The call of the songbird(Revised)
Author's Note
(Edited) Hey, so I've decided to come back to this story, I hope you enjoy, and I'm sorry for being away for so long. I'm going to be editing and improving the previous chapters before I Work on a new one
P.S Quick thing, I'm using claw in place of hand, if you see hand in this or future chapters it's a mistake
The call of the songbird(Revised)
In the depths of Tartarus, its prisoners cry and howl, scream and growl, all the while they Insult, threaten and beg to their jailer, as they have done for eons.
The jailer sat silently, watching them, and beating into submission the ones that escaped their cells, before throwing them back into their cells with little effort. If he was particularly annoyed, he would abuse them even further by sticking them in a area of Tartarus called the Pit, where they would eternally suffer from the unending feeling of being both burned alive, and stabbed repeatedly. Technically he wasn't allowed to stick prisoners in the Pit, as it was a left over creation from ancient times when Grogar ruled the land, the only reason it was still there was because the dark magic was so strong the princesses couldn't figure out how to get rid of it without causing even more corruption.
But he highly doubted the royal twins would be coming down here to tell him off anytime soon, they barely survived last time, so he threw prisoners in anyway
It usually didn't take to long before they began begging and apologizing, saying they'd never try to escape again, though regardless of their pleading he usually left them in there for a few days before coming back to take them out, where they would usually be much quieter, either having passed out from exhaustion, or had their brain fried from the constant pain. The latter would usually just sit catatonic in their cell for a while, possibly having been turned into a vegetable from all the pain, he didn't know, he didn't really check.
Then they would proceed to try and escape again a couple of centuries or so later.
You see, the thing about Tartarus, is that it doesn't let you die, mentally or physically. No matter how injured you get in Tartarus, you aren't ABLE to die.
In Tartarus, you could have your heart ripped out, and still be alive to take your heart back, hold it in your hand, watch it pump blood all over the floor, before having it disappear as you were suddenly healthy again.
As you might imagine, this is another invention of Grogar, so he could torture prisoners too his hearts content without worrying about them dying and him losing information.
Of course, the sun and moon of the ponies would never tell their subjects that the most secure prison in the known world was created by the greatest villain to ever walk the face of equis for the sole purpose of endless torture. thats why nobody knows jack shit about Tartarus other than it exists and its a really good prison.
The jailer was brought out of his thoughts when he heard a loud crash from nearby, coming from a very familiar cell.
The jailer quickly flew over to one of the most deadly residents of Tartarus.
Tirek.
The one so dangerous that not only was he the only prisoner that he was actually allowed to stick in the pit if it meant containing him, but he also had his own guard, a huge Cerberus, one of the only ones ever tamed. He did his job well, and he was a good boy. he was especially useful when he had too dispose of bits of prisoner, he usually made Cerberus do tricks for the treats first though.
When the jailer landed, and stomped up to Tirek's cage, what the jailer saw both enraged him, and invoked just a little bit of excitement.
Tirek wasn't in his cage, and Cerberus was missing.
The jailers glowing eyes flashed from yellow to red, and the jailer let out a high pitched screech which echoed throughout Tartarus, making all the prisoners of Tartarus freeze in terror as they saw the jailer take to the sky in rage, flying towards the exit of Tartarus, crashing through the gates with a loud clang, and as the prisoners watched the jailer leave, they pitied the one who had escaped, and dreaded what would happen to them when the jailer got back.
Celestia was bored.
You'd think that being a princess, ruler and god of an entire race, you wouldn't get bored often, but the truth is, every day is the same. Wake up, raise the sun, prepare yourself in the mirror for acting and sounding legal for the rest of the day,
eat breakfast, deal with greedy nobles for hours on end while trying to maintain dignified appearance, do tons of paperwork, eat dinner, lower sun, go to bed. If she was lucky she would get to go to some social event for a change of pace, Tartarus, she almost wished for a villain attack some days.
So obviously, as if being laughed at by some god of fate, in the middle of a meeting with a noble who was upset at the having to pay the same taxes as everyone else, she jumped in surprise when a small mechanical bird teleported into the room and started playing an eerily familiar tune
The short tune made her freeze as her eyes widened, as there was only one thing that tune could mean.
He was coming.
She quickly stood up from her throne with a steely expression on her face, addressing the confused noble.
"I am afraid I will have to cancel day court early today, for something urgent has come up that needs my attention" she explained, before quickly turning to a guard on her right "summon the Elements of Harmony" the guard silently nodded, before heading off to do what he was told.
The two guards escorted the noble out of the throne room, with the noble complaining that he shouldn't have to pay taxes. She quickly set off for her sister's room, hoping Luna wouldn't be too upset about interrupting her sleep.
She quickly entered her sister's room, and couldn't help but let out a snicker at what she saw. Luna was lying upside down on her bed with her head hanging off the edge, her tongue hanging out. A smile grew on her face at the sight, but quickly went back to her steely expression as she trotted over to her sister and swiftly shook her with her hoof.
Luna slowly woke up, then grumbled before opening her eyes, glaring at her sister.
"Why hast thou awoken us dear sister?" she said, not hiding the grumpy tone to her voice.
"Luna, the song has sounded. He has left his post" she explained gravely, gesturing to the small mechanical bird that had followed her into Luna's room.
Luna looked confused for a moment, before her eyes widened in shock and slight fear upon recognizing the small bird. "No, surely you can't mean the songbird?" Luna asked, futiliy hoping she was dreaming.
Celestia shook her head sadly "I'm afraid not. I have already summoned the elements of harmony"
Luna looked panicked and started rambling fearfully "Sister, what are we going to do?! the Equestria of today can't handle such a violent beast! the last time it was angered it nearly tore us apart! I still have the scars!" she said lifting her left wing to reveal a barely visible mark on her skin.
Celestia grimaced at the sight, before putting on a comforting expression for her sister "Everything will be fine, we were very young back then, all those eons ago, and had just gained out alicorn status. We have much more experience and our resources are vastly superior to what they once were.
Luna calmed down enough to stop rambling, but she was on the edge of tears as she hugged her sister "Even still dear sister, I do not wish to face the beast" she mumbled, closing her eyes.
Celestia smiled, pulling back from the hug and nuzzling her sister "then you do not have to. I will make sure that he is put back where he belongs before its time to lower the sun" she said, before walking off, leaving Luna to her thoughts.
A few hours after she had informed Luna of the Songbird, the elements of harmony burst into the throne room, skidding to a stop before her.
Twilight spoke up, with a worried expression on her face "Princess! we came as soon as we heard, what happened?" she exclaimed, the others also curious, while in the back pinkie was seen looking through a script, before exclaiming excitedly "Ooo! dramatic!"
Celestia looked down at them with a grave expression, before standing up from her throne and walking out of the throne room gesturing for them to follow her silently, they did so with confused expressions on their faces.
After a long walk down twisting hallways, each one looking older than the last, they finally arrived. Before them was a very old door, that looked like it hadn't been touched in years. The princess took a deep sigh, before swinging the door open with her magic, revealing something the had the six ponies staring in awe.
Before them was a large, decorated hall, with large ancient tapestries spread along the walls, and a large stained glass window at the end, with bright light shining through, painting the room with a mix of yellow and orange light, with a large silhouette of a bird dominating the large hall.
Their attention was drawn back to Princess Celestia as she began speaking "long ago, when Equestria was still young, there was a great winged beast. This beast wrought terror all across the land, abducting ponies and causing the destruction of many towns" Celestia gestured to one of the tapestries, which depicted a large bird like creature with red eyes, flying over the land, and ponies below in panic, a pony in one of its claws, and burning buildings everywhere "the beast never harmed the ponies he abducted, with them always being found unharmed when it got bored of them, but when my sister and I came into power, we decided enough was enough, and that the beast would no longer cause our ponies fear, we thought this beast couldn't possibly go up against the power of an alicorn" she grimaced before gesturing to another tapestry, which depicted the royal pony sisters going up against the great black bird, before she shook her head in disappointment.
"We were wrong"
"We were young and foolish, and it cost us dearly, as when we finally faced off against the creature, we discovered firsthand why even discord left the beast in peace". The next tapestry made the six ponies gasp in shock, with the great beast depicted high in air, being engulfed in a great rainbow beam of magic from the elements of harmony...and the beast being absolutely fine. "It was nearly immune to all forms of magic, even the magic of the elements of harmony, with it nigh effortlessly shrugging off the power of the Elements" she shook her head in disappointment with her past self. "with our new alicorn powers, and the recent defeat of discord, we arrogantly marched up to the great beast with barely any plan beyond utilizing the elements of harmony to defeat the beast, and when they failed...he crushed us" she sighed, and the ponies could only stare in shock and anger at the next tapestry, displaying the royal sisters, the most powerful and kind beings they knew, and the leaders of equestria, beaten and broken on the ground, with the intimidating figure of the Beast looming over them.
Celestia quickly continued down the hall, doing her best to put the memory of the battle out of her mind, she continued with her tale "after our sound defeat, with our pride thoroughly crushed and a fear of the beast put into our hearts, a fear Luna still holds to this very day, we knew we couldn't fight the thing. So we went with the only only option we could think of, the option that enlightened us to the true potential of the power of Friendship" she explained before gesturing to another tapestry, depicting Celestia standing before the beast, a nervous expression on her face as the beast, looming over her, reached out with one of its claws "I went out to confront the beast, with Luna's fear to crippling for her to be able to join me, I was terrified as I confronted the beast, expecting to be torn apart. But instead, it didn't attack. It just stood there before me, like it was waiting for me to do something " she told, staring at the tapestry with a mix of emotions on her face.
" I still don't know what happened in that moment, or what it was thinking, but I know what happened next" she murmured, before finally turning to the stain glass window, depicting the beast flying in front of the gates of Tartarus, its eyes blazing orange, and the group of ponies couldn't help the shiver that went down their spines at the words that accompanied the top and bottom of the window.
Celestia almost fell into the memory as she looked at the stained glass window, the feeling of its large leather hand as it brought her up to its eye, fear gripping her heart as its bright orange eye stared through her, before suddenly, she heard a soft click, and its eye went from orange to green, and its grip softened as it slowly brought its other claw up to her head, patting her mane like one would a kitten, and she could almost see a flash of recognition in its eyes.
She shook her head as she realized she'd gotten distracted, not noticing the soft blush on her face as she continued "After a few minutes of tense silence, I finally decided to try reasoning with it." she let out a soft chuckle "I never thought when I walked in there I'd end up offering it a job" she murmured under her breath.
She regained her serious expression as the ponies finally stopped staring in awe at the beautifully crafted stained glass window."It was difficult at first, but eventually we struck a deal. In exchange for guarding the gates of Tartarus at all times, and leaving our ponies alone" she grimaced as she got to this part "he was given free reign of Tartarus to do with as he pleased, and the prisoners were his to toy with, with no worry of repercussions from me or my sister".
as she turned around, and almost couldn't hold back the flinch at the expressions of shock and a bit of disgust on the ponies faces, but none of them hurt more than the face of her student, who looked like her reality had been shattered, that the princess she looked up to wasn't the perfect being she thought she was.
a expression of shame came to her face as she explained herself to the six ponies "My little ponies, you have to understand, it was a very different time, and my sister and I were young and desperate, so I took the first deal it would agree with" she wasn't lying either, she was so nervous, and her mind was so flooded with mixed emotions of fear,hope and a confusing sense of affection that she had accepted the first deal that had been brought up, and by the time she realized what she had just done, the songbird was already guarding the gates.
The ponies nodded their heads in reluctant acceptance, mixed emotions about this new infomation flowing through their minds, before twilight stepped forwards with a nervous expression on her face as she seemed to realize something "Um, Princess? What does this have to do with the emergency you called us here for?" she asked, dreading the answer as the other 5 ponies became anxious too at the realization, with fluttershy being particularly fearful.
Celestia sighed as she looked back towards the stained glass window, trying to ignore the uneasy feeling in her gut at the implications of the songbirds actions "The songbird has abandoned his post at Tartarus Gates, leaving them completely unguarded, and with a dangerous creature immune to magic roaming equstria".
And thats when the window smashed.
