Chapter 1: Of Monsters & Mares

File [REDACTED]
Order 1078 a-k
Authorization for establishment of prison facility
and capturing squad for containment of dangerous species
deemed as "monsters" by scientific and magical study.
Prison location set for Tartarus.
By order of Princess [REDACTED]

It all started with that little document.

That single little paragraph. Not even a paragraph, written by the Royal Scribe, from the words of Princess Celestia herself.

Tartarus, a hellhole, who's entrance was located within the mouth of a fiery volcano, had laid barren since the escape of Grogar centuries ago.

Tartarus, the void, where chaotic magic and strange physics take control, making it the ideal "storage" for creatures of evil.

Tartarus, formally feared by all, should now become a form of protection for we citizens of Equestria.

SWEETIE DROPS

Bon Bon opened her eyes and glanced at the therapist, a Pegasus mare, who was scribbling away with her notes. The therapist looked up when Bon Bon had stopped talking.

"Do go on, Bon Bon." She said. Bon Bon nodded and laid herself back down on the couch.

"I wasn't always Bon Bon," the Earth Pony continued, "as an agent of Tartarus, I was 'Sweetie Drops'. Only when Tartarus fell did I change my name to Bon Bon..."

"Agent Sweetie Drops, expect new recruits at oh eight hundred hours."

"Aye aye, colonel."

Sweetie Drops was waiting patiently by the hangar door, awaiting three new recruits, who had volunteered for civic duties, unaware of the dangers they had put themselves in. Behind her, the hangar stretched back, filled with various weapons and vehicles, all produced by Steampunk Industries, as evident by the winged gear logo. The paraphernalia of monster-hunting gear continued up to the cliff, which dove right into "magma", which in reality was a cleverly disguised entrance into the most secret establishment in Equestria.

Tartarus, the monster prison.

Two aerial vehicles approached the volcano, one for the hangar, and another for the Pit. The powerful drop-ship was flying past the Zeppelin, diving down the mouth of the volcano. The doors to Tartarus opened, the magma dissipating to allow in the jolting plane, possibly containing a recently captured entity. As the doors remained open, an ungodly howl erupted from the Pit, sending shudders down Sweetie Drop's spine.
The Zeppelin had landed behind Sweetie, and the door opened slowly. Sweetie quickly readjusted her shades, checked her mane, and clicked her hooves on the stone floor.

The recruits stepped out, gazing about in wonder (well, two of them, the mare seemed uninterested).

A Pegasus stallion. With a firing cannon cutie mark.

A Unicorn mare. With a crystal ball cutie mark.

And, surprisingly, a male griffon, with the colorful feathers of a golden eagle.

"Recruits. This way, please." They all focused on her and slowly made their ways towards her, still taking in the environment. "Names?"

"Guns. Guns Blazin'." The Pegasus said proudly, sticking out his dark chest and sweeping back his fiery mane.

"Galahad." The griffon grunted irritably, scratching his lion-like rump with a sharp set of talons.

"Fortun de Zodia." The mare purred in an exotic accent, which Sweetie could not easily identify.

"I am Agent Sweetie Drops. I will be your guide up until your first assignment, at which point I will then be a part of your team."

Guns tilted his head and squinted. He did not seem like the sharpest knife in the drawer.

"Team? Assignment? What is this place?" He asked.

"Welcome, recruits, to Tartarus. I trust you have heard of the sudden rise in rampaging monsters?"

The three nodded.

"This is where we keep them. This is the monster prison." To punctuate, a ghastly roar was heard rumbling from the abyss.

"Wicked." Guns said. Galahad had a look of fear for a split second, but it quickly hardened.

"As long as I'm getting paid."

Fortun simply raised an eyebrow. Sweetie led them along, towards the control room.

"You three and myself will be what is known as the 'monster-hunters'. We will track, capture, and transport rampagers, and we will check with the public and with the calm monsters. Our goal is to remain indiscreet, to avoid public alarm, and to make the situation well-controlled and as less damaging as possible."

They entered the debriefing room. Several workers, Unicorns, Pegasi, and Earth Ponies, milled about, giving updates and taking orders.

"This will be where your check-in and check-out will be. You must always report here before leaving the base and must always report back in order to maintain organization."

They left the busy debriefing room and entered the control room.

"This is headquarters. This is where the magic happens, sometimes quite literally."

At the central station, a tall, whimsy, elegant mare stood, giving out directions. Her mane was tied back in a bun, and her eyes were covered by a pair of black shades. Her cutie mark had been painted over, giving her complete anonymity.

"Who is THAT?" Galahad said, eyeing the mare with great distrust.

"That is Anonymous. She is the commander here at Tartarus. She controls everything from public relations to monster feeding time." Sweetie explained. The three recruits looked up at Anonymous in awe, as she suddenly barked a command.

"What's going on now?" Guns shouted over the commotion. An agent had rushed up to Sweetie and informed her of a code green.

"Our first mission." She answered with a smile.

GALAHAD

Galahad despised ponies.

Obnoxious, well-to-do, twittery ponies.

The one called Guns Blazin' hadn't shut his beak... Or well, his mouth, since he, Galahad, and the mare had boarded the airship together.
Guns spent every moment bragging about his flight speed records to Galahad and attempting to flirt with the mare, Fortune something or whatsit. Galahad wanted to wrap his talons around the Pegasus's throat. But if he had done that, he would lose the job.

And he needed the bits.

Life as a griffon had always been hard on poor Galahad.

From a prominent member of Griffonstone society to a mere outcast, banished forever, Galahad's life had taken a deep plunge real quick. Upon landing at the volcano, the yammering of Guns buzzing in his ears, he realized his life had taken to an all time low. Learning he was now a monster-hunter for the Equestrian royalty? Worse.

Upon landing at the said volcano, Galahad was ushered out by armor-clad stallions. He had the creeping feeling he wasn't going to see another griffon anywhere near this place. Another pony was waiting for them, wearing shades, and with a candy cutie mark. Odd mark for somepony working for the government. After being introduced, and led on a boring tour that hadn't really interested him at all, Galahad was ready to hit the nest. Or the hay, seeing how he was now among ponies. And yet of course, he was sent on a 'mission' literally minutes from touching talons on the base.

He, the two mares, and the yammering stallion bolted into a room labelled 'Gear-Up'.
The ponies were slung into armor, and when the armourers closed in on Galahad, he merely snarled.

"Don't even think of it." He hissed.

Of course, they were immediately ushered into a room loaded full of weaponry. All bearing a brand on them, sort of like a logo. A gear with a pair of angular wings spreading out from them. Galahad had seen that brand before.

"What is that?" He asked, pointing a claw at the symbol.

"That's the logo for Steampunk Industries," rambled Guns, "I know the guy, Steampunk. Real madstallion. Off his rocker. Loony. Crazy. Super-"

"I get it." Galahad snarled.

Scanning his sharp eyes across the room, Galahad gripped a large Gatling gun, with darts in a long magazine stretching around its frame. It was nearly as long as his tail. But the handles seemed to conform straight to his talons.

"I'll take this one."

Meanwhile, the others had grabbed grapples, dartguns, and more.

"Now these darts are highly poisonous. Do NOT touch the tips. If you do, you will most likely fall asleep and not wake up until the next Summer Sun Celebration. Got it?" Sweetie Drops barked. The three nodded. "Let's go, ponies and griffon."

The flight there was a short one.

Landing wasn't so short. The creature attacking was some sort of wyvern, a dragon with two legs. It was burning down a small farm, Earth ponies dashing about the place, screaming on the top of their lungs. Galahad had had no previous training. He did not know what to do. He hadn't even been this close to a wyvern before, though he had heard they were nasty creatures. They would have to land in the burning wasteland that had been a farm hours before. After a rocky landing, Sweetie and the Fortun mare dashed off.

Guns was hovering in the air, just beside Galahad.

"Let's take this dinky dragon down!" Guns roared. Galahad winced. That pegasus was really desperate to look good. Galahad ignored him and lifted his Gatling gun into the air, spinning the shaft, prepared to fire.

Ohh yeah. He like the rumble that came from the gun.

This was going to be one easy job. It should have been an easy job.

But of course life had to be difficult. The Pegasus had flew down, letting out a shrieking battle cry, fully bring the wyvern' attention to the sky. As well as Guns and Galahad. What an idiot.

Galahad revved up the Gatling gun and took aim for the creature's exposed belly. Guns was zipping round it's head, and Galahad was glad for a distraction for once. Occasionally the unicorn would send a feeble attack spell at the beast, and Agent Sweetie was shackling the legs.
Galahad pulled the lever to fire. A stream of darts rained down upon the wyvern, piercing it's soft belly. The wyvern let out a scream and tried to take off, but the shackles were too heavy. It fell to the ground and went still.

For a glittering moment, Galahad felt sorry for the dragon. But then he remembered the paycheck, and he simply flew down to make sure the wyvern had been properly knocked out.

FORTUN DE ZODIA

Fortun de Zodia liked the Earth pony mare named Sweetie Drops.

The way she took control over situations told her she was destined for greatness. Or suffering. The further into the future she tried to see with her third eye, the more vague things became. Fortune did know about the wyvern before her new "team" (the Guns character irritated her, which was hard to do) did.

Why? Simple. Fortun could see into the future, if only for a certain distance. She had a vast understanding of divination and various spells of protection, but to waste her talent on a meager job as a monster-hunter for Royalty? Pitiful. As before-mentioned, she liked the mare enough. The griffon was decent enough. He had an air of regality to him, although he appeared gruff and angry. The Pegasus stallion was simply obnoxious. Fortun had been taught to tolerate the behavior of others, especially those who reek of misfortune, but the Pegasus was happy-go-lucky and carefree, and his fortune spelled doom.

Fortun had the delight of meeting the two males before landing at Tartarus, and upon meeting Agent Sweetie Drops, felt slightly more welcome.

Slightly.

The cavernous escapade of the base and the howling ruins of the Pit gave Fortun shudders. The mystery and hush-hush nature of the entire agency seemed eerie to Fortun. And because she had never before heard of Tartarus, nor such an agency, she did not trust the tall and elegant mare called "Anonymous". Anypony with so much power that they can remain completely unknown, completely anonymous to all of his or her employees would be a very dangerous enemy. And Fortun's talents of fortune-telling made her enemies very easily.

Speaking of enemies, the wyvern that had been taken out fortunately had not done much damage to the area they found it in. Fortun had cast protection spells over the nearby buildings and Sweetie Drops had evacuated the ponies from their homes until the wyvern was taken out.

Now they had an unconscious wyvern, and a big one, too.

"What now?" Fortun purred, looking at the slumbering hulk.

"I'll call in an airship," Sweetie began to babble, "HQ should send one sooner or later anyways."

"So what do we do while we wait?" The griffon muttered.

"I guess we could get to know each other better." Sweetie replied coolly.

"I'm Guns Blazin, ex-Wonderbolt and expert flier. I like cider, evening walks on the beach, and pretty mares." The Pegasus immediately rambled, throwing a wink at an unenthusiastic Fortun. Couldn't the stallion take a hint?

"I am Fortun de Zodia, master of divination and teller of fortunes."

"Galahad, now leave me alone."

The other three stared at the grumpy griffon.

"What's your problem, beaky?" Guns asked.

"I hate ponies. I'm only working for the bits. Not to 'make friends' and 'contribute to society'. I'm here for the paycheck and the paycheck only." With that, Galahad spread his large powerful wings, and with a single sweep, launched himself into the air and across to the other side of the sleeping wyvern. Sweetie, Fortun, and Guns stared in his direction. Sensing an awkward silence, Fortun turned to Sweetie.

"So what of you, Madam Drops?"

"'Madam'?" Sweetie giggled, "Oh no no I'm not there yet, I'm afraid. Still a 'Miss'." Guns snapped over to Sweetie, but before he could flirt, Fortun quickly asked for more information.

In the distance, a Zeppelin approached the four and the wyvern.

GUNS BLAZIN

Not even an hour on the job, and he had already taken out a full-grown wyvern?

Guns was AWESOME!

"No biggie, I've seen bigger, and I'm pretty sure this one was half asleep the entire time," Guns was babbling to anypony who was listening, from his seat in the airship, "'Course it was my first time fighting a wyvern, though I'll tell you that nopony else would believe that-"

"Shut up," The griffon screeched, "you haven't stopped talking since the awful moment I first met you. Please, by Celestia's mane, SHUT UP!"

Guns was hurt for a moment. He sat quietly, eying the pretty unicorn mare sitting on the other side of the ship, near the slumbering monster.
He turned to Sweet Drippings, or whatever her name was, and proceeded with his monologue.

"Betcha that griffon's jealous he didn't get any mono-y-mono action with that wyvern," he whispered, nodding in Galabrad's, or whatever his name was, direction, "Somepony's quite the sourpuss."

The Earth pony mare glared at Guns for a minute, then got up and moved over to sit next to the unicorn. Now he had nopony to talk to. Lame. He shot a look at the griffon, who was nodding off over his Gatling gun.

"Psssst!" He hissed. The griffon frowned, eyes still closed.

"Psssssssssst!" One angry eye was now open.

"Psssssssssssst! Hey! Featherface!" Both eyes were open, and the look the griffon gave Guns at that moment would scare off any smart stallion. Of course, Guns wasn't a smart stallion.

"Psssssssss - GAK!" The griffon grabbed Guns' throat with a vice-like talon. Guns felt his hindlegs leave the floor of the ship, and the griffon was holding him up high.

"Listen here, PUNK. I have literally just met you, and I already want to slash your face off. Now sit down, shut up, and deflate that head of yours. And it's not 'Featherface'. It's GALAHAD."

Galahad released Guns' throat, and the stallion struck the floor, jarring him back into reality. Now miserable, he slunk over to his corner of the ship and pouted. The girls both looked back and forth from Guns to Galahad, trying to process what just happened. Then, shrugging, they went back to silently chatting amongst themselves.

Probably talking about him.

Looking out the window to avoid Galahad's stink eye, Guns saw the nearing smoke plume that told him they were approaching Tartarus.
Normally, he'd be ready to rush out and boast about his victory. Instead he just wanted to go to bed. Guns didn't feel as awesome anymore.

SWEETIE DROPS

Sweetie Drops had little faith in her newfound team.

The Unicorn was the only sane one of the bunch, but she hadn't spoken but a hoofful of words since they had met.

The Pegasus was a great flier, but wasn't great at much else. As for the griffon, he was insane. Grabbing the Pegasus in a chokehold and dishing out death threats? Sweetie Drops wasn't sure that he would be a good addition to the team... Or to Tartarus staff in general.

The return trip was chaotic, with Galahad's... temper tantrum. The Pegasus had almost breathed his last (which wouldn't have been all that bad, seeing how every breath Guns made was just followed by more yammering).

Sweetie had tried to have a conversation with Zodia, but the Unicorn seemed uninterested. If Sweetie was going to learn anything about any of them, she would just have to read their Employee files. Anonymous had messaged them, asking for specifics about the monster and property damage. And of course, Guns Blazin, the big-headed overconfident douche bag had actually tried to flirt with their boss.

Facehoof.

Fortunately, Anonymous had found it amusing, and had logged off with a half-smile.

"She digs me. Wicked."

"Shut up, Guns."

SWEETIE DROPS

Docking was simple. Dumping the wyvern into the Pit was simple. Removing their gear was simple. Debriefing was simple.
What came after was not so simple.

"Ah yes you there! Help me out a bit? Hand me that wrench!" Yelled a voice from beneath an airship engine. A strange metal-clawed arm reached out from under, grasping at nothing but air. Sweetie picked up the wrench in her mouth, and gave it to the arm as the other three team members kept walking to mess hall. They noticed Sweetie had stopped, so they wandered back to wait patiently behind her.

"Thank you kindly."

Several creaks and grumbles later, the voice emerged, revealing itself to be from an Earth pony stallion, grey mane, an ochre coat, with an old pair of flight goggles around his forehead, and a strange device strapped to his back. Sweetie was about to ask who he was, but stopped short when she glanced at his cutie mark.

A winged gear.

"...Steampunk?"

"In the flesh, of Steampunk Industries, of the Canterlotian Royal Engineer's Guild, of inventing fame. Also still looking for my damned monkey wrench."

"You... Work for Tartarus?"

"No, Tartarus works THANKS to me. I don't exactly have any intentions of wasting my valuable time working for some secret monster fan club, sorry. I'm here to do a few repairs and to introduce Anonymous to a few new pieces of artillery. At the request of Celestia, of course."

To punctuate, he waved a mechanical arm (one of the four spindly clawed menaces stretching from his saddle) towards the various vehicles and weapons strewn about the hangar. He did have a valid point. Without his technology, Tartarus wouldn't be as effective and well-run as it is. The stallion gave several curt nods to the rest of the team, and then busied himself to ratcheting a busted Gatling gun back together.

Sweetie Drops watched him work a short while longer as her team went off to debriefing and then to the mess hall.

291 views