that the kill you made transferred to me. But you used up so much of your energy that you fell unconscious. Normally ponys are alone when fighting here, so I couldn't know."
"And how do I get the kills now ?"
A voice out of nowhere "One kill per day is enough to survive. So the second kill is yours."
"The fuck was that?"
"So we need to kill two things a day to survive ?"
Artyom sighed and looked around.
"Seems like it", she said then she spotted another creature just like the one they just killed. Or did she? The creature vanished. "Huh? Wha.. ", she rubbed her eyes. "Huh, must've been my imagination."

It won't take long for them to notice I hope. If they notice too late we're in big trouble ... <, Nevio thought to himself. >... After all, this is why I chose this place.<
"Good... " Artyom saw what resembled a forest on one side and a barren land on the other. "Hmm forest with many covers but too many monsters. Probably critters. And the other not enough but too big monster? What do you think, Lucy?"
"How about we follow that stream down there?", she points to the forest, where a stream was running alongside the forest. "Then we will have the forest for "food" and won't have to deal with little critters that can kill us easily all the time."
"Good idea" he smiled and nuzzled her. Even in desperate times, he shows affection. He walked alongside lucy as they made their way down the river, "Where do you think is the thing we need?"

"The thing? I think it's more the magic of this land that is interesting. After all, this is the world where the black runes originated from."

There is not a land that's more hostile against ponies than here. They will soon enough find out. They don't belong here, so test them, drive them mad and see how they do. Should they survive accept them, if not let them suffer eternal pain and despair<, the pony-dragon remembered the old words.
"Hm..."
Mirabell and Bahlok managed the guild as long as Nevio was away. Missions were going well so far. Mirabell didn't seem too happy about the peace though. "This is all going way too well."

Bahlok looked at the paperwork and talked at the same time. "He is an Umbra, he won't come near this building without being destroyed. Even with his new found magic, there are things which can kill an Umbra in a blink of an eye. This base possesses one of those things." Mirabell sighed and let the stallion work. "I have some messages to deliver, see you Bahlok."
Back at Lucy and Artyom's, they arrived at the base of the mountain. The river was headed toward the forest part. Looking ominous. Many things moved in there...
"Should we go in?"
"I wouldn't see why not", she smiled and looked at the dark forest. "I just don't want to be asleep in there."

Going into the forest may not have been the best idea they ever had. After days and days of psychological torture, with hallucinations and illusions getting stronger each and every day, it was hard to survive if you don't know what is real and what's not anymore. But after about three days after Nevio thought they wouldn't make it they found something very important.
He grinned and appeared right in front of them before they could get there. "Congratulations you two." Lucy jumped back. "Step back you trick of my mind. No, ... wait. Nevio, is that really you?" The Ponydragon nodded.

Artyom slapped himself and breathed in, "Nevio... move on, please. I don't wanna be here anymore"
Artyom had a really bad experience but found out when he slapped himself that the mind tricks would go away
For him at least
Nevio stepped into the temple. "Come in", he said and waited for them to enter the building.
Artyom moved along without a second thought. Lucy in tow hopefully
Lucy was right behind Artyom. As soon as she stepped into the temple the illusions seemed to lessen a bit. "Where are we?"

Nevio turned around. "Well, it seems like you two did it. These temples are the last step. The only thing left to do now is to die." He made a short pause. "Well not literally, but the process is kind of similar to dying and being resurrected."
Artyom raised his hoof and asked, "sure it would affect me? Devils have their own way to respawn"
"In the old days, Pony dragons and their rider would survive for nearly half or a full year in these lands. The dragon would watch over him to see if he is ready to face the terror of this land. If he succeded the rider would somehow find his way to one of these temples where he will receive a gift. To be accepted by the Darklands means to be a part of it. It means immunity to the dark magic, that originated from here and being able to use that magic to it's full extend." He pointed to to an altar and a stand with a bowl on top of it. Black candles burned with a blue flame all around that altar. "You may never noticed, but I am from this world and much more important I am a pony-dragon." He stepped back and transformed. Dark smoke enveloped his body and his voice sounded a lot darker. Black scales and a red scaled belly showed as the smoke lifted. He wasn't as big as a full grown normal dragon, but big enough for a pony to sit on him. "I will, in the name of this land, accept you as dark beings. That you found this temple on your own means you earned the right. Now the only thing left is one question. Do you accept this gift?"
Artyom just wanted to get to sleep and a no would result in more conversation he thought, "Yesh " he said aggressively
"I will start with our Devil here. Lay yourself down. If you can it's also okay to sleep before I'm doing anything. The temple should lift the weight of the land a bit from your shoulders." He showed him how he should lay down on the altar. Then he moved to the bowl. "I'll begin... then he thought about something. Actually, Lucy gets up there."

She raised an eyebrow but did as he said. She got close to Artyom.

Now, let's begin.

His eyes started to glow. "Prussian Gruth Tahrovin Ensosin Zeim Kiin Hofkiin Ahzid!" He took his arm and bit deep into it. The scales cracked and a few pieces fell into the bowl then he squeezed some blood out of the wounds and drenched the scales with it.

Suddenly the whole temple held his breath. The candles light turned dark and the only light left was Nevios glowing eyes and his scales which started to glow blue. A dark fearsome voice filled the temple. "State your Name Child of the Shadows!"

First, he said his name in the Language of the ponies. "My name is Nevio Guardian of the Shadows. Did Los Nevio Vahlok Faal Vokun! They found the temple without my help. So I ask this land to accept them and reincarnate them as children of this land."

"Your black heart speaks the truth Child, so be it!", the voice said and the scales flew out of the bowl circling over Lucy and Artyom.

She looked at Artyom. "Hey, you silly devil. I love you."

Artyom laid down on his side, closing his eyes. The biggest fear he currently held was how his boss would react to that. And how the magic would apply to his own red one. He felt how Lucy got closer and how Nevio spoke the chants. A slight worry inside him that something would go wrong then he heard Lucy say how she loved him. And he smiled, felling genuine love for that Mare he seduced inside a church.
"I can feel fear", the disembodied voice said. Nevio couldn't do anything about what happened next.

Shadows grabbed Artyom and Lucy and held them down on the altar.
"You got accepted by me. Don't fear me. I know it can hurt, it can be the greatest terror to be my child, but whatever you do, never fear the darkness. I'm your ally from now on. Fearing me is painful because I don't like pushovers. Now straighten up and show me some trust, show me the strength you gained from surviving in these lands, killing all my other children." The magic forced the pictures of all the kills the two did together in their heads. It was its way of testing their mental strength.
For Artyom, the experience was too fast. He took all in stride and before he knew it, it was over. He opened his eyes.

Lucy had a hard time getting all the information in as well, but she understood what the shadows wanted. Her body relaxed even if the shadows ripped harder on her soul, she endured all of it.

Last try<, Nevio thought. The disembodied voice now canceled all another sound.

Listen closely, devil. Why do you think you endured all of this terror?" As it said terror a invisible hand pulled on a part of Artyom's soul. "This magic is foreign to you. You're from far away, not even from the same dimension. But even you have to play by the rules of this land, by my rules. You endured all of my tests, all of this terror, now become that terror. Endure the darkness, the pain, the horror and be reborn as a child of the Darkness. Only then are you ready to hold the power I can gift you?

I will! I try... playing by the rules< Artyom thought back as something opened in his mind, inviting the new force to repeat or do something similar
"There you go, child. You know rules. Your magic is based on so many rules. Now this will hurt very badly, but you will endure it."

Nevio stepped into a now appearing circle. "How have you decided?"
"They're accepted. Continue with the Resurrection, dragon." Nevios eyes turned bloodred and dark shadows were flowing out of his mouth. They wrapped around the scales which now stopped over Lucys and Artyom's heart. With pure force, the scales pierced right into their hearts. Lucy screamed upon the pain. But it soon vanished. She felt really cold and weak. Then there it was, a dark shadow offering his strength. She took his offer and as soon as she did the scale melted into a shadow fusing with her soul connecting her with the Darklands. "Your magic is very similar to mine I can grant the gift of my strength and help you to cast even stronger darker magic, Lucy Moon took a thû (Sign of the Dark)." The hole the scale left was soon closed by shadows leaving no scar.

As for you, it seems your magic is very different. I can't grant you my strength. But I can grant you my protection. Don't be afraid of the darkness anymore, because now it is your ally. I helped your soul to learn the difference between dark runes and your superiors. No dark spell will confuse your soul anymore, Artyom.

"Thank you, great one". Artyom opened his eyes and saw perfectly in the darkness, "I shall use it to protect those I care about." He looked at Lucy and then at Nevio, "but can we go home now ???"

The land shook as if it would laugh. "Yes, you can continue your fate now."

d

Nevio changed into a pony again, his wound still bleeding. "Bahlok!", he said in a loud commanding voice. The grey pony appeared right next to him and left the rift open. He didn't say a thing.

"Ah. Bahlok! I could kiss ye!" Said Artyom and hugged the weapon. Then he took Lucy on his back and galloped back through the portal. Lucy dumbfounded on the way

She enjoyed his joy of getting back into the world she knows best. So she allowed him to take her with him. Bahlok looked at Nevio. "You can close the rift. I'll be a while." The weapon nodded and stepped through.

And Artyom ran through the hallways like a pro runner. Lucy on his back till he came across a set of double doors leading to their rooms. It opened and he jumped into a bed. Snuggling up with Lucy while drifting to sleep

Lucy smiled. "You surely earned it", she whispered and stroked his mane, while he drifted off.