"Humans faint at heart this world they no depart," Little Sister chimes as she has trouble seeing, "judge their cover, you boil in lava soon." Starlight nervously watches the jackalope at first worried about the unhealthy look then about the poor eyesight. It is clear to her that Little Sister can see a bit, though it's obvious not very far or very well. She keeps her distance as a knot of jackalope fur falls onto the dirty wood floor. Outside, another howling breeze shakes the sheets of metal on the house. The creaking of the old structure inside joins with the banging metal in an unceremonious disharmony. Starlight still prefers it to the frightful Tartarus choir of violence from earlier, one that she cannot avoid forever.

"This scent, this mat he lie." Little Sister says pawing at Starlight's hoof to gain her attention. The action involuntarily makes her skin crawl.

"Right great!" she moves away slightly. Inside the darkened room Little Sister enters Starlight sees a massive sleeping figure on a thick black mat. She braces herself and quietly enters.

Well, its certainly a big thing whatever a 'human' is. Maybe its big enough to scare other monsters away, I hope. She sneaks over tin cans and yellowed glass bottles strewn about the room to Little Sister. At least my magic can do one thing here. she thinks as her glowing horn lights her way.

"Is this it?" she whispers before being shushed by her new friend.

"Man." Little Sister whispers back. Starlight walks around the large beast to find her nuzzling her way underneath the heavy blanket. She watches on trying to hear what is being said, yet it's too soft for her to make out the words. One of the white antlers pokes out from under the blanket. The giant begins to stir, Starlight's heart races, the aged wooden floor groans under the movement. She freezes. A lumbering, obese dragon in fine furs and jewels stands up stretching and promptly rests again on the mat. Starlight sighs in relief to see Little Sister scramble back out from under the blanket unharmed.

"Fortune favor me. Quarter been made." Little Sister smiles. Starlight smiles back as nicely as she can,

"Uh, did she agree to help?" she asks politely. Where I come from we call that a dragon, she wants to say but decides against it. However, soon she spies another thing stirring under the blanket. To her confusion, a haggard looking Danny crawls out from under the dragon's wing yawning.

"The toiling begins all pieces be paid." Little Sister speaks to him casually while Starlight can't help but be suspicious.

"I'm up, I'm up. No idea how long it took to find a place to sleep..." Danny mutters. He pulls at his leg to free it from the dragon's claws. Starlight's nostrils flare.

"He told me not 20 minutes ago he had NO IDEA how to get out of Tartarus." Starlight explains.

"Lazy human lies easy 'nuff to break as bread to you an' me." Little Sister giggles, cozying up to Danny's normal arm like a cat. He yawns again and his tired eyes soon spot Starlight's glowing horn.

"This again. I definitely need more sleep." he feints an agonized tone, "Lil' Mei don't wake me up for, I dunno, a couple hours." Little Sister catches his jacket in her antlers before he can escape back under the blanket. Meanwhile Starlight stews in growing impatience.

"What?" he asks.

"Eyes be matched in blue. No promise broken this hour, savvy?" Little Sister whines cutely. He simply pats her head.

"Would you quit talking in riddles, and I'm not going anywhere if I'm seeing random unicorns for no reason." THWACK! SMACK! Danny reels back from the heavy shoe Starlight throws at his head twice. She only needs her hooves to pick up that, anyway. He at once shakes in anger but stays his hand from the switches on his metal arm.

"Oh I'm so sorry, is that too real for you?" she criticizes and lectures, "You can be all satisfied with yourself sleeping the day away here of all places. Or you could join me in the real world, the one where those of us not content in Tartarus do something about it. And I swear by everything Twilight told me is a bad idea, I will find a way to magically banish you to a chaos dimension if you so much as think about lying to me again. Is that extra crystal clear enough for you?" The usual blueish light from her horn distorts to a scathing red. Little Sister preens and thumps her back leg in applause. Starlight, instead of relishing the moment, blows out the horn light and takes charge.

"If we're all done here, I'm sure this dragon would be happier without us bickering. The door is this way, human." she flips her mane.

I haven't done that in ages. Whew, is it tough cracking down on somepony like that again. Eh, then again, does it count as falling back on bad habits if I need to do it? she worries to herself.

"What the hell!" is all Danny can remark. Starlight looks behind her and sees him reluctantly stumble into the hall carrying Little Sister. Even the tone of his yawn sounds annoyed and irritable.

The humbling roar of a dragon flying overhead greets Starlight Glimmer and the rest. Little Sister leaps out of Danny's arms and catches up to her on the path through the boiling lava fields. Somehow the abundance of warm light feels comforting despite the raw danger around them. A tiny grouping of floating masks cower and flee at the sharp beam of light from Danny's metal arm.

"His an' my tricks are clear. What gift bring you, pony?" Little Sister asks.

Her accent is a little hard to understand, but at least she's nice? Starlight reasons.

"Do you mean magic tricks? Because well..." Starlight's voice trails off sadly. All of they're ears perk up when a tattered red top hat falls from the sky into a lava pool. Danny gestures up and Starlight catches a glimpse of a terrified black haired red pegasus being fought over by two large, hungry gargoyles. Before a cloud of smoke obscures the scene she clearly sees one of his wings torn off greedily.

"Let's pick up the pace." Danny hastily suggests, leading the way down an alternate route. The hat slowly burns and sinks into the purifying lava behind them. Unsettled, Starlight desperately tries to think of anything else to forget that image. The screech of more floating masks ring through the hot smokey air.

"An old hare's eye knows it," Little Sister continues, "my old eye sees it true. No curse, still spell sinister indeed." Starlight politely nods though her confusion is very clear.

"She's being her vague self as usual." Danny says, "I caught something about magic and curses and eyes? Maybe she's complaining about being an old crone again."

"Open them ears! Prey be afoot." Little Sister reacts stubbornly jumping three feet upward.

"Uh okay," Starlight quickly interjects, "I, uh, guess you're talking about my unicorn magic? It's something I could show you except...somehow this weird mask creature disabled it. I really don't know how." Little Sister tilts her head in concern.

"Those wayward prying eyes carved out ivory bone they are. Split up your soul from an easy sleep, eh? Many fall from such fate." she speaks frankly. Danny freezes in place and scoops her up suddenly.

"Hold on. Those creepy masks are made of bones?" he shivers.

"Leeches to magic that glut theyself on easy targets."

"Easy? If its so easy for these things to attack ponies like this, why are they even in Tartarus to begin with?" Starlight justifiably asks.

"No that part makes sense." Danny interrupts Little Sister before she answers.

"How?!"

That's what I'd like to know!

"I'm sure they would leave, but you prancy fancy unicorn don't know about the big time threats down here. I've never been stupid enough to even get close to these things." he explains, "Up on that really tall hill over there, the one with the flat top, are the most lethal beasts here. It's said they crowd up there waiting for an opportunity to escape, if that's even possible. No matter how nasty and creepy those masks are there's no way they could get by, or fight, those huge threats up there." Little Sister grumbles menacingly as she hops down from his arms.

"Not without power, energy, and size." she adds.

"Yeah sure okay," Danny scoffs, "you know more than anyone that nobody survives on dumb luck, mere cuteness, or intimidation without power to back it up. I have no clue what you think you see, 'cause I can tell when you're exaggerating." A large bubble of lava bursts spraying bits of molten rock on the path. More plumes of green smoke spew forth past the upcoming inclining trail up from the lava pits.

"Eyes don't lie." Little Sister pokes him in the leg with her antlers, "magic presence comes down wit' ponies, oft broke asunder all alone. No one solitary bit stands true over a crew."

"Magic, bits, have you been to Equestria before?" Starlight can't help but ask.

"Where?" Danny asks also.

"Marvelous gullible land, oh yes do I miss it so." Little Sister grins. She bounces ahead up onto a smooth, shiny grey stone and scratches herself, another tuft of fur comes off as she does so. "Colors, sweet grass, cherries for days, and jewels aplenty. Flying ponies put that wind at your back. Dust of the earth keep the food coming and the rest easy 'nuff to please. Tis a land for the taking indeed." she reminisces. Starlight giggles at the parts she can understand through the accent. Little Sister stumbles down after her aggrandizing and settles up to Danny eagerly.

"In freedom found good life in a pony town." she tells him. He picks her up dutifully and glances over at Starlight.

"What did I tell you? She loves making up a good story. You want to carry her for a while? I need my arms free to shoot at parasites and she's too old to be walking the entire way."

"Humph such talk!" Little Sister gripes with long ears hanging low.

"Sure why not. Hold on a minute let me get a blanket for her to lay on." Starlight holds up her hoof. Okay small blanket, maybe a cool blue with a woolly feel? Let's go with that. she focuses on her magic. After a few seconds, though, she remembers the futility of her attempt. "Oh right...nevermind..." Little Sister is placed gently onto her back and cozies herself into a small curled up ball.

"It's just good to think about Equestria, even in a hole like this." Starlight speaks nicely, "Thanks for whatever that's worth for your help. It would have been nice without bribery, if that is why you're here?" Danny mutters something of a response that he doesn't finish as he tinkers again with some metal parts in his messenger bag.

Author's Note

Fully updated now. Open for critiquing on any of the chapters, tbh.