Chapters Prologue: The Dreams Realm
A moonless night sky. That's how Princess Luna would describe the Dream Realm to those curious and adventurous enough to question her about it. An endless, thought provoking, beautiful night sky where the dreams of every creature capable of dreaming become its stars, bringing light to this dark space that exists between the material realm in which the world of Equestria exists and the realms beyond.
A key difference between the material plane and the sky that is the realm of the dreams is the lack of gravity. In the real world if she were to stop flapping her wings in mid-flight, she would fall, pulled to the ground by this ever-present force of nature; in the Dream Realm her will and her will alone is what propels her. If in those moments her wings did move up and down from time to time, this was more of a reflex to keep at peace that part of her mind that would start telling her something wasn't right if she started flying without moving them.
In a truth she would never share with anyone, not even with her beloved sister —especially with her sister— is that the first time she managed to enter the Dream Realm, it took her a significant amount of time to understand and learn this small but important detail, glad that there was no one to witness the regal Princess of the Night forcefully and energetically sway all four of her legs and wings as if she were a frightened filly in her first day in the big ponies pool, applying the most ridiculous and desperate swimming movements as her initial means of propulsion.
She swears and would swear that thanks to the Elements of Harmony, that granted her a well needed peace of mind, to have been exorcised from those jealousies that long ago were the cause and origin of her fall and millennial banishment. It also helps to bear this weight on her spirit that this realm of dreams is accessible only to her and no one else.
And it is this that led her to take her self-imposed role as Guardian of the dreams very seriously, hunting down and banishing any nightmares that plagued her subjects and any other creatures, regardless of whether they were under her rule or not; such is her devotion and commitment to this task.
The Princess's musings were interrupted when a flash of crimson caught her attention. One of the nearby stars was flickering red, signifying that a dreamer's dream had turned into a nightmare.
As the Guardian of the dreams, Luna took a deep breath (another of the activities she did by reflex, since breathing is not necessary in the realm of dreams) and with a determined smile, she headed in the direction of that dream with the intention of purging it of the nightmare.
For the most part, this activity was limited to entering dreams and freeing dreamers from the nightmares that plagued them by simply transforming the nightmare into a pleasant dream. There are also particular cases, in which Luna takes on a role similar to that of a psychologist and helps dreamers understand the root of the fears or anxieties that are usually the main cause of their bad dreams. And even then, to Luna all of this was only a fraction of what it means to be a Guardian of the dreams.
Approaching the little star that was the dream, Luna touched it with the tip of her horn and with a flash of light, she was transported inside it.
Opening her eyes to the new sight, Luna finds herself on the wooden floor of a foal's room, if the colorful building blocks, a half-open chest with some toys and stuffed animals peeking out of it, the shelves where there should hold comics, action figures, some puzzles and other board games that instead were randomly scattered all around, and a poster of Princess Cadance hanging on the wall next to a messy bed shaped like a brightly colored vehicle from some popular science fiction story, were clues as to who the owner could be.
What made this dream scene interesting was that everything described and everything around her was of gigantic proportions. There was also the possibility that it was she who had tiny dimensions. This doubt would be removed from her mind once she found the dreamer.
It didn't take the Princess long to do so, because from her behind and not too far away she could hear the scream of someone who she assumed could not be anyone else but the dreamer and also the owner of this room.
It was a pegasus colt with a brown coat and a mane of darker shades.
The reason why this foal was screaming was because at that moment he was being chased by a bunch of Dust Bunnies, equipped with long ears, menacing yellow eyes and prominent buck teeth sticking out of mouths with which they threw bites with the clear intention of devouring their prey.
After laughing a little at this display, Luna spreads her wings and flies in his direction with the intention of helping him.
The Dust Bunnies manage to corner the colt who, cowering in fear, seems to have forgotten that he has wings with which he could fly to safety.
Closing the distance and feeling the irritating, dusty breath of the Dust Bunnies, the foal lets out a final cry for help. Immediately a shower of blue magic falls upon the dust creatures, making them explode and their dirty remains disappear from the dream.
Confused by this, the little pegasus begins to shine in a blue glow similar to the one that had just vanished the nearest Dust Bunnies, and is lifted out of the reach of the rest of his dusty pursuers, to the vicinity of the Princess.
"Princess Luna!" cheers the foal in relief and admiration upon learning who had come to his aid. But before any more words could be exchanged, Luna takes him and flies away from his pursuers.
Finally safe, hidden behind a set of cyclopean alphabet blocks, Luna finally lowers the pegasus to the ground, and as soon as he could stand on his own, he spoke:
"Princess Luna, I'm so glad you came to rescue me! Wait, does this mean I'm dreaming?" the foal asked, once it dawned on him what was happening.
"That's right, you were having a nightmare, my little pony," Luna replied, gladdened by such a meaningful expression of appreciation coming from the little pegasus.
"Oh, I'm so sorry, Princess! My name is Chill Breeze," Chill hurriedly introduced himself, slightly embarrassed by his faux pas in manners, falling to the floor in a clumsy bow.
"Rise, Chill," Luna commanded, then, softening her voice, she continued, "Now could you tell me what the origin of such a peculiar dream is?"
"Oh, it's my mom's fault," Chill began to explain, crossing his forelegs in annoyance. "Mom and Dad finally gave me my own room, but now Mom says it's my responsibility to keep it clean, otherwise the dust bunnies will form out of the dirt and come after me."
"There is wisdom in your mother's words, little Chill. Just as it falls upon my sister and I to keep the land of Equestria safe as its rulers, so it falls upon you as its master to keep your room clean and tidy," the Night Princess said in a didactic yet friendly tone.
"But cleaning is so boring," the colt whines, annoyed. Then something came to his mind and he jumped of joy: "But now you're here and you can make the Dust Bunnies go away, can't you?" He cheered.
"This is true," Luna replied stoically, unfazed at what could be interpreted as this colt wanting to use her as a cleaning maid. "But it's also true that this wouldn't solve your problem in the waking world and it's highly likely that the nightmare will return and be even worse."
"But cleaning is sooooo boring!" Chill complained again in a harsher tone.
"What if it wasn't?" Luna asked happily.
"What do you mean?" Chill asked back, curious, not understanding what the Princess meant by that reasoning that for him did not and could not make any sense. Luna was already smiling and her smile widened even more when the tip of her horn began to glow with magic.
Suddenly a flash of light shone from behind the gigantic wooden cubes.
A group of dustballs that were the living Dust Bunnies were moving around the room, looking for their prey, when suddenly, from above, they could hear an energetic battle cry approaching them.
Clad in a cloak made of cloth and a cleaning bucket for a helmet, Chill Breeze descended upon them wielding a duster, attacking the Dust Bunnies, which upon contact with the cleaning weapon were puffed out of existence.
More and more of the Dust Bunnies came forward to challenge little Chill, who was laughing, enjoying the fight.
But the Dust Bunnies' forces were relentless and gave the impression of being endless, with more and more making an appearance out of every corner, crevice and space that could hide more of the dust creatures.
When it seemed that the Dust Bunnies would finally get the victory over Chill Breeze, overwhelming him with their numerical superiority, a new figure entered the fray, doing a fine job of watching the little cleaning warrior's back by taking care of a large Dust Bunny that cowardly intended to attack the pegasus from behind.
It was Luna, wearing a set of armor similar to Chill's, except that the colt's clothes were red and Luna's were blue in coloration.
"Thanks for the help, Lady Luna!" using a knightly accent, Chill thanked her, standing back to back as they were being surrounded by enemy forces.
"Glad to help you, Sir Breeze," the warrior Princess replied with a determined look directed at her enemies and a big smile on her lips.
And for what felt like hours, Luna and Chill spent their time battling against the Dust Bunnies' army.
"This was the most fun I've ever had in my dreams!" Chill Breeze exclaimed once there were no more Dust Bunnies in sight to fight, with the same room from the dream looking cleaner and tidier.
"Indeed," agreed Luna, who had also found the activity exhilarating. "Now, Sir Chill, has your opinion regarding the activity of keeping one's own room clean changed?"
"Oh, yes, yes it has! Thank you so much Princess Luna for teaching me that with a little imagination any activity can be fun, even cleaning my room!"
Chill and Luna laugh together, enjoying the moment, but suddenly their laughter was cut short when the room suffered a considerable shake.
"What was that?", asked the pegasus colt, confused and a little scared.
"Nothing you need to worry about," Luna replied, completely serious, after a few seconds of scanning the surroundings with her gaze, hiding all traces of her growing concern. And there were plenty of reasons to be worried; that tremor had occurred outside of her control, worse still, it wasn't something that had its origin within Chill's dream. The shake had occurred in the Dream Realm.
Returning her attention back to the little pegasus and seeing that the dryness with which she had expressed herself did nothing to calm him down, Luna continued with a more reassuring tone and smile:
"It's been a fun time with you, little Chill, but duty calls. I need to go and take care of other dreamers' dreams. But before I leave, allow me to make your dream even better." And with that, Luna called upon her magic once more and in a new flash of light, Chill found himself inside a cockpit, piloting a gigantic vacuum cleaner, surrounded by all the Dust Bunnies they had defeated seconds before. But unlike how the dream had started, this time it was they who ran away in fear once Chill turned on the vacuum cleaner, beginning to chase them.
Then Luna left the dream, with all the urgency and intention of finding out what had happened in the Dream Realm.
Back in the Dream Realm, Luna, worried and on high alert, flies above the dreams with all her senses active, hoping to broaden her view of the Dream Realm space and thus be able to detect any anomaly that could be the cause or origin of that jolt within Chill's dream.
Suddenly something that until a few seconds ago she would have considered impossible to happen in the realm of dreams shook her, literally; it was a shake, or rather a quake. The realm of dreams was shaking violently!
Regaining her balance, a task harder to do than to say when you consider that the idea of feeling an earthquake while floating in the air sounds like an unthinkable concept, Luna looked at it bewildered, unable to believe what her eyes were showing her.
The space above her crackled with a thunderous force, a dark red and purple lightning appeared from a place with no apparent origin, and from there a crack in the Dream Realm took form. A literal rift in the space that belongs to the Dream Realm.
Luna's eyes bulge with both shock and disbelief. And it's not like she didn't have reasons to do so. In all her years as a dream walker, she had never seen a single variation in the Dream Realm's state, of being a dark, near-infinite space in which only dreams could manifest.
And with each passing second this fissure expanded and grew, and suddenly, as it reached a considerable size, and with a loud, discordant sound that would send shivers down Luna's spine for the rest of her life, it split open and the Dream Realm shattered like glass, its pieces falling, being absorbed into the slash that formed in its place.
Luna's surprises and worries did not end there, they only increased. From within this rift, from that wound in the space of the Dream Realm, Luna saw glimpses of terrible things, things that imbued her with fear and a sense of dread, things not of the world she knew, and creatures she did not know nor she could fathom looked at her through the void, expectant.
And from all of them several ghastly shadows came forward through the accursed threshold and coalesced into one tall macabre form once in the Dream Realm. Luna could barely make out its shape, its shadow-like appearance making it difficult. From top to bottom, two long antelope-like horns twisted upwards; its face looked alien, flat, lacking a snout, and she could only identify it as such by a pair of small orbs that glowed in a spectral yellow that she assumed were its eyes. Six appendages sprouted from its torso; two straight spikes on its back, as if they were vestiges in pale imitation of the pegasi's wings; and the other four must have acted as its hands, although by their shape, they could hardly be identified —much less called— as such. The upper ones looked like really long arms of some long extinct creatures and that she had only seen exist (and she wholeheartedly believed they should only exist) in archeological museums, ending in two long clawed fingers. The lower ones looked more like equally long tentacles. Both, tentacles and arms, were joined by a membrane that barely extended from the point where they joined the torso. A sense of hip existed in the apparition, but no legs could be found where they should be, only what she could presume was a tail hung down as an extension of its spine.
Once this creature finished forming and examining its surroundings, it opened its dark jaws and began to devour the dreams of the dreaming creatures, swallowing them indiscriminately; not even nightmares were exempt from its appetite, making them disappear into the interior that was the truly dark void that proved to be its mouth.
Shaking off the stupefaction of witnessing so many inconceivable things in such a short notice, taking control of her emotions and steeling herself, the Princess of the Night and self-proclaimed Guardian of the dreams flew to meet this creature.
"Stop this instant, interloper," Luna shouted with the force of the Canterlot's Royal voice, both to get its attention and to display her authority and power, but prudently keeping a safe distance between her and the creature.
The shadowy creature, who dwarfs Luna in size, showing itself to be as tall or taller than the Lord of Chaos when he abandons his serpentine bodily contortions and stands up straight, stops swallowing a dream that shines pink, more out of surprise at hearing a voice where it was sure no one should be than to obey that order.
Following her older sister's teachings, Luna hoped that words could be used to reason with this creature and peacefully convince it to stop eating the dreams of the beings of Equestria, and go back to where it came from, never to return. Still, Luna did not hold out high hopes that this task could be accomplished so easily and as such, she prepared for the opposite.
As if the universe wanted to prove her right, once the invading creature set its sights on her, the few distinguishable features on its face contorted in aggression, shaking one of its long appendages in her direction with the clear intention of striking her.
Having seen this response coming, Luna moved with ample time to evade that attack.
She sighed. Well, nevermind, my sister was always the better of the two when it comes to diplomacy , The Princess of the Night thought bitterly.
Charging her horn with arcane power, the dark blue Alicorn launches her first attack, managing to land the first blow of the fight.
And while that attack was accurate, it proved to lack enough force to have an effect on the creature, which was unaffected by the magical impact, remaining in place.
In response, the horned entity continues its assault by swinging its arms and tentacles at Luna.
Determined to end this fight as soon as possible so she could return to the material plane and find out what damage and consequences could have befallen to the ponies and other creatures whose dreams had been devoured, Princess Luna charged a large amount of magical energy, and once she deemed the blow a sure thing, she released it upon the shadowy being.
This time the attack carried enough force to push and spin it out of its position, but other than that, the strike didn't seem to have had much of an effect on the creature.
On this occasion, the look of hatred that the great shadow beast casts upon her is accompanied by a furious roar that manages to resonate throughout what appears to be the entirety of the Dream Realm.
With great dismay, Luna notices how the stars —the dreams— near that invading creature begin to glow in a violent and intense crimson color, and once again sees as it feed on them.
Breathing heavily, Luna finally realizes the danger that this creature's existence in the Dream Realm truly means; nightmares are not only part of its diet, it turns out that it can cause them and they are this monster's favorite food. With just one of it screams, the dreams of an entire town, hundreds, probably thousands of individuals, had just been instantly transformed into horrible nightmares.
Wishing to save as many of Equestria's inhabitants from further sudden nightmares, the Dream Guardian Princess showers the entity with a barrage of magic missiles, and when she once again has its attention, she flies away, hoping the creature will chase her to a space free of dream clusters.
Luckily for Luna, the horned beast doesn't look as though it mind, care or realize her plan and takes off in her pursuit.
The dark blue Alicorn planned to continue the fight in a deserted place, where no one else could be affected by it, and consequently deprive the creature of dreams to feed on, thus being able to subdue it more easily.
What she didn't count on was the new and renewed strength and speed with which this monster moved thanks to its impromptu and sudden feast, and faster than the Princess could react, it was already upon her, sending her flying with a single blow into a dream.
"Princess Luna!? Princess Luna, are you okay?"
The faint sound of someone calling her name was the first thing Luna felt once she regained consciousness, and with a grunt of pain the Princess of the Night opened her eyes right away, quickly observing her surroundings.
She was lying on the floor, her back on the remains of what appear to have been pedestals that held urns and other types of ancient ceramic figures. In front and above her was a cream-colored stallion, with bushy eyebrows and a mustache that joined his mane through equally fluffy sideburns, all of this colored light brown. The stallion was looking at her with surprise and concern.
Rolling out of the rubble, regaining her stance and after dusting herself off, Luna properly faces the stallion.
"I am well, mister...?"
"Mr. History Curator, at your service," with a proper bow, the stallion introduces himself. Taking the opportunity, Luna manage to check his cutie mark, being a magnifying glass over an old, unrolled papyrus.
"Very well, Mr. History Curator, could you please tell Us where we are and what just happened?"
"Well, as my name suggests, I am the Director and Chief Curator of the Museum of History in Canterlot. I was checking the state and order of the exhibits in this wing of the museum, when suddenly I saw you fall through the ceiling and crash into some of the exhibits belonging to the preponyhistorical period of Equestria."
Luna looks around at the many and varied exhibits that surround them, realizing that they were indeed inside a museum, or to be more specific, a dream replica of one. And seeing the mounted skeletons that were standing all around them, Luna begins to worry.
"Is something wrong, Princess?" asks History Curator, seeing the apprehension creeping on his sovereign's face.
"Nothing is wrong, my little pony..." Luna starts to say, but before she can finish saying any more reassuring words, a primal roar coming from behind them interrupts her.
Jumping in fear and with their manes standing on end, Curator and Princess turn around to see how the skeletons of the creatures that were part of that exhibit came to life and looked in their direction.
Letting out a scream of pure terror, Mr. History Curator run for the exit, with the Princess of the Night not far behind.
Entering the exhibit that clearly belonged to the ancient land of Prince Hisan, rotting mummies of long-dead ponies emerge from their sarcophagi, producing eerie gurgling sounds, moving slowly but steadily in their pursuit.
"Princess, what is going on? If this is a nightmare, why aren't you stopping it?" asks History Curator, jumping from elevated points made of stools, pedestals and anything that would keep him off the ground, which had become infested with nightmarish snakes, scorpions, and other nasty beetles that sprang from the urns and jars that were also part of that exhibit.
"I don't think it would be wise or healthy for you, Mr. History Curator, to know anything beyond the fact that this is just a bad dream," Luna replied, mimicking the stallion's movements to keep herself safe from the critters that now infested the floor, walls and ceiling. And as for his second question, Luna really didn't want to make him privy of the fact that if the nightmare kept developing, it wasn't because she wanted it to or because of any lack of intention on her part (and she had been trying to stop the dream from the moment she knew she had fallen into a museum). How could she explain to this stallion that a creature, a beast, a monster not from this realm had trapped him and her, his Princess, the Guardian of the dreams, in a constantly worsening nightmare, not without traumatizing him and destroying all sense of trust and everything that entails in her? She wouldn't allow herself to do that.
Managing to jump out of that chamber, escaping from that exhibit, Luna and History Curator now find themselves in a long, inconspicuous corridor, filled with paintings hanging on the walls and at the end of it a door marked as the exit.
Running at high speed towards it, the corridor lengthens and stretches, putting them even further away from the exit door. With each desperate step that the Princess and the Chief Director of the Museum took, the atmosphere around them became suffocating, disturbing and off-putting, filling them with anxiety, with the walls blackening, rotting as they advance, with maggots and blood oozing out everywhere. The paintings of elegant, smiling personalities of the past gradually transform, first following them with their eyes, then turning their faces into hideous grimaces, each one with an expression and a face more emaciated and grotesque than the last, with their skin, muscles and other organs peeling off and falling to the floor.
Just as they thought they would finally make it out, with the Princess's hoove less than half an inch away from the knob, the door disintegrated, sending the two of them crashing against the wall.
And once they managed to extricate from it, the entire space around them shakes with such force that, if it were a real museum, no exhibit that wasn't bolted down would have stayed in place.
Following the door's example, the rest of the surfaces that made up the hallway begin to crack and fade from existence, until a dark void surround them. And when nothing but Princess and Dreamer remain, they find themselves in the palm of the monster's bidactyl hand, now as large as a hydra, which lifts them up to its gigantic, ghoulish face.
"AAAAAAAAAH!!!" History Curator screams in fear, losing all traces of control and on the verge of madness.
Luna roars in fury and spreads her wings against her adversary, but that roar doesn't just carry a sense of defiance. It's also a cry of frustration, frustration at seeing how this monster had overpowered her to the point of toying with her in what she considered herself insurmountable, having reduced her to something incapable of doing anything to protect and save this poor, innocent stallion, let alone the rest of the inhabitants of her world.
But before the Princess concludes this as her last fight and leaps at the creature in a final act of defiance, the whimpers of History Curator reach her ears...
"I want to wake up! Please, I want to wake up from this nightmare!"
...That an idea occurs to her. She reasons that perhaps the monster can control the dream and keep it running, but if the dreamer were to somehow wake up, then there would be no more dream that it could control and both would be free of its influence.
Concentrating with all her might in order to gain at least a modicum of control over the dream, Luna manages to conjure a sharp, pointy needle.
"I'm so sorry, my little pony, and I hope you can forgive me for this," Luna preemptively apologizes to History Curator.
Raising the needle and closing her eyes so as not to witness what she's about to do, already cringing with guilt for this, Luna slams it fast and hard into the stallion's back side.
History Curator screams in pain as he feels the needle bite, but his scream is instantly cut off by his awakening, disappearing from the dream to, what Luna assumes, continue it in his bed, in the real world.
In an instant, Luna found herself feeling as if she was floating again, and with that, aware that her plan had worked and she had returned to the Dream Realm. Quickly she looked around for the creature, finding it soon enough and in its original size and with what she could only assume was an expression of surprise and confusion on its face, clearly not having expected the night Alicorn's unconventional maneuver to escape the nightmare.
Taking this opportunity, Luna launches a surprise magic attack, hitting the dream-eating beast right in the face, making it fall and roll through the Dream Realm space. Once the creature stops and manages to get up, it roars again, directing its hatred at the Guardian of the dreams, but this time there are no dreams in its vicinity that could be turned into nightmares by its ability and gain energy from them by eating them; and even if there were, Luna would not have allowed it to repeat that tactic, because just like in that hypothetical case, she dropped a rain of more magic beams on it.
Enraged, the shadow beast launches itself at Luna, who flies away, choosing to keep her distance from it, not wanting it to hit her again, still feeling the pain in her back and part of her side.
As she flew, locked in what could only be described as an aerial dogfight, dodging whip attacks and now some magical bolts launched through the creature's mouth, Luna responding with some of her own, couldn't help but think how, given its very similar appearance and actions, this entity reminded her of one of her own creations, the Tantabus. But while the Tantabus grew stronger by turning dreams into nightmares, this invader did so by consuming them completely.
But the biggest and most troubling difference she felt existed between the monster born from her pain and guilt and this one, was that the Tantabus, at its core, was nothing more than a thoughtless machine that only followed its programming, not unlike an animal that follows its survival instincts. And if Luna were to base her assumptions solely on what she experienced in her fight in the Dream Realm, she would have believed that this beast was exactly the same. But from what she could see and experience in History Curator's dream, it was obvious to her that this being carried a conscience and intelligence that made it capable of understanding and enjoying the pain and suffering it caused with its actions. Or in other words, it was evil.
A new shiver ran through the Princess's body and for an instant her blood ran cold at the thought of what could happen if, just as it could have happened with the Tantabus, this monster could reach the real world.
Originally, to defeat the Tantabus, Luna had recruited the help of the Elements of Harmony, sadly for her, on this occasion she did not think she could resort to that course of action, and something told her that self-reflection and forgiveness would not do to this enemy what they did to the Tantabus.
There was no other alternative, Luna had to stop this monster here and now, and she would have to do it alone.
The only silver lining Luna could think of was that at that moment the creature was weaker than it had shown itself to be before, assuming that perhaps that trick of trapping and holding her inside that nightmare must have cost a great deal of energy; the fact that it was now also spending it by throwing those beams of magical energy could also be a factor in that, the Princess contemplated.
But this meant very little to Luna considering that she herself was also feeling on the verge of exhaustion. And with no way to definitively end this fight, Luna was fearing the worst.
Luna's gloom musings were interrupted when she realised that the flow of the fight had brought them back to the vicinity of the rift in the Dream Realm space through which the monster had entered, and to her surprise, the wound was closing. By the forces that be, the Dream Realm was healing itself!
This was both a sign of joy and worry for Luna. Joy because it means that once it closes completely, nothing else will be able to cross from that horrible place into the Dream Realm; worry because if it closes, that would mean that monstrosity will have free rein to roam freely in the Dream Realm... or much worse.
Seeing this as her last chance, the Princess of the Night devises a plan to get rid of this monster once and for all, and if Harmony deems it fit, forever.
First, moving quickly, Luna gets away from there, flying high above the invading creature.
"What's wrong with you, foul beast? Are you finally tired? Is this pathetic display of skill all you can do?" The dark blue Alicorn scoffs with well-feigned disdain. In truth, of the two sisters she was always the one with a flair for the acting and the theatrical, and right now the Princess of the Night was extremely grateful for this, not believing that Celestia's pranking skills would be enough to pull off what she intended to do.
Luna didn't know if the interloper could understand her, in all the time they had been fighting, the creature had never said a word to her, but seeing how it narrowed its small eyes as they sparkled with hate, told her that if it hadn't understood her words, at least it had grasped their meaning.
The shadow beast rose at high speed with every intention of ramming her, and when she considered it close enough, Luna placed her hoofs close to the center of her face and performed what was in fact one of her sister's inventions, the Solar Flare Spell, causing an intense white light to instantly emerge seemingly from her body.
Momentarily blinded, the monster thrashes violently, lashing out with its long claws and whipping its tentacles aimlessly around itself. Luna, meanwhile, flies down, placing herself between the beast and the hole it had come from.
Luna was on her final breath and this would be her last move, and failure was not an option. The hole, the rift behind her was still large, big enough to swallow the monster back, but this also meant that she was not big enough to hide it with her body. So, with great effort the Alicorn Princess begins to deposit as much of the few magical energies she has left into her mane and tail, causing them to increase in size, creating a veil of a starry view all around her, her body tensing with the effort.
Having regained it sight, this time the fiendish creature is quick to locate its hated enemy, and with every intention of ending the fight, it flew once again to meet her.
Below, Luna was trapped, fighting on not one, not two, but three sides.
The first was the monster in front of her, approaching her at high speed. If Luna acted too fast or too slow it would mean doom for her plan, either because the creature would realize her intentions and act in a way that would ruin it, or alternatively, it would manage to drag her down into the hole with itself. Both options and all the others in between she had to avoid.
The second, with herself. Pushing her body in one direction, stretching it enough to keep hidden the only chance of getting rid of her enemy, while simultaneously pushing it in the opposite direction to avoid losing control of the integrity of her body/essence, which would mean ceasing to exist.
And the third and the only one that Luna hadn't counted on and the one that was proving to be the hardest, the rift itself. Standing so close to it, Luna could feel multiple chilling presences crawling all over her body. Scratching the surface of her mind, wanting to break her will and make her lose her sanity. She could hear several voices whispering directly to the depths of her being. Some whispered to her that her plan was going to fail, some encouraged her to move, to escape and save her life, to convince her that hers as a Princess was more important than the others, or because they wanted to make her fail by making her believe that the precise time to act and succeed in her plan had already arrived; others to give up, that there was no point in continuing to fight and embrace failure. Some others, the most insidious, loudest and persistent ones, told her sweet words, offering her forbidden knowledge, enough power to kill and crush this and any other enemy that seeks to challenge her. All this and even more if only she would agree to make a deal with them.
Because of all this, Luna felt at a limit that she never imagined she could be in, much less endure.
And yet, she was doing it.
And she did it.
Luna had resisted the voices temptations. The shadowy monster was just a few hooves away, now it would be impossible for it to change direction and avoid entering the crevice.
And with this assured, the Guardian of the dreams released the tension she held within herself to maintain the integrity of her form while simultaneously expanding it, turning into a mist through which the beast passed without harming her, back to whatever damned dimension might have spawned it.
Seconds later, Luna regained her form, wheezing on the verge of exhaustion. But before any sense of relaxation or triumph could manifest in her, dread and horror claimed her.
The damn creature was climbing back up, and while the rift was closing, it was still large enough for it to enter back into the Dream Realm.
Luna's body felt rigid as if it was made of solid steel, her muscles aching with every movement she made, and her blood was boiling at those moments, but determined not to allow this evil to return, she gathers all the magical energy left on herself and fires it at the monster still inside the gash of the Dream Realm.
The creature takes the hit and is pushed back, but only slightly. Fighting against that pressurized jet of magical energy, it keep moving forward to reach the threshold between its dimension and that of the Princess of the Night, its advance slow but steady.
And when Luna thought she would fail and the monster that it would succeed, the forces that keep it open ceased to exist and the rift closed, all trace of its existence, or of the creature, nowhere to be seen.
There was nothing else in that instant that Luna wanted to do than to celebrate, but before a smile could form on her face, exhaustion claimed victory over her.
The last thing Luna felt before losing consciousness was her body falling and falling into an apparent infinity.
Loud, unsettling screams spread throughout Canterlot Castle, making the coats of all active staff who heard them stand on end, from the cleaning servants to the royal guard members on duty.
"Luna!?" Hearing her sister's terrifying screams, Celestia burst into the Moon Princess's room. "Sister, are you alright!?" the Solar Princess asked, alarmed, with her heart in her throat, frantically searching for her sister.
Having found her on the floor, wrapped in a cocoon of sheets, the older sister runs to embrace her younger sister, trying to calm her with the warmth of her body and calm, reassuring coos. The two of them stay like that for what seemed like hours, with Celestia listening worriedly to Luna's broken murmurs of visions of horrible places, a realm where pain and suffering are the anvil and the currency with which dark deals are forged and paid for, and warped creatures sing and dance and fight to the tune of an endless conflict.
"Sister, please tell me what has happened to leave you in such a terrible state?" Celestia asked once she felt Luna calm down, when the violent shaking of her body had reduced to something more manageable.
When her sister's words and concern finally reach her, Luna raises her head and look Celestia straight in the eyes. It is then that the white Alicorn can sense an urgency and panic like no other emanating from the dark Alicorn's eyes; and when she finally speaks, she has only one thing to say:
"Celestia, call the Elements of Harmony. Tell them to get ready. Because I feel ─no, I know─ that something, something evil is coming to Equestria."
In the Everfree Forest, lightning flashes and thunder rumbles as dark clouds gather over one of its deepest and most remote parts. And even though this electric long claws tore across the dark roiling clouds above, foreshadowing a torrential rainfall, no water came out of them, as they were only the prelude of something more ominous to come.
A sudden deathly hush has taken possession over the forest surface. Neither the howl of the Timberwolves, nor the splash of the Cragadiles in their bogs, nor the rustling of the bushes where the Cockatrices nest, can be heard; all manner of creatures have instinctively and unanimously deemed that the Everfree have become too dangerous to roam outside their burrows and lairs that night.
In a clearing hidden among the dense foliage of its trees, a great amount of energy begins to manifest, unlike any other that has ever existed in this world.
Discharges of multicolored sparks of eldritch light glistened and crackled for several seconds, increasing in strength, violence and intensity as they get closer and closer, condensing into a singularity. And once this bubble of otherworldly energy can no longer be contained, it implodes and a vortex takes its place.
And from this portal with the appearance of a black hole, since it gave the impression to distort, trap and consume the light around it, multiple figures emerge from within.
One could be described as the union of several animal parts. A large beast with a body and posture resembling that of a gorilla, with short, back legs that ended in strong, thick hooves; next to a bulky and wide torso, two long, muscular arms pounded the ground with their knuckles with each step it took. His fur and skin were dark shades of red and orange. Its face, with a perpetual scowl of anger, with a gaze that seemed capable ─and probably could─ burn anything in its path, looked like that of a wild bull, complete with long, pointed horns protruding from a lion's mane, and from its snout sprouted razor-sharp tusks like those of a boar.
The next, rather than a mixture of animal characteristics, was a mouth, a throat and a belly. Large, fat and round. Its skin was a sickly yellow. Several folds of jowls descended and rested on a coarse and obscene abdomen. Its mouth was evident and prominent, displaying several large and hard teeth, giving the impression that it could open wide and swallow anything whole. Its eyes, nose and ears looked to be hidden under some more folds of greasy flesh. And thanks to a group of small and stubby limbs, with equally short and stubby fingers, its walk was slow and clumsy.
At their side, the third figure was in many ways the opposite of the other two. With an ungainly posture, she was covered by an old, tattered monastic robe, tied by a rope that hung loose and sad from her waist. Inside it something could be seen crawling around her apparently fragile body. Her face was that of a bird, with black feathers all over her body, and above a short, thin, black-grayish beak, and in front of small and dark as void sunken eyes, rested some round spectacles. With a reserved and unconfident gait, the warm gave signs to flee from her presence.
The fourth was just a ball of ethereal energy that floated lazily around.
Behind these four, two more followed.
To the right was the tallest figure in the group. A long, tenebrous trench coat covered a massive build. Beneath a wide-brimmed hat that matched the rest of his outfit was another bird-like face, with black feathers and a thick, strong beak. The only thing that broke the grim darkness of this countenance were two cunning yellow eyes, and yet black pupils were in them, with which he calculated the value and utility of everything. His steps were stiff and measured, with an air of menace, warning all who dare cross his path. All his actions meant business and nothing more.
To his left, a tall, feminine, draconic figure crossed the portal, advancing with grace and elegance, with the attitude of someone who is ready to enjoy the trip. Her scales shone in magenta colors, while those in her lower jaw, under-neck, and chest were more clear in coloration. Her head was triangular in shape, with an elongated snout with two fang-like projections on each side of its strong lower jaw. Her eyes were pink and almond-shaped, with slit pupils, displaying a predatory gaze. Two small protruding horns on the back of her head leads to a set of long, draping hair-like veil of the same color, which extend to a slim waist that gives way to well-developed hips and a tail. Wearing a provocative and revealing long, strapless dress with a plunging neckline. The dress bust line was decorated with fur and had long flared sleeves and a hem that trailed along the ground. Various pieces of jewelry dangled all around her body, particularly in her hairstyle, neck and wrists.
"So, this is the target realm? It looks nice," the dragon lady said, looking at the surrounding area with mild interest.
"It is," the tall raven-headed being replied, his voice and tone as deep and dry as a grave.
"Of course it is! Can’t you feel it?" The chimerical beast shouted angrily, steam rising from its body.
With that instruction, everyone present closed their eyes and expanded their senses, almost immediately feeling the embodiment of all the dreams and hopes, desires and illusions, emotions and feelings of each and every living creature around that world.
"It feels so calm and peaceful", the ball of light was the first to speak, its comment having turned into a lazy yawn by the end.
"I can feel it, so warm and blissful", said the one with the glasses, tears welling up in her eyes, leaving a stream of wet feathers beneath them, caressing her pet snake that had peeked out from under her robe.
"I agree! I can't wait to spread all sort of fun activities," the voluptuous reptile said with eagerness, imagining all sort of debaucheries, hiding a smile full of strong, conical and curved fangs, behind an ornate fan that she pulled out of her sleeve.
"I can already savor it, it taste succulent," sticking out a huge tongue and licking its teeth and lips, the stomach creature said with a desperate craving, her front limbs moving like hungry hands.
"Ready to be exploited and harvested for what it has to offer," said the darkest figure of the group, adjusting his black leather gloves.
"Ha, ha, ha! It is, indeed it is! But let us bear in mind that we have an obligation to fulfill first; we will claim what is due, once we conclude our dealings here." Came a joyous voice from behind. All eyes turned to look with varying degrees of attention at the one who had spoken.
Veiled in a luminous glow, the last of them crosses the portal.
All forest creatures unfortunate to witness this assembly were gripped by an indescribable dread at this new presence. Even the raging storm that only seconds ago threatened to turn into a torrential downpour cowed.
Once fully in Equestria, the golden aura cloaking the figure steadily dimmed as if receding back into the burning core of his being, revealing its form.
"Really, Boss? Our avatars can take any form we want and you choose to keep using that same one!" Rolling his eyes in grumpiness, the bull-headed one growled.
"This was the appearance I was cursed with, and as such, I will wear it with pride." The individual in question responded in a casual and charming tone, not showing any signs of being bothered by the derisiveness of that comment.
Taller than most, he wore a purple three-piece suit, trousers, a waistcoat and a long jacket, and a matching top hat adorned with some peacock feathers on the band. But what was most striking about this figure was what was under the hat. A face of sublime beauty, every feature the very picture of majesty. Smooth, radiant, almost golden-like skin, wide, expressive eyes, a refined nose, pronounced cheekbones, plump lips, and a mesmerizing smile formed by the whitest, brightest, most perfect teeth. The very facade of someone who could offer you the world and tempt you to take his word for it.
"And what better time to begin our work than the here and now," he said, twirling a cane with a golden lion's head as a handle, advancing ahead of the rest, striding towards Canterlot, looking specifically at the white and golden castle that lies on the side of a mountain.
"Let us go and pave the path that will lead this world to hell with sinful intentions!" He exclaimed as all trace of numinosity leave his countenances, his features twisting into a menacing sneer, his eyes burning with unbridled ambition and cunning, his teeth becoming sharp and pointed. An aura of pure wickedness emanating from him.
The Everfree Forest was soon dyed red as hundreds of thousands ─a legion─ of hellish imp creatures poured out of the portal.
Author's Note
This is the second story I came up with while thinking about MLP.
This one is very old, having been in my head for quite a few years.
I hope you like it and enjoy it.
And as always, any comments and feedback are welcome.
Thanks for reading.
Panting, Twilight gallops as fast as her legs could carry her down one of the mountain roads towards Canterlot Castle.
The concern caused by the urgency with which was packed the summons from Princesses Celestia and Luna had made her forget one more time that for the last couple of years of her life she now had wings on her back and now she could fly.
The Princess of Friendship corrected this detail once she noticed Spike's presence not so far behind, shortening the distance thanks to her recently acquired wings, sharing the same worried expression.
With a great push of her hind legs and a strong flap of her wings, Twilight takes a hasty flight.
So worried she was about what Princess Celestia might need that she didn't notice that outside of the drawbridge, which was usually lowered at this time of the day to grant unhindered entry into the castle, were her friends and the rest of the Elements of Harmony, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Rarity and Applejack.
Seeing her coming, the guards guarding that entrance lower the bridge and raise the portcullis, allowing them access to the castle grounds.
Knowing that Twilight won't stop in her haste, they run after her, with Spike eventually catching up to them and following close behind.
Racing through the castle bailey, past many of the well-dressed high society ponies in attendance and several members of the patrolling Royal Guard, Applejack and Rarity seem the most focused of the group, aware of the seriousness of the situation; Rainbow Dash, flying, looks ready for action, while Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy look happy to be there now that the group has reunited.
"Oh, good. We're all here," the yellow pegasus that was Fluttershy was the first to speak up.
"So everypony got an urgent summons to the castle with no explanation?" asked the Princess of Friendship, without slowing down her hurried flight, looking around at her friends.
"Yup! I just love a good mysterious summons." Pinkie answers cheerfully and in high spirits, moving around, getting very close to Rainbow first and then to Fluttershy. "What's it about? Do you think it's a surprise party?" before returning to her place at the front of the race. "Hey! Why are we running?"
"Because something could be terribly wrong! Somepony turned bad? Another evil creature back for revenge?!" spitballs Twilight, on the verge of a panic attack.
"Don't you think you're being a little paranoid?" chimes in Applejack with all the blunt honesty she is well known for, fully intending to calm down her friend worries.
"Why else would the Princesses send scrolls in such a hurry?" refuted the purple Alicorn, her concern unwilling to wane.
"Good point. They know better than to make us worry." Rarity concedes, sharing some of her friend’s concern.
"Plus, I like it when you run so fast, the walls get all blurry!" Pinkie adds, watching as the buildings to her right have transformed into blurs in her eyes, her eyes ready to spin in a spiral, when she suddenly notices something she finds unusual. "Hey, have any of you noticed the abundance of guards all around? What's up with that?"
"Race ya!" Rainbow Dash challenges, ignoring Pinkie's words, speeding off, leaving the rest of her friends behind. Living up to her name, a rainbow trail can be seen on her flight path, being the first to enter the castle.
Having been notified of their arrival, and seeing the unstoppable stampede approaching at an alarming speed, the guards stationed at the entrance to the throne room open the double doors to the Elements of Harmony, who manage to stop not far from the dais where the thrones and governing bodies of the Kingdom of Equestria rest.
"Girls. Thank you so much for coming," Princess Celestia greeted them, the usual joy with which she always expressed herself could be felt, but not fully.
"What's wrong?! What can we do?!" Twilight asks worriedly, closing the distance, with the rest of the girls following suit.
"What was meant to be a moment of jubilation, as Equestria is currently enjoying its longest period of harmony in recent years, will sadly have to be postponed, as it seems a new danger looms at our doorstep," the white Alicorn Princess replied, the usual candor of her speech gone, replaced by cold seriousness.
"Oh, what are my ears picking up? Something chaotic and interesting that will put a stop to this long and boring tranquility around us is about to happen? And for a change, it wouldn't be of my doing!?" in a flash of light Discord, the Lord of Chaos, appeared out of nowhere flying over Twilight and her friends, excited by whatever seemed to happen.
"Oh, I knew it! I knew that I knew it!" Twilight began to pace from right to left, imagining what possible and horrible scenario was about to occur. "What is it? Don't tell me. The Darkness has escaped from Limbo and is back in Equestria, ready to plunge it back into darkness! Or —or something worse— has Grogar, the father of all monsters, found a way to regain his powers and is about to invade Equestria with an army of monsters! Or —or something even worse— like, like..."
"Twilight, darling, you might want to take a deep breath and calm down before your anxiety gets the best of you, and why not we let the Princess finish explaining herself, before jumping into more dreadful presuppositions?" placing a hoof on her shoulder, Rarity stopped her friend's uneasy pacing, bringing her some calm before turning her attention back to Princess Celestia with worried anticipation.
"Rarity is right, Twilight," Celestia thanked the unicorn seamstress for keeping the anxious Princess of Friendship in check, before addressing the rest of the attendees seriously, "But I think the job of explaining the current situation falls to my sister, since she was the protagonist of what you are about to hear." Stepping aside, the Sun Princess gave the Moon Princess room to speak.
"Thank you, sister." Luna said, but before she could start...
"Wait, wait! Let me get comfortable," Discord interrupted her, occupying a recliner chair he had conjured and a large bowl of popcorn which he proceeded to toss into her mouth, munching them noisily one by one. "Go on."
Directing a scowl at the impertinent Draconequus, Luna cleared her throat and went on to tell them what happened the night she faced an enemy she had never seen before, how she almost lost her life in the combat and, ultimately, how she triumph over her adversary not through sheer might, but by outwitting it.
"That was awesome!" Rainbow Dash said excitedly, throwing punches and kicks in mid-air, imagining herself taking part in a similar fight.
"If that's the case, then what's seem to be the problem, your highness? You kicked that vermin in the flank and out of our realm, isn't it? Or are you worried that creature might come back for another tussle?" Applejack added her share of thoughts.
"In a way," Luna replied. "You see, when I stood near the wound that connected the two Realms, from within it something reached out to me. It violated the sanctity of my being, first in an attempt to make me falter and fail to overcome my abominable adversary, then it attempted to blackmail me into taking its filthy offerings, and finally, when breaking or convincing me proved too much effort, it threatened me."
All the girls gasped in shock at the idea that something could threaten the princess, even Discord in his aloofness arched an eyebrow at that. He usually didn't care about the simple matters revolving around mere ponies, but something Luna had said 'tingle' something deeper inside him.
"But they weren't just threats of words. They were visions, terrible visions of what I fear is what is coming to Equestria," Luna continued.
"In these visions I saw a great darkness covering the entire land, reaching to the farthest borders of Equestria and far beyond. When I searched for the source of this darkness, I found it splitting into seven large shadows. Each one the silhouette of a terrible great beast. Each beast with a different face and a crown on its head. I witness, unable to move, as they raised their claws to the sky and thunderously stabbed the earth. Mountains being torn down, the trees of the forests rapidly withering and bursting into flames, ponds drying up and rivers overflowing out of their course, flooding the land. And as a result I witness unspeakable suffering spread across the land, no tribe nor creature safe in the world. And from the wound caused by those scratches, seven obelisks rose, from which a thick liquid with a sickeningly dry, sweet metallic scent flowed copiously until it formed a large, dark pool. And from this stain on the earth emerges the monster I fought in the Dream Realm, fully manifested in Equestria.
"And what this monster will do if it really comes to our world I can only fear, since it was at that moment that I could not bear it any longer and kicked off that menacing presence from my being, just in time to send it back to its horrifying dimension."
Coming from the Everfree Forest, a large, unnaturally dark shadow moves quickly in the direction of the capital city of Equestria, passing without difficulty or impediment through the streets and over the walls that are supposed to defend the Castle, undetected by the watchful eyes of the patrolling royal guards, unaware of the danger it carries with it.
Entering a perfect spot to hide among the shade of the dense foliage of trees and bushes in one of the internal gardens surrounding the main building, the shadow stops its advance. Three bodies rise from it, but it is not until they have all finished forming that the dark shadow covering them retracts to the one that was generating it that their characteristics become visible.
In the middle, the raven-faced one removes his gloved hands from the shoulders of his other two companions once his dark power recedes fully within him.
"Well, boys, the time to act is upon us," the one in the purple suit said, checking a watch with a chain that he had taken out of one of his jacket pockets. Appreciating his reflection in the watch glass, he straightened his hat on his head.
"The girls must not be too far behind us in their task, and time is of the essence," he continued once he deemed his appearance perfect, putting away his watch. "Wrath, while I do the heavy lifting, do your thing and keep the creatures within this castle distracted," he ordered his more beastly-looking associate, not bothering to look at him directly.
"You got it, Boss", growled the Sin identified as Wrath. He then took several deep breaths, each time his muscles swelled and his mane, horns, snout and tusks grew in length, his body glowing red, orange and yellow like a burning coal as his appearance became more beastly and savage, expelling hot steam from his body.
Once he deemed himself ready, Wrath leapt from the trees and with a shuddering roar, charged head first into the castle, getting inside by knocking down one of the building's walls, stampeded through the hallways.
"Greed, you know what to do. Keep an eye on everything and make sure Wrath doesn't get into trouble or ruin what we came here for."
With a nod, the imposing figure that was Greed sank into his shadow and was soon out of sight.
When everyone else in the vicinity was busy fleeing from the commotion caused by Wrath, the well-dressed Sin calmly walked inside one of the nearby buildings completely unimpeded.
Back in the throne room, Twilight and her friends exchanged anxious glances, trying to assimilate the clear and implicit threat of what they had just heard, fear creeping through their hearts.
The somber silence was resoundingly broken when Discord, unable to hold it in any longer, burst out laughing, and when he reformed again, he was twisting and writhing with laughter.
"Bua ha ha!" the draconequus laughed, wiping a fake tear from his eye. "Oh, Luna, I didn't know you had such an imagination."
"Are you calling me a liar?" Princess Luna asked, mad, ready to pounce on Discord.
"Not at all!" Discord defended himself, waving his hands, dismissing his momentary disrespect. "I just think you're worrying over nothing."
"I don't think calling what my sister saw as 'nothing' is a positive contribution to the conversation, much less dismissing it as a laughing matter, Discord," Celestia stepped in, her voice firm and steady.
"What I'm trying to say is that, you two, but especially you," Discord appeared between the two sisters, booping Luna on the tip of her nose before returning to float in front of them. "Have already let this threat do its work by letting it scare you."
A sign of realization flashed across the princesses' faces at the Lord of Chaos words.
"Look around you," he continued. "Right before you are the greatest forces of good at your disposal, you have nothing to fret about. Oh yes, and the Wielders of the Elements of Harmony as well, I guess. Everything will be fine."
"Discord's less than pleasant opinion aside," Twilight spoke up after giving an unamused look to the Draconequus who was laughing at his jab at her and her friends' expense. "He's right. We shouldn't be intimidated by any kind of threats, no matter how grim and cryptic they are. We have defeated many enemies! Love and friendship have allowed us to fend off multiple evil villains in the past who have threatened the peace we hold dear! As long as we stay together, there is no challenge that we cannot overcome, nor threat we cannot deal with it!"
"YAEH!" The rest of the group cheered, bringing a bit of lull and peace to Celestia and Luna's hearts.
Suddenly the throne room shook, the chandeliers on the ceiling swayed, its chains clinking, and the windows on the walls rattled, threatening to shatter at any second; all the good mood and calmness piled up instantly gone, a feeling of concern taking over.
"What was that?" Rarity asked, who along with Fluttershy both found it desirable to approach the rest of their more resilient friends.
In response, the doors to the throne room swung wide open and a guard ran in, bowing before the Diarchs.
"Your highnesses, I'm sorry for the interruption, but we have reports that a huge beast has invaded and is rampaging all over the castle grounds."
"A beast!? What kind of beast?" Luna asked, anxiety and dread well mixed in her words.
"An unidentified one, Princess," the guard replied, a little taken aback by Princess Luna's unexpected reaction, but soon regained his composure. "Some of the guards who have seen and faced it describe it as a raging bull, others as an wild manticore."
"Is anyone injured?" Celestia asked, her tone serious.
"Fortunately not, Princess; at least not seriously. The castle staff members have avoided the beast; the guards who have faced it have a few bumps and bruises, but the enchantments on the armor absorbed most of the damage."
"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go stop her!" The Element of Loyalty encouraged the rest of her friends, ready to charge against this beast.
"Wait a minute, Rainbow Dash," Princess Celestia's voice stopped the rainbow pegasus in her tracks. "If this is nothing more than a mere wild animal that somehow managed to get into the castle, I'd rather the members of the royal guard take care of it."
"But Princess, we can't just stand here doing nothing. There must be something we can do about it?" Twilight protested, worry and haste clear on her face.
"I didn't mean to imply anything like that, Twilight," Celestia responded with a somewhat forced smile, but no less warm and proud. "As long as the situation doesn't get worse, while the guards are busy capturing or expeling this creature, what I'd like you to do —and this includes you, Discord— is to help keep safe and evacuate the castle staff and any other individual who may still be roaming the castle grounds. Once we're done discussing a few matters, my sister and I will join in the evacuation process."
"Great idea, princess!" Twilight cheered. "Girls, let's get ready and split up to keep any creature safe and out of harm's way!"
And with that, Twilight and the rest of the Elements of Harmony (followed by a bored and disinterested Discord) left the throne room and split up through the castle.
"Luna, what was that?" Celestia called out once they were alone, a hint of concern in her tone.
"What do you mean, sister?" Luna ask back, even though she already had an idea of what Celestia would say.
"Your outburst with Discord. We both know how difficult it is to deal with his carefree attitude and antics, and I can only imagine how your experience in the Dream Realm may have affected you, but it usually takes more effort on his part to rattle your composure".
Luna sighed. "I don't know, Celestia. It's true that I still can't consider myself fully recovered from what happened in the Dream Realm. It's just that... I suddenly felt a surge of anger when he downplayed my story and I could barely control it."
"Hrm..." Celestia mused, knowing that she herself throughout this conference It took more effort on her part to keep that particular emotion under control. Another slight jolt and the sound of a wall being torn down brought her out of that line of thought and what it might mean or entail.
"Well, sister, let's not waste any more time here and help with the evacuation."
And in a flash of light, both alicorns disappeared from the Throne Room.
Wrath ran with reckless abandon through the halls of Canterlot Castle, causing havoc wherever he went.
Seeing the terrified faces of these small, colorful creatures brought a smile to his face; watching them jump out of windows or turn around and run away in the opposite direction while he chased them would never stop being amusing for him.
Finding a pegasus in a maid's uniform in a closed corridor, Wrath charged at her after giving her a chance to recover from the shock of seeing him and scream and fly off. The pegasus managed to stay ahead of the wild beast pursuing her, veering left at a fork in the road.
Following her into the corridor, the avatar of the Sin of Wrath stops dead in his tracks as he sees ten large, strong stallions clad in royal guard armor blocking his path, the maid disappearing from view as she flies above them.
Seeing this, Wrath spins in place, swinging his head from side to side, making sure his horns shatter whatever adorns the walls. Lowering his head, he scratch the ground with his fore paws and, letting out a loud, savage bellow, he lashes out at his opponents.
At the leader's command, the stallions took up a wedge formation, with pointed spears jutting out from a shield wall. Upon contact, the small group of royal guardsponis were sent flying in various directions like pins hit by a speeding bowling ball.
Wrath, annoyed that he hadn't yet gotten a worthy challenge or heard a splash or seen the walls painted red as a result, decides to change places, continuing his stampede, ramming through multiple walls, in search of blowing some steam.
From outside the castle, atop one of its tallest towers, Greed watches with disdain the mindless destruction that Wrath was leaving in his wake, his eyes scanning the surroundings, attentive to any detail that could be of importance to them.
A cry for help catches his attention, managing to see an earth pony, a noble among his peers if his clothes were an indication of his social status, hanging from one of the curtains of a high window. It seems that to avoid becoming the splash that Wrath so desired to get, he thought (or maybe not) that jumping out the window was the safest path to survive, realizing too late that, from that height, such an action would lead to the same fateful end, with the difference that instead of being a splash on one of the walls inside the castle, it would end up being a splash in the garden.
Greed observes with mild interest as the curtain rips, unable to bear the extra weight, sending the screaming pony plummeting to its certain end. When all of a sudden and one second before impact, the dark Sin ends up seeing a blue streak pass by at high speed, saving the stallion from crashing to the ground.
With little surprise and curiosity, Greed witnesses how a group of several ponies worked together to undo Wrath's actions. Beside the rainbow-maned blue pegasus, he saw a pink pony moving around, helping to calm the startled creatures, making funny faces or handing out cupcakes or party balloons for that effect, escorting them to a safe route. Another one orange coated skillfully used a lasso and its prodigious strength to move and remove dangerous debris to make way for an easier and safer exit. A white unicorn, emanating an aura that irk him, used her magic to create ramps so that more ponies and other creatures in the high halls of the castle could safely descend, with this unicorn generously dusting off their clothes or magically mending them when such work was necessary.
A thunderous roar, undoubtedly coming from Wrath, followed by multiple screams of pain was heard coming from inside one of the corridors on the other side of the courtyard, capturing the attention of both ponies and Sin. For a moment Greed believed that Wrath had finally gotten what he wanted so much, when a pair of ponies clad in golden armor flew through a window.
This time , Greed thought, there is no way those ponies could be saved .
Suddenly, echoes of snapping fingers reverberate throughout the atrium and where those guards would meet a painful end, a pair of comfortable beds appeared, cushioning their fall.
Narrowing the bottomless pit that were his eyes at this display of outworldly magic, Greed focused his gaze on a pegasus with a yellow coat and pink mane who quickly gave the guards a concern check, letting out a sigh of relief upon discovering that they were bruised and unconscious, but alive.
And finally, to a serpentine chimerical figure who appeared next to her wearing a nurse costume, ready to assist the worried pegasus in administering care.
A shadow fell over Greed's already darkened countenance.
"I've seen more than enough. He needs to be made aware of this," Greed stated, then his body quickly submerged itself in his shadow and quickly leaves the scene.
Inside the castle, Twilight was leading the evacuation efforts, teleporting a group of colts and fillies and their teachers who were visiting the royal library facilities that day out of the building.
"Those seem to be the last ones," Twilight said to herself, wiping the sweat from her forehead. In truth, for her, teleporting that many ponies was no longer the exhausting task that it once had been, long before her life changed and facing power-hungry villains was an activity she had to do at least once a season.
Memories of how she ended up meeting her friends in Ponyville flooded her mind; how over the years they faced multiple trials and tribulations together that helped form, strengthen and solidify their bonds of friendship to this point, and how it had all started with a prophecy of an evil coming to Equestria... a prophecy not unlike the one Princess Luna had shared with them.
A feeling of worry crept into her heart again, the words used and the way Princess Luna presented this new prophesied threat made it feel a little more real and dangerous than anything they had faced so far.
Her musings were interrupted when a particular sound reaches her ears, one she is deeply familiar with and knows quite well; it is the sound of the pages of a book being turned.
"Is anyone there?" Twilight calls out, certain that the place should be completely empty by now.
Getting no response, the Princess of Friendship decided to follow the sound, determined to get to the bottom of this matter.
Going deeper and deeper into the library, passing through the empty, labyrinthine corridors made of shelves loaded with ancient tomes, these sounds lead her to a table where several books are found, some widely opened, others stacked in tall towers in a manner resembling how she usually has them when she is immersed in an intense study session. Hearing the sound of a quill scratching on paper confirms that someone is still in the library, behind those books.
Getting closer, Twilight's eyes snapped open as she saw who, or rather what, was behind those books.
A human!? Here in Equestria!? , she thinks out loud having identified him as such, letting out a barely audible gasp of surprise.
The "human" doesn't seem to have heard her, to deep in concentration reading through several books on different subjects, his eyes darting from one to the other, one hand turning the pages of one he's already read, while the other is busy writing with a golden quill on a piece of paper.
Twilight's excitement and curiosity at the presence of a human in Equestria compels her to investigate, making her forget about even what was going on outside and the original reason why she was there. Not wanting to scare or surprise him, she advances towards their encounter slowly and cautiously.
As she get closer, Twilight realizes that this human was, according to all the metrics that Rarity had painstakingly made her aware of —speaking specifically of the Rarity of the human world— a 'Beau Monsieur '. She stepped carefully around him, trying to get a clearer view of his face.
But as she aproach and gets a better look at his features, Twilight slows down, sensing that there was something strange with him.
That face, those eyes, that nose, those lips, I've never seen a human like that. She thought as a feeling of wrongness began to well up inside her.
The combination of those perfect features was too disturbing for her, even when speaking of a human.
"You know, Miss Sparkle, I've heard that spying on individuals is not a good thing to do," without stopping in his task, the Sin is the first of the two to speak.
"Oh, I'm sorry." Seeing herself caught and her train of thought abruptly derailed, Twilight, embarrassed, quickly stammers out an apology. "I was just very surprised to see someone like you here and because I saw that you were very busy and since we're in a library I didn't want to disturb you."
"Don't feel bad about it. You should take pride in your spying skills, they're very good," the 'human' praise her.
"I wasn't spying. And I don't think one should take pride in spying on someone. But more importantly, who... what are you?" asked Twilight, taking a step closer, regaining her composure, beginning to feel distrust of this... entity. It was already quite clear to her that she was not in the presence of a mere human.
"You may refer to me as Pride," the Sin introduced himself, finally rising from his seat, stopping in his writing, facing her with a cordial gesture of greeting. "And I was hoping to do some research alone. It seems Wrath isn't causing enough of a mess to draw all the attention and keep everyone busy, out of my way."
"Research? What kind of research?" Twilight asked, finally paying attention to the tomes that littered the table, taking a good look at books on history, medicine, anatomy, geography, the many species of creatures in Equestria, and many more. "And wait, are you responsible for the beast that's loose causing damage in the castle?"
As Pride slowly and predatorily closed the distance between them, Twilight took a step back, feeling unsafe. She waited with her breath withhold in her chest for him to make some movement. But before he could respond in any way, shape or form, a shadow swiftly crossed the entire library space, placing itself in the middle of the two.
Twilight's ears fell flat against her skull and a shiver cross everyone of her bones as she is suddenly overwhelmed by the pressure radiating from the figure rising from the shadow.
"Boss, there's something you need to know…" the imposing raven-headed creature began to speak, cutting off when it noticed Twilight's presence at its side. "Should I kill her?" were his next words, its deep voice sounding like an ill omen.
Hearing that threat, Twilight's eyes flew wide in horror. Swallowing dryly, all her instincts were telling her to run. But something about this creature's presence filled her with a sense of dread, freezing her in place as if heavy, icy iron chains had abruptly wrapped around her and held her in place.
She looked from the menacing, dark being to Pride, and what she saw made her skin crawl. His features, which at first seemed gentle and friendly, had transformed, twisted and distorted into something that could only be described as menacing and extremely dangerous. In his expression brimming with malice and sadism, Twilight could see the enjoyment of the fear she was the victim of and that he was seriously considering the other's proposition. Without an iota of doubt that if she didn't act soon, she would be killed, Twilight closed her eyes and ignited her horn, ready to cast a teleportation spell, to where, she will never know, since before she could calm her mind enough to manifest her magic, she heard Pride finally answer the other's question.
"No."
Startled, Twilight opened her eyes. In front of her, Pride was staring at her in amusement, his features softened to a less threatening level. When she looked in Greed's direction, she was confused to see him putting a glove back on one of his hands, not sure when or for what reason he might have removed it to begin with. A moment later, she felt a jolt of pain as she untense her wings back muscles. On the side facing the tall dark figure, Twilight carried a shallow slash that had barely cut the skin. It took her a second to understand what had happened. In the time she had closed her eyes, that bird-faced monster had lashed out at her with the clear intention of stabbing her. That creature had moved so fast that there would be no chance for her to get her spell out before its attack went deeper, deadly deeper.
"I already have all the necessary information I came here for. Go fetch Wrath and let's go back to our home base," Pride said very casually to Greed, picking up and folding the sheet of paper he had been writing on, putting it away in his jacket pocket.
"Something tells me we'll meet again," in what sounded more like a threat than the beginning of a cordial farewell, those were the last words Pride said to Twilight before he turned and walked away. "Until then, Ta-Da, little pony!"
Recovering from the overwhelming feeling of dread that had her pinned in place, Twilight catches a glimpse of a piece of the paper Pride had written on sticking out of his pocket, and taking advantage of being completely ignored and underestimated, she casts a simple, silent telekinetic spell, gaining possession of the sheet without any of the two sins noticing.
Meanwhile, many miles away, in the metropolitan city of Manehattan.
Multiple doctors and nurses and other members of the workforce of the city's Central Hospital are fleeing in terror from the imp forces that had unexpectedly invaded the building and taken possession of the facilities.
In the lobby, a magenta dragoness stood guard at the entrance, keeping anyone who wanted to enter at bay. She ignored the ponies and other creatures who eagerly and fearfully rushed towards the exit, seeking to escape the apparent chaos the imps were causing inside. Cover beneath her dress, a prominent claw stabs at the floor in exasperation. Being put in charge of this operation did not seem at all stimulating to her.
"Envy, please tell me we're done here," she said, fanning herself with her hand fan.
"The imps have told me all the necessary equipment it's already been loaded, Lust," the bird-headed, robed figure replied meekly.
"Good, that means we can go now... where's Gluttony?" Lust asked, looking around, seeing that the third member of her team was nowhere to be seen.
"She told me she wanted to taste some snacks before we left," Envy said in a tone that could be considered a whisper, cringing nervously, guessing what was coming.
Taking a deep breath, Lust closed her fan and stomped into the hospital hallways.
Briskly walking through the building's corridors, she ignored the rooms where the imps were causing havoc, breaking or throwing on the floor everything they could and eating everything that looked edible, and those in which ponies were cowering in fear. The fact that none of them had a spark inside them to make them consider having one passionate moment in the midst of so much danger annoyed her.
The loud sounds of chewing led her to a waiting room, where she found Gluttony, sitting on the floor, rubbing her belly and licking her lips.
"Gluttony," Lust called, a hint of reproach in her voice.
"What?" the huge yellow mass of fat asked, trying and failing to turn to avoid seeing Lust's reptilian form.
"Spit them out," she ordered curtly.
"I-I don't know what you're talking about," Gluttony stammered with a mixture of guilt and nervousness akin to a child who had been caught with one hand still in the cookie jar.
"You know how Pride feels about Doctors. He gave us strict orders not to hurt any of them. So either you spit them out right now, or you'll have to tell him why you disobeyed his orders," Lust concluded in a stern, cutting tone, making it clear that she wasn't going to prolong this discussion any further.
With a sigh of resignation, Gluttony stands up, putting all her weight on four of her chubby limbs. Producing unpleasant gagging noises, movements begin to occur in her lower part, her dewlap bulging as if it were a toad's throat. Opening her enormous mouth, Gluttony regurgitates a couple of doctors and nurses, who, covered in drool, look disgusted and, most definitely, traumatized by that experience. Among the spit bodies was also a pony skeleton.
"It's not what you think, Lust. That one over there is just a prop." Feeling Lust's burning, threatening gaze, ready to pierce a couple of holes in the back of her fat nape, Gluttony was quick to clarify.
Author's Note
Phew! This chapter took way longer to write than I imagined. I blame this on having to write so many characters in the scene.
As always, I hope you enjoy the story and any feedback is welcome.
Intermission 01: The mysterious note
Back at the castle, in front of a large round wooden table, Princesses Celestia and Luna are intently looking at some documents when the doors to the Thrones Room swing open, letting in the Elements of Harmony and the Lord of Chaos.
"You two will be happy to know that all staff and everyone else in the east side of the castle have been properly evacuated and most of the damage has been repaired; you're welcome, by the way," Discord said with mock haughtiness.
"Yeah, yeah! We saved the day, once again," Rainbow Dash huffed, floating above the others, her front legs crossed, a tinge of annoyance in her words.
"Last time I checked, that's a good thing. What seems to have gotten into you, Rainbow Dash?" Rarity gave the pegasus a pointed look.
"Don't pay any attention to her, Rarity," Applejack replied, grinning. "She's just making a fuss about not being able to face the wild creature that caused all this ruckus."
"Hugh! I was so ready to kick some butt and show off some new combat moves I've been practicing," the blue pegasus fly skyward throwing out some kicks and karate chops, with a few aerial flips and spins in between.
"I'm glad you didn't," Celestia finally spoke up, her serious tone gaining the others' attention.
"Why that, Princess? What do you have there?" Fluttershy asked, she and the rest of the Elements of Harmony approaching, taking places around the table.
"The reports we've been getting regarding the intrusion of this beast," Celestia said.
"And this one in particular has us worried," Luna followed. "According to the testimony from, and quoted as 'The only guard who didn't close his eyes when the beast was about to gore them out': In the middle of the brawl, a shadow appeared in the garrison. When the beast was about to pounce, the disembodied shadow positioned itself beneath it and 'ate it whole', leaving without a trace."
"What does that mean, Princesses?" Applejack asked.
"It means that this wasn't the occurrence of a wild animal accidentally entering the castle, it was a deliberate attack," Luna replied, her brow furrowing in irate.
"What we need to know now is, for what reason?" Celestia finished, slightly bumping her sister, trying to snap her out of her anger and keep her calm and collected.
The Diarchs and the others did not spend long searching for an answer, as it suddenly came from the hallway.
"It was a distraction!"
Twilight shouted, galloping into the room at high speed. And once she caught her breath, she proceeds to share what had happened in the library, her encounter with the being called Pride and the raven-faced creature, who from what she could see of its abilities, was the shadow that took the beast that rampaged through the castle, identified as Wrath.
"Twilight, are you okay?" Fluttershy, being the first to recover from the shock of hearing her friend's life almost come to a violent and abrupt end, flies towards her, seeking to comfort her.
"I'm okay, girls," the Princess of Friendship tries to calm her friends' worries with a not-so-convincing smile, hiding the fact of the discomfort and shock that being surrounded by those two sins caused her.
"And as for the reason for his presence," Twilight continues, wanting to steer the conversation back to what the sins were doing in the castle. "The only thing Pride revealed to me was that he was doing some research. But before they left, I managed to take from them the piece of paper he was making his notes on."
With great curiosity, everyone looks attentively at the piece of paper that Twilight places in the center of the table. On it can be seen a long list of symbols that none of the pony present had seen before.
For his part, Discord narrowed his eyes at them. Something about those symbols seemed extremely familiar, making him feel like an itch in the back of his head, as if a long-forgotten, blurry memory was struggling to be recalled, but no matter how much he scratched in search for it, he just couldn't get his paws on it.
"So... Can anyone understand those scribbles?" Taking the sheet of paper and tilting it in multiple angles, Rainbow Dash asks the question she thought was on everyone's mind.
"I assume these symbols are part of an alphabet from some sort of language I've never seen," Celestia answers.
"That's correct, Princess," Twilight says, taking possession of the paper with her magic from her pegasus friend's hooves, and then adds, "I've already cast a spell that should have decoded it, but..." then the purple Alicorn proceeds to tap the piece of paper with the tip of her hoof. At this, everyone can see how Twilight's magical aura begins to transform the symbols into something that resembles the Equestria alphabet, but as quickly as a letter begins to take form over one of the symbols, an aura of a darker purple hue pushes and dissipates Twilight's, returning the symbol to its original form.
"It seems there is some sort of magical energy emanating from those symbols on the paper that is fighting against mine to prevent my spell from translating what is written. Nonetheless, I am fairly certain that my spell will prevail... but at the rate the translation is going, it will require a lot of time, possibly days, and I am not sure we have that much time to stop whatever Pride and his group are planning."
"Well, Is there anything we can do to help speed up the translation?" chimes in Rarity.
"I'm afraid not," Twilight answers, her head downcast. "We could pour more magic into the decoding spell to overcome the energy that's preventing the translation, but this is just a plain piece of paper, and overloading it with magical energy could destroy it, making us lose our only clue and chance to stop Pride's plans."
"The only thing that might help speed up the translation process would be if we knew the meaning of some of these symbols beforehoof," Twilight added.
"Uh, uh, uh!" Pinkie exclaimed, shaking her hooves frantically to get her friend's attention. "These symbols mean 'HA!'" the pink pony said, poking at a pair of symbols at the beginning of the first line with her hoof. These were slightly separated from the rest, larger and less carefully written than the others.
After a few seconds of silence, confusion on everyone's faces, Twilight spoke up:
"'HA!'? Are you sure, Pinkie? What is 'Ha!' even supposed to mean?"
"Oh, Twilight, you silly filly, you know!" Pinkie laughed. "It's 'Ha!' as in 'Ha, ha!'. It's a laugh." Pinky explained, as if that were the most obvious thing in the world.
"A laugh? Pinkie, how would you know that?" Twilight pressed in disbelief.
"Oh, Twilight, laughter is a universal language, and I can recognize a good laugh no matter what language it's expressed in," Pinkie explains, jumping and giggling around her friends.
Twilight raises a hoof and opens her mouth ready to mention that regardless of the veracity of Pinkie's statement and how it breaks all the rules of logic, it shouldn't literally work on paper; but before the migraine she's been feeling at the point where her horn attaches to her head can spread to the rest of her brain, the Princess of Friendship sighs, giving up.
"Okay, Pinkie, I... let's do this."
Pointing her horn at the paper, Twilight fires a beam of magical energy at it. Her magic suddenly overwhelms the other magic on the paper, transforming the symbols Pinkie pointed to into 'HA!'.
Everyone gasps in surprise, but their joy is short-lived, as Twilight's magic is fizzled out by the darker color one, once again returning the symbols to their original form.
"I'm sorry Pinkie, but it seems that wasn't the case," Twilight replies, trying to soften what she assumes will be a blow to her earth pony friend. To her bewilderment, the pink earth pony doesn't seem affected.
"Well, duh! That's because you did it backwards, Twilight," Pinkie clarifies in her typical, exaggerated way.
"Backwards?" repeat a confused Twilight.
"Yes, Twilight," Pinkie moves closer to Twilight, pulling her into a hug in theatrical confidence so they can both look more closely at the writing on the paper. "These doodles," Pinkie again pokes at the symbols at the beginning of the first line. "They're a 'HA!' laugh, but it's not written 'HA!', it's 'AH!'. You know, backwards, just like the comicbooks Fluttershy keeps hidden under her bed."
“They’re called mangas,” Fluttershy whispered barely audible, feeling a growing dismay at the fact that Pinkie (and now the Princesses of Equestria and even Discord) know about that, a red tint spreading across her cheeks, threatening to leave her face as red as the apples in Applejack's cutie mark.
Twilight looks incredulous and reluctant to believe Pinkie's words, but seeing how confident and sure her friend was, she relents and reloads the spell, making sure to modify it according to the input of the Element of Laughter.
To everyone's surprise (except Pinkie) and Twilight's joy, her magic overrides the magic on the paper, transforming the first symbols into '!AH', this time staying it that way, the Princess of Friendship's magic now struggling to translate the rest.
The sun had already gone down behind the visible horizon from the middle of the forest, the moon was shining and the stars twinkled over a sky that was being claimed by dark clouds. A large part of the Everfree looked like a barren desert, thousands of square yards had been deforested and the remains of the trees transformed into platforms, carts, levers, pulleys and other types of machinery with which the sea of imps worked tirelessly to transport, lift and assemble countless quantities of blocks of brick, limestone and granite, dedicated to the raising of a gigantic cathedral looking construction around a deep and dark hole, which was made larger and deeper thanks to the effort of the thousands of imps who were digging it.
One of the many paths made in it leads to a flattened area of land as wide as the Castle of Friendship ─and yet it was only a small fraction of the space already converted into a wasteland─, used as a provisional supervision space, populated with improvised gnawed tents where some imps argued among themselves about the plans, resources and construction processes, sheds to store some of the work tools and corrals where gigantic infernal beasts were housed for draft and carrying materials; a wide mix of animals with the looks of moles, anteaters and badgers.
In the middle of this, Pride watched as the construction unfolded, in the background Wrath could be seen busy, tearing off his body, with nothing but a feeling of annoyance and dissatisfaction, the weapons with which the ponies of the royal guard had dared to attack him.
"The imps are following your instructions to the letter," a large, floating ball of light that was Sloth lazily approached and informed him.
At that moment the rope of a crudely erected tower crane carrying a gigantic block of granite snapped, dropping its massive load of several tons onto a dozen unsuspecting imps below, crushing them with a resounding *Thwomp*. From between the cracks in the ground caused by the stoning and the clouds of dust that followed, a reddish mist rose, and as if drawn by a powerful suction of air, it moved towards the seemingly bottomless pit, disappearing into its darkness.
"Good," Pride replied, unfazed by the event. In fact, not even the other imps seemed perturbed by this, with a new group of them showing up to repair the damage done to the large tower crane and continue their work.
"Just make sure everything is ready on time," Pride ordered.
"Yes, boss," Sloth replied in a tired, apathetic tone, and floated away slowly. Had it made an effort to create a body for its avatar, and had it even bothered to give it limbs, Sloth might have made a gesture of bringing a hand to its forehead to signify that the order had been understood, only to stop halfway and let it fall back under the influence of gravity.
"And speaking of time," Pride says to himself, opening his golden watch. Having seen his reflection in the glass, he smiles, appreciating what he sees, seconds later he moves his face from side to side, looking for a detail to correct, finishing by polishing his white teeth with his tongue.
Just as the minute hand on the clock reaches its zenith, a black, shadowy portal appears behind them.
"Ah, girls, welcome back!" Pride turns around in a gallant motion, welcoming them.
Through the humming portal, Lust is the first to come forward, a pleased expression on her face. Behind her was Gluttony, whose new bulk takes up almost the entire width of the portal to pass through. At the end, looking downcast, with rivulets of tears under her eyes, was Envy.
Once the robed creature finishes crossing, the portal shrinks and fades away, a bit of silence having returned to the place.
"Sorry for the delay, boss," Envy apologizes, meekly, nervously stroking the top of her wing.
"It's just that we had to make sure Gluttony didn't overfeed," Lust finishes replying, her tone jovial, yet accusatory.
Fearful and averse to face any reproach, Gluttony steps away from the other Sins and heads toward the imps who were waiting for them.
Once a large space has been vacated in front of the rotund Sin, it opens its grotesque mouth, almost as big as its entire body, and as many imps enter it as come out, taking out all the medical equipment stored inside it that they had stolen from Manhattan Central Hospital. Dental chairs, containment chambers, centrifuges, vital signs monitors, electrocardiogram machines, electrosurgical units, surgical tables, surgical lights, shelves and drawers filled with forceps and needles, syringes and other medical and laboratory equipment.
As Gluttony feels the last of the medical implements being removed from within, it begins to close its mouth. Feeling the tremors and the fading of light, seeing the only way out shrinking in the distance, the imps still inside Gluttony stomach rush about in fear of being devoured, but only a few manage to reach the outside, to escape the molars of the Great Sin; the unlucky rest are immediately chewed up, their remains ground and crushed by Gluttony's enormous teeth, nothing of them escaping its monstrous belly.
Some time after that, the Sins were free to their own devices. In the center of all the noise and organized chaos produced by the imps still working tirelessly, inside his private tent, renowned for having the most 'gaudy' appearance among the other sins, Pride was virtuosically performing a sonata on a golden violin. With his eyes closed, absorbed in his work, and with his hand gently, gracefully guiding the bow over the strings.
Once, a foolish composer had made a pact with him in exchange for Pride to teach the music to him; and Pride had done it! In a dream. To his credit, the composer immediately upon awakening went to pick up his violin in order to retain what he had experienced in his dream. The sonata he then composed was undoubtedly the best he would write for the rest of his career, but this only made his life more bitter, his soul forever tortured by the knowledge that what he had written, his most lauded work, was nothing more than a pale, vain imitation of the original. The piece was called 'The Devil's Trill', but to Pride it was always Remembrance.
And while he played for everyone to hear, he played it only for himself.
"Boss, a few words with you," Greed came from behind him, emerging from a shadow on the floor, his intrusion not causing Pride to falter or stagger in his musical display.
"What is it that you can't wait for me to be done to tell me?" Enthralled with his own music, having reached a new part of his sonata, his hand waving more vehemently, the bow drawing out more intense notes from the golden instrument.
"It's related to what I saw in the castle," Greed said, licking his beak expectantly.
"Oh, yes! I remember you seemed quite interested in telling me something back there. What was it?"
"Boss, there's an avatar of Chaos loose in this world, and it seems he's friendly to the Ponies."
*THUNG!*
The music had suddenly stopped and with it the sound from the noisy surroundings had died down; all signs of work outside had stopped. A string on the violin had broken.
Pride's eyes snapped wide open, his pupils had shrunk to the size of pinprick, and though the smile he always wore hadn't wavered one bit, every muscle in his face seemed to have tensed, his jaws shaking slightly, cracks forming and spreading across his fanged teeth.
Greed couldn't see this reaction in Pride, but he knew it was there; and although his current form didn't allow it, if he could, a smirk would have formed in his beak, enjoying the anguish of his 'boss'.
"Are you Ok, boosss?" Finally, after a few more seconds of reveling in the silence, Greed pushed for a reaction from Pride, making sure to draw out the last word, just enough to make it pointed, but not enough to make it a punishable taunt.
"Of course I'm fine!" Pride replied, clapping his hands, the golden instrument disappearing the moment his hands released it, his teeth returning to normal. "And of course I already knew about the existence of this piece of Chaos in this world. And that's why I already had a plan ready and prepared to deal with this unpleasant situation!" The Sin of Pride exclaimed confidently, giving Greed a self-assured expression.
Greed wanted to narrow his eyes in disbelief, but restrained himself from doing so. He had nothing more to say or gain from the matter.
"Now, you know what you need to do. Go," Pride told him in a friendly tone, adjusting the knot of his tie. But beneath all the courtesy was an apparent sense of menace.
Showing no signs of having sensed the threat, Greed sinks into his own shadow and promptly leaves Pride's tent. The tension of the moment dissipating amidst the sounds of the imps that were eavesdropping the conversation returning to work.
Left alone, and overcoming a strong urge to sigh in relief, Pride reaches into the pocket of his jacket and freezes.
Slowly pulling his hand out he realizes that inside, where two things should have been, was only his watch.
Opening it, confusion doesn't stay with him for long, feeling the presence of a small amount of clear purple energy ─not like his own─ clinging to it, immediately understanding what had happened.
Looking at his reflection, searching for any imperfections in his appearance, he straightens the button on the collar of his dress shirt.
"Clever girl," Pride let it out through his sharp teeth, snapping the watch shut, his smile widening.
Author's Note
A little tip if you're reading this. Those symbols are part of a real alphabet. If you wish and could translate it, you'll actually get hints of what's going to happen for 90% of the rest of the story. But if you do, no spoilers in the comments, please.
Where does hell lie in Equestria
The next morning Princess Celestia opens the curtains and windows that overlook the balcony of her bedroom, ready to start a new day.
She looked tired. Just a little bit more . She thought. A thought that had been spinning over in her head for over a millennium. First born to be able to endure her sister's long banishment, and now that she had her back, for the long-awaited moment when they could both retire from government and live their lives free and unburdened by the responsibilities of being Princesses.
A flame of anger grew deep within her. After what happened yesterday at the castle, she thought that the situation couldn't get any worse, only to be immediately followed by reports of what happened at Manehattan Central Hospital.
Even if it could be considered nothing more than a peculiar theft of a large amount of medical and laboratory equipment, the fact that it occurred at the same time as the attack on the castle and that this reports mentioned the presence of several unique creatures never before seen in Equestria, were too great of a coincidence to consider the notion that the two events were in any way unrelated.
Still, the fact that they mention the sighting of a tall, bipedal bird-like creature among those responsible for the heist made her raise an eyebrow and demand information on Captain Celaeno's whereabouts and current situation, wanting to know if she and her sky pirates had anything to do with it.
Part of Celestia hoped that wasn't the case, happy to know that her avian friends who had helped them so much during the events of the Storm King's invasion and his forces had stayed on the straight and narrow path ever since; or at least as straight and narrow as one could expect from sky pirates.
On the other hoof, if the Captain and her Parrots were somehow responsible for this, at best it would be an event that could be downplayed in the heap of her current worries; and, if somehow the matters were indeed related and the Captain was part of it, this could at least mean access to information related to Pride's plans, obviously aware of the price she would have to pay when it came to dealing with pirates.
Just a little bit more . Taking a deep breath, Celestia mentally blows over that flame and reduce it to mere embers, and stepped out onto the balcony. Then she raised her head once more towards the sky, making her horn to glow gold, linking herself with the sun, beginning the process of its ascension, giving birth to a new day.
She was ready to release the sun and let the star move at its own pace when, suddenly and unexpectedly, a bubble of green fire materialized and exploded in front of her, dropping a scroll, startling her, causing her to jerk back, with the sun tumbling and cartwheeling across the sky, mimicking the Princess's movements in her room.
After quickly putting the sun in its correct position, Celestia steels herself and makes sure to flash her well-practiced, confident, and caring smile before turning the corner and entering a hallway where two guards dressed in golden armor greet her before opening the doors that lead to the dining room.
In her letter, Twilight had requested that the meeting she called be held in the Throne Room, but after a brief debate, it was agreed by most of those involved that whatever the Princess of Friendship was going to tell them would neither gain nor lose importance no matter where the meeting took place, and therefore, the middle of breakfast was where it would take place.
Luna was already there, tired bags hanging under her eyes, a hoof tapping impatiently on the table's surface, and a steaming cup of coffee on the other. This sad image of her little sister was undoubtedly painted by the events that occurred the day before, which seriously increased her workload fighting the nightmares caused by these dangerous beings. Twilight was there too, tracing circles around the table, stopping once she saw her coming, greeting her with an apologetic smile.
Seconds after sitting next to her sister, exchanging honest smiles that did much to raise their spirits, calm each other's nerves, and greatly help the Diarchs face whatever challenges the day had in store for them, the doors on the other side of the room opened, and through them entered the rest of the Elements of Harmony, accompanied by Discord.
Pinkie, Fluttershy and Applejack all seemed fine and ready to take on the day. Rainbow Dash was showing off her sleepiness by letting out a loud, stretched-out yawn, floating slowly and lazily, rubbing her eyes with one of her front hooves. Rarity, for her part, was shown to have the remains of a light green facial mask smeared around her cheeks and some curlers tightening her mane and tail.
Much to the chagrin of Twilight and Luna, who wanted to start right away the discussion regarding the urgent discovery, they were once again over-voted, pushed to wait for the food to be served. And only when breakfast was over and the dishes cleared from the table, and after coughing to clear her throat and get everyone's attention, was Twilight allowed to give free rein to her explanations.
"I've called you all here to share that thanks to Pinkie's input," Twilight pointed at the aforementioned girl, who was beaming with pride under the mix of appreciative and amazed glances from her friends. "The translation spell I cast on the paper has finally managed to decipher part of what Pride has written."
With that, Twilight placed the paper on the table, passing through the hooves of everyone present, eyeing the result with varying degrees of interest and curiosity, until the sheet reached the middle of the table again.
"Uh... Twilight, darling, I believe you forgot something with your spell," Rarity pointed out.
"What? Oh, yeah, I'm sorry," Twilight said sheepishly, finally noticing the confusion on the rest of her friends' faces (minus Fluttershy and probably Pinkie Pie) at the "backwards" writing. "Let me fix that," she exclaimed. Lighting up her horn and pointing it at the paper once more, she cast magic on it, causing the writing to appear properly legible.
Once again, and after the flash of light, everyone at the table crowded around to read what was written on the sheet of paper.
Lord of Hell AH!
"'Hell'? What the hay 'Hell' means?" asks the blue Pegasus, scratching her rainbow mane in confusion.
"And why would this so-called Pride find that appellation hilarious enough to write down the laughter it brought upon him?" Luna followed up.
"I'm guessing it must be a place, or perhaps a state; but I've never heard of anything like that," Celestia contributed. "How about any of you?" She asked her sister and the rest of the Elements of Harmony, receiving negative head shakes.
"Oh, I can't take this anymore!" Discord proclaims loudly, sounding irritated, gaining the surprise and attention of the rest of the present ponies. "This one I know I've heard before and I'm already annoyed of not getting it. I'm pretty sure I have something that talks about that."
Rolling up the skin of his lion's paw arm, the Lord of Chaos stretches it into a small portal that appeared in front of him. Shaking it as if he were searching for something, within seconds he retracts his paw holding a book with a cross on it, looking at it with reverence.
"Nope," the Draconequus shakes his head, throwing it away, clearly not what he was looking for, the book disappearing in a cloud of smoke.
Repeating the action, Discord again thrusts his lion's paw into the portal, this time removing an even older book with the symbol of a six-pointed star.
"Not this one either," he said, giving it the same treatment.
For a third time the Lord of Chaos thrust his limb into the portal, extracting another book. It looked ancient, older than anything in Equestria. A face could be seen on its cover, formed by the wrinkles of the brown leather it was made of. The rusty iron that surrounded it, rather than being there to help maintain the integrity of the book, gave the appearance of a cage with the important task of keeping it closed.
"This one definitely not!" The chimeric being exclaimed in a mixture of apprehension and discomfort, laughing nervously, promptly returning the ominous looking tome back into the portal.
On this fourth occasion, Discord pushed his body against the portal, introducing his arm up to the shoulder, showing the effort and determination to obtain what he was looking for.
"AHA!" He celebrated once it felt that he had grabbed what he was looking for. Pulling his arm and unleashing a whiplash with it, Discord placed a new book on the table, in full view of everyone. It was grayish white, with a clean and futuristic appearance; on the cover was the image of a sphere formed by puzzle pieces and on each piece a character of a different language.
Twilight touches it with her hoof and the book magically opens, its pages turning at high speed, stopping until they reach the one dedicated to the word they were looking for.
"Hell is a place of punitive suffering as punishment for the wicked." The Princess of Friendship begins to read. "Hell is usually depicted as a deep and cavernous place full of fire and flames. It is said that its oldest prisoner and ruler was one of the greatest evils that plagued the land..."
Suddenly, at the sight of one of the images displayed, Twilight lost her voice. The tension in the room had risen as quickly as the temperature had apparently dropped. Even Pinkie and Discord's cheerful and carefree attitude diminished noticeably, replaced by a sense of dread and a feeling of imminent danger.
"No way..." Rainbow Dash whispered in disbelief, looking over her friend head at the contents of the book.
"It can't be..." Fluttershy followed, trembling at her side, genuinely frightened.
"It look a lot like..." Applejack pointed on her other side, concern growing in her voice with each word that left her lips.
Next to the description was an image of a bipedal creature, with hooves instead of feet or claws; at first glance it could be mistaken for a Minotaur due to its broad shoulders and robust build, its horned head and even the nose ring it wore, but what chilled their blood and turned their worries into fear was the red tint of its skin, its yellow eyes and its evil and threatening smile.
Swallowing, Twilight continued reading, hoping that their shared assumption would be contradicted:
"Hell is known by many names around the world, one of the oldest being..."
Tartarus.
It gates flung open with such violence that they were nearly torn from their hinges, the echo of the impact reverberating to the farthest and deepest corners of the cavernous prison.
The Sin of Pride is the first to set foot inside, passing through the rapidly dissipating curtain of smoke caused by the sudden opening of the giant wooden doors.
Wrath and Lust crossed inside behind him. In what could be considered the middle of the cave, a rather wide and flat space, a large figure jumps out from behind a wall of stalagmites and stands in their way.
This enormous beast that even dwarfed them was a three-headed black bulldog with red pupils and a spiked collar on each neck.
It was Cerberus, who with its three jaws growled and barked menacingly at the intruders simultaneously.
Rather than being intimidated by the presence of the gigantic guard dog, Pride lets out a dry, odd-sounding laugh filled with amusement.
"HA! Of course they'd have one too," he says, more to himself than for his companions, his grin widening. Then, tilting his head in the direction of the most beastly-looking of the three Sins, he orders: "Wrath, go play with the pup while we two go pick up what we came for."
Wrath growled and, moving ahead of his companions, huffed and puffed, and with each snort his form grew and grew, becoming even more beastly and demonic than when he charged into Canterlot Castle, until he reached a size and shape equal to that of Cerberus.
All three heads of the guard dog showed surprise when the transformed Sin rushed at it; to their credit, they all regained their composure and reacted in time to also launch themselves into the confrontation against the attacking opponent.
Taking advantage of the fact that the only security measure was busy playing with Wrath, snapping and lunging at each other, tumbling and somersaulting around the cave, Pride and Lust began to climb up some narrow and steep steps.
As they reached the top of that plateau, the sight of two lonely cages came to their eyes, one containing a drained Centaur of gray and battered appearance, the other housing a small Pegasus filly with a pink coat and a mane and tail made of blue curls.
If the racket that Wrath and Cerberus were making down below was not enough to make their presence known there, the echoing sound of the two approaching Sins' footsteps must have done it, as both Centaur and Pony already had their expectant gazes on them and were waiting for those who, for lack of any other prisoners locked in that place, had burst in there with them clearly in mind.
Lord Tirek keeps his surprise and curiosity about these visitors hidden behind a hard look of caution and distrust, the fact that they feel so comfortable at home within the oppressive, crushing and demoralizing atmosphere of Tartarus told the Centaur that these creatures were not good guys; that did not mean that they were bad ones that he could or should trust.
Cozy Glow masks her true curiosity for these individuals approaching them, curiosity to know who they are, what they want and curiosity to know anything she can exploit about them to her advantage, under a false and apparent curiosity of a filly in front of something completely new and never seen before. Maybe there was a bit of genuine curiosity covering the mask Cozy was showing, after all, no matter how much her actions painted her differently, she was still a little filly. That doesn't mean that one should underestimate her for that.
"Look, Tirek! We have visitors!" Cozy Glow says with insincere, syrupy sweetness, high-pitched childishness, pointing with her tiny hoof through the bars of the cage to Pride and Lust once they reach the top and are in full view.
Suppressing the strong desire to correct in front of his two guests his cage neighbor for constantly forgetting his title, Tirek takes the initiative and starts the conversation.
"Who... what kind of creatures are you?" Having eyed them up and down, the Centaur asked in his growly and nasally voice.
"Why, hello, hello! We are SINS!" Pride replied, bowing politely, his top hat up and down in a practiced and perfected motion, presenting himself as if he were reciting a sales pitch. "I am Pride and this lovely here beside me is Lust."
The Sin of Lust strode forward, her dress and hips swinging with each step. Setting her gaze upon them, the draconic-looking Sin took them in, and once her eyes fell upon the small Pegasus, they shone imperceptibly and her pupils dilated, and she smiled. With some effort to maintain the charade, Cozy returned a cheerful one, having to ignore the uncomfortable sensation she had suddenly felt, as if someone had gazed deep inside her, far beyond than her thoughts.
"They definitely are," having returned to Pride's side, Lust whispered confidently once she was sure of what she had sensed deep within the filly.
It was at that moment that the third of the Sins flies over them, having been violently thrown by Cerberus, quickly leaping, roaring in fury, back into the fray with the three-headed dog.
"And the one distracting the pup is Wrath," Pride clarified.
"And what do you want?" From us , Tirek pushed, crossing his arms, trying to look as intimidating and dignified as possible, even inside a cage.
"Ah! To the point. I like that. Nothing less can be expected from the Centaur who stopped at nothing to get all the magic only for himself, and the filly who saw friendship as a means to an end and the most determined to prove she was the best at the game. Both of you should take pride in this," Pride praised them before continuing, the noise of the Cerberus and Wrath brawl doing little to disrupt their conversation.
"Someone made a deal, a contract of sort, with us, one of great value," Pride continued with his explanation. "The only condition we need to fulfill is to create a spell, a ritual to bring our patron to your world. That is why we are here, and where you two come in to perform the ritual."
A smile formed between Tirek's nose ring and beard.
"Then I think you two are in luck. Between me and my little protégé, there are no creatures who know more about spells and rituals than the two of us. If you grant us our freedom, nothing would give us greater pleasure than to help you perform whatever ritual you have planned." And when the right moment comes, betray you and take all of your power for myself . Tirek offered, knowing that Cozy Glow must have the same idea, since she was playing along.
"Oh yes, Golly, we are! And we would be delighted to work together, with you. And maybe, once this is all over, we could be the best of friends! How about that?"
"Oh, it seems you've misunderstood," Pride replies, his grin slowly widening, revealing that his teeth had morphed into fangs. "When I said 'where you two come in to perform the ritual,' I wasn't referring to the technical aspect of the ritual, but the practical. You are not going to be the engineers behind it, rather its power source."
Before Centaur and Pegasus could say or do anything in response, threads of purple magic wrapped around their necks, creating stone yokes around them, instantly knocking them down; so large and heavy that neither of them were able to lift their heads off the floor of their cages.
“Hay, what gives!?” Cozy Glow whined, struggling to pull out her head out of the yoke, her childish demeanor all but forgotten.
“What is the meaning of this?” Tirek growled through his futile attempts to lift his impossibly heavy burden, his sight only reaching as far as Pride’s shins.
His response was a laugh as Sin and all of Tartarus faded from its view, the space in front of him occupied by a reflection of his own image in its exact, pitiful position. His and Cozy's cages transformed into inward mirrors rooms, their complaints muffled by their magical reflective walls.
Outside these cages made of mirrors, a red wave of imps crawled and climbed across the surface of the plateau, proceeding to put locks and chains around them, hauling them out of Tartarus.
"Wrath, we have secured what we came for. It is time to leave," the Sin of Pride commanded once his feet left the steps behind and landed on the wide path.
Tangled in a standstill, Wrath hands held by the powerful jaws of Cerberus' side heads while the central head tries to bite his, with a display of effort, the bestial Sin lifts and pushes with all his might the guard dog off of him, throwing it through one of the deepest holes of Tartarus.
Puffing hard, the Sin of Wrath gradually returns to his original form, placing himself, sore and bruised, behind Pride and next to Lust.
"Did you have fun playing with the dog?" Lust asked.
"It was a nice warm-up," was the succinct reply Wrath gave her.
"Oh, I'd say that was more than a warm-up; from my point of view, it was mangling you."
"Fine! it was better than I expected. That stud is worthy of being called Cerberus," Wrath admitted, wearing a slight smirk, appreciating the battle.
Then his good mood took a nosedive when he heard Lust struggling badly to contain a laugh.
"What are you laughing at?"
"That Cerberus wasn't male, but a female," Lust replied, flashing a grin formed by robust, sharp fangs.
"So what?" Wrath asked back, wondering where the Sin of Lust was going with finding funny and necessary to bring up this piece of information, which they both knew was not at all interesting, Cerberus came in different races and all sexes.
"A bitch almost made you her bitch," Lust finally replied, bursting out laughing.
The Sin of Wrath just groaned and rolled his eyes at what the Sin of Lust found hilarious.
Back in Ponyville, Twilight and the rest of the Elements of Harmony enter the Castle of Friendship, crestfallen and with empty hooves, taking their places in the Thrones Room.
Only five of those chairs are occupied, the one with the mark of three butterflies with pink wings being the one without its owner. Fluttershy, the Element of Kindness, along with Discord, having decided to stay in Tartarus to take care of Cerberus once they found her whining, badly injured and sad for having failed again in her task as a keeper of its prisoners.
The moment it was obvious and irrefutable who Pride was referring to by 'Lord of Hell', the Princess of Friendship wanted all of them to get ready and leave as soon as possible for Tartarus and make sure that no one else but them entered or left that place. It wasn't until her friends were able to calm the anxious Twilight that they made her remember that with Discord by their side, they were just a snap of his fingers away.
Even so, when they reached Tartarus, it was quite obvious that they had arrived too late.
The five of them, dejected, shared the state of silence with different levels of uneasiness in the face of a situation that promised to be and was becoming more and more complicated and worrying with each passing moment.
"What do we do now?" Rainbow Dash is the one who takes the initiative to lift the weight of silence.
"We wait," comes the response from the Princess of Friendship after a few seconds of quiet and deep contemplation.
"'We wait'!? What kind of answer is that? That Pride guy and his cronies have broken Tirek out of Tartarus, and 'wait' is the only thing you can think of for us to do!?" shouted Rainbow Dash, hooves slamming on the table.
"Calm down, Rainbow," Twilight replies defensively. "I'm not saying that's all we're going to do, but realistically speaking, there's not much else we can do. We have no clue as to Pride's whereabouts, and the only lead we have to act on depends on how quickly the spell can decipher more of what Pride has written."
She points out, as the paper with the list is placed in plain view, in the middle of the table, the two magical forces cracking, fighting each other for supremacy over the state of what is written on it.
"I don't like this," Rainbow Dash concedes sullenly, hunching back in her seat, her hooves crossed.
"Me neither, but we're tied up," Twilight reasons, sighing wearily.
After that, silence falls again among the friends, that is, until Applejack, who had been pensive since they left Tartarus, spoke up:
"Twilight?"
"Yes, Applejack?"
"I have a question. Pride's list, we now know that by 'Lord of Hell' he was talking about Tirek. But that spell you cast on it translated two items, both referring to Tartarus, so, Who was the other one it was referring to? Who was the 'Hell Spawn'?"
At this question, Twilight sits up straighter in her chair, her face stony, and even so, it's obvious to everyone else around the table that her friend was debating with herself whether to avoid the question or tell the truth. Ultimately honesty wins out:
"It was Cozy Glow."
"What!?" and other expressions of surprise and discontent echo around the room for several seconds.
"Why was Cozy Glow sent to Tartarus?" asks Applejack once the mood has calmed down at this revelation.
"I support this, Twilight, darling. I get that what she did, trying to drain all of the magic from the world, could have had pretty catastrophic consequences if she had succeeded, but still, sending her to Tartarus sounds extremely barbaric. Don't you think so?"
"Yeah! I've done my fair share of questionable actions..."
*Cough* "The cloud factory Incident," *Cough* Applejack clarified in the middle of a coughing fit.
"As I was saying..." Rainbow hisses after giving the wielder of the Element of Honesty a dirty look. "I've done my fair share of questionable actions, but a fine, having my weather control license revoked for a couple of months, and having to attend an educational lecture on the importance of safety measures was the worst thing that's ever happened to me. I know what she did was worse —way worse— and she didn't show any remorse, but I figured that would have land her in Juvenile, not friking Tartarus!"
"Given the circumstances at the time, it was the only place we could put her, for her own good," Twilight replied, sounding like Fluttershy, with clear signs of apprehension and lack of conviction is said decision.
"I'm not trying to be rude, Twilight, but that sounds like a lot of horseapple to me," Applejack countered, unconvinced.
"Please, let's take the reins over ourselves, girls. I'm sure our dear friend Twilight has a better explanation of her own and she's about to share it with us; or at least I really hope so," Rarity chimed in, giving Twilight a look that reaffirmed exactly that.
Twilight closed her eyes and held her breath for several seconds, releasing it once she finished gathering her thoughts and agreeing on how to respond.
"Applejack, did you know that Princess Celestia has to send hundreds of letters every time something wrong happens with the sun?"
"What?"
"Yes. Everypony knows that Celestia has the power to control the sun, but holding all that power also means holding all the responsibility for it. What not many creatures realize is that every time the sun deviates from its set course and schedule, no matter the circumstances, she has to write a letter explaining what happened to all the major rulers around the world and apologize for any and all inconvenience that may have occurred. Yaks, Changelings, Gryphons, Hippogriffs, Dragons, Zebras, Kirins, etc. Most of the time, she gets no responses."
"Wow! That's... big," Rainbow Dash added.
"As big as that is, what does that have to do with Cozy Glow being sent to Tartarus?" Applejack continued.
"When Cozy began to get rid of all magic, it wasn't just something that affected Equestria. It had ramifications all around the world. When Princess Celestia had to explain what had happened, this time she did receive a response. Several actually. In this case an apology wouldn't be enough. Creatures around the world wanted Cozy Glow's head," Twilight stated in a grim tone.
"Harsh," Rainbow Dash acknowledged, gulping as she rubbed her neck, the rest of the girls cringing in similar discomfort.
"Obviously Princess Celestia would never accept that happening, so she and Luna came up with the next best punishment for Cozy, and sent her to Tartarus. This was not only a way to quell the cries for harsher punishment against ‘the pony who nearly left the world without magic’, but also to keep Cozy safe from those who would take ‘justice’ into their own limbs." Twilight paused, letting the implied threat hang for a while. Then she continued, "It was never our intention to leave Cozy in Tartarus forever. The plan was always to leave her there for a while, and once everyone forgets about her, once the next world-shaking catastrophe takes place, to quietly get her out of Tartarus, and properly and adequately deal with her.
"The only ones with any knowledge of this plan were Princesses Celestia, Luna, Cadance, me, and Cozy's parents."
"And now that she and Tirek have allied themselves with Pride, we'll never be able to throw them a reformation party," Pinkie whines sadly, deflating like a balloon losing its air.
"I wouldn't be so sure about that," Twilight answers quickly, a hint of positivity painting her words.
"What do you mean, dear?" Rarity asks.
"Well, didn't you girls notice?"
"Notice what, Twilight?"
"In Tartarus, both Cozy and Tirek were locked inside cages."
"So, what of that?"
"If Tirek and Cozy had willingly joined forces with Pride, the logical thing would have been for him to break them out of their cages and leave them behind in Tartarus. But the cages weren't there. Tirek and Cozy did not go willingly out of Tartarus with Pride, he kidnapped them," the Princess of Friendship concluded, a great deal of concern spreading through her.
"The question now then is," Applejack spoke up, "if he doesn't want them as allies, For what use would Pride need those two?
"I don't know, Applejack. And for the first time, not knowing something is truly scaring me," Twilight concluded.
That night, once all the girls had left for their respective homes, Twilight was brushing her hair and washing her mouth, preparing to retire to her room to sleep, when purple lights coming from the Thrones Room caught her attention.
It was the translator spell, announcing that it had finally managed to decipher the next item on the list.
"Oh, no!" Twilight exclaimed once she read it, her heart sinking with worry and her blood running cold with fear.
The uncomfortable journey of multiple hours, riddled with jolts that crossed throughout several levels of violence, ended abruptly with the thud of his cage being carelessly dropped. Immediately afterwards, the hundreds of unpleasant images of himself that stared back at him no matter where he looked vanished in a manner similar to a mirage, replaced by the image of the well-known and familiar bars that made up his cage, with everything and all the indentations that he remembered having made on them over more than a thousand years.
The yoke that had been placed on him and that had only allowed him to do nothing but kiss the ground also disappeared with the same speed, finally allowing Lord Tirek to stand on his hooves.
The first thing the old centaur did was to rub the back of his neck to alleviate, even if only a little, the pain he felt at that moment.
The repeated sound of childish *Ouchis* suggested to him that his fellow prisoner, first in Tartarus and now in whatever this damn place was called, was alive, although experiencing a similar feeling of discomfort.
With that done, Tirek concluded that it was time to look around and finally see where they had been taken.
It looked like some kind of temple, if the similarities to those in his home kingdom were any indication.
Illumination within was provided by flames burning in huge copper-like metal censers placed around and on the walls like torches; there was no apparent fuel to the naked eye, giving him the idea that these flames were magical in nature. There were also lava falling from ducts into a deep abyss, bringing more lighting and warmth to the interior of the place. The latter telling him that this construction, wherever it was, was underground, probably some miles below the surface.
Carved directly into the thick stone walls that shaped the massive chamber were what he assumed were holy scriptures in a language he had never seen.
Seven huge statues functioned as pillars that supported the structure. Without a doubt, they were physical representations of what was sought to be worshipped and venerated in this place. Two of them had avian features. For the Centaurs, birds were a symbol of the passing of the seasons and the flow of luck. Horns and other wilder features seen in the other sculptures, such as manes, claws and teeth, were representations of power and wisdom for the Gargoyles, according to the teachings of his mother, Queen Haydon. Scales were the symbol of the enemies, this due to the constant conflicts between Centaurs and the Dracotaurs. From one of them Tirek could only discern hands, mouths with sharp teeth and eyes. A worm, perhaps? Worms meant death and decay, but also rebirth and fortune bringer among the castes dedicated to agriculture and harvests. Of the last two he couldn't make sense of their appearance. In any case, he doubted those were the meanings of those ominous figures. The flickering of the flame grant them an eerie aura, as if he looked at them for more than a fleeting moment, he could feel as if they were looking at him too.
Colorful stained glass windows reminded him of those seen in Canterlot Castle. But while those made by the ponies had depicted moments of triumph, joy, and happiness throughout their history, these were a twisted mirror version of that, depicting terrifying images of winged creatures locked in violent and gory combat, moments of sadness, suffering and hopelessness, glorifying every possible amoral act.
A cobblestone path led to a carved image on the floor, below him. It reminded him of the pictorial representations of the so-called Tree of Harmony, but while in that one, the elements of harmony were found hanging from its branches, like its fruits, here the symbols were found in its roots, signifying being the origin of something. He had been placed on a platform which symbol resemble a scale. In all his studies of multiple cultures, the scale was a symbol of fairness or justice, but this one was uneven. He didn't want to bother finding out what this might mean for him. The ones closest to him had a throne and he could make out a pair of crossed swords on the other, of the rest, three were too far away to make a meaning of them and the last one he couldn't see since it was where Cozy Glow had been placed on it.
"What is this place?" he heard Cozy ask, fear and awe mixed in equal measure within the little filly.
"Welcome to Pandemonium!" Making his presence known, Pride replied from behind them. "Or it will be in due time! During your stay, I hope you find the facilities comfortable."
*Cough* Cough* Tirek goes into a suddenly coughing fit. "I don't think I'm feeling well. I guess the exhausting of the trip didn't sit well with my old, fragile heart," he says, looking feeble.
"Is that so?" Pride asked, tilting his head to the side, oozing disbelief.
"Oh, yes! Being locked up for over a thousand years in that old cave did a number on his health. He got better once he got out, but once he was hit by the power of friendship, his health got a lot worse once he was locked back in Tartarus." Cozy chimes in from her cage, innocence, sweetness, and a hint of concern in her performance.
Trying to hide a sneer by coughing a little more, a little louder, Tirek made a mental note to praise Cozy for her guile and cleverness, having understood what he had planned without any effort.
"Oh, well, something has to be done about that. After all that's been planned, we can't have you die on us just like that."
Tirek proceeds to let himself fall onto his barrel, bringing one hand to his mouth to hide a devilish grin, pitifully trying to get up by holding onto one of the bars with the other.
"Please, Mister Pride! You have to hurry up and help him!" the little pegasus shouts in alarm, with her words pushing her captor to get closer to the centaur.
As she finish her plea, Pride then calmly approached him, apparently unassuming of Cozy and Tirek's ruse.
I got you! Lord Tirek thought once he deemed Pride close enough. Opening his mouth, ready and eager to wipe the smile off of whom he considered a disrespectful buffoon, absorbing every ounce of power he could possibly have.
But before he could even begin, the centaur quickly felt a pressure around his neck, stopping his plan dead in its tracks.
"Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh! I wouldn't recommend following with that plan, Mister Tirek," Pride warned, his hand having moved terrifyingly fast as it gripped the Centaur's throat. "Our essence, even that within these bodies, could be very dangerous, even for one like you."
Tirek began to struggle to free himself from Pride's hand, first trying to push himself back out of his grasp and then attempted to bend open the Sin's fingers, but the hold on him was ironclad. As the need for oxygen set in, he shuddered uncontrollably, pressure building in his muscles as he desperately fought against the grip. Suddenly and overwhelmingly, Tirek froze as he could feel a powerful and inexplicable presence descend upon him as the Sin slowly closes the distance between them, holding the old terror of Equestria in place with just the power of his fingers, and nothing more.
"Tirek!" cried little Cozy from behind the bars of her cage, standing on her hind legs, all pretense of feigned innocence and sweetness displayed not even ten seconds ago gone, watching her mentor's punishment with fear and worry.
"I want to make this perfectly clear," Pride continued loading the words with such menacing force that it hit Tirek like a hammer to the head and loud enough to make it clear he was speaking to the two of them; his handsome, friendly features slowly twisting into a hideous and threatening rictus as he wrapped his fingers around Tirek's windpipe. "We need you alive, not healthy.
"But if you tempt us, we will gladly show you how much we can narrow the definition of alive."
A sick, wet crack could be heard. Tirek's eyes rolled back in his head, one of them having bloomed red as a blood vessel burst in his sclera. His hands and legs followed suit, falling victim to gravity as he lost all his strength, the tone of his face turning magenta.
"We'll be good, we'll be good!" Cozy Glow squeaked hastily, fearing for Tirek's well-being, wishing for nothing more than for Pride to free him.
And Pride did. Once he unclenched the fingers of his palm, Tirek fell to the floor of his cage. The face of the Avatar of the Sin of Pride becoming beautiful and radiant once more.
"Breathe, Tirek! Just breathe!" Turning his back and walking away, Pride hear Cozy say with concern as the Centaur took in labored gasp of air.
He stop close to the chamber's exit when suddenly a dark shadow rose in front of him.
"I found it," Greed stated gravely once it had finished taking shape. "It's in the frozen mountains of the Northwest."
"Good. Gather the rest. Today I'll inform you of the plan to follow and tomorrow we'll set out in search of our next target."
Author's Note
It never left a good taste in my mouth that the so-called "Good Guys" would put someone like Cozy Glow in Tartarus. So, I went with this as my best reasoning for such an action.
