The gates of Tartarus opens but fortunately Princess Celestia already had a plan ready for this.
When the Gates of Tartarus open and the demon armies assault Equestria and her ponies, Princess Celestia will respond quickly and efficiently. This causes Twilight to wonder if Celestia already knew that the demons were going to come. Why would Celestia keep this hidden from everypony and why would she keep it hidden from 'her faithful student'. As Celestia initiates a martial law and a draft that seems to only pick specific ponies, Twilight's 'wonder' quickly turns to horror as she herself is drafted and sent to training. She soon learns that that Tartarus is so much more then just a prison for evil beings and that it's purpose is far more nefarious then she previously conceived.
Twilight sat still watching from her vantage point the gates of Tartarus. The gates were guarded by the giant dog Cerberus, with three heads this dog sat down in front of the gates simply watching the tree's. Twilight felt a light tug on her tail, sighing she turned around to find Spike who looked bored. He began," Twilight, when can we go, I'm bored?"
Twilight sighing once again responded," We'll go home as soon as I'm done studying the behavioral patterns of Cerberus."
Turning back to Cerberus, Twilight went back to her almost trance like state of observation. Spike groaned and fell back dramatically onto his back in utter boredom. Twilight rolled her eyes at her 'number one assistants' antics and resumed her observations, occasionally pausing to write down some notes on her notebook.
After what seemed like hours of sitting there Cerberus suddenly jumped up and turned sharply around, looking at the doors of Tartarus. Twilight almost jumped with the speed of the turn, clenching her teeth to stop herself from exclaiming she looked quickly at spike who was sound asleep. Turning back to Cerberus who had started to growl at the gates, she watched this behavior wondering what it could mean. Without looking from Cerberus she started to shake Spike who quickly shot up muttering about his sleep or something of the sort. I turned my attention back to Cerberus who was now barking at the gate.
The only way Twilight could really describe the gate to Tartarus would be to say that they came from a nightmare. The gates had the twisted forms of ponies, griffons, dragons, and an assortment of creatures both real, unreal and indescribable. The gates showed wars, famines, plagues and massacres, As soon as Twilight saw that gate she knew that those gates were the only barrier between her and something horrible. The only odd feature on the gate was that it had a gigantic key hole in the center of the gate, the key hole was a golden color and when Twilight used her magic to probe the area she sensed huge amounts of power radiating off that key hole.
Suddenly, her thoughts interrupted, she heard Spikes voice start," Hey, Twilight whats happening and whats up with Cerberus?"
He asked groggily. I turned back, responding," I have no idea Spike but i want you to write a letter to Princess Celestia right now, okay? Don't send it until i say but just write it up."
Spike confused moved forward towards the bush that obscured his vision of Cerberus and pulled them down. He quickly raised them back up and rushed to the paper, ink and quill. He began to rapidly write down what was happening. Twilight looked back up at Cerberus who was still barking, his deafening barks were steadily getting louder and louder as he barked at the gates. Suddenly Twilight saw movement at the gates, no not movement a flash of light, almost unnoticeable if not for the quickness of the small flash. Looking closer Twilight noticed that the key hole which was usually golden was now almost a black. The light came from the key hole which was making pulses every couple of seconds.
Twilight confused leaned in a little as if she could get a better view of the key hole. Suddenly Cerberus's barks cut off. Looking back at Cerberus Twilight saw that he had gone back to his previous growling. Suddenly making her jump Spike exclaimed," The letter is ready Twilight!"
Not even looking at him Twilight raised a hoof up to silence him. Suddenly the light coming from the key hole suddenly became brighter and brighter. There was no sound at all now, Cerberus seemed to have gone quiet. The gate suddenly started to glow with a sickly green glow except for the key hole which still had the bright white light coming out of it. Then the gates slowly started to open up both sides of the gate slowly swinging open revealing a dark red menacing glow coming from the interior of the gate. Twilight held her breath just barely realizing that the gates have opened, that the creatures of Tartarus can enter Equestria. Turning to Spike, she began," Hurry! the letter, send it now, then run back to Ponyville!"
Spike took the letter and blew the green flames onto it which dissolved into the green wisp. Then Spike started to run but stopped when he noticed that Twilight wasn't running with him, turning he shouted out which was deafening in the quiet, Twilight quickly took note that all the forest creatures have gone silent moments ago," Hurry Twilight we need to go!"
"No Spike, I'm going to stay a little bit longer to see what happens." Twilight shout whispered to Spike, then continued," hurry Spike you need to get to start heading back I'll easily be able to catch up with you."
Not waiting for a response she turned back to Cerberus and the gates and watched. Spike spluttered for a moment then hesitating started to run in the opposite direction. Twilight on the other hoof watched the development. Cerberus was in what appeared to be a battle stance, ready to pounce on whatever came though that gate. suddenly a sickening claw slowly reached out and grabbed the side of the gate, slowly the claw grasped the side of the gigantic gate side and seemed to pull itself out of the red abyss of the interior of the gate. Then finally after what seemed like an hour of slowly growing horror the creature finally pulled itself out the gate.
The creature was pale, that was the first thing Twilight noticed, the creature had no eyes and no nose. A flat face which was dominated by a huge gaping jaw filled with razer sharp teeth. The body was long, at least six meters. Twilight noticed that it was bipedal, two long arms with six long claws on each appendage. Twilight forced herself to start breathing again, having stopped when she saw the creature, no demon fully reveal itself.
The demon took a tentative step forward then suddenly fell down. Twilight gasped a little, surprised she looked on as the demon started to shriek, this was no normal shriek, no this was the shrieking of some dying creature. Twilight backed up covering her ears with her hoofs and as suddenly as the screeches started they stopped, Twilight took a step forward again looking at the creature watching, waiting for it to get up and attack but it didn't. It seemed to have just come out and died. Twilight then noticed that another creature this one somewhat similar to the other was climbing out of the gate, instead of being bipedal it was balanced on three legs that seemed to help it in walking.
When it fully came out, it took a step forward seemingly looked at its fallen leader then roared, a deafening roar that caused Twilight to shrink into the bush even more scared now. Though Twilight desperately wanted to run she was rooted to the spot, she peeked back over the saw the creature start to charge forward towards Cerberus. With a resounding crash both monsters crashed into each other with a mighty boom that shook Twilight to the very core. Even despite the distance between her and the monsters she could still feel the impacts as both creature fought tooth and claw for ground.
After what seemed like hours the fighting suddenly stopped, with a might howl Cerberus's three heads looked up and shouted out his victory into the evening. Without wasting anytime Twilight scrambled up and started to run in the direction of Spike. Tears of horror and terror running down her face.
Twilight soon caught up to the panting dragon; picking Spike up with her magic, she continued to run as fast as she could. although, Twilight was panicking, she was able to run in the general direction of Ponyville. After many hours of panic-induced running, Twilight finally ran out of energy. Gasping for air, she collapsed, dropping Spike onto the ground. Spike seemed to be okay just surprised that Twilight would carry him all the way here.
After a moment of silence between the both of them, Spike finally asked," Twilight... What did you see back there?"
Twilight sat there, still gasping for air, when she finally responded," I... I don't know what I saw there."
Spike looked at her strangely when suddenly, he burped out a green flame with a scroll appearing out of the flames. Spike picked it up quickly. unfurling it, he began.
Twilight,
It is important that you get back to Ponyville immediately. You need to gather the other Bearers Elements of Harmony and come to Canterlot as soon as possible. I have already sent a regiment of Royal Guards to the Tartarus Gates, and they will hold whatever abominations that come out of that place. Please remember haste is of importance.
Twilight stared blankly at a tree for a moment then finally she said, " Spike, where are we?"
"I think we are inside White Tailed Forest." gasped Spike.
Twilight stared at the tree for a moment. if she made teleportation jumps all the way to Ponyville, she would make it in short time but would be exhausted after such an act of magic. She could teleport, walk a while then teleport again. No, that would take still take too much energy to manage. She could teleport halfway home then walk/run the rest of the way.
Stopping herself, she looked up at Spike and said, " Spike, you can send letters to other ponies, if memory serves me right?"
Spike, still panting a little looked up and said, " yea I can, I just need to know the pony well, and their general location."
Nodding, Twilight took the papers she had in her saddlebag and began to write a letter to her friends. A moment later, she finished and scrolled the letter up, handed it to Spike and said, " send this letter to Applejack."
Spike hurried and blew his fire onto the scroll, and it disappeared in a bright green flash. Twilight then stood up, picking up Spike and began a long range teleport. " Hey Twilight, what are you doing?" asked Spike.
Dropping Spike, Twilight began, "I'm going to teleport halfway there, then we'll hurry back to Ponyville where the girls should be getting ready for departure to Canterlot."
Spike looked up at the evening sky and said," But Twilight, it's getting dark and monsters get more active during the nighttime. " He looked around nervously as he spoke.
Twilight smiled a bit then said, " We need to get to Ponyville pronto, and plus where would we sleep tonight if we stay here?"
Spike looked around for a moment, then hopped onto Twilight's back. Twilight quickly began to start the spell. A moment, then a bright flash and they were gone. Kilometers away, another loud pop and flash and they appeared suddenly in the air. Twilight and Spike fell down onto the ground, Spike able to quickly get up while Twilight, gasping for air, was still on the ground.
Spike, hurried over to Twilight who was able to slow down her breathing somewhat asked, " Twilight, are you okay!?"
Twilight still panting a little, slowly got up. Shaking herself a little, she began, "Yes Spike, I'm okay." Looking around Twilight continued, "Do you recognize this area Spike?"
Spike looked around and responded, "No but we're probably where you said we would be."
Looking around Twilight cast a quick location spell and found herself near the middle of White Tailed Forest. Finding Ponyville via the spell, Twilight, got up and started to walk towards the small town. Spike followed close behind watching the forest with a scared alertness.
Though White Tailed Forest was not as bad as the Everfree forest it was still somewhat dangerous for ponies, especially at night. Twilight tired from the long exhausting day was starting to make mistakes while traveling through the forest. Luckily Spike, being ever diligent in watching for anything was able to warn Twilight before a gigantic manticore burst through the bushes.
Twilight hearing Spikes warning startled her enough to stop herself from running into the manticore. Scared and startled Twilight quickly launched several stun spells at the manticore which did almost nothing noteworthy except maybe make the manticore angrier. The monster roared then launched himself forward at Twilight who pushed Spike out of the way then tried to get out of the way herself, but the monster reached her before she could move.
The manticores claws grabbed hold of Twilight, and yanked her down. Scared and hurt now, Twilight, began to buck and scream for help. The manticore ignoring Twilight's bucking, yanked her down onto the ground trying to stun the hurt pony. Twilight who was now getting weak from the shock and blood loss of the attack but in a final spell. This spell was supposed to put the manticore to sleep but because of the adrenaline flowing through Twilight's veins the spell overloaded.
The manticore, suddenly let go and slumped onto the ground. Twilight, hurt and tired now looked over at the monster and saw it lying still on the ground. Spike, rushed forward, screaming Twilight's name out, came over to her side and started to sob at her side. Twilight though ignored this and looked at the still, manticore. Twilight, noted that it's sides were not rising up and down like they should have, nor was the monster snoring or making any noise for that matter.
The truth took Twilight a moment to comprehend before she started to scream. Tears were coming down her face as she stared at the dead manticore. Twilight tried to deny the fact that she just killed, that she just ended a life. After a moment Twilight was able to calm down for a moment to finally notice Spike. Staring at Spike, who was sobbing and retching at her side. Twilight looked back at the dead creature then back a Spike. Shoving the thought of her murdered victim, Twilight, reached out for Spike and embraced him in a hug. Spike, hugged fiercely back and was able to calm down somewhat.
Looking at her wounds, I need to put pressure on them. She thought numbly. She concentrated a little and was able to put a little pressure on the wounds with her telekinesis. Looking back a Spike, who was calming down a little, Twilight began to say, " Spike you need to go ahead and find help or something to help us."
Spike brought his face up, his eyes read and face covered in tears nodded a little, then sniveled. Twilight nudged him with her head, urging him to go. Spike, still shocked from the earlier battle, tried to get up fell down then tried again and finally got up. Spike then started to walk away when suddenly he turned and said," Twilight...." more sniveling, " wh.... why don't w... we send a l.... l... letter to the princesses?"
Twilight, who was becoming weaker by the moment nodded and gestured at her saddle bag. Spike rushed forward still crying a little grabbed a piece of paper and a quill, began to write a letter to Celestia. Spike sent the letter as soon as he finished but by then Twilight was already starting to feel to weak for stay awake. The last thing she heard was a loud pop, a flash of light then darkness.
