A unicorn enchantress with a bit of a temper messes with some powerful magic and ends up in the Pit. This is the ninth circle, if she is lucky she will be able to climb up as far as Tartarus.
Courage Fire is a unicorn enchantress, imbuing items with magical properties for brave adventuring ponies and Royal Guard alike. But today she is having a little problem, she can't get something to work right and, in a fit of pique, tears her way into the ninth circle of the Pit. Each circle is going to prove a challenge to escape, can she survive? Will she be able to live with herself when she does?
Contains: Mind control, corruption, lamia sex, cream-pie, egg laying, transformation, tentacle sex, TG (hermaphrodite), infestation, bridle use, demon sex (lots of), giant spiders, spider sex, violence (not in sex), bad ends, mind-control, machine, forced-climax, energy-milking, horn-sex (inserting a horn vaginally).
This is a commission piece, and should be updating on a weekly schedule. There will be some odd things happening in this, for one there will be a "bad end" at the end of each circle, each time our hero ascends, somewhere a copy of her submits.
"Why won't this bucking buckity buck-buck enchantment stick?" The yelled words echoed around the village, coming from the edge of town. Everypony knew the source without even having to hear the mare's voice.
Courage Fire turned around and bucked, kicking the staff of mahogany across her work-room and knocking down a shelf. "Why didn't it work? That bucking enchantment should have stuck like glue! Now I am down a hundred bits in resources…" The orange-coated mare tossed her orange-brown mane to the side and was ready to line up another kick at something else.
A knock came from her front door and the mare reined in her temper and composed herself enough to answer it. Using her magic to unbar the door, Courage pulled it open to reveal a big, white-coated mare. Courage's mood turned as she saw the pink-maned blacksmith—her perfect white coat spotted with black burn marks—hold up a jug of cider. "Need a break?"
"Hammered, you know I can't say no." Courage backed up, making room for the bigger earth pony. "You heard, huh? I was trying to fit one last enchantment on this staff, just one more, and while I was binding it I lost my grip on it and the whole enchantment evaporated off."
"The whole town likely heard what happened, as for it, how many bits are you out?" Hammered Fine took a swig from the jug and offered it to Courage. Soft yellow-orange magic plucked up the jug and hefted it right to the unicorn's mouth. Closing her eyes, Courage started taking a long pull from the jug.
"Whoa, that is distilled, hard-" Hammered sighed as Courage came to the conclusion of just how strong the hootch was herself. "Liquor…"
Courage coughed and spluttered, barely managing to save the bottle from spilling the fiery applejack everywhere. "What… what did you put in that?" She peeked down the neck of the jug cautiously before lifting it back up for another swig.
"I call it Randy Bugbear." Hammered grinned widely, her expression daring the unicorn to ask about the name.
Putting the jug down, Courage blushed a little from the warmth of the drink and the innuendo of the drink's name. "You aren't going to let me get away without asking about it, are you?" The earth pony's grin only got wider. "Okay, she asked, what is with the name?"
"Well, when a randy bugbear comes at you, it hits hard at first, but after the shock wears off you realize it is better to just let it keep humpin' your leg." Hammered reached for the bottle and took a swig herself, giggling like a filly at her joke.
"You are the worst." Courage shook her head, the effects of the drink quickly making her head tingle and face go a little numb. "Damn, I still need to finish the staff, too." She walked over to where the partially enchanted item lay, picking it up and walking back to her workbench, although not in a terribly straight line.
Watching Courage place the staff back on the cradle, Hammered blinked a few times. "Are you going to try again now? You might want to wait until you have sobered up a bit."
"I only had two sips. Besides, this needs to be done by tomorrow." Courage fastened the staff down tightly and began lifting out reagents. "I am fine, look." She held up a bottle with her magic and it floated steadily in place.
"If you say so, Courage." Hammered took another swig of the applejack and sat down on a nearby chair to watch. "Me? I am done for the day. You might have a new customer bringing in a pole-arm tomorrow, he asked about enchanters in the area."
"Tall stallion, white, big horn?" Courage started mixing substances together, grinding some powder in a mortar and pestle. When she saw Hammered nod, she grinned. "Yup, was asking after prices today. Hold on, gotta get this right."
Courage reached for the jug again and took one more pull. "Okay, now to combine the reagents…" she began working her special magic, magically adding the substances together, hovering them over the staff on her bench. Then she started to channel her magic. "It's working!" She kept going, kept pouring the enchantment onto the staff.
But something was off. Just as she thought she had it all done, when the staff had most of her magic thrumming in it, Courage hiccuped. "Oh buck…"
Jumping to her hooves, instantly sobered, Hammered reached out for her friend a moment after the magic did. An explosion rocked her back on her hooves as purple-red flames boiled up from where the unicorn had stood a moment before.
~~~~~+++++~~~~~
"Wake up, pony."
The voice was harsh and loud in Courage's head. She wanted to kick whoever it was for waking her. "Shaddup." She waved a hoof without looking.
"If you don't wake up now, you will be dead in ten seconds."
The voice sounded so sure of the statement, so calm about it, that the mare snapped her eyes open. From her vantage point she could see over a huge ramshackle town of broken and tumbling-down houses. Everywhere she looked she could see bright points of light. "The buck…?" She lifted her head and felt her words catch in her through.
"Five. Four. Three..."
"Moving!" Courage pushed up and forward, stumbling off the large platform she had been asleep on. Looking back, she saw what it really was. "A throne?" She turned in a circle, eyes wide as she took in the blasted landscape and fire as far as she could see. "Where in Tartarus…"
"Close, but to find Tartarus you would need to go up. Welcome to the Pit, this is the ninth circle." The voice sounded smug and proud. "Nothing has clawed its way out of here since before ponies came to be. The monsters down here don't see pony flesh often, look, they hunger already."
Sure enough, Courage could see that there were "things" moving among the town, creatures that looked like the melding of a pony and a snake. "Help… please…"
"Just what I wanted to hear. I will hold you to a boon later, little pony, and for that I will protect you… somewhat."
Detecting humor in the voice, Courage spun around again to see where it came from. "What do I need protection from?" Even as she spoke, she knew at least two creatures she certainly needed it from. The lamia that had spotted her slithered toward her on impossibly long tails. "Alright, whatever. Just-" She didn't get any further as pain seared her flanks. Dropping to the ground, Courage turned to look back and widened her eyes. "M-M-My cutie mark…" She stared in shock at her mark. Formerly it had been a sword with a half-halo of fire, but now it was adorned in chains, with a background of black flames.
"MINE!"
The word echoed out, slamming against the two lamia, who cowered down until it stopped ringing. The first to reach Courage was clearly a mare by the shape and look of her face. "Our master is gone, but what's this? A pony or a snack?"
Courage had dropped to her belly in the shock, the pain in her head setting her mind afire worse than a hangover. Pain lanced down from her skull and focused in the middle of her back. A ripping sound heralded yet more pain, and as the mare turned to see what had happened, she saw two big bat wings attached to her back. "What did you do?" New muscles and nerves called to Courage's brain and as she mentally touched them, the wings flapped.
"A snake snack!" The other lamia slithered up and circled around Courage. "Or does it wish to play?"
"I'm not going to play or be a snack. I am getting out of this bucking hell hole!" Courage reached under her cloak for the dagger she kept there, her magic flaring bright as she tried to back away from the two monsters.
"If you run, they will kill you. If you fight them, they will do a lot worse. Play their game and win."
Courage was apparently the only one of them that could hear the voice now, she narrowed her eyes. "What game do you want to play? Cards? Dice?"
"Riddles. The truth is your prize, your life the wager." One of the lamia slithered right up to Courage and circled around her; the creature's tail was so long that when it stopped before her it was circling her completely. "Your first is this. What walks on four legs in the morning, two during the day, and three in the evening?"
"Uh… um…" Courage's mind raced and the alcohol still in her didn't help matters. "It… uh… a griffon?" She saw the snake-pony's snout curl into a grin.
"Wrong, a human."
"What's a-" Courage didn't even see the lamia move as it bit her shoulder. Pain flared, but the real sting was the venom now coursing through her body. "Get… off me!" She reared back and kicked out, knocking the creature away. Weakness spread through her, but she fought against the lethargy the venom inflicted, keeping her hooves.
"Will it fight now? Will our little mouse struggle?" The second lamia lashed its long tail but wasn't quick enough to stop the pony's blade from coming in low and fast. Green blood started to flow the moment the little blade yanked free. "You think that little poke would stop-"
Courage smiled as the wound quickly seemed to change color and texture. "With the essence of a cockatrice in the blade, yeah I think it will do."
"Oh, I like this. Why not offer them another riddle? I am sure they won't betray you with something you could not possibly know anything about this time." The drollness in the voice was plain.
"What's the matter, you don't want to play with me anymore?" Courage's attention was on the monster, not that her tail was changing, her dock lengthening out, scales creeping over it and shedding her tail-hair.
"Nasty pony, if she plays one more time, then I show the way out." The lamia narrowed its eyes a little, causing a pattern of colors to shoot across them.
Courage had heard, vaguely, of the pony-snake's abilities. "No you don't." She closed her eyes, snapping them closed before pulling her trusty cloak up and over her head. But even the moment looking at the colors made her tremble a little, a need to see them again clawing at the edges of her mind.
"Come out, little snack. You had your fun, now relax in my tender coils." The lamia wasn't stupid enough to try to engage the pony, not until it had her under its sway. "Just look into my eyes again, you know you want to look at the pretty colors."
It was a losing battle and Courage Fire knew it. Her foreleg trembled where it held her cloak and she hated the moment when it pulled back, revealing her face to the lamia. The colors were everything she hoped they would be and more. Her mouth opened and a relaxed groan came from her as the patterns of the colors pushed thoughts aside, shoving them from her head.
"Put your little knife down, pony. You don't need any weapons anymore." The lamia slithered toward the mare, reached up a hoof and poked her horn. The magic snuffed out.
"One… riddle…" Courage stared deeply into the colors now, letting them cloud out even that strange voice that kept talking to her. All she could hear now was the lamia's words. The colors flashed brighter for a moment, then faded.
"A lamia's word is its honor. Very well, one more riddle before you are mine forever." It coiled itself around Courage, even wrapping a coil over the mare's back, before squeezing. "An iron pony, a flaxen tail. The further they run, the shorter their tail. What is it?"
Courage's mind grasped and clawed at her thoughts, winning each one back with great effort. "Iron pony, train… no. Flaxen… shorter…" She grinned up at the lamia. "The pony is a needle, their tail the thread." No sooner did she answer than the monster's eyes started flickering with colors again. "But… I won…"
"Just relax, settle down. You lost when you looked at me, now accept the consequences. Where are you, pony? What is the name of the deepest part of the Pit?" The lamia kept staring into the mare's eyes, felt her relaxing in its coils more and more. "Give up your protection, whoever granted it. Tell me I am your master."
"Go on, give up, submit to them and prove how worthless you are. If you really must know, the name of this place is the Ninth Circle. This is Treachery."
"I will do whatever you say." Smiling up, her eyes drinking in the relaxation the colored eyes gave her, Courage threw her thoughts into the patterns, watched them unravel one by one until just one was left. She sensed the moment the lamia hissed in happiness again, felt the coils around her relax just a fraction.
The snake creature didn't see the dagger, barely felt it until it was sliding past its scales. "No…"
Courage was wrapped in the embrace of the lamia as it turned to stone, each coil growing heavier before she was apparently trapped within it. "Get. Off. ME!" The powerful tail Courage had grown lashed and whipped around, smashing the stone creature around her. Panting, her anger nowhere near spent, she saw as a blue stairway seemed to shimmer into being.
This is a bad end, leading on from Courage stabbing at the lamia.
"Wrong, a human."
"What's a-" Courage didn't even see the lamia move as it bit her shoulder. Pain flared, but the real sting was the venom now coursing through her body. "Get… off me!" She reared back and kicked out, knocking the creature away. Weakness spread through her, but she fought against the lethargy the venom inflicted, keeping her hooves.
"Will it fight now? Will our little mouse struggle?" The second lamia lashed its long tail and then lit its eyes with a soft, slow pattern of colors. "Ware, brother. This little pony has a scorpion's tail."
Courage tried to struggle, her magic held her heavily enchanted dagger inches from the lamia but no matter what she tried she couldn't bring it forward any further. "S-S-Stop… let me go."
"I should bite you now, kill you and eat you. Nasty pony." The lamia held Courage's eyes, neither looking away, nor allowing her to. "I think I will. Drop your weapon, relax, pony, you cannot use magic here."
"But-" Courage tried to fight the patterns, struggled to keep her own thoughts in her head, but they were being chased from her mind by the colors and the words of the lamia. Her horn flickered and then went out, she looked down at the blade and tried to lift it again. But no magic would come.
Swaying, swaying just like the pretty eyes before her. Courage was wavering side to side in time with the monster. "Oh, so easy to play with. Look, brother, a pony that likes having our pretty colors in their eyes, in their head."
"I like the colors…" Courage's mouth turned up at the corners, she smiled into the face of the demon. "Like colors…"
"Yes, you like our colors, and look, you are already taking to our venom." The lamia not stealing Courage's mind gestured behind her, but the mare couldn't look away. Leaning in against Courage, the creature waited for her swaying to bring her over and when she pressed against it, it leaned in too.
Courage's whole body suddenly felt on fire, the heat rushing through her and up to her neck. She trembled and stared into the lovely colors again, the pattern even pushing away the pain, to her relief. It took her a few moments to stop swaying, a few more for her to realize the colors were gone from her eyes. But then the pain came again, searing agony starting on the other side of her body. Shaking free of the last of the colors, Courage turned to look at what had happened.
"Hello, pony." The lamia gazed into Courage's eyes again, but this time there was no patterns, no colors. "We are making you better, you see."
"What… the… buck…" Courage looked at her body, her long, reptilian body. The tail of a lamia, nearly twenty feet long, reached back from her rear, slithering along and twisting a little. But the true horror was at the front of her body. Leaning forward out of her own body, a long neck of the lamia extended, leading up to its head. "You… you are part of me?"
"No," the second lamia, on Courage's other side, said. "You are part of us now. You will see, life will be much better, soon." It gave a hissing chuckle from its pony-like mouth.
"What do you mean?" Courage now looked to the second head, noticing it too was joined to her. "Better how?"
"You have a single chance to escape still, one hope." The lamia on her other side was confident in itself. "But you are too weak. No, no hope after all."
"Tell me! Whatever it is, I will do it!" Courage looked to the pony-like creature. "Just tell me, please. I don't want to die down here!" The nuzzle from her other side made the tears come faster, rather than halting them.
"It would be simple, right brother?"
"Oh yes. You just have to kill the Naga Lord." Courage's hoof raised at the lamia's insistence, proving that they had more control than just their own heads. "Gather your blade, little sister. Let us hunt."
"Hunt!"
Courage felt a shiver of anticipation rush through her. Trying to lift up on her body was impossible, she looked back at herself and saw that a lot more was tail than was pony. Feeling out those strange muscles, she flicked, then countered.
"Good, good little sister. If we can kill the Naga Lord, we two brothers will rule the Ninth Circle. We promise you that you will be free."
"You promise?" Courage turned to look at one lamia, then the other. "You both promise I can go if I do this?" She watched both heads nod, as she swung around. "Okay, good, let's hunt!" A shiver ran through her body, she ignored it and lit her horn. With her magic apparently restored, Courage hefted her knife and spun it in the air.
The lamia helped Courage at first, driving the tail, but the more they moved the more used to the undulations and movements she became. Words of encouragement were thick, she felt amazing.
"Ahead, in that temple." The lamia raised one of Courage's hooves to point again.
Focused on her hunt, Courage never noticed that the long body of a lamia was replacing more of her, her back legs were gone, it was creeping up her belly now.
"Our King!" both lamia called out, loudly. "Our King, we have a prize! A pony who will soon be a female lamia!"
"Wait, what?" Courage looked from one smirking snake creature to the other. "You didn't tell me this, let go of me, let me fight you bastards!" She tried to fight the movement of her tail, tried to struggle against the two, but two minds were certainly better than one.
Slithering into the huge temple, Courage saw the monstrous snake-being coiled in a pile, watched it get closer and closer. "Please… just let me go, I'll-"
"You will do as you were trained!" The lamia ripped at itself, tearing away from Courage and leaving an almost-copy of itself behind.
"Stupid pony, do for our King as we told you!" The other ripped away, leaving Courage wailing in pain. She fell forward, her forelegs barely catching her and stopping her face from planting into the flagstones. "Wait… what?" She looked back at her body, realizing suddenly that it was just like the other snake-ponies. She was a lamia too now.
"A pet? A womb to breed?" The huge snake-king lifted itself up, undulating its coils and moving toward Courage.
The last words of the two lamia echoed in Courage's ears. One ear twitched and her brain put the messages together. "They planned this." She murmured the words softly, rising up onto her own coils and lifting her head to stare at the monster. "They have taught me how to act, my King." Courage tilted forward, studying the shadow looming over her.
The shadow of the monster was just close enough now, she looked up, spotting its body just before her. She still had her trusty cloak, it still hid her little knife. Bringing the blade out, she quickly dove it forwards, slicing under a heavy scale and shoving the weapon into its flesh.
"HA! Your pet brings a little needle to poke at me with." The Naga King slithered and turned, bringing the impaled coil up to its face. It froze in fear. "WHAT IS THIS?"
Courage was already slithering for all she was worth. The dagger was abandoned, left as a present to the slowly petrifying naga. "You bastards! Why didn't you tell me you would do that… this!" She gestured back to her altered body. "Why didn't-" She froze as one of the lamia coiled up and over her own body, tangling himself in her body.
"Yes, now we are kings, aren't we, brother?" The pony-lamia's face was right before Courage's own, snout almost touching hers.
"We are indeed, brother. We are kings now, and this is our pet. Our monster that all the others will fear, and that we will breed."
Just as the last word came out, Courage felt a prodding at her long body, what felt like two daggers shoving against her. Looking down her long and tangled body, she caught a glimpse of the double-headed shaft just before it pushed into her. "Buck… you…" She tried to squirm free, but their bodies were too tightly wrapped together for her to get away from the thick, deep intrusion. The monster wrapped with her started to ungulate, squeezing her body rhythmically. Courage opened her snout to snarl at the lamia but all that came from her throat was a long groan.
Eying off their prize, the second lamia moved closer and started wrapping around their brother and Courage. Squeezing and binding himself into the tangle.
Courage couldn't get away, not because she was pinned, but simply because movement did nothing to extract herself. Every time she opened her mouth to protest the treatment, another moan or sigh spilled free. Squeezing and shoving, the first of the lamia soon shoved as hard as he could against her body and filled her with hot seed. The pressure and stimulation pushed Courage past any hope of resisting her orgasm.
"Hear her cries, brother? I have planted my seed, it is your turn."
"W-W-What?" Courage groaned in pleasure as the first monster withdrew from her, pulling free. But then the second shoved in, claiming her depths for his own. She couldn't stop, didn't want to. It felt so good to grind herself against the coils of the two males, Courage squirmed and shoved to meet each thrust.
"She breeds well, brother. She looked reluctant with you, but now she-" The lamia breeding Courage had to pull back, and laughed. "Feisty. Fight me! Earn your pleasure!"
The sex grew in intensity, Courage thrashed and bucked for all she was worth, grinding herself onto the amazing penis inside her. At last she scored a hit with her bite and felt a hot rush as her fangs unloaded venom into the male. It was just then that he exploded inside her, spraying his seed and leaving her body feeling bloated and good. Unhooking her fangs from the male, she glared at him. "What, am I going to have your foals or something?"
"Eggs. Lamia lay eggs." No sooner did his brother pull free from their pet than the first one shoved in again. "And I promise you, you will swell with them." He shoved in deep, her body more than ready for him this time.
Courage laughed and rolled, bearing her weight down on the male now under her, at least at the spot where their bodies met. "Eggs?" Her lust-crazed mind mulled the word. "If you are going to give me eggs they had best bear the best children, or I will hunt you both!" She finally found purchase and latched on to the other lamia's throat, giving them a dose of her venom too.
Again and again the lamia claimed Courage, each time her body and mind responded to them better. At last the three relaxed, Courage making sure one of the males was still inside her. She looked down at her coils, saw the bloated lump near where she was joined with the male. "I killed the old king." She gave the pony-lamia's length inside her a tight squeeze. "I will be your queen, not your pet."
"You can try."
~~~~~+++++~~~~~
She couldn't move much, she could barely even slither at all. Her huge belly was swollen and, although she was almost helpless, Courage's mates guarded her. But this day felt different, she started to squirm a little, but felt an internal pressure shove through her. "Buck you both, we are never doing this again!"
"Sister, why do you complain so? Lay your eggs if you want to lay them, then we can breed again."
Sure enough, Courage felt the pressure rise and rise until something started to push out of her. Groaning and working with her body, she coiled around her little nest as the first leathery egg was expelled. "Oh buck…" It wasn't that the egg was big, or that it hurt; it was the exact opposite. Courage felt only pleasure as the egg came free. Panting hard, she let her body do its thing, laying another, but on the third she lost her control completely and thrashed, a climax of pleasure rushing through her coils, stealing the breath from her lungs.
"Sister, you are the best queen the Ninth-Circle could ever have."
The words soothed Courage right up until the next egg started to push free. From the moment it touched her vagina to when it finally worked free, she was trapped at the peak of an orgasm. Panting, she looked at one of her brothers, "M-M-More eggs? More sex?" She knew her voice sounded hopeful, she just didn't care anymore.
"Yes sister, all the eggs, all the sex. For the rest of eternity."
Courage jerked awake, waving her knife around with her magic. Her heart was rushing, her breathing was shallow. She looked down at herself, expecting to see the huge long body of a pony lamia, but all she had, was the shorter tail of one that she had passed out with. "It was just a nightmare…"
"The nightmare is real, you are still here."
"Who… what are you?" Courage looked around, trying to find the source of the strange voice. "I just want to get out, I don't… what do you want with me?"
"I want to see you get out, it will be glorious. I want to see you rip your way free of this place and scream your anger as you do. But for that, you must first survive the Eighth Circle."
"Oh great, I get stuck with the incorporeal voice that likes playing games." Courage set her knife back into her little sheath under her cloak. "Very well, before I start screaming at you, what is the Eighth Circle known for?" Putting her legs under herself, Courage pushed up to her hooves.
"..."
Courage wasn't sure how, but she knew the voice was deliberately sending her silence. "Buck you, I can work this out." She gave a shake, shifting the horrible dirt and dust out of her coat as best she could before looking around. "Well, one direction is as good as another." As she took her first step, however, she felt that strange tail flick first to one side, then the other.
"Oh, so now not only do I have to put up with all this horse-apple, but I have to wave my plot around for everypony too?" She took two more steps, watching her rear sway with each movement of the tail. "Ah buck this." Picking a random direction, Courage began to march off, her swaying plot shoved to the back of her mind.
Hunger and thirst started to play at the mare, after an indeterminate amount of time marching in the ever-evening landscape. She looked around and blinked, recognizing something. "A cactus growing in this place? I heard you can get water from them." She trotted forward, grinning for the first time since she reached the "Eighth Circle."
Getting closer to her target, Courage tilted her head to the side. "What the buck…" The cactus was oddly colored, under the spikes, and running through the flesh, thick veins of pink seemed to pulse. She shook her head. "I am literally in the Pit, of course things are going to be freaky. Pulling out her trusty dagger, she bopped the handle to deactivate the enchantment that petrifies things.
She picked the smallest bud that was bigger than her hoof, set her knife to the base of it and sliced. The juice of the cactus was already leaking, dripping a mixture of green and pink fluid. Working fast, Courage sliced the skin off from around the thing and put the dripping flesh to her mouth and sucked.
Courage's eyes closed as the thin green liquid, and the slightly slimy pink, slid down her throat and quietened her empty belly. The taste could have been everything from average to horrid, but for some reason the taste she got was sweet and slightly musky. "This is pretty good…" She smiled and took another pull of the juices, then tried to bite the flesh. It all tasted good, from the odd sap to the soft and squishy flesh. Before the mare knew it, she had eaten the whole thing.
Burping, Courage smiled and flopped to her side. Without realizing it, she reached back with a hoof to stroke at her nethers. Then blinked at what she was doing. "Huh, didn't realize I was so buckin' horny… guess it wouldn't hurt to work an orgasm or two out." Looking around, seeing nothing nearby, she stretched out, flicking her big tail and was about to return to her ministrations, when something stroked along her vulva.
Groaning loudly, Courage flopped to her back and squirmed, squirmed with each stroke and rub. It took a while for her brain to wake up to what was going on, to the fact that she wasn't doing this herself. Arching her spine, Courage leaned up and saw a bright pink tentacle rubbing in and around her privates, smearing pink goo all over them. "Huh, where are you from? You seem friendly…" She giggled and realized she felt more than a little drunk. Drunk and horny.
The pleasure rolled through Courage's body, making her wriggle and squirm, and crushing the little voice inside Courage's head that screamed at her that something very wrong was happening. "Ha, as if… oh buck that is good… as if this could be bad, it is just a little tentacle rubbing-" Her eyes flew wide and she groaned out loudly as said little tendril squirmed at her inflamed lips and then pushed inwards.
"Oh buck buck buckity buck buck!" Courage tilted her head back as the tendril pushed into her, claiming first honors in doing so. She squirmed and moaned, but when the swelling inside her started she lost all her fight and climaxed.
The tentacle inflated within the mare, swelling inside past the point that her body could disgorge and anchoring behind her pelvic bone. It pulled, it tugged, and soon had the mare anchored in place beside the cactus.
Coming down from her first real sexual encounter, Courage felt the huge thing inside her pull and tug her around a little, but finally settle. "What… what more could…" She looked around and gasped as more tentacles started reaching out of the ground. Some wrapped around her hooves, others around her body, all soon held her still and unmoving. "Well, buck." Courage smiled as she saw her knife sitting neatly on the ground to the side. Energizing her horn, she reached out for it, her magic oddly putting out a hot-pink glow. Pleasure exploded in her head, it was like her horn had become her most sensitive organ and filled with magic, it climaxed.
More tentacles started rubbing around Courage's back end, she started to turn to see what was going on, her voice raising, "What the buck? Get away from-" She blinked as a pink tentacle shoved itself into her mouth. "Mmfmfm!" She tried to thrash her head, her horn lighting again with an even brighter pink, sending a jolt of pure pleasure through her, starting at the base of her organ.
The rush of sweetness in her mouth snapped Courage from her pleasure, she blinked and felt her belly swelling more and more. It's feeding me? Oh it tastes good… wait, is this the same stuff that was in the cac… cact… Oh buck... She groaned softly into the gagging tentacle, feeling more heat fill her body.
"Claimed so easily? An interesting fate for a pony. Twisted abominations, these creatures give and take, you are stuck here for eternity, but it makes you very happy to be so."
Courage felt the words, fought to latch on to them as her belly grew more and more taut with the "food" the tentacle was feeding her. A new intruder found her tail-hole and started squirming and wriggling at it, squirting goop on the tight pucker.
The tentacle shoved inwards, pressing in deep and being squeezed by the massive bulge in her other hole. Courage's eyes fluttered as her body started to feel heavier, weighed down with the lust and pleasure, and the need for more of both.
"I can free you from this, but it will cost you another boon."
Courage almost couldn't focus on the words, but somehow they remained in her head even as her own thoughts were pushed out by pleasure. She whimpered into the tentacle in her mouth, she thrashed her tail and struggled in the bonds. She nodded.
"Good girl."
The ground rumbled, Courage struggled to fight against the pleasure still assaulting her, but she felt first one leg break free, then another. Keeping hold of the idea that she should get free, Courage yanked and pulled, the huge shape inside her threatening to pull her down into the cracks in the ground.
"If it gets you underground, not even I can save you."
Courage's eyes widened and she kicked, struggled, and fought. When the thing finally yanked from her mouth, she coughed and spat out a long string of syllables that even the Pit hadn't heard before. "Buck you bucking bastards!" She shoved with her back legs, fighting the pull of the tentacle inside her.
Then Courage got lucky. She saw her blade, and better, it was within reach. Closing her freed teeth around the hilt of the dagger, Courage turned around—finding herself a little more flexible than she used to be—and brought the sharp knife down into the tentacle anchored inside her.
A fountain of pink fluid sprayed from the hole she had ripped, but her dagger was stuck in the thrashing tentacle. Squirming and struggling, the pressure of all the goo spraying from the bulb inside Courage meant that she was soon completely coated in it. Crawling along, she dragged herself away, watching the tentacles retreat and pull into the cracks in the ground.
"Wait, my knife!" It was far too late, the ground slammed together with a final THUD that rattled Courage's teeth. She looked forlornly at the place where the thing had come from, at the trail of pink slime that led away from it, to where she was laying. Her belly bloated, Courage Fire reached down with her forehoof, finding her still-inflamed vulva—and stroking.
"And now my boon."
Courage barely heard the voice, her pleasure singing in her again, the slime still poisoning her to induced need. A jolt ran through her belly, a grumbling and shifting-feeling inside made her curl and look past her slightly bloated midsection. "What…" She stared as, just forward of where her vulva ended, something seemed to be growing. Two somethings in fact.
Staring in shock, Courage watched as a heavy pair of balls started to sink down into her growing scrotum, and a fully erect pony penis pushed free of the now heavy and fuzzy sheath that had been hiding it. Hesitating, the mare slowly extended a hoof down, touching the head. "Is this… is this your boon?"
"Not everything I do, will you dislike. Stroke it."
It was as much a command as any word Courage had heard in her life. She gripped the big pole with her hoof and began to stroke. "Oh buck that is good." She smiled widely, looking three sheets to the wind and more than a little goofy, Courage lay there and masturbated. She stroked, she squeezed, she rubbed the base, the middle, the tip, and every spot between. She painted the ground a mixture of pink and white, she howled, whimpered, and groaned in pleasure.
Slowly, eventually, the effects of the goop wore off. Courage managed to slow down her frantic pace, the need for another climax now barely a suggestion, rather than a vital part of her continued survival. "Why… why did you want me to have this?" She made her best effort at getting up, but the ground was so slick she folded sideways and landed with a plop.
"In preparation. Your next test is in the city ahead."
Courage blinked a few times, then rose her head up to look over a low dune. "The buck?" In the middle distance, a huge city sprawled, looking just like the sanctuary she had hoped she would find. "This is another trick, isn't it?"
"Everything here is a trick. Can you spot what the trick is?"
"If it is something stupid like bucking 'treachery' again, I will just start killing them all. Become their damn leader and go up to the next level in a bloody trail!" Courage was panting with anger as she finished her tirade. "So, come on, what is this place?"
"Paradise. This is the city of Fraud."
She looked down and under herself, shuddering as the heavy shaft jiggled. "This is bucking crazy. I am a mare, what is with all this anyway. A snake tail, now I am some kind of… of freak." Courage got up and stood, trembling with anger at the feel of the heavy balls swaying between her back legs. "And now I still feel horny, BUCK!"
"Language." There was the hint of laughter in the voice as it rang through the mare's head.
It seemed like hours passed as Courage marched closer and closer to the walled-in city. Putting her hooves one in front of the other, cursing from moment to moment. "Okay, how do stallions walk like this? It feels like I keep kicking myself!"
She paused and waited, grumbling something dire when the voice was silent. Moving her right forehoof forward, she saw a strange sight atop a ridge to her right. Walking one after another, all strung together with a rope attached to each of their bridles, was a whole group of ponies. Courage saw the creature at the back, holding a whip in its mouth.
Standing a little taller than the other ponies, the strange-looking mare had a big pair of bat wings on their back and seemed to take great glee in lashing at the tied-together ponies. When the strange creature turned to face Courage, it smiled widely. "Whoa, hold pets."
Courage watched as all the ponies stopped and stood still, a few looking relieved to have a break. "What are-" She didn't get any further, the strange bat-winged pony pulled out a new bridle. "Oh no, not going to wear that!" She reached for her knife and found it missing, of course.
"You don't want my bridle, pony?" The creature narrowed its eyes. "What is wrong with you? You know where we are, right?"
"Uh, we are in the Pit. That," Courage pointed to the city, "is Fraud." She watched—what she was quickly suspecting was a demon—as the creature started to giggle and snort. "What? What is so funny? Tell me, or I-"
"Or you will what, little pony? This," the demoness shook the bridle, "will protect you in there. Do you have any idea what the laws are regarding mortals in Fraud?" She tossed the bridle down on the ground. "Last time I try to help somepony."
Courage stared at the retreating demon, feeling more than a little confused. Not wanting to waste anything, she reached down and picked up the bridle in a hoof. "Wait, what is this for? What do you mean?" She began to hobble after the demon, waving the bridle. "Ugh, slow down." Grabbing the bridle straps in her magic she started to canter after the demon. "Wait, wha-" The straps seemed to come alive in her magic, one with a ring on the end trailing down her flow of magic to latch the loop of metal over her horn. Courage opened her mouth to shout and the bit of the bridle shot toward her and jammed into her mouth, forcing her tongue down and silencing her attempts to berate the demon. The rest of the thing pulled tight around her head, magic guiding the straps and buckles to fasten.
"There, now come along, you can have the last spot on this nice rope!" The demon trotted over to Courage, reaching out for the reins with a wing-claw.
Trying to jerk back away from the demoness, Courage felt the reins get hooked and a serene calmness settled over her. Blinking, all the rage she had been mustering—to fight the demon with—was just gone. She glared at the creature.
"I wasn't lying. If you go through that gate without one of these bridles on you, you will soon have one fitted and be sold to the highest bidder. Instead, you come in with me and we work out what you want to do once inside, okay?" The demon gave a little tug on the reins.
Courage's thoughts blanked a moment, she stumbled forward at the jerk to her bridle. Walking beside the demoness without protest, she tried to desperately rally herself to regain some measure of control.
Bringing both claws forward, the demoness tied the last length of the rope to Courage's bridle. "Don't care who you are, or what your name is. We will get inside and then we can talk payment and plans. Now, getamoveon!"
The whip cracked, but now that she was part of the precession, Courage could see that the demon didn't actually strike anypony with it. The rope tugged at her bridle and her thoughts muddied again. Courage barely registered the command to stop and blinked, seeing the city walls. She fidgeted, no longer being guided by the rope. A wing carefully unfastened Courage's cloak and folded it up. She wanted to protest, she wanted to argue, but the moment she started to move the rope tugged her back, her thoughts scattering.
"More slaves? What do you do with them all? I see you haul them in, then you haul another load out the other gate…" A big demon-stallion stepped down the line, tugging at the guide-rope now and again, when he reached Courage he tugged at it, wiping out the conversation from her thoughts.
"Whoa, stop now. Calm down my lovelies." The demoness walked around the ponies, unfastening the bridles from the rope one by one. Finally, Courage was untied and her reins were draped around a hitching post.
Careful not to jerk the straps, Courage turned and watched as the demon started removing bridles. It seemed strange, but once she had three off, the ponies slipped from the stables they were in. Twice more this happened until Courage was alone with the demoness.
"Now, do you promise not to run, or zap me, or zap me and run?" The demoness tucked her wings down and approached Courage. "Because if you don't, tell me. I can escort you out the other side and let you go. My name is Corignis, are you going to be good?"
Courage nodded slightly, moving a touch too much and feeling the tug on the reins. Her mind fizzed out for just a moment, her thoughts returning as Corignis lifted the bridle free.
"There, now who are you and what do you want to do here?" Corignis grinned in the most lascivious of ways at the unicorn. "Business, or pleasure?" The way the demon said "pleasure" would have sent chills up the back of even the most abstinent stallions, unfortunately for Courage, she counted as one now.
"I… business!" Courage had to fight her arousal, she dared not look down and draw attention to the growing, throbbing shaft. Backing up, each careful step she took backwards was followed by the demon taking a step toward her. "Stop, p-" Her plot pressed to the back of the stall she hadn't realized she was even backing into. "Stop it, please. I just want to get out of here. I am not meant to be here!" She stomped a hoof on the floor of the stall.
Corignis lifted her snout and sniffed, drinking in the smell of aroused stallion. Staring at the only other creature nearby, the demoness licked her lips. "What are you?" She reached out a wing claw to Courage's snout. "You owe me a favor, for getting you in here. I am starting to have thoughts about how I want it repaid."
"I… I am just a unicorn… please… just show me how-" Courage shuddered when the demon stepped closer, she couldn't move as Corignis pressed in against her neck and inhaled. "P-P-Please…"
"You have been playing with tentacle monsters. You shouldn't do that, but tell me, did it feed you, little colt?" Corignis inhaled more deeply, now sure that she could smell stallion.
"It grabbed me, I couldn't get away, couldn't think, couldn't stop it filling me and…" Courage trembled, her body shuddering as waves of pleasure rolled from that strange thing between her back legs. She wanted to slump, to collapse.
"Oh, so it was already feeding you, that makes things much more worthwhile." Corignis' nostrils flared wide at the smell, she knew full well Courage had just unloaded on the stall floor. "Your boon, pretty colt, is to mount me, breed me." She leaned up and nuzzled Courage's nearest ear. "Do that, or I put the bridle back on and you get to find out what the auctions are like, first-hoof."
"Wait, wait!" Courage used her magic to push the demon back, shoving Corignis from the stall. "Okay, so all you want is for me to… to buck you, and you are happy?"
"Yes." Corignis wore a hungry-looking smile.
"What's the catch, what do you get out of it?" Courage was still a little shaky, but it helped that the demon had left the stall. Her brain raced, taking up every ounce of mental faculty that had been denied her while wearing the bridle. "You're a succubus."
"Big dick and you are smart? Corignis, you have hit the jackpot." The demon grinned wide. "So, how new are you to this place? You stumble into a tentacle monster, you let a succubus put a control-bridle on you… Who are you?"
"Cou-" Courage felt a wing slap her face so fast she had barely seen it move. "What was that for?"
"I can't believe the things I will do to get a sexy stallion." Corignis ruffled her wing back down. "Never tell a demon your name, you do that and you give them power over you. I am a small fry down here, but if you said that openly, well, somepony would sell the information and next thing you know, you are trapped in some demon's harem, willingly."
Courage trembled at the description and couldn't help giving the demoness a smile. "So why tell me? You really want to… get with…" She blushed and trailed off.
"Yes." Corignis licked her lips, a forked tongue lashing over them as she looked up and down Courage. "How do you want me?"
The question surprised Courage, she certainly hadn't expected a "sex demon" to offer her choice of positions. "Uh, I guess, standing, and…" She was lost, Courage looking around for any excuse to get out of doing what the succubus wanted.
"Really? What is this, your first… oh fuck me sideways, you are a virgin?" Corignis rushed forward, both wings spread in excitement. "Okay, shit is changing, I need to do a ritual for this, we need to get you into me and feed me every drop of that… I'll get you out of this circle."
A little shocked and embarrassed, Courage blinked as the demoness started gesturing to the floor of the stable, making little symbols appear in burning red. "I… what is so important about that? I mean, the tentacle thing-"
"Is a tentacle thing. You can be despoiled by them, but that cock of yours is pristine… and I worked you up to waste a blast on the floor! I could have sold that for a fortune… no, stop, getting ahead of myself. Right, I have a virgin colt-"
"Mare." Courage was grinning a little on edge, she tried to examine the runes the succubus had made. "Corignis, what are these? I used to make enchantments, I never saw anything like… like these buckin' things."
"Oh, big dick, smart, and have a way with magic? I may put that bridle back on you and ride you home." Corignis stepped up beside Courage and gestured in the air with one wing, the other covering Courage's back. "They work like this. Inscribing the rune for lust, adding a directional target, then an enhancement."
Courage felt an ache run down from her neck all the way to that spot between her back legs, where her throbbing shaft was growing again. The smell of the demon beside her had the unicorn breathing heavy. She saw all the runes flare brightly, felt the wing around her back urge her forward. Then the runes found her and latched on.
"Perfect, you are amazing." Corignis drew her wing back and turned, offering Courage her back. Normally she would coo and invite a stallion, but her newest conquest was so far ahead of the class that she had to lift and flag her tail, letting the other mare inspect her.
When she sank her snout into the succubus' vulva, Courage inhaled, drawing in their essence. The next breath had her body as ready as it ever could get. With a single lick, she mounted Corignis. Power surged into Courage, she felt the runes around the room bore their energy into her, focusing it carefully and almost driving her body. She bucked, missed, bucked again.
"Aim damn you, what is this your-" Corignis' voice choked off into a moan of pleasure as the mare atop her found her mark. With the enchantments in place, Courage had all the power, all the drive she needed to buck the demon into bliss. Grinding back into every thrust, Corignis soon found the moment she wanted.
Courage's body was wound like a spring, the demonic magic enhancing both her arousal and the sex itself until a precipice came. She trembled as her second male orgasm came, showing the first for the waste it was. Closing her eyes, Courage felt raw power being drained from her, torrents of it, waves of it, and she wouldn't have stopped it if she could. Shoving as deep as she could, she exploded into Corignis, forelegs pulling the demon back onto her.
The power was like a roar in Corignis' ears, fire and lust spilled up through her, the flood of seed binding the magic and power into a conduit. But it would not last. She trembled on her hooves as the bulk of the pleasure wound down, her own climax fading into happy twitches, and finally into weariness. "Now that is how you buck." She looked back, seeing the mare atop her slumped and tired.
~~~~~+++++~~~~~
Courage jerked awake, curled up in some hay and feeling a lot better than she had any right to feel. "I… I can't believe I-" She choked her words back as Corignis seemed to appear, as if summoned. "Did that… do you have enough power?"
"I do, but," Corignis' eyes roamed over the mare, taking in every inch of her. "Stay here, spend the night with me, and I will make you a demon lord too." Her eyes flashed with promise.
"One night?" Courage stretched, looked down, and laughed. "Well, something is saying yes…" Her thoughts kept catching on something, a fact she had thrown away as not important earlier. "Just the night, no more?"
"When dawn comes, you can leave my care and fly free." Corignis smiled.
"Dawn… no." Courage blinked in surprise. "How long has it been night here?"
"Since I have been in existence. Can you blame me? That was amazing sex; the power, the energy… I could send two ponies to the next Circle." Corignis sighed and folded her legs. "Just one for the road?"
Courage was about to resist, to tell the demon "no," when Corignis' lips wrapped around the morning wood she sported and Courage was once more sighing. "After… after this… this one..."
This is a bad end, leading on from Courage waking up after having some fun with Corignis.
Courage jerked awake, curled up in some hay and feeling a lot better than she had any right to feel. "I… I can't believe I-" She choked her words back as Corignis seemed to appear, as if summoned. "Did that… do you have enough power?"
"I do, but," Corignis' eyes roamed over the mare, taking in every inch of her. "Stay here, spend the night with me, and I will make you a demon lord too." Her eyes flashed with promise.
"One night?" Courage stretched, looked down, and laughed. "Well, something is saying yes…" Her thoughts kept catching on something, a fact she had thrown away as not important earlier. "Just the night, no more?"
"When dawn comes, you can leave my care and fly free." Corignis smiled.
"That sounds too good to be true, and being the Pit, it probably is." Courage thought about it. "So I would be a demon lord?" Corignis nodded and lay down before her, one hoof reaching out to stroke the hard shaft that Courage woke with.
"I warn you, I like to play, a lot." Corignis stroked the rock-hard shaft a few times, her eyes watching Courage as the unicorn groaned and slumped down to her side. "Is that a yes?"
"Yes, just buck me please…" Courage squirmed and rolled to her back, letting her length jut up along her belly. "Whatever it takes, make me strong enough to leave here." When she opened her eyes, it was just in time to see Corignis' mouth close around her hard shaft. Pleasure exploded, but it wasn't anything like the heights from the previous day.
Corignis lowered her head, sinking down and gathering all of Courage up in her mouth. Arching a wing forward, she pushed magic into the tip of her claw and began to scribe a rune onto Courage's barrel. Rolling her tongue and working at the mare's shaft, she finished the rune with time to spare.
Having given up control to the succubus, Courage didn't fight her body as that pressure began in her balls, or when she felt the delicious pleasure explode through her new equipment. Red light flared from her body as she fed the demon her seed and pleasure. Her brain barely managed to register the oddness of the red glow. "Wh-what is that?"
"Runes, enchantments." Corignis was licking her lips, a hoof stroking the mare's shaft slowly as it subsided. "I finished the first, that bound you to me the moment you came. You are mine, until this circle's next dawn."
Courage blinked and looked down at the glowing runes. " 'Your's'? Your what? What have you done to…" She froze when Corignis lifted a hoof and gestured her to silence. She tried to fight the urge to do what the demon clearly wished of her.
"Would it help you better if I bound your will as well? I could do that, wrap your mind up in a tight little ball and lock it away, fill you with my purpose, my needs." Corignis stroked the mare's shaft again. "Oh, do as you wish, you are boring when you just glare at me."
"What is with the runes? I promised you a night." Courage pushed herself out from under the demon and got to her hooves. A wing landed on her back, Corignis pulling her across and against her side. Leaning over and pressing against the demon, Courage closed her eyes and felt relaxation spread through her. "Just the… night… How long does the night last here?" She should be feeling worried, panicked, even scared; all Courage could feel was relaxed.
"Forever, as far as I know." Corignis squeezed the well-endowed mare. "But you don't have to worry about that, do you?" She studied the pony's little smile. "No more fighting for every day of life, no more struggling to just survive. You will never need to think unless you want to."
Courage tried to find why this was bad, why she should resist. "I am not free anymore?" She blinked. "This is the rune?" The demon nodded to her. "And I agreed?" Another nod had Courage sighing. "Fraud… well, buck."
"I didn't lie, I just didn't tell you all the truth." Corignis nuzzled Courage's cheek. "And you sat back and let me bind you, as your own magic users once bound my kind to service. This is quite the turnabout. I hope you like sex."
"We are going to be… well, that." Courage blushed a little and looked aside.
"A lot, yes. When a demoness like me has sex, particularly with a former mortal, it boosts our energy. It empowers me." Corignis drew her wing back and stepped away.
Courage was staring at the demon's plot, her eyes glued to Corignis' tail, then what it revealed when it pulled to the side. Her heart sped up, she felt her shaft growing fast and couldn't stop herself. Climbing the demoness' croup, Courage shoved forward and felt the hot confines of Corignis' body claim her. "What… what did you mean… former mortal?" She drove deeper, sinking all the way into Corignis, the heat of the demon making her ache to speed up the mating.
"I cannot protect you any longer."
Corignis let the power pour through her, the very act of sex with Courage building her strength. Squeezing and pushing back, she arched her back into each thrust until the blossoming heat inside set her over the edge into her own release. Drooping her wings a little, Corignis couldn't deny that things were looking up. "Since you were a virgin when you were first taken here, and since I performed the rituals properly, you are always going to be producing special amounts of energy."
Taking her time dismounting, Courage had trouble trying to work out why she thought this was a bad idea. I get to buck her as often as I want, doesn't seem bad. An odd tickling flowed over her, her face seemingly being stroked slowly. Blinking, she watched as Corignis' wing-claw wove a pattern into the air, aiming it right at her. She stood still as it wrapped around her head, somehow feeling like a bridle, especially when it pulled tight. "What is…"
"The first rune bound you to me, lets me feed off you and control you. That rune binds me to you, lets me feed you back." Corignis smiled widely and focused her demonic energy down the bond she had just woven.
Fire enveloped Courage. It focused more on her head than anywhere else, soon concentrating into more specific places. A great pain started in her forehead, feeling like her skull was splitting down the middle.
"Good, there you go, the first change." Corignis pulled out from under Courage, turning to face her. "A single horn does not fit an aspiring half-demon at all. You need two."
Courage knew why it felt like her head was splitting in half, suddenly. It wasn't her head, just her horn. Magic ripped the organ into two pieces, pulling them apart and curving them back from her face. "Why are you doing-" Courage's words were cut off by a lusty kiss, Corignis wrapping a wing around her neck and pulling her into it.
More energy, more perfect. Corignis fed back more of the mare's energy to herself, tainted by demonic magic. She felt it vibrate through the unicorn, focusing on her back. She quickly pulled back from the kiss. "This might hurt."
The wings already on her back spread out, grew even more demonic in appearance and became massive. Squeezed in the stable, the larger appendages couldn't unfold fully. "What... why are they getting bigger?!" Courage tried to pull them back in toward herself, almost tangling them up.
"Hold still, they are different now, you don't want to break them so soon." Corignis stepped to one side, using her own wing to carefully fold up Courage's, tucking it down by the corrupted mare's side. "There, feel how that is? Can you do that for the other side?"
Courage blinked and tried to feel how changed muscles and tendons pulled, how they sat. She started pulling, slowly working her wing, feeling and watching as it folded and drew down against her side. A shudder of pleasure poured through her, something was making her groin warmer. "Hey!"
"Can't blame a mare for wanting more. Don't worry, you will be a bit bigger, I want you to have a tight filly." Corignis rubbed her lips along Courage's cheek, making sure her fangs brushed the other mare's lips. She was shocked when Courage roared at her and pushed her forward. "Hey, wha-" She cut off, knowing just what the lusty mare was doing.
One thing was obvious to Courage, she was bigger. As she tried to shove into Corignis like before, it was not nearly so smooth. "Tiiiigght." She growled the words out and felt the prickle of demonic energy flowing into her again. It was like her muscles were blasted with power, she was so much stronger now that when she shoved forward, she drove in deep anyway.
"M-M-Maybe… I went… went a little… far…" Corignis' mouth hung open, her tongue lolling to one side. She tried to push back and meet Courage's thrusts, but it was like a true monster was on her, taking her, claiming her. It was bliss for the succubus.
Courage had not an ounce of control, she bucked and bucked, she drove herself into the demon until her body exploded, milked by Corignis' depths into giving up her bounty. "Is…" She tried to start talking, but polysyllable words were still beyond her. Taking a few deep gasps of air, she tried again. "Is it going to be-be like that, every time?"
Corignis looked back over one shoulder, and laughed. "No, sometimes it will be even better. How do you feel?" She flexed her pelvic muscles and heard the other mare groan, felt her deliver a little more seed.
"I feel amazing. What did you do to me?" Courage wasn't gentle, she yanked herself back and free of the demon. "Did you make me into an alicorn?" She looked at one of her wings.
"What? Don't be ridiculous. I made you half-demon. Your magic, your body, your very existence is tainted now, and it all belongs to me." Corignis grinned, showing off her fangs. "If I could get you to stop riding my back for five minutes I might even be able to explain how things are going to be."
"How things are going to be?" Courage's temper flared. "I'll tell you how things are going to be."
Corignis' eyes widened when an enraged mare mounted her again. "But you have to do-" Words failed as she was drilled again. She wanted to struggle back, take the upper hoof, but part of her was more than satisfied with her perfect creation.
Courage heard the demon struggle to talk; struggle, and fail. "If I am going to 'belong' to anypony, she will be the best buckin' demon in the Pit. You told me you get stronger from this? Make me stronger too!" She drove Corignis so hard the demon had to brace herself against a post in the stable. She bucked and bucked until the sweet release of climax stole all sense from her.
Feeling the mare slide from her back, Corignis actually wobbled a little before she spread her stance. Feeling a warm trickle down her legs, Corignis felt full. Not just was the demon full to the brim with Courage's seed, she was burning up with power. She eyed the mare she had already infused with demonic power. "You will be perfect." She poured more energy into Courage, directed it to her extremities.
"What are…" Courage watched as the ever-present orange snout she always saw between her eyes turned blood-red. "This-" It was like getting tickled all over, in a very sensual way. She squirmed and writhed, spread a wing to watch it change. At last, even the long tail she had gotten when she first came to the Pit became fiery red. "Wow…"
"Come on, we have some work to do." Corignis' eyes flashed with power as she turned and stalked from the stable.
Courage put one hoof before the other, her eyes glued to the succubus' rear, following the stained fur into the unknown.
Courage squirmed and stretched. "I need to go. Another of those and I will agree to stay…" She felt an odd sensation of deja-vu, as if she already had given the demoness permission to keep her, to use her.
"But if another is all it would take, then why not?" Corignis smiled, a little of Courage's seed staining her chin. "You sure you want to go up? We could be demon-lords here, together."
"Blah blah blah, and I will be stuck here forever, probably as your pet or something." Courage kissed the demon, subconsciously avoiding the stained fur. "Thanks, but no thanks. I need to get out of here."
Corignis leaned up and pressed her snout to Courage's ear. "Corignis el Threpin ark Turas del Fife." She kissed Courage's ear. "And if I hear you try to summon me for anything that doesn't involve kicking plot or bucking mine, I will drag you back here."
"That… that was your name?" Courage blinked. "Isn't that dange-"
"So don't tell everyone you see, got it?" Corignis sighed. "Look, if it makes you feel better, give me yours. It won't work yet, but if you get any more demon in you, it will."
"And then you can drag me back here any time you want?" Courage gave a bark of laughter. "Send me up, I am not going to give you power over me." She steadied herself and glared at the demoness. Corignis sighed at the mare and gestured lightly with a wing, but the power that poured from her was anything but light. It crashed into Courage like a wave, thrusting them upwards, blacking them out in the process.
~~~~~+++++~~~~~
Courage woke up slowly, her mind spinning a little. She could still taste the last kiss that Corignis had stolen from her. "Damn but she was hot…" She blushed a little at the words and shook her head. "So where is this? Come on, I know you are still around."
"You might get mad if I told you."
"I'll get mad regardless you… what are you, anyway?" Courage put her hooves down with purpose, pushing and lifting herself up. Looking around herself, she saw something coming toward her. It looked like a beast, huge and powerful canine of some type. "Oh no, not this unicorn you don't!"
Courage first reached for her dagger, cursing that she hadn't replaced it when she had the chance, she charged up the best magic bolt she could and hurled it at the charging beast. "Buck yeah!" The blast dropped the monster mid-stride. Just as Courage was about to investigate something landed on her. Pain blossomed in Courage's shoulder as the second beast, atop her, bit down through cloak and fur both.
Thrashing in desperation to get free, Courage opted at last to squash her attacker. Slumping to her side, she kicked at the ground put all her weight on the creature. The sound of a yelp was accompanied by more pain in her shoulder as Courage felt the thing under her let go. She didn't relent, though. "Just die dammit!" It was luck more than skill that had her braced on the animal's windpipe, she didn't question how she was weakening it, she just made sure to not let-up.
Even after the animal went still, even a minute later, she still didn't move. Courage waited longer still before she could be sure that the thing under her wasn't moving anymore. She took some time to look it over more carefully. Resembling a timberwolf, the creature looked to be made of flesh and fur. Claws adorned each paw, as well as fangs in its mouth, the red pelt was an obvious warning that it was not to be trifled with.
"Bravo! Bravo!"
"This isn't a show! I nearly died to that thing!" Courage rolled off the monster and slowly got to her hooves. "Now I am probably bleeding, and my cloak is ruined!" The laundry-list was quickly growing, Courage finding a need to vent. "And to top it all off, you start cheering as if this is all a game!"
"It is a game."
"Not to me." Courage pulled her favorite cloak off and inspected the big tear in it. Feeling a slight breeze, she spread the wings she had gotten when she first arrived. "And these, they are useless! If a pegasus spread their wings they would have to fight from being lifted up and away, instead I have stupid bat-like…" She stopped her tirade and reached a hoof up and back to scratch at where she had been bitten. "What the… already healed? Did you do this?"
"Of course not, that would be cheating."
"Well boo-hoo for you." Courage rubbed the itch on her back more until, with a deep, satisfied sigh, she practically melted. "Oh there it is… ugh so good…" She knew she must have a goofy look on her face, her tongue hanging out as her hoof seemed just right for dealing with the itch.
"Giving up so quickly?"
Shaken back to herself by the words, Courage pulled her hoof away and froze. "W-W-What happened?" She stared at the paw on the end of her foreleg, then looked at one of the monsters and saw four more of them. "What is this place?"
"Welcome to Violence"
" 'Violence'? So if this is all revolving around that, how am I meant to get out?" Courage froze, realizing she had reached around with her other leg to scratch her shoulder. "Aww buck…" Drawing her leg back into view, she saw another paw adorning that.
In the distance, a roar of sound pulled Courage's attention. "Let me guess, another stupid city with stupid laws and some stupid 'violence' demon that will smuggle me in?" Despite her sarcasm, she was already walking toward the source of the noise. "Or will this be a city under attack?"
"Would it be cheating to tell you?"
"Probably, but you are a demon. Buck, look at me! I am part demon now too!" Courage spread her wings and gave them a few flaps. For a moment she felt them cup the air, her body becoming lighter as gravity was opposed by lift. It felt so good to just let loose with the wings that she flapped them more, but never really got enough lift to rise. "Whoo!" she cried out at the end, "Okay, maybe that part of being a demon isn't so bad."
Trotting forward, Courage saw where the noise was coming from. It was still a long way away, but the huge building grew more distinct the closer she got. It was built like a giant circle, hundreds of pony-lengths high, all made from stone.
The sound became a roar again, as she got near. Courage walked around the huge structure until she found a giant archway. The itching on her back was, by now, much more annoying. Every few moments she felt the need to reach back and scratch it. Walking under the huge arch, she found a long corridor with light at the end of it.
"A new competitor approaches!" The loud voice was almost drowned out by the roar of approval. "This is a strange one. Just appeared, barely even adapted, what will this pony do?"
Walking out into the light, Courage saw that she was in the middle of a huge arena, thousands of onlookers cheered down at her. "Er, what is this?" Her words didn't get far over the wall of noise coming down on her. The crowd seemed a mix of demons, big, small, male, and female; all of them were cheering for her.
"Let's see her fight, a hound!"
A crashing sound had Courage jump forward and spin to look behind her. The entrance she had come through now had a huge portcullis dropped into it. "Hey, what is this? What is going on? Let me out!"
"And the hound is away!"
Courage's heart turned to lead and she turned, just in time to see another of the beasts charging for her. She laughed at the big canine and lowered her head. Her magic shot out, lancing a red beam right at the creature. Apparently more canny than its wild kin, the beast dodged her attack and kept moving.
Spreading her wings, Courage flapped as hard as she could and lifted up and off the ground. She was so happy to get out of the hound's reach that she messed up a flap. "Ahh buck!" There was nothing for it than to brace her legs and be ready for the impact, but luck was on Courage's side when one hoof hit the creature a solid blow in the neck.
"She is victorious!"
Courage felt a rush of power, of strength filling her. The crowd was screaming, their lungs burning out their approval for her and her victory. She couldn't stop herself, she started trotting a circle in the middle of the arena, the sound coming at her from all sides making her feel amazing.
"Since this is her first time here, our new crowd favorite must fight a second foe, and it must be more of a challenge!"
This time Courage saw the gate open on one side of the arena, she watched as two of the hounds came out this time. Shaking her shoulders, Courage shook her plot too in readiness, and realized that the long snake-like tail was much shorter and, to her surprise, it had red fur trailing down it. She heard the snarling and spun back, watching as the two canines approached from each side. A chant started in the crowd, Courage's body responded to it before she even realized.
"Kill them! Kill them! Kill them! Kill them!"
She turned to her left, beat her wings twice and shot herself up, then snapped her wings almost completely closed. Hurtling down, she landed on the hound and again broke the beast under her weight. Only now Courage wasn't acting in desperation.
The crunch of bones under her back-legs, the feel of the claws of her new forepaws sinking into the animal, made her heart soar. The wild cheering almost made her deaf, she certainly didn't hear the second hound until it was already leaping at her. There wasn't time to lift off and dive, instead her heart told her what her mind couldn't contemplate. She leaped forward and pushed her head upwards.
Heat, wet and heavy, poured down onto Courage. She pulled back from the weight of the beast atop her and it got worse. She watched as her horn tore the beast's belly open and her eyes were wide with shock. Shoving to the side, she pulled away from the grisly mess she had just made of the animal.
The heat had been nothing compared to the power that poured into her now. The crowd roared so loudly she couldn't even hear that loud voice, it screamed so loudly that the ground shook.
"Is it safe?" This voice wasn't the announcer, but something much closer.
Courage's head spun around to the owner of the voice. A small impish demon-pony was dragging the first of the hounds back, pulling it by its tail. Part of her protested the stealing of her kill, but another part, a bigger part, rallied against it. Courage was once more in her right mind. "What are you? What is this place?"
"Violence." The voice sounded hungry, happy.
Courage shook her head, feeling droplets of something spraying free. "What do I do now?" She saw another imp gingerly approaching the beast she stood beside. Stepping back, she saw relief pour onto the little demon's face.
"Follow me." Not the announcer, not even one of the imps, the voice was deep, with a crackle behind it, like a flame licking over dry wood.
When Courage turned at the new voice, she saw a bigger pony-demon, deep red of coat and sporting a mane and tail of fire, it spoke once more. "Follow me, now."
Her hooves and paws moved, she turned from the stinking patch of the arena and followed the demonic stallion. "What is this place?" It was like her voice was stuck with only the same questions, she could barely think straight through the haze the roar of the crowd incited her to.
"This is the Heart of Violence. You won your first fight, you will live." The demon looked back over its shoulder and eyed Courage. "And you grow stronger. Good. You might live longer."
The heat of the demon's tail seemed to dry her off, Courage relaxing a little as she followed him out of the arena, through a gate. She spotted the water bucket before it was pointed out and dove forward. Shoving half her face down into it, she drank and drank. The water tasted good, tasted great. She gulped it down, salty and tasting coppery, before she even realized what it was tainted with.
Courage's eyes narrowed to pin-pricks as she saw the red color of the water, saw a single bright red drop drip from her snout.
Courage jerked up, her eyes snapping open. The sound of moving chain accompanied her every movement, reaching a paw up she found out why. A thick chain led from a lug on the wall to a hefty steel collar around her neck. "Hey, what is this?" When she opened her mouth to complain, she almost failed to make any sounds at all. "And why is my throat so dry?"
A clanging sound drew Courage's attention to one of the imps that was opening a tiny door in the cage she was in. "Here, dog, you drink. Fight today again."
Her throat ached and despite a warning voice, Courage moved forward and started drinking from the bucket. She jerked back immediately. "This is horrible!" The taste of salt on her tongue told her that she wasn't going to get much refreshment from the bucket. "Look, I didn't mean to come in here, just let me go, okay?"
The thirst pulled Courage's head back down and despite the salt in the water, she drank more, kept drinking, drank the whole bucket down. Panting hard, she shook with the horrible feeling of dryness and thirst. Courage's anger started to rise, and when an imp came back to get the bucket she lowered her head and sent a bolt of magic at them. "Bring me water!"
"You get no water until after fight." The big, fire-maned demon-pony reached up with one paw-like foreleg, unfastening some hidden latch on the door and opening it. "Follow, fight, and get water."
The demon gestured at Courage and she felt a wave of heat strike her, focusing in on her neck. A clank sounded and when she looked down, she saw a link of the chain had been slagged. She shuddered more from the fact that the heat should have seared her painfully, than from the fact that it didn't. Walking after the retreating demon, she heard the clank of the few links still attached.
"Our first fight," the loud announcer voice was booming, "is our returning challenger from yesterday!"
Even inside the dungeon halls, Courage could hear the voice, and the thunder of the crowd. Bright light singed her eyes and she stared out through a portcullis, the sand of the arena burning with heat. Imps to each side cranked a windlass and hauled the gate up.
"Go! Fight! Kill!" A wave of heat followed the demon-pony's voice, and the heat called to Courage, inspired her.
Stepping out onto the sand, Courage saw her first non-canine opponent. Standing nearly five ponies tall, the steel machine belched fire out. It looked for all the world like a big metal demon-imp, and while it moved slowly, she could see that it wasn't going to be easy to fight. The left arm had a spinning blade on the end of it, and the right had a giant claw.
A hot rush of pleasure poured over Courage, but it had nothing to do with sex. Letting out an inarticulate scream of rage, she charged the metal giant. The sand disappeared behind her as Courage charged in an odd lope. She wove a little left and right, baiting the machine. At the last second, after weaving to the right, she committed fully in that direction, skirting around the claw that reached for her and got behind it.
Courage was shocked from the battle rage when her teeth rattled against the steel of the monster's legs. "What the buck am I doing?" She tried to hop back, to get away from it as it turned, but a gout of flame licked along her back. Not only didn't the flames inflict pain, they seemed to stoke her up, Courage's eyes widened and she dodged the saw-blade next. "This fight isn't working. I can't… bite through it." She dodged the claw and scooted backwards a few extra body-lengths to buy time. "Okay, think, what can break through steel?"
"More steel?" The amusement in the voice was obvious.
"Yeah, yeah. Laugh it up." Courage shifted back a bit further as the imp-machine advanced. "I wonder what is controlling it? Is it a puppet? Or like a train, with a driver?" Her mind processed through the ideas, but with her belly screaming in hunger, and her mouth salivating at the thought of things being inside, she had to shake her head. "Okay, need to look around it, find a weak point.
Taking off to her left, Courage ran fast and hard, charging just outside of the metal monster's reach. It was no good, as she moved around it, the thing turned to face her. After her fourth attempt, she drew back again. "No good, it turns fast enough to make this approach impossible." This time, Courage called to that savage part of herself, the part that had reacted to the initial steps onto the sand, that had smelled something to bite in the metal thing.
Courage had never moved so fast, nor so nimbly, in her life. She dodged past the saw this time, hearing it crash down into the sand behind her, before dodging behind the metal monster. This time she looked up.
With Courage's legs dancing, she wove left and right, following the big metal monster's movements by instinct, she could focus on her target. "There's a gap there." She started to giggle and, when she got directly behind the thing after a little more dodging, spread her wings and pumped hard. Unable to really enjoy the flight for what it was, Courage landed on the metal creature's back. "Now, let me see what is inside…"
"Hey! Get off!" A demonic imp yelled out through the gap in the armor. "If you jump off, we will only kill you a little bit!"
Giggling like a filly, Courage brought her horn up and pressed the tip just between the plates. "I bet this thing's magic-proof." Testing with a few little zaps, Courage found her guess correct, every inch of the metal plating was enchanted against magic. Laughing, she channeled all her anger and annoyance into the blast and let it fly between the gap to bounce and zip around within the armor of the metal imp.
Even as the metal can started to fall forward, Courage began to dig and rip at the metal with her forepaws. To her delight, her new claws actually seemed effective against the stuff and soon she peeled back and enlarged the hole. The smell of burning meat was intense, her magic bolt seemed to have shared a lot more in common with a fireball than an arcane blast. Just like when she had first entered the arena to fight the metal monster, Courage's animalistic nature took control.
"Wake up! Wake up!"
Something sharp poked at Courage, without thinking she snapped her mouth at it, then blasted the thing with her horn. She felt warm, sated. The crowed cheered and simmered, lifting their voices when she pulled the spear from the imp's grip, almost pulling the imp closer too. "Back off!" Shaking her body, Courage stood up. She felt good, better than she did when she first woke up, the reason was, her belly was full.
"Come on, forget the imps, unless you are still hungry?" It was the fire demon again, sounding just as cheerful as ever.
Courage's eyes focused down to pinpricks and she started to retch. I ate them, I ate those imps… But no matter how she tried to void and disgorge the meat and blood, her body would simply not give it up.
"You embraced this circle well. It suits you, just give up and settle here."
"Buck you." Courage's voice was a snarl, she seemed completely not in the mood to spar orally with the strange benefactor. "Unless you can tell me how to get out of this place, then just… just buck off."
"In every Circle you have been in so far, how have you escaped it?"
The words startled Courage to a halt, just inside of the portcullis. The steel-bound wood slammed into the ground behind her. "I… I went against the nature of the Circle." She contemplated that. "This is violence, how do I resist that? They make me fight!"
Silence was Courage's reply. "Oh, I know, I know. You said too much already. Blah blah blah." She walked forward again, finding the bucket of well water. She wasn't achingly thirsty this time, horrible though the reason was for it, but she did want to clean her face off. Leaning over the bucket, Courage froze at the image staring back at her.
The reflection's fur was much closer to red than Courage's had ever been. Her horn was a darker shade again, bordering on blood-red now. Opening her mouth, she saw the reflection no longer had the even pony-teeth of a herbivore; instead there were canine teeth, sharp, pointed, perfect for rending. Channeling magic to purify the water with a spell, she gasped loudly. Her magic wasn't yellow-orange, it was orange-red. "What is happening to me?"
"This place is what is happening. It makes demons of monsters, and monsters of all." A large canine, not unlike those Courage had killed on her first day, wandered over. "Did you purify that? Got the sleeping drugs out of it?"
"They want me back in the arena soon, it won't have any… so that is why I passed out?" Courage looked into the water, saw a few droplets of blood from around her maw had dripped in. "Uh, gimme a sec I can-" She froze as the canine moved in and licked her, lapping at her face and cheeks.
The face-bath went on for a few minutes, ending in the wolfess pressing her muzzle to Courage's lips, forcing her mouth open and even licking around the inside of her mouth. The attention gave rise to something in Courage, a heat that had nothing to do with fire and everything to do with lust.
When the female canine turned and started drinking the water, Courage didn't hold back her urges anymore, and leaped atop her. Instinct pulled her forelegs in tight around the canine, hugging behind her hips and with a buck forward, Courage heard the wolfess exclaim in shock. "Hold on to something." Fire raced through her blood as she adjusted herself. She wanted to buck hard right away, to keep bucking, but she also needed a better angle. "Gimme a sec… not exactly well practiced at this."
Courage needn't have worried, the bitch under her groaned happily and pushed back. The tightness of her warm body only encouraged her to buck and drive, pulling her way up her back. "MINE!" Her snarl, the raw possessiveness of it, startled Courage—but not enough to stop. She drove and pushed, her body feeling hotter and hotter by the second until an electric tightness squeezed around her balls. She knew what was coming, she knew she was coming. Her body took over, the instincts of a stallion and dog wolf blending together as she drove herself deep into the bitch and howled.
White fire burned through her, Courage screamed with pleasure as it erupted into the bitch. Flame boiled up before her eyes as she watched the wolfess' fur light up, she was no longer just wolf, she was a demon. Still unloading, Courage felt the whole building around her tremble. "What… what the buck?"
"He is mad with you. You are only meant to feel rage, anger, violence. He feeds on it."
Courage's attention was on the voice. "So… wait, who is 'he'?" She looked around, expecting the demon-pony to appear.
"You have been inside him for a day now, haven't you heard him breathe? Haven't you heard his voice? He loves you in his own way. You killed merely for the sound of his breathing."
"B-B-Buck." Courage, still spraying, pulled back and off the bitch. "Okay, we are getting out of here." She looked around, saw other various animals and beasts. "I don't know how many of you can understand me, but I am not going to play this game anymore!" It wasn't the monster she was becoming that stepped forward and hugged the burning wolfess, it was the pony she still was inside. "Can you stand?"
She felt the wolf nod against her wing as she pulled her close. "Come on then, let's get out of here." She took a step, then another.
The stadium shook more, the hallway trembled as dust fell from the vaulted ceiling. Courage got near to the portcullis and threw power into her horn. Cranking both the windlasses at the same time wasn't easy, but she didn't expect this escape to be. "Come on, damn you! What are you all waiting for?" All the beasts drew back, huddled in their cages. "Ah to Tartarus with you." She stepped forward, pulled the bitch with her. "Hey, what's your name?"
"I… I can't remember. What are you going to do?" Leaning against Courage, the wolfess was confused, but felt power in her new mate.
"Well, I can't keep thinking of you as… how I have been. What about Snaps?" Courage judged their distance from the tunnel and let go of the cranks. "Can you hold on tight, Snaps?"
Blinking at having been screwed, named, and now being helped, Snaps nodded and tried to grip on to Courage, but realized she would foul the demon-pony's wings no matter how she tried. "Go, leave me here. At least one of us-"
Courage shook her head, instinct taking hold again. Leaning over the wolf, she opened her mouth and clamped down on Snaps' neck—like a mother wolf would her cub. Gripping tight, but not wanting to bite through, she marveled at how the flames licked over her without hurting. She spread her wings and looked up.
"You embrace the violence, but still carry your love, and your heart. You are quite exciting to play with. Have some help."
"NO!" The word was nearly deafening, but Courage tried not to shrink back from it.
Courage pushed with her wings, fighting her own weight, and that of Snaps. She didn't see her wings grow larger, her muscles swelling more, but one moment she was fighting to lift Snaps, and the next they were in the air.
"NO NO NO! COME BACK AND FIGHT!"
The top of the stadium, formerly a perfect circle, started to get smaller, as three huge sections started to close in. Courage beat her wings, circling higher and higher. I will never give in! She shot through the last gap before the opening closed. Beating her wings, she looked down and a shiver of fear passed over her. The stadium was a shell, a facade built around the maw of a giant worm. It was as far around as the outer walls.
"Violence."
GET ME OUT OF HERE! Courage threw the thought out with all her anger behind it, all her rage at being trapped in that thing. The world turned black around her.
This is a bad end, leading on from Courage walks out into the arena to deal with the mechanical imp.
"Go! Fight! Kill!" A wave of heat followed the demon-pony's voice, and the heat called to Courage, inspired her.
Stepping out onto the sand, Courage saw her first non-canine opponent. Standing nearly five ponies tall, the steel machine belched fire out. It looked for all the world like a big metal demon-imp, and while it moved slowly, she could see that it wasn't going to be easy to fight. The left arm had a spinning blade on the end of it, and the right had a giant claw.
A hot rush of pleasure poured over Courage, but it had nothing to do with sex. Letting out an inarticulate scream of rage, she charged the metal giant. The sand disappeared behind her as Courage charged in an odd lope. She wove a little left and right, baiting the machine. At the last second, after weaving to the right, she committed fully in that direction, skirting around the claw that reached for her and got behind it.
Urges, primal and wild, hammered Courage's mind. Her nose worked, smelling living creatures within the machine. Snarling, she snapped her fangs at the metal hide again and again. Savagery seemed the best solution to her problem, the only solution her dehydrated mind could produce. Getting a few good snaps in at the mechanical monster, she misjudged a step as the thing turned and found herself staring up at the short muzzle of the flame-gun.
Courage didn't have a moment to think, she got to watch that fire pour down the barrel of the weapon, watched it spread into a wide stream that danced through the air toward her. Lowering her head, she felt the fire pour over her body, igniting her mane and tail first. Screaming, the pain didn't last long, but the flame seemed to pour inwards. Then her own flame ignited.
Opening her snout, Courage laughed at the fire the machine kept pumping out at her. It no longer felt hot, not even warm. The flow of fire cut off and it left the mare gazing up at the metal monster hungrily. She dropped and rolled to the right barely in time to avoid the spinning blade that was coming down for her.
The crowd roared in Courage's ears, a primal scream that demanded she win. Moving in close, she worried at one of the legs. This time, rather than her fangs sliding off the metal plates, a searing sound, barely audible under the riot of noise from the crowd, assailed her ears. Her teeth sank in, her lips pressing tight around the leg until something came loose from it. Spitting it to the side, Courage saw what she had bitten off the machine, a chunk of glowing-hot metal.
Courage howled in a mix of fury and delight, diving around the machine again an instinctively biting for the back of one leg. As her teeth melted their way through the metal, she felt something softer inside, and bit down as hard as she could.
Spitting out what seemed like a bunch of cables melted to the slagged armor, Courage took a few steps back to assess the situation. When the big machine started to turn toward her, Courage thought it was all for naught—but then she realized the leg she had bit wasn't moving right.
When the thing teetered, Courage started to move. As it fell backwards she raced between the claw and the blade, running up its tilting body, riding the contraption until it was on its back and flailing. Digging her teeth in at the base of the machine's head, she bit down and jerked upwards with all her strength. The screech of metal-on-metal heralded her success as she tore a long chunk of its head up and away, revealing the two scared imps within.
There wasn't enough room in their mechanical suit of armor for weapons, there was barely enough for the imps. They had nothing to fight with as the pony-wolf, its mane and tail burning still, stood over them.
Panting with excitement, Courage opened her mouth instinctively and breathed out. That core of fire that the flamethrower had ignited opened itself briefly, letting a trickle of the white hot core that now burned inside Courage, to flow from her mouth.
Her new instincts completely overcame Courage, when the smell of searing flesh hit her nose. The anger and violence, it meant nothing to the animal that pushed the mare to the back of her mind, and fed.
Warm flesh, coppery blood, even the hot entrails and organs were torn free, chewed, and swallowed. Courage felt part of her self just let go, and in that moment the crowd went crazy. Tilting her head up, the mare saw the silhouettes of demons in the stands, their voices raised, the throbbing sounds of their voices trembling through her. Looking down at the remains of the imps, she saw what she had done to them. Not only had she eaten most of them, but had taken bites into the metal surrounding them, and hadn't even noticed. "What the buck am I?"
Backing up a step, then another, Courage trembled a little. When one back hoof found nothing but air, she looked back, turned, and ran from the devastation. Racing for where she knew the portcullis was, she saw it raise before her, letting her retreat from the field.
"You won. That was not an easy fight, but you become strong enough to survive it." The big burning pony-hound grinned, fire dripping from its fangs. But it wasn't the creature's mouth that took Courage's focus, it was its body.
Taking a step, perpendicular to the demonic creature, she saw something hanging down between its back legs. She trembled, her body aching for relief, part of her wanting to walk right up to it and offer herself. Courage shook her head, then bit her lip. Pain flared a moment, but what gave her focus was the tang of blood in her mouth. Like a switch, her excitement changed from submissive to dominant and hungry.
Lifting her left fore-paw, Courage stepped toward the other burning demon. Her heart thudded, but her eyes never left the stallion's back-end. "Get down and on your back." She snarled the words out, felt the heat inside her flare hotter still. "I said—"
"Make me." The other demon snarled at Courage and leaped forward, diving at her, jaw open and searching for her neck.
Courage jumped to the side and back, landing on all fours. Her anger flared at the male, at why he wasn't doing what she wanted. Part of her knew the demon was more familiar with their body-shapes, and yanked her thinking-self to focus on it.
"Bitch…" The demon charged Courage, planning to use strength to overwhelm her. He wasn't ready for the magical blast that hit him in the chest.
Practically prancing forward, Courage looked over the dog. "Roll on your back." She leaned down and pressed her snout to the back of his neck and gave a growl through her throat. "Nnnow." When the male started to reluctantly roll over, Courage felt all her blood rush to her groin; he wasn't just excited still, he was fully on display.
Climbing onto the demon, she pressed her belly against his and looked down at what her bolt had done to him. Closing her eyes, she slid backwards. The pointed, hybrid shaft that shared facets of both canine and pony anatomy, speared against her left thigh. Snarling, she jerked forward before driving back again. This time the tip collided with one of her thick and swollen lips, but it took a third thrust backwards to get him where she wanted.
Looking up at the bitch that had felled him so easily, the demon trembled in pleasure and gave a soft whine to her. When he thought he could get away with it, he tensed and jerked his muscles, shoving his hips up and forward.
Courage growled and pushed down sharply. I am in control, ME! As she shoved down, however, her vulva collided with the demon's knot. It was like a fuzz of need clouded her head, she began to jerk forward and slam back, again and again, the thought of claiming his whole shaft as hers was the only thought she could grip to.
"You are lost."
The words meant nothing, Courage only had one goal. She drove herself against the male repeatedly, becoming more forceful with each buck. At last, thanks to her efforts, Courage felt the knot shove into her. It wasn't gentle, it wasn't soft. The thick hunk at the base of his shaft stretched her, filled her, pushed Courage beyond her ability to hold back the pleasure. "Fill me!"
With his bitch snarling orders at him, the demon whimpered, subservient to her needs—and more importantly, the fact that she had all of him inside her and was squeezing at him—he came. Growling and whining alternately, his body trembled as that core of heat inside him opened and sent part of him shooting into her.
Arching her back, Courage howled her dominance and power out, the orgasm and resulting hot rush inside her making the world fade a little more to the mare. Panting, she looked down at the "stallion" who she had taken. She wanted to pull him out, to walk back out to the arena and fight, but his knot was anchored firmly, and he was still unloading himself. She settled down, her body feeling amazing.
Staring down at the male, Courage knew that he was hers now. Outside, there was the roar of the crowd calling to her, boiling the blood in her veins. Standing up sharply, she felt the tug of his still-swollen knot try to stay inside her, and fail. Hot and wet, liquid fire poured from Courage's body as she stepped off the demon.
He lay there, used and claimed, watching the new demoness stalk for the arena. Then she turned her head, her mane burning hot enough to shift her flames to blue.
"You coming, runt?" Courage didn't care what the rules were, she wanted to fight, she wanted to prove to the crowd that she could take on anything. The strange thing was, she wanted the demon to keep at her side while doing it. He belonged to her, she would use him.
Wagging his tail, the demon surrendered to the role the bitch had put him in. Rolling to his legs, he shoved himself upward and padded over to Courage. Her fire, her confidence, it bled through the air, poured all over him. As the portcullis lifted, he had no fear of what lay outside, not with the goddess of battle at his side.
~~~~~+++++~~~~~
Courage trotted around the arena, the sound of the crowd washing over her. This was her world, her life. She had everything she needed. Circling around, she saw the four demons that were her pack. Two she had made herself, of newly arrived creatures, and one her dog had. She squinted at the pack in anticipation. Her belly was swelling, she knew what was ahead of her, but it didn't make this any easier.
The pack watched as their alpha stared at them and each knew fear. Something was wrong, something was really wrong. When their alpha broke into a run it was obvious to all of them, they were her last prey for the night.
Fanning out, they expected her to back off, or to slow and join them while they waited for the next foe.
Courage neared her dog, she saw acceptance in the demon's eyes as she lowered her head, the black horn among her fiery mane lancing out with pure white flame. Dropping her head down, the lance of pure fire dropped and sliced, cutting through the demon lengthways.
It was always going to be a losing battle, the two demons were outclassed by their alpha, in so far as magic went, by a long shot. Nonetheless, working together, they tried to flank Courage. As they closed in from different sides, one saw the demoness' teeth coming toward their throat and knew in an instant their death was near. But the other had a clear target.
Feeling the weight on her back, Courage tried to buck and throw her former pack-mate off. They clamped teeth around her neck, squeezing and squeezing, trying to pop the vertebrae apart. Yelling in fury, Courage opened herself up, let the white-hot core of fire inside pour out.
The scream from the demon as its face burned away was echoed by the crowd. Standing back up, her fur burning white-blue, Courage turned to face the silhouettes cheering for her, and her mind knew bliss.
Courage jerked her head up, and instantly regretted it. Her eyes focused on a pony face—a very normal pony face—looking right at her. "Ugh…"
"Welcome!" The pony seemed not only overly cheerful to see her, but also very happy that she was awake. "You are the first we have ever seen come from below."
Memories of fighting, of clawing for blood and ripping apart countless foes, receded from Courage's mind. The hundreds of combats she had fought were just a dream, it didn't make the enemies she really had defeated any less real. "Where am I? What Circle is this?"
"We don't worry about Circles here. This is a peaceful little village; all the bad things are further down." The white earth pony shook his head, not only did he look like a normal pony, but his soft pink mane looked very normal. "So, what is your name?"
Courage's mouth was open, she was about to tell them her name, when a tingle of memory reminded her. "Hammered Fine." It was the best she could do on short notice, and she really hoped her friend wouldn't suffer for her lie. "There should have been a bit— a mare, with me."
"Now, now. I broke the rules for you, I couldn't take her too."
"Damn you!" Courage snarled, not realizing the pony tending to her hadn't heard too. "Wait, I didn't mean you." A sudden need settled over her. What do I even look like now? Climbing from the bed, stretching aching muscles, she realized she still had a lot of the canine features of the previous Circle, although her burning mane and tail were, thankfully, absent. Big, dark wings topped her shoulders still, but being in a little room she had no way to test if they still worked.
"Oh, uh… you have a voice in your head?" The stallion looked at Courage with a little shock. "Where are my manners? I am White. Welcome to Relaxation Town."
"Wait a second, this isn't where all the lazy ponies are, is it?" Courage spotted a mirror and froze at the sight of her face. Staring back at her, the creature looked more demon than pony. A longer than usual muzzle led from what she knew was a fang-filled mouth, up to a pair of eyes that cut through the world like knives. But Courage's eyes found the mirror-twin's horn and she almost panicked. Long and curved, it started off the same red as her fur, but at the tip it was inky-black. "Oh buck…"
"No, Hammered… do you mind if I call you Red?" White gave her a soft smile, gesturing to front door with a hoof. "The demons just leave us alone here. You can relax, even have a little fun…" White blushed hotly.
"Well, I guess it doesn't matter. I am trying to get out of here, the only reason I am in this place is because I messed up a spell, and for some reason I can't just do it again to leave…" Courage trailed off, fighting to continue her explanation as White's face dropped more and more. By the time she stopped, he looked like Courage had just kicked his pet. "Well… I could stay a little while."
Courage was wrapped in a tight hug, and found herself hugging back, if only because it felt like a "pony thing," and she felt she needed those right now. The hug lasted a while, and despite her having just woken from an odd sleep, she yawned.
"You must be tired, you only just woke up." White nuzzled Courage's cheek. "Why don't you lay down, and tomorrow we can try to work out how you can do what you want to?"
The offer was too good, Courage yawned and sighed. "Yeah, just a little sleep will be good; just one night." She padded back to the bed and climbed up onto it. "Sorry I—"
~~~~~+++++~~~~~
Courage felt better than she had in days, and she hadn't even opened her eyes yet. The tension and readiness to do harm was gone. She kept her eyes closed and squirmed a little in bed.
"Are you feeling more relaxed?" White had clearly been waiting for her to wake. "You look more relaxed."
"I feel more relaxed. Having a real bed is… a luxury. Thank you, White." Courage rolled over and stretched. She didn't realize it at first, but she had completely flashed herself to the stallion. When she remembered where she was, and that she didn't even know more than his name, Courage shrank back a little in modesty. Her eyes focused on her legs and she realized something odd, they were pony-like again: no more paws. "What…?"
"I'll make you something to eat." White trotted from the room and was out the door before Courage could even work out what was going on.
"Okay now, this is weird." She looked at her hooves, appreciating whatever force had turned them back to "normal" again. "Maybe this place is more than just relaxing." She looked down at herself, but couldn't see anything different from the previous day, except her hooves. It was enough to make her grin like a loon.
Strutting around the room, Courage kept looking back at the mirror, enjoying the thought that she might go back to normal, how she was. "I could keep the wings, though." She admired the folded, leathery limbs. "Coming." She trotted off, heading out the door and turning the direction White had gone.
Spotting White's tail in what seemed to be the kitchen, Courage made her way through. "If this house is anything to go by, this is not too… too…" Something was off about the stallion, something she hadn't noticed earlier. "You don't have a cutie mark?"
"Oh?" White looked back at his flank and gave a shrug. "I don't really miss it." He passed two plates to the table, both were covered in a neat salad. "Dig in." He took a seat and started munching on a leaf.
Courage sat down at the table and started poking at the salad. "Huh, must be how I got here. Something—"
"Do not mention me."
"Something made me get a little extra on it, but I think it will change back once I get out." Courage heeded the voice's advice, and avoided mentioning his involvement with the chains on her cutie mark, if only because it had saved her in the previous Circle. "Have you been higher than here?"
"To the River?" White saw confusion on Courage's face. "Oh, the River Styx, that place is not nice. The wrathful and the sullen fight, you can work out how that ends." He waved a stick of celery around. "Then you have Avarice, then Gluttony, then… Lust."
"There is a whole Circle just for lust?" Courage took a moment to eat some salad herself, it tasted wonderful compared to what she had been forced to eat recently.
"And then, right up near the top, you have Tartarus, ponies as far as you can see." White ate more. "So you see why, when we found this nice little place, we jumped on it and don't want to leave. It is just… easier, here."
"Yeah, but I want to get out. I… I don't belong in here." Courage ate more of the food, almost finishing the plate off. "Are there others here?"
"Of course there is—just figured you would want to relax and recover first." White waited for Courage to finish her own salad before he claimed her plate. "And… I shouldn't say."
The tone White used brooked no chance to ignore it, Courage was opening her mouth before she realized it. "Say what?" It was almost like a game, she realized.
"Well, you were so pretty, I guess I liked looking at you." White blushed and looked away. "Please forgive me, I didn't mean to be so forward."
Courage smiled at the coy stallion. "It's alright, White. I… I am flattered, and a little—" She stopped, shocked by what she was about to say, but now White was looking right at her, smiling a little. "Would you… you know, want to play a little?" The first reply was seeing White's tail start to swish.
White stood up and walked around to Courage's side of the table. "I have a bigger bed." He grinned like a colt. When Courage climbed off her own chair and moved in beside him, he practically pranced back down the hall.
Blushing, Courage trotted after him, poking her head in the bedroom he had gone into. The kiss on the cheek he gave her came from nowhere, White having found a spot to hide beside the door. "Well, aren't you—" She was interrupted by another kiss, this one on her lips. Giving a happy sigh, she pressed forward, felt him respond in kind. Turning around a little, she didn't realize what he had done until her back-legs bumped the bed.
Breaking the kiss, White laughed. "Now I have you right where I wanted you, the moment I first laid eyes on you, Red." He bore in with another kiss, forcing Courage back up and onto the bed.
He wasn't like any of the other creatures in the Pit had been so far, Courage let out a happy groan when White's snout pushed under her tail and started licking, lapping. Her folds were attended most thoroughly, she sang for him in tones alternating between low and high. But when he drew back it caught Courage in the middle of a needy moan. Looking back, she caught sight of White climbing up and over her.
"Look forward." White's words were the softest command, and Courage obeyed. He pressed his belly and barrel against her back and bore down. When the end of his long shaft pressed to her vulva, he didn't pause for a second.
When Courage felt the stallion start into her, she squirmed and writhed, but didn't pull away. Each slow thrust had her groaning in pleasure, and each withdrawal had her whimper at the emptiness she felt. Rocking to the motion, Courage felt White speed up. Little by little the stallion built his pace, until Courage was barely able to focus on just bracing against his hard shoves. When the hot rush of seed blossomed in her, Courage felt her own end arrive.
Electricity, or so it felt, sprayed out from Courage's groin, echoing and reverberating around her body as blinding pleasure claimed her. Feeling so good she could really relax, Courage was ready to snuggle up against the stallion. But then he started bucking again.
~~~~~+++++~~~~~
Contentedness, pure and simple. Courage woke in the strange bed, but she felt so good that she didn't immediately question what had happened. The relaxation let her mind slowly work at bringing the truth to light. White.
Movement caught Courage's attention. Behind her, White moved, and while his body was still snugged in against her own, she felt him move inside her, the size and shape of the stallion now feeling quite familiar.
"You are giving in? After all this?"
Courage wanted to throw something at the voice. She was comfortable, safe, content. "Maybe I am, maybe I like it here." The moment she said the words, Courage felt the shaft inside her surge and White bucked into her. The ride was starting again and she certainly didn't want off. It was slower, more gentle than the sex the previous night… any of the times. She bored down and back, loving the feel of White inside her. "Yesssssss." She dragged out the word as her orgasm came.
"You were doing so well, too. Now he has you and you cannot get away."
The words finally pulled Courage back from her bliss, she shook her head and felt… felt different. Some sense, some strange feeling, urged her to move, to pull free of White—despite his protesting hooves, that seemed inclined to hug her—and run back to the room she had started in. Gazing in the big mirror, she saw her wings had shrunk, her horn too. Her coat was even more vibrant red, but strangest of all, it was hard to see her face clearly. "What the bucking buck?"
Courage's heart began to race, she galloped through the house toward the front door. Throwing it open she looked outside. There were dozens of ponies, like White had said, but each and every one of them was a perfect, primary color. Their fur was not the strangest thing, however. Not a single one of them had eyes, nose, or mouth; not one of them had a cutie mark.
"Red?" Courage's head was feeling heavy, she hadn't realized she had wandered out into the crowd of "lost" ponies. "Red, come back in, you aren't ready to be out here yet." When she didn't immediately come, the stallion's face changed from caring to hate-filled snarl. "Hammered Fine, by your name I summon you to my home!"
"Buck, you." Courage ran. She pounded her hooves, putting distance between herself and that house as quickly as possible. She attempted to spread her wings, but they were no longer big enough to carry her.
Courage turned to look behind her, which was a mistake. White was right there, just behind her plot, but her real undoing was not seeing the rock that tripped her. Stumbling and falling, Courage tried to roll, tried to use her magic, or her wings. The weight that settled atop her back denied her all attempts at freedom.
"Where are you running, Red?" White pinned Courage under his bulk, licking and nuzzling at her neck with unwanted affection; wherever his tongue or cheek touched, pure red fur remained. "Just calm down, relax. There is no need to run, here. Nopony ever gets away from my unity."
"What is this place?" Courage whined, trying desperately to get out from under the stallion. Squirming and shifting, she felt a cool sensation spreading from her neck, from where White was nuzzling her. It didn't numb sensation, it numbed her very soul. "Where am I?"
"Heresy. White is the antithesis of what ponies hold dear."
"You are in paradise." White hadn't heard the demon in Courage's head, answering her words superfluously. "Nopony ever gets sick, no pony ever dies, nopony ever even gets sad." He nuzzled up under the mare's mane.
"None of them are alive, none of them feel… anything." Courage felt that ice, White's ice, spreading through her being. It calmed her, it soothed her, it stole her hope. She was slack now, laying there, letting White rub and nuzzle her soul clean. A flash of memory came, just the slightest bit. As her features faded into relaxed and calm facade, she felt the corners of her mouth getting tight, of her eyes wanting to close. The memory jolted her, gave Courage a slight hint of pain that was the only real feeling she had left in the void of her soul.
Her voice no longer worked, all Courage could do was mouth the syllables. "Corignis el Threpin," she felt a stirring in her body, low, male, "ark Turas del Fife." Fire erupted inside Courage, but it felt almost too late. Her eyes closed, her mouth too.
Corignis looked around for the hot stallion-mare she remembered. "I swear, if this is just a booty-call… well booty-calls are okay, but... Huh, what are you doing to that pony?" She looked at the white stallion, watched him lap away at the red earth pony. "Hey, that looks pretty neat, do you get many," she reached out with her senses, "up here?"
White tilted his head up, looking from his prize to the succubus. "You are the second creature to come up to my domain recently. This morsel was so special. She was both stallion and mare, had great wings, an amazing cutie mark, and a horn flashing with a mix of pony and demon magic." White licked his lips and sighed. "Clever too, gave me a false name. But now she is mine."
Looking down at the once powerful pony, Corignis tilted her head. "You did this to my cute stallion?" The words were honest, open, inviting White to hang himself. "Please undo it."
Laughing, White stood up from the newly trapped mare. "She is mine, or would you like to join her? I admit, I have never tried to catch a demoness." Burning with renewed energy from "Red," White squared off with the demoness. "Hrmm… I am thinking… Teal."
Corignis blinked. "What do you mean, T—" She stumbled as demonic power poured off the white stallion, flowing toward her. Normally male-sourced power would just feed a succubus, but something felt very wrong about the "sticky" magic. She tried to shy away from it, but like cobwebs it clung and wrapped her, chilling the fire that always burned within.
"Don't fight, Teal. Don't struggle." White smiled and walked up to the demoness wrapped in his magic. "You can calm down, I have control of your destiny now. Everything you might have been, the great demon you may eventually have become, it will all make me more powerful."
Reaching a hoof down to Courage, Corignis trembled as her demonic power was slowly chilled and silenced in White's magic. She didn't have much left, and it ran against almost everything she believed, but putting a predator in a corner can always have interesting results. She pushed. She shoved. She jolted all her remaining magic out, down, and into Courage. "Kill him, for m—" Her lips sealed over, her eyes closed.
"Not as satisfying as I had hoped, but still a lovely meal. Stand up Teal, Red." White walked to the two earth ponies, reaching a hoof up to stroke their manes.
Courage's eyes twitched, fighting the form imposed on her face. She ripped her lips apart, tasting copper in her throat. Under her breath, with a curling smile, she murmured the words again. "Corignis el Threpin ark Turas del Fife." She barely had breath to make them, certainly not enough to make them heard. She repeated them again, felt fire flare in her soul, burning some of what she already was, but the pain from that added to her inferno. Courage's eyes ripped open, flaring wide so she could see again.
"Corignis el Threpin ark Turas del Fife!" Courage practically sang the name at the top of her lungs. "Corignis el Threpin ark Turas del Fife!" Each syllable sang in her throat, the pain of breathing, of her torn flesh, strengthened her conviction. "Have back what you gave." She shoved White back, thrusting some burning fire of demonic energy back into the teal pony.
Her life had ended. Teal was accepting of that. She had been a powerful demoness, but now she was Teal, she was a little pony, she no longer cared about anything. Then the fire came. It was a spark in dry tinder, Teal's insides felt like they were doused with accelerant. Corignis turned her head toward where the fire had come, her insides burned hot, searing her and filling her wing need. Ripping her mouth and eyes open, Corignis looked into Courage's face.
"What are you doing, stop that!" White reached toward both mares, flinging his magic over and around them. "Come on Teal, Red; both of you just relax and let me take care of everything." He stepped up between the two mares, admired both of them. "Just relax back into nothingness."
The fire of one of the mares wasn't hot enough, but together, embracing the pain and searing heat inside, Courage and Corignis exploded through the surrounding webs, burning up White's magic, using it to stoke the flames.
Courage turned her head to look at Corignis. "Corignis el Threpin ark Turas del Fife…" she let the words trail off, gripping the demon's name like a leash. Leaning up, she pressed her snout to Corginis' ear and whispered, "Courage Fire." Her name was whispered back by Corignis, it burned in her own ear and bound her, she didn't care. "Corignis…"
"Courage." Corignis smiled and leaned forward into a kiss, her lips needy as they touched the former pony's. She pushed her tongue past Courage's lips, forced her teeth aside and tasted the blood of the other mare, still lingering from where she had ripped her mouth open.
The kiss was invasive, delving, wicked. Courage's eyes danced as she stared into Corignis' bright red ones. Yanking back from the kiss, she turned to White, who was desperately trying to cast more magic onto them. "Get away from us!" She threw fire, her horn flaring red-black to try to ignite White.
Corignis laughed at how White dodged back, fleeing her friend's flames. But then White chittered in annoyance. A thick white abdomen pushed back from their pony body, swelling out huge and bloated. His back legs lengthened, growing along with four new limbs that sprouted from the twisted remains of his pony-body. "Starting to make sense now."
"Ew, a spider? I can't believe I bucked him." Courage leaned back and dodged to the side as a big leg lashed out toward her, trying to crush her underneath it. She leaped up and spread her returned wings. Launching into the air, Courage laughed in delight.
"You actually bucked him? Err, is it even a 'him'?" Corignis threw burning flames up when a leg tried to smash her. The demonic arachnid screamed as the limb became blackened, racing forward, mouth open, fangs exposed. "Little help!" She threw more flames at the spider's face.
Courage looked down, saw that Corignis now sported a unicorn horn. "Looking good, Cor!" She lowered her head and sent a blast of burning fire down, but while it hit White, it also jumped to Corignis.
With flames boiling over her body, Corignis laughed with delight. "Courage, you are magnificent!" Spreading her own wings, she reared up, only to crash forward with both her forehooves. Not wanting to give the spider demon a chance to recover, she continued moving, spinning around to lash out with a double-buck.
Watching Corignis lashing out again and again, Courage dove and landed on White's back. As her hooves settled, she felt every blow Corignis was dishing out to the monster. "I really wish I could feel sorry for you." She arched her back, reared up, then came back down with her forelegs tucked in tight, her head and horn aimed downwards.
White screamed in pain, the burning hooves of the demoness in front of him seemed like nothing, now, as a sharp stab on his back precluded all that burning fire pouring into him, filling him with flame. He tried to shift, to shove the fires out with his webs, but the magic he wove was eaten up, consumed in the inferno within. A rushing sound had him freeze, the burning sensation reaching a point midway down his body, then it poured up his windpipe. As he tried to scream, a huge gout of red-black fire tore free of his face, staining his white muzzle black. Then, at last, the flames reached his brain.
Corignis looked up at Courage, her eyes wide. "I… I think you can pull your horn out now." She looked back to the stump where White's head had been. "I think you got him… why didn't you tell me you could use balefire?"
" 'Balefire'? What the buck is balefire?" She jerked up and free, spreading her wings and flapping hard, just as the huge body began to fall apart, still burning from the inside out.
"Balefire, literally the most dangerous magic ever. Fire that devours everything, especially magic." Corignis watched as her friend landed before her, resplendent. Wait, friend? "What did you do to me?"
"What do you mean?" Courage looked back at the demon, watched its corpse start to fail further. "I tried to save you from White, and then you were… are… both of us…" She ran out of words examining herself.
"I have a soul!" Corignis felt so dirty, the horrible thing seeming to taint her very existence. "A soul, why Cour—" A hoof pressed to her snout.
"Best way to not be bucked with, is to make sure others know what they have to buck, right?" Courage's hoof waggled up and down as Corignis nodded. "And letting anypony know my full name is a bad idea, right?" Another nod. "Perfect, so call me Balefire." She drew her hoof back, grinning a little at the little kiss Corignis gave it.
"What is going on… I can't call you that. Courage is a nice name. I certainly felt courageous with your fire on me." Corignis watched as the last of the huge spider demon started to burn and smolder away. "Are you fine to head up? I can see a whole Circle of ponies that look… delicious."
Courage blinked at that. "Wait, the next level? What are you going to do to them? They… they don't have anything left!" She pointed at the town of sightless, mouthless ponies, gazing around blindly for the demon that took care of them.
"Exactly, and it is all your fault." Corignis pointed a hoof at Courage. "When I first got here, all that I thought about when I saw the blind ponies, was toys." She gave a sigh that spoke volumes for how terrible her life was now. "Now… now I care about them."
"You," Courage giggled, "have gone soft, Corignis." She pranced a few steps. "Corignis the succubus queen, feels sorry for ponies, hugs them. Wait, is there a newspaper in the Pit?"
"When I have it all under control… or at least have them all in the care of succubi and incubi, I will follow you up. Don't call my name, unless you really need me." Leaning in close, Corignis kissed Courage's cheek. "And do something about this soul, together we could kill any demon in here except the old boss, but I don't think I like killing unless I… This is maddening! GO!"
This is a bad end, leading on from when White first made Courage into Red.
"None of them are alive, none of them feel… anything." Courage felt that ice, White's ice, spreading through her being. It calmed her, it soothed her, it stole her hope. She was slack now, laying there, letting White rub and nuzzle her soul clean. A flash of memory came, just the slightest bit. As her features faded into relaxed and calm facade, she felt the corners of her mouth getting tight, of her eyes wanting to close. The memory jolted her, gave Courage a slight hint of pain that was the only real feeling she had left in the void of her soul.
She tried to open her mouth, to scream, to moan, to express any of the fading emotions still within, but before she could White leaned down and kissed her. Her snout sealed under his touch, nose and mouth both. Her eyes tried to widen, tried to express the fear and terror that was slowly seeping out of her and into White, but she couldn't resist the need to close them. Her body was sealed, she was trapped inside and couldn't feel anymore.
"Now you are my mare, Red, everything is gone, your sight, your words, your taste… your pleasure." White rubbed under the mare's red tail, stroking her featureless back-end, proving to Courage that she didn't have a gender anymore, nor even an anus. "Mine."
The one word became Courage's world. There was no feeling attached to it, nor anything. She just knew deep inside, that she belonged to that voice.
"Follow me, Red."
It wasn't her name… or was it? Red got to her hooves and tilted her head, swiveling her ears to listen for the soft footsteps of Him. She walked after the noise, trotted along in the wake of the steps, but then more steps started to confuse her. Red turned her head and ears, but there was movement all around. She took a step to what she thought was Him, and became part of the milling, lost ponies.
"Perfect." White was far enough from his creations that they didn't hear his whisper. "So tasty, I wonder what her destiny was, to be this sweet?"
Time was hard for Red to follow. She walked around, seeking out a hint of her master's voice, of his steps, but whenever she sought out the movement she heard, all she found were other ponies. The emptiness within was odd, it was hollowness, but she couldn't even feel hollow—it ate even that.
Walking, she bumped into another pony, and was about to turn to track another set of hoofsteps when she heard a slight exhalation of air. It was Him. Red's head wobbled as she sought the name for the stallion. White. She recoiled a little, and he was already gone. But there was something inside her. Lust, which was drawn away quickly by the void. Devotion, which faded too. But for some reason desire stayed, she wanted.
Walking around again, now with a little more purpose, Red bumped another pony again, but this time she felt a slight hint of worry/desperation/need flow inwards. If she still had eyes, they would have widened. The void inside didn't consume these new sensations, it seemed to be unable to. Now Red had more desire, she was hungry for more sensations and almost chased hoofsteps, bumping into pony after pony, tasting such little sips of emotion each time, but now they were hers—Red wanted more.
An eternity passed. It wasn't like Red was counting, but she remembered each and every pony she bumped, remembered too each dribble of emotions they felt. She wasn't just playing a game, this was her world, right up until she bumped into Him again.
White stumbled backwards as he felt a chill sucking at him, he looked around at the blind and dumb ponies around, then spotted the one whose faceless head actually seemed to pull into a slight, mouthless smile. "Red?"
Red practically pounced at the voice, landing on White and drank until the shocked stallion knocked her away. She turned her head left and right, not so much listening for him, as tasting the emotions of ponies around her.
"What… what happened to you?" White backed away from Red, bumping empty ponies out of his way. "I wondered why they weren't giving anything recently…" Coming to a conclusion, White let go of his restraint and stretched out.
Glaring down at what should have been an emotionless husk of a pony, White realized he would need to kill Red. Building up his magic, White started to cast it out at the red pony.
The odd new sight startled Red. She looked up, her new vision, that saw emotions, spotted the big threads of magic-wrapped emotions. The maw inside her opened, latched on to one and tried to feed. If she still had a mouth she would have spat, the magic made the emotions inedible, tasteless, but that thread seemed to die as she sucked at it.
Again and again White cast his webs out, trying to trap Red in the bindings that would kill her, but each time they came close she dispelled them, draining the very energy away from the spell-web. "What are you doing?"
Red walked toward the huge creature she could see, draining away the webs before they could bind her. She didn't think she was getting any energy from the webs, but that didn't mean they weren't affecting her. Each one made her body start to bloat a little more, legs growing longer, stronger.
White cast another web and froze, the pony was now looking more and more arachnid, more and more like him. He yanked back on his magic, trying to pull the spell from her grip before she could devour it, but to White's shock she lifted a long, pointed leg up and gripped the rope-like magic.
Pain lanced through Red's body as new limbs shoved violently out. She trembled in shock, relishing even such negative emotions. But there was more, more to drink, more to devour, more to take. She charged forward, blind face seeing the other spider-demon.
"Stop!" White tried to pull away from Red, but the other demon was bigger than him now. He desperately tried to slink away, but even as he felt fear of what he had made, it was pulled away from him. Staring up at Red, White whimpered softly, even his fear proving to be food for her.
Silently, Red wrestled White onto his back, restraining his claws simply by bracing each with her own. Leaning in, she touched her blank snout gently to his neck. A tremble of pleasure ran through her, a new hunger growing. Slamming her body down against the other demon's, Red didn't even know what she was searching for, but she really wanted to find it.
He had everything she wanted, everything. Red pressed hard, her abdomen rubbing against the other demon's. She turned her head as one of his legs managed to connect with her. She had no idea how she did it, it was instinctive to lash out at it.
White's leg was pinned to the ground by a web-spell. He turned his equine head and stared at the glowing red mass of magic. Terror filled him, this surely couldn't be happening to him, or so he hoped. As the big red spider-demon rubbed against him, White felt his body respond against his will. He whimpered as his shaft slid free, fat and thick, the organ didn't have far to travel before it found a home inside Red's body. The pleasure was amazing, White felt more complete than he had in a millennium, but then it started to swirl away from him.
Red drank down the pleasure, her own spiking in response to being filled. She ground her body down again and again, claiming every inch White had to offer. A spark of terror washed into her from the creature under her, it was delicious. Heat started to grow inside Red, her body trembled as the white demon under her peaked. She took everything he had, seed, pleasure, and more.
He stared up at the demoness above him, White was in awe. "You are perfect…" He meant the words, she was everything now, she had all his emotions, all his feelings, and still she drank. He felt himself shrinking down, reducing and growing smaller, but she kept drinking. When the world around him was merely Red's shadow, White worshiped her, but she kept drinking. As his vision narrowed, his snout sealing up, White knew and accepted his fate, but she kept drinking.
Shaking her body, Red straightened up off the empty creature under her. One of the pony's limbs were still restrained under her own webbing, so she leaned down and drank the magic back up. The empty pony had the slightest glow through him, terror and panic all gone, he only tasted of acceptance now. She certainly liked the taste of that.
White was herded, prodded along. He couldn't see, he couldn't speak, but he didn't care—She was watching over him. He squirmed a little, trotting along when he heard the sounds of other hooves, other ponies like him.
Red watched the former master of the plane trot back with the ponies, her vision restricted to only seeing emotions. She had plans, already flowing into intricate patterns in her head. She began to weave spells, webs, wrapping them around the town, covering everything in them, even her little ponies. But her little pets would not trigger the spells, their emotions were weak, muted. These webs would tangle and catch much more tasty targets.
She worked and worked, building her webs both where she knew she came from the lower Circle, and where she could instinctively feel that things would come from the higher one. Gathering herself in White's house, she would not shrink herself down, as Red remembered White had done, not while she had her young growing.
Crouching down, drinking lightly from her ponies, Red waited. She waited, and waited.
"Hey, stallion of my dreams? Are you in this hole or have you gone up already?" Corignis stood up from where she appeared and cursed. "What the hell is that?" She looked at where her leg seemed to burn a little, something touching it, something she couldn't see.
Red was instantly aware and awake. She felt the tug in one of her webs, felt where it trailed off into the town, felt the moment something contacted it. Happiness was a new emotion, but she felt it all the same.
The more Corignis moved, the more the webs wrapped and pulled around her. Her wings were snared, as was the first leg she had felt get trapped. "Hey, call off the spells, I don't…" She tried to focus on the anger she should be feeling toward her situation, but almost as quick as she could summon it, it faded. "What the—"
Spotting the glowing red fire of anger and demonic energies, Red surged forward and pulled on her webs.
Corignis felt her trapped leg suddenly pulled upwards and to the side, her wings dragged the opposite way. "Hey, enough of this…" She called flames, circling herself in them, wrapping them around her body, but while they did seem to weaken the bonds, she still felt that hollowing feeling. Then she spotted the huge red pony-spider. "Oh buck this, my little colt is probably trapped here somewhere by that thing."
Red bounced to the side when a gush of fire streamed at her. She bounced and pulled on her damaged webs again, hurling more at the struggling demon. White-hot rage boiled in the creature, and while Red drank it as fast as she could, there always seemed to be more.
Despite the draining, Corignis was building her rage nicely, she was a demon after all. Turning her gaze at the huge spider, she rushed forward. Hooves pounding, Corignis ripped through web after web, her rage consuming all caution. As she neared the spider, mere feet away, something seemed to suddenly grab her, twisting around her body.
Skittering forward, Red pulled her webs, tightening the magic around the demon. She finally got close enough to the thrashing succubus and reached out one limb, gently touching her flank. Red would have screamed in bliss, if she had a mouth, as it was she trembled in delight. She drank rage.
Corignis' eyes focused down to pin-points. She was trussed up in magical webbing now, and looked down to her back-leg where the big spider had touched her. She was calm, relaxed, watching as the fur around its touch started to turn blue.
Red moved closer, reaching down with a second limb, touching the demon on the back. Suckling her captive's emotions away, Red fed deeply and fully, tasting the demoness' feelings and destiny slipping slowly into her.
The blue slipped over Corignis, and she watched dispassionately as it covered her body, sealing over her groin, stealing her wings. She felt the cool touch flow up her neck, as a divine relaxation filled her mind. Corignis closed her eyes, smiled as her lips and nose sealed. The last shred of her emotion and destiny was swallowed and she was at peace.
Standing back up, over her newest pony, Red felt a quickening inside her. Pressure grew in her body, her being sang just one song: "pregnant."
Releasing her newest addition to the pony village, Red reset her webs and scurried back to the house. Settling inside, she instinctively started spinning even more magic into a huge ball. Pressing her abdomen to the side of the ball, Red felt the first eggs start to slip from her body.
Courage heard screaming as she woke from her dream. It roused her from the horrible nightmare, the terror that she had hurt Corignis, that she was such a terrifying monster, caused her to bite down—the screaming stopped.
She was hot, burning hot. Courage spread her wings and opened her mouth, panting, letting out a groan. "Those nightmares are getting worse. It is like this place twists everything, even my friends…" She paused, thought of the implication of using that word. "Corignis is my friend." She smiled a little.
A sloshing sound met the introspective mare's ears. Courage blinked a few times, snapping out of her contemplation. "What the…?" She looked around, realizing she was on an island. Mist seemed to close in all around her, but Courage could see shapes out in the fog.
"What was that?" Courage spun around, the small island seeming tiny now. She squinted into the mist to see a boat slowly moving closer. The small craft looked rickety, like it was made from driftwood and bound with hope and dreams. Standing at the back, a hooded pony held a long pole in their glowing magic.
A thousand little stories dredged up in Courage's mind, as she watched the boat push all the way to shore and beach itself. "Hello?" She dreaded wanting to see under the cowl that hid the pony's features, but morbid curiosity drove her onwards. Stepping closer, she watched the long-handled paddle slow and stop. "Uh, can you get me out of here?"
When the figure nodded, a deep, damp feeling grew in Courage's belly, she felt horny. Almost in a daze, she began to walk forward, then flapped her wings to lift her up and onto the driftwood boat.
The ferry-pony lifted its head and gazed at Courage, all she could see under the heavy cowl was a pair of glowing eyes, staring back at her, bright and blue. A hoof raised, frog up, clearly wanting something.
"You want money, payment?" Courage stepped toward the ferrypony, not realizing her tail was rising more with each step. "I don't have coins." Her heat beat faster when those blue glowing eyes flared red. "Wait, I have something else. I…" Courage felt a burning heat now, she was more than a little hollow inside, in more ways than one.
Courage stepped backwards when the ferrypony, cloaked in black sackcloth, advanced. His oar lifted and set on the deck. Magic lifted her up, turned her, and set her back down. A sudden sense of "rightness" settled in Courage, her body tingled in excitement.
She was expecting a skeleton, a bony abomination that still lived; when Courage felt the weight of the ferrypony on her back, however, it was not skeletal. Courage grunted at the weight of the big stallion, but far from scared, or worried, she was excited in a whole new way. The metaphysical emptiness that yawned inside was matched by a physical one. "Be… be gentle." As soon as she said it, she regretted it. I don't want that, I want it—
Her thoughts were shattered when the big stallion shoved up and against her. Courage would have screamed if she were still a normal pony—the demon was huge. The thrust the ferrypony gave pushed Courage forward, her eyes widened in shock, but all of him that managed to get into her was the tip.
Groaning, panting, a wide smile plastered itself to Courage's face. The stallion was snorting, grunting, adjusting his position on her back until he was comfortable again. Then he thrust. Every ounce of focus fled Courage. She pushed back instinctively, her hunger for more growing with each inch of him that sank home. Power started to flow. Courage's eyes widened further, he was now rocking his hips, and each thrust drove energy into her body.
The rocking motion of the big stallion, apparently unintentionally, shifted the boat off the beach. Courage would have been ashamed of the whimper of need that escaped her when the stallion pulled out, but she was a little more experienced now, sex was fun and she liked it.
"Wait, what's wrong?" Courage turned, her body feeling as empty as ever now that he was out. She saw the problem, he had to steer and manage the boat. The metaphysical feeding she had done was enough to whet her appatite, but she wanted more. "I hardly feel I have paid my fee. And here you are so willing to take me for a ride." The succubus side of Courage was purring, looking at the stallion like a cat with milk-stained whiskers.
Just like a cat, Courage walked down the side of the boat, the thing creaking under her hooves. She stared at the ferrypony, her eyes flashing with hunger. She stopped right before the stallion, her eyes still unable to penetrate the darkness under the cloak. "Since you are giving me a ride," Courage pushed her tongue out to lick her lips, "I will give you one."
Her blood was thundering in her ears, memories of the virgin mare she had been before all of this flickered up into her mind, then away again. She wasn't just that mare anymore, she was a lot more. She turned, slowly, and lifted her tail. A glance back to see where her target was, and Courage was stepping back toward the ferrypony. Her plot bumped his chest, and as she gazed back, she watched the stallion rear up. Wanting her prize, Courage backed up quickly, felt the stallion drop onto her back, and stood a moment in wonder.
It was so much more lewd to be with a stallion who was making her do all the work. Courage backed herself up, pushing back against the big stallion. Like driving a wedge under a log, she felt him slide along her back, until his shaft pressed to her again. "You aren't going to make me do all the wo—" Courage groaned the "O" out as the stallion bucked forwards, "—ork."
Each thrust came with the stroke of the oar. Courage braced herself, but her needier self walked backwards, shoving into each thrust. The rutting seemed lost to time, feeling like they had been bucking for days. Courage looked down, saw large shapes in the water. A hoof seemed to lift up through the murk, offering—or begging—something; if she weren't being taken by the stallion, she might have given in.
The wetness, the heat, that suddenly filled her, had Courage's eyes fluttering. She wasn't done, not by half, but her stallion was. She fed. She fed well. Courage squeezed and pushed backwards, getting the stallion's groin to plaster itself to her plot. Then the second big rush came. Energy and seed, both, rushed into Courage. She threw her head back and screamed her pleasure loudly.
With seed filling her cavity, and the energy she had taken from the stallion filling her metaphysical belly, Courage thought she was done. She took a step forward, then the second pulled herself off of him. A sharp pain blossomed at the back of Courage's neck, she wanted to look back, but only felt the stallion pulling, his teeth keeping a good mouthful of her mane and flesh.
He was too high when he crashed his body against hers again, the stallion's shaft shoved against her perineum, making her whimper. But he wouldn't be denied, and with his shaft still slick with his own and Courage's fluids, he shoved up and forward.
"B—" a second shove stole the middle of the word from Courage, "ck!" He was in her, breaching her bowels with the monster-sized shaft, and despite the stretching, and soreness, it felt good. Courage's eyes crossed, her forelegs gave way, and she braced her back legs to keep her plot up for him. He leaned over her, hunching forward and keeping hold of her neck. At her sides, Courage's wings beat limply with each thrust, until his groin found her croup. The claws on Courage's wings dug into the boat, gouging into the wood. Behind her, the stallion was working himself into a good pace.
Laying her head to the side, her tongue lolling out, Courage watched forms hidden in the mist, fighting like animals. Her memories flashed back to the worm-creature, and how animalistic she felt, but it wasn't anything like this. The ponies in the mist fought like damaged animals, biting, kicking, screaming silently at each other. Still, the stallion plugged her anus, leaving her only barely able to focus on the never-ending battle.
Wave after wave of power was shoved in, along with the stallion's shaft. It filled up all the places inside, it made her feel warm and sexy. Then he came again. She didn't imagine the power that flowed like a hurricane, she tightened her grip on the boat and clamped her own teeth to it. The ship felt a lot more solid, much more real to Courage. Her body coursed with power, power like a unicorn had never felt before.
The grip at her neck eased, and Courage felt the stallion back up. She was amazed to see he hadn't even seemed to miss a stroke with his oar. But as Courage was learning, being a succubus meant never being sated. "How does Cor do it?" She got up on shaking hooves, turned slowly around and eyed up the shrouded figure. "You, are the naughtiest stallion I have ever met." She walked toward him, the power inside now pouring out, re-energizing her body. "I am only new to this," she got close enough that her snout nearly touched the stallion's cowl, "is sex really meant to be this rejuvenating?"
"You are a succubus, in part. You would be a terrible one if you couldn't fuck for as long as you desired."
Courage froze at the return of the presence. A betting mare might think it was the ferrypony, but she doubted it. With power making her muscles buzz, Courage pounced forward, extending one wing to grab the stallion's side, and the other to grab the deck. She pulled him sideways and over—feeling solid mass under the cowl—until he was on his back. Leaning to the side, she closed her mouth on the oar that was falling. "You will want this." She didn't let go of it until his magic held it again.
She had to dig around in his robes, snouting cloth aside, until she found him. "Not all bones, I think I was lied to." She leaned in, the shaft—that had been retreating, due to his refractory period—trembled under her breath. "Oh, did you think we were done?" Courage rocked her body back along his barrel, shoving her plot into his face. "Because me? I'm not done."
The shaft tasted salty, musky, covered with his and her pleasure. She had expected more, since he had just taken her ass, but there was nothing to mar the perfection of his taste. Closing her mouth around what was going to grow into a monstrous girth, Courage bobbed down, slurping him deep into her mouth. So distracted was Courage, that she didn't even notice his tongue at her vulva, lapping at the mess he had made.
Each suckle, each slurp, only encouraged Courage further. She rolled him around in her mouth, as he grew, feeling his maleness claim more and more of her, pushing to the back of her throat. Inexperienced, she did what she could, adjusting her style whenever the slurp of energy from the stallion rose, she had become a quick study when it came to sex.
Finally, the sensation of his lapping along her lips sank through, and Courage groaned and gurgled around the flexing shaft, her tongue working from the bottom of her mouth. The strangest part, for the mare, was that she didn't seem to gag, or choke, even when she felt him plugging her neck completely.
Courage groaned and trembled as the stallion's tongue pressed past her lips, breaching the entrance to her vagina, and rewarding him with a small flood of their juices. She knew what she was doing was lewd beyond measure, but she didn't care—Courage was still hungry.
Bobbing her head, Courage started her own pace, setting a rhythm similar to what the stallion had used in both her back passages. She nursed and suckled, even ran her teeth carefully over his sensitive flesh. This time she got a warning. She watched his heavy orbs start to bounce, and reached up with her hooves. Giving each of the stallion's testes a gentle squeeze, in time with her suckling, she felt the moment he reached his peak. A rush of power poured into Courage, making her metaphysical stomach swell in a similar fashion to her real one. He was so far in her throat that she didn't have to swallow, she just needed to relax and let him give her everything.
In a split second things changed. Courage no longer was happy with what he was giving, and so she sucked hard on the stallion, her hooves giving a more forceful squeeze. With his snout mashing against her vulva, Courage growled around the meat, her eyes fluttering as she fed instinctively. But it wasn't to last forever, the flow down her throat cut short, and even Courage's attempts to nuzzle and lick the deflating shaft, failed to bring it back to full mast. "Aww…"
She realized the ferrypony's robes had slipped up, revealing the dark blue body of him. "You're a real pony… demon. You aren't a skeleton at all!"
"Don't tell anyone."
"Well, what's your name? Mine is C…" Courage quickly cleared her throat. "Mine is Balefire." She rolled to the side, or tried to; four strong limbs pinned Courage to the stallion's barrel, giving her nowhere to move.
"My name is nothing."
The lapping against Courage's rear lips had her give a soft groan, laying her head sideways on the stallion's groin. "You don't have… have to do that… Nothing."
"We aren't across yet. My ride is still due, and if you short me a second of this, I will pitch you into the Styx." Nothing gave Courage's plot a sharp smack. "So relax, my little winged beauty, and let me taste all of you."
He put his tongue back to work, and Courage suddenly had a guilty wish. Maybe I need to go back… did I forget anything? Her lips curled into a smile, and she opened her eyes to see the paddle still working. She just watched the wood work at the water, pushing them along, as Nothing lapped away any inclination she had to get free.
This is a bad end, leading on from when the ferrypony mounted Courage for the second time.
The wetness, the heat, that suddenly filled her, had Courage's eyes fluttering. She wasn't done, not by half, but her stallion was. She fed. She fed well. Courage squeezed and pushed backwards, getting the stallion's groin to plaster itself to her plot. Then the second big rush came. Energy and seed, both, rushed into Courage. She threw her head back and screamed her pleasure loudly.
With seed filling her cavity, and the energy she had taken from the stallion filling her metaphysical belly, Courage thought she was done. She took a step forward, then the second pulled herself off of him. A sharp pain blossomed at the back of Courage's neck, she wanted to look back, but only felt the stallion pulling, his teeth keeping a good mouthful of her mane and flesh.
"No!" Courage thrashed around, shoving upwards, fighting against the weight of the big stallion. "Get off me! You had your ride. A ride for a ride!" And then, the mare did something that mares had been doing for time immemorial, when a stallion tried to solicit them without approval. One hoof raised, lifted high, and with all the power of a thunderbolt, lanced back.
The effect was immediate, the stallion's bite released, and when Courage bucked again he fell sideways, tumbling from her back and curling protectively into a little ball.
"Damn you, why did you have to make me do that?" Courage turned and bounced away, putting some room between herself and the stallion. She certainly wasn't ready for the ferrypony to stand up and glare at her. "Oh? What are you going to do about it now? I said stop, you should have stopped!"
"We had a deal." The big stallion's voice was deep. "While I ride, you ride." Getting his hooves under him, the ferrypony stood up, towering over Courage. "Get off my boat!"
A wall of force hit Courage, she dug her wing-claws into the boat, but in the end it was no good. Pitching sideways, her eyes flew wide as she was sent over the side. Spreading her wings, Courage thought she was fine; flapping hard, she discovered she wasn't. It was like the air just wouldn't catch, and Courage had time for an indignant grumble before she splashed down onto the water.
Courage froze, all four of her hooves were sitting atop the water. "What… the… buck?" She looked at the water, a shiver of fear running up her spine. A shape stepped out of the mist ahead of her, stepped faster and faster until it was in a full charge.
Translucent, the charging pony's face was pulled into a snarl. It literally couldn't miss Courage, and slammed into her.
The force of the collision ripped at Courage, tearing something from her. She felt anger rise, rage suffusing her being. Squaring off against her attacker, she didn't even think about how her hooves kept their footing, before she pounced at the strange, mist-like pony.
Another part of Courage stood still, watching as a ghost-image of herself had been driven from her body by the strange spirit. She watched her ghostly-self and the other ghost-pony start fighting, struggling. "What the buck…?"
The two ghosts ripped and bit, gouged and struggled. Pulling apart for a bare moment before leaping to clash again.
Courage lifted a hoof to walk toward the two, but the water seemed to suck at it, like she was walking through mud. Looked down, she saw that each of her hooves were now almost two inches down into the water, and sinking. Panic set in, Courage tried to yank her hooves free and get out of the "muddy" patch of water, but each time she did she sank down further. "H-Help!" She flailed and fought, struggling to get free, only to feel the first touch of the water on her belly. "Please! I… I'll do what you want!" Courage looked around for the boat, but couldn't see it.
Dark emotions welled up, like the water around her, the deeper Courage sank the worse she felt. The water got further and further up her body, touching her back, crawling up her neck, until at last she had to struggle to keep her mouth above it.
When the Styx lapped up and over her lips, Courage tried to scream, yelling at the top of her lungs to regain the life that was about to be sucked from her. At last, she felt water pour down, felt the darkness pour into her lungs, and into her mind.
She gasped, clawed with her wings, stomped her hooves, but no air filled Courage's lungs. A little late, Courage realized she could have called on Corignis, should have. As she sank down, she realized she wasn't actually dying, just constantly feeling like she was choking. Between convulsive gasps, she looked up, saw her own ghost on the surface, fighting with the others.
I wish I could fight, but I just… I want this to end… Courage looked around, suddenly seeing more bodies in the depths of the Styx. Pegasi, unicorns, earth ponies, everywhere. But I am part demon now, Corignis changed me… She felt an odd stirring inside, and swam toward the nearest body.
A dead-looking earth pony stared up at the surface with glassy eyes. Courage reached out a hoof and poked the drowned pony, only to see their eye twitch. They live still, but seem tormented…
Reaching her wings out, Courage grabbed the other pony, pulling them closer. A need filled her, driving her actions, and the pony in her grip didn't struggle at all. She closed her mouth around the drowned stallion's sheath, sucking and pushing her tongue up into it. It felt like eternity, but she felt a spark of reaction, a slight movement, before he started to fill her mouth.
Her demonic side flared with excitement, and Courage started her work in earnest. Nursing from the growing length, she used her hooves to massage his lower belly, forcing feeling into flesh that had given up. The pony didn't stand a chance, with her latched on and making him feel again, she had him trapped in her magic and soon, she tasted him.
Power, force, energy, it rushed into Courage, but there wasn't much. She sucked and drank with all her will, but it was enough. Letting go of the stallion, she watched them float to the bottom of the Styx, the dark waters stealing them from her. More…
It was hard to resist the needs of that succubus side, considering how completely her mortal-self had been suppressed by the legendary river. So she swam, she hunted, and soon she found another pony.
Courage slipped up to the mare, her eyes flashing. She spotted what she wanted, what she needed. Diving her head down between the mare's back legs, Courage latched on with her wings, and hugged her new target. The constant tearing at her lungs seemed background now, Courage didn't even think about the burning for air—she licked. Lapping, nuzzling, she worked her way down from their teats to their vulva.
The water came alive with flavor, musky and strong. Courage drank what she could, and started to focus more on the source of the musk. She drank not only the tainted water, but also the mare's essence. The succubus within Courage urged her on, grew stronger as the mare grew weaker. Nuzzling and lapping, Courage felt the mare's pleasure flare to full, gorging herself on the trapped soul's energy.
Letting her second meal float away, Courage felt the power change her, not enough to get her out of the Styx, but working with the cursed river. Turning to look at her body, she saw that her tail had grown out longer, and much thicker. Long, resembling a shark tail. More.
Courage found pony after pony. With her strong tail, she navigated the waters much easier, and the more power she got, the more perfect she became. Two more ponies, and she devolved her legs. Another one and her wings folded together into a fin on her back.
Tucking her forehooves up under her body, Courage hunted the waters of the Styx, hunger burning a hole in her belly. She sensed something, something much stronger than the almost-destroyed ponies that floated in the Styx. Swimming closer, she saw the dark wood slipping through the water above her. The boat, the ferrypony… I need to go up.
Courage could smell the stallion the moment her nose broke the water's surface. Flicking her tail, she launched up until her forehooves grabbed the side of the boat; the ferrypony wasn't alone. Her eyes locked on the bright spirit in the middle of the boat. She smiled, holding out a hoof.
"Stop!" The ferrypony held out a hoof, warding back the stallion who, unlike Courage, had paid him. "What do you want?" He stepped closer to the pony that shouldn't have been able to get out of the Styx.
Eying her former tormentor, Courage opened her snout to beg. "…" She coughed and spluttered, water pouring from her mouth constantly. She snapped her mouth closed, edged along the side of the ship until she was closer, and pointed under the ferrypony.
"You will leave us alone?"
Courage looked up, smiled, and nodded. When the stallion moved closer to the side of the ship, she didn't hesitate. Opening her mouth only long enough to press it against the stallion's sheath, she pushed her tongue out, into the opening, licking around the sensitive flesh.
The obliging shaft began to push into Courage's snout, and so she pulled her tongue back to greet it properly. Closing her eye, she reached up to grab onto the stallion, almost pulling her longer body from the water in her desire. He grew larger and larger in her mouth, but without the need to breathe she certainly didn't have any trouble taking all of him.
With one hoof grabbing hold of the stallion, Courage worked the other back a bit, rubbing his balls. All of it, all of him. I am so hungry… She sucked and slurped, massaging the big stallion's shaft and balls, working him to the height of pleasure. She felt the moment when the ferrypony was at his limit, when his balls churned under her hoof, when his body trembled, and his shaft surged.
Courage kicked with her tail, as hard as she could. She drank down the stallion's energy, even as she tipped him sideways, over the side of his precious boat. Her strong tail beat, and no matter how well the stallion struggled, he landed on the Styx.
Standing on the water, looking panicked, Courage watched as a charging ghost-spirit sighted him up and flashed their hooves. Hold still, don't move. I want you down there, with me. The ghost slammed into the ferrypony's side, ripping his spirit out. With a gurgling laugh, Courage arched her body up and shoved down on the stallion, pushing him under the water quickly.
Grabbing the stallion, Courage pushed him to his back and shoved herself down, against his belly. He started to push into her, but at the same time the stallion was panicking about breathing. Courage shoved down, claiming him, then leaned in and locked her lips against his—and blew.
The stallion thrashed for a moment, struggling to keep the last bit of air in his lungs, but it was no good, not with a shark-demon forcing water into him. His eyes rolled back in panic, his shaft surged inside Courage, causing the demoness to start to rock against him.
She worked her body down, feeling his belly poke her own, feeling him fill up every inch of her. While the stallion struggled feebly to get away, Courage drank, fed, and consumed him. When at last she felt his body prepare to fire again, she sank her power deep into him, anchoring on whatever was left after her last feeding.
He exploded into her, the influx of his seed to her body opening the way for Courage to drink him dry. Power, real power, poured into her. There was no way for Courage to use up all the power she was drinking, so she started to just absorb it, letting it fill her.
Courage let go of the stallion, felt his shaft fall from her body. He drifted down, his glassy eyes staring up at her. But of course Courage wasn't done, she could still sense the other soul on the boat. Licking her lips, she flicked her tail and swam back upwards.
Grabbing onto the side of the boat, Courage didn't care that she had destroyed the one way across the Styx, she didn't care about anything, except the tasty meal that awaited her. Staring at the pony huddled in the middle of the boat, she began to rock it, using her tail to drag it from one side to the other, until eventually it tipped all the way.
The creature's fear, as they landed on the surface of the Styx, was to Courage like blood was to a shark—she began to circle them.
She felt used—well used. Courage rolled out from under the ferrypony, a mix of seed and other combined sexual fluids leaking from her vulva and down her thighs. Rising to her hooves, she realized that despite spending what felt like months screwing the big stallion, she felt better than ever.
"Succubus." Reaching a hoof over to rub Courage on the withers, Nothing didn't have any trouble guessing her mixed species. "Not a lot in you, though. Enough that it made the ride a good one." He leaned over and nibbled at Courage's shoulders.
Shivering at Nothing's touch, Courage loosed her wings and gave them little flaps. "It was… I was in a bad place. I called a friend for help, and we had to work together to get free, really close together."
"What happened?"
Courage smiled wide, knowing there was something she held over the voice in her head. He must be busy, wherever he really is. Wasn't he watching? She smiled widely.
"Friends are always good, especially down here." Nothing gave the boat another push with his pole, nudging it up onto dry land. "And this is the end of your ride." Nothing let out a sigh as he said it, as if wishing things would continue.
The longing sigh drew a blush to Courage's cheeks. Her body felt good, great even. She fumbled for what to say, finally just hiding behind, "Yeah, it is." Idiot! He is cute, he bucks… Courage's thoughts scattered for a moment as she remembered their time together. Hang on… "You're a demon?"
"Half, like you." Nothing stretched. "Go on now, or do you like the scenery so much you want another ride?"
He's flirting… with me! Courage blushed hotter still. "Uh, I should probably go. I…" Her body let out a little tremble, a reminder of how much of him had been in her, and for how long. "Buck, I gotta go. If I ever see you again, I will take another ride."
"And so will I." Nothing used his magic to give Courage a firm smack on the plot as she climbed off onto the land. He laughed as she spun around to face him. "Farewell, strange mare."
Courage's plot felt empty and it bugged her. Worse still was looking back at the smug stallion pushing his ferry away from the land. She wanted to curse, but instead she barked out a laugh. A flash of light stole her vision, and Courage was suddenly standing somewhere else, somewhere very different to the shores of the Styx.
"Hello? Anypony there?" The room was huge, books covering every wall in huge shelves. It felt bigger than the throne room in Canterlot Castle. The place was quiet, reverent, a library in all senses of the word.
"Welcome!"
Courage spun around at the deep bass word. Spotting a unicorn stallion standing behind her. She was about to say something, but he continued.
"You have found the famed Great Library. All the learning you could wish is here. My name, is Learned Scholar." Learned gestured around the room, his dark mane and tail not moving in the still room. "Would you like to learn?"
A shiver of excitement ran through Courage. She looked around and her eyes alighted on a book she recognized. "You have Evantide's Enchanting Encyclopedia?" Trotting forward, Courage shook her wings a little. Floating the first book of the set out, she opened it up and inspected it. "A first printing? How in Equestria did you get this?"
"Equestria?" Striding up to Courage, Learned used his own horn to levitate out another book. "You might want to start with this. It will help you understand the start of your enchantment." He waited for Courage to stop, take in his words, and turn to him. "So your next question is…"
"What enchantment?" Courage was trapped in a word game she was ill-equipped to win, but the normality of it had her smiling at the big unicorn.
"Exactly. Now, so far all my customers are going down, it is easy to go down… really easy." Learned passed her the book titled, Advanced Magi-craft. "But you came in from the wrong place, you want to go…"
"Up." Opening the book, Courage didn't notice she was still doing an entirely normal thing with a normal-seeming pony. "What is this?"
"Up, yes. Up is not easy. Up requires an Orb of Ascension." Learned gestured to a padded pedestal in the middle of the room that hadn't been there a moment ago. "Read that, and then…"
"Come back to you." Courage froze, realizing how suddenly strange it was to be finishing the stallion's sentences for him. "Hey, where did you go?" She had looked down at the book for just a moment, but Learned was nowhere to be seen. "Huh, well…" She walked over to the middle of the room to inspect the pedestal, finding a single card on it.
To escape this circle, you must ascend. To ascend, you must...
"Make an Orb of Ascension." It was perfectly obvious who had written the card, considering how it finished. "Okay, and I need to read this book to understand how to do it?" She flipped the book open and started to read. Wow, this… this is really advanced stuff! Her eyes stroked the pages, pupils soaking up the words from within, but she reached a point where she didn't quite understand how things worked. Flipping back, she found an experiment. "Okay, I can do this if I have a work…" She looked around, sure enough a worktable was behind her, covered with reagents and tools.
"Table." Walking over to the workbench, Courage began to set up the experiment, following the confusing instructions to the letter. At long last, she poured magic into the enchantment and watched the magic fold around itself, something she had never witnessed before. "So that is how it is…"
"Done." The whisper left Courage's lips. Resolving not to speak in the odd pattern further, she picked the book back up and read. More and more of the book moved from right to left, each page giving up answers to questions Courage was barely starting to grasp. She learned about folded enchantments, spells that unraveled and expanded as they were implanted, and all their applications.
At last, though, she got to the end of the book. "This is going to be so awesome! I can do so much more with…" She choked on the end of the sentence.
"This." Learned didn't make any noise until his hooves were right behind Courage. "Now what do you seek? Do you wish to keep learning along the path to making an Ascension Orb? Or would you…"
"Like to stay?" Courage shook her head. "No, I want to find out how to make this thing, I want to get home." She looked at the book that was now closed. "This is amazing, I could do so much more with this enchanting, is it how I make…"
"The Orb? Yes, this is exactly how you make it, in a few more steps." Learned Scholar stepped closer to Courage. "But you are hungry, and you are definitely a succubus. To feed, you…"
"Need to fuck." Courage gave a sigh when the unicorn's snout pressed into her mane. "What… what are you going to do? I am not sure…"
"...you can take everything I can offer." Learned trailed his snout down Courage's body as he spoke, lips and jaw tracing her spine. When he reached her croup he lined up and bit down on Courage's dock. "Moan for me, tell me…"
"I want you in me." Courage was barely aware of saying the words. She turned herself, lining her body up with the big stallion's. Lowering her head, she cocked her tail to the side in preparation. His weight crashed down on her, Courage letting out a grunt at the size of him. She didn't need to think beyond wanting the stallion in her, and pushed back.
Impaling herself on the thick shaft, Courage felt Learned start bucking into her, driving her toward her end in swift, quick strokes. He took her, he pounded her, he drove Courage to her limit and then unloaded into her. She groaned and made an embarrassing whinny of bliss, shoving backwards, clutching down on him in the throes of release.
"You are from Equestria." Learned was big enough to be leaning up and over Courage, whispering in her ear. "You know I am a demon. Not half blood, not mixed or muddled, but pure. You want…"
"I want you to buck me again." The words slid from Courage's mouth in a haze of pleasure and power. Nothing could prepare her for the power that she had burning inside, and she liked it. "Please, I want you to…"
"Buck you." Learned started again, pounding into Courage, stuffing her body with more stallion and power than she could think what to do with. She felt herself peak again and again, felt him start up over and over. "You might know my son. He ruled part of your world, now he is trapped upstairs. His name is…"
Courage's eyes fluttered, closing in pleasure as a strange exhaustion rolled through her. Learned rode her body down to the ground, still bucking, as darkness edged in on her mind. She could only say one word, and the scary thing was, she didn't know why she knew it. "Sombra."
~~~~~+++++~~~~~
Startled awake by her own imagination, Courage suppressed a shudder at the pleasure-filled dreams that had filled her head while she slept. She felt full, stuffed with energy. "What was that? What did he do to…"
Her eyes locked on something in front of her, set on a white cloth on the floor. "Me." She couldn't stop herself from finishing her words. The book, royal purple in color, had a clear title, Master Enchanting: Vol I.
Struggling to her hooves, Courage stretched and relished at the "well ridden" feeling that touched every single muscle. Lighting her horn, she floated the book up into the air. Why is my magic a little darker? Walking slowly, her back end swaying a little, Courage set the book on a lectern and opened it. All thoughts of her body, of her oddly darker-colored magic, fled as she began to read.
The book didn't last long. Courage soon was finished with it, and was still not feeling any hunger. Walking to the shelf, she found volume two of the series. "This is really…"
"Perfect." Carrying that book back, a hungry pit inside Courage seemed to grow a little wider. There was another experiment, of course, and this time the book showed her how to twist an enchantment. So excited was Courage that she barely noticed when she needed volume three, and finally finished four.
Learned was again in the room. He walked over to her, floating all four books up in his black and purple magic, sending them back to the shelves they came from. "You are hungry…"
"For sex and knowledge." Courage felt the demoness in her stir, felt her body clench at the mere thought of having the big stallion on her back. "Is… is this really going to get me out? You're not just…"
"Trying to keep you here forever, my smart little broodmare?" Learned laughed when Courage nodded, he had her perfectly contained now, she couldn't even ask him a question until he worded things just right for her. "You want to know if…"
"I will bear your foals." The words felt right to Courage, they weren't exactly what her brain wanted her to say, but once they were past her lips, it seemed right to have said them. "Please, I need…"
"To be bred, filled with my seed, then given your chance to be the perfect dam and release my colt on the world, like his brother." Learned walked around Courage, running his dark magic along her side, tracing her wings. "Now you need to…"
"Be ready for you, turn my tail to the side, offer myself." Courage didn't care who was saying the words now, they were all truth. "Please be…"
Courage was working over her latest experiment—her life felt like a dream now. Working the enchantments, folding and twisting, rebuilding them into a matrix of spells that made her old work seem like that of a foal. She was fixated on the magic swirling around the simple little orb, this was the latest step in her need to get free of this Circle.
"There you are!" Corignis stomped up to Courage, only to bounce into a protective shield. "Hey, Bale Fire?" She banged on the shield a little, but the mare inside seemed lost, staring at a trinket that floated in her inky-black magic.
At last Courage got her new enchantment to work and bound it tightly into the bauble. Standing up, the extra weight she carried reminded her of Learned. A big smile covered her snout and she turned, dispelling her shield. "Oh!"
"Well look at you." Corignis moved forward and wrapped her forelegs around Courage's neck, squeezing her in a hug. "Living well here? What is the time dilation? It hasn't been long enough since the… spider-thing incident."
Courage was a little off-balance. She hugged Corignis back. "What do you mean?" She blinked, feeling a little out of sorts. "I have been working here with Master, learning how to make an Ascension Sphere. We… he helped feed me…" Despite being a succubus, despite literally living off sex, Courage still blushed at the thought.
" 'Master'?" Corignis turned to walk beside her friend. "There is a story in this. What is going on, and who is this master? The stallion who filled your belly?" Corignis spread a wing out to keep contact with Courage.
"It's nothing silly, like with that spider." Courage waved a hoof as she walked over to the book-stand. "He has been helping me with food and tutoring. I can't believe how much I have learned!"
"A guest?" Learned Scholar walked into the great library, eyes flashing from mare to mare. "And what a beautiful one. I am Learned Scholar." He gave a slight bow. "And this is my home."
Corignis blinked at the big, dark stallion. "Almost as warm a welcome as I got in the next circle down. You would not believe the impression the ferrypony had, when he offered me a ride over the river Styx—anypony would think he had seen me before." She looked at Courage, but her friend's eyes were locked with Learned. "Okay, cards straight here, what are you doing?"
"Whatever do you mean?" Learned walked around Courage, eyed her puffy belly and gave her dock a nip. "I had to keep her fed while she learned, you really expected me to let a guest starve to death?" He didn't hesitate, bouncing his front-end up and landing on Courage's back.
Courage closed her eyes as Learned climbed onto her, then slipped into her. "Master is just being kind, I need food and he is nice enough to provide it." She adjusted her stance a little, letting the big stallion stroke himself deep into her body. "He is my master…"
"And she can't fight my control." Learned stared right at Corignis as he finished off Courage's sentence for her. "My question is, what will you do about this?" His hips started pounding in earnest, slaking his lust and Courage's hunger at the same time.
"Well, first thing, it is way outside the norm to be able to have a talk like this. Most of our kind are all 'Roar, die!' and stuff." Corignis tapped her chin with one hoof, for the moment ignoring Courage getting bred like a broodmare. "So what do you want out of this? Why the elaborate construct if you can just mind-control her?"
"Avarice." Learned bucked harder and harder. "What use is controlling a weak mare? What use is there in owning a thousand mortal slaves?" He finally drove his hips hard forward, earning a whimpering moan from Courage. "If I am going to own a creature, I am going to own one that is the equal of myself."
"Oh… kay…" Corignis stepped closer to Courage, lifted her chin with one wing and kissed her. "So what would you take in trade?" She knew it was a stupid question.
Learned laughed hysterically, chest straining as great guffaws left him. He drew back a little and slammed back in, starting his "dance" again. "You want a lot from me." Learned used one hoof to rub Courage's cheek. "What do you offer?"
"Let her go, you have your foal in her, you own that much." Corignis found herself nuzzling the Learned's hoof and Courage's cheek in equal measure, the power rolling off the fornicating pair was like honey to a succubus. "You can get one in me, too." It didn't even take much for Corignis to offer it, she was halfway under the powerful stallion already.
"And you are powerful too?" Learned was quite happily bucking into Courage, secure in the knowledge that being a succubus, sex was just about the best thing for her. "If I am going to quicken a foal in you, I want a certain amount of promise. Last time, the mare I chose was purely mortal, and while a half-succubus is quite a step up, I demand more."
"More?" Corignis smiled and licked Learned's hoof. "Who do you think shared herself with Bale Fire here? Her succubus side was traded for her pony side. The question is, what would you trade for a second Bale Fire, willing to bear you a foal?" She noticed how enticed he suddenly became, still bucking Courage, but staring right into her own eyes. "So?"
"You do know how to bargain, after all." Learned bucked faster and faster, grunting and soon unloading again. Still he didn't dismount. "Very well, both of you carry my foals, and after they are birthed you summon me to get more in you." The feeling of hot seed overflowing out of Courage, pouring down their back legs, warmed Learned's feelings more. "In all, four foals on each."
"I am fairly sure she wants out of this place." Corignis recognized a food-coma when she saw one, and Courage was in one. "So here is the deal, you want us stronger, you make us stronger. Time moves differently here, doesn't it?" She waited for Learned to nod. "Free her mind and we will carry foals to term for you. We will stay here long enough for my pregnancy to be confirmed, then she," Corignis pointed to Courage, "goes free, with me at her side. I promise we will summon you."
"An intriguing deal. How can you grow, I wonder?" Learned stepped over to Corignis. "What talent would you wish expanded upon. Name your desire and let me feed your addiction for power." Learned suddenly felt a wave of potent power roll off Corignis. He drew back a few paces and stared at her. "What… what did you do to become that powerful?"
Corignis stepped forward, her wing brushing Courage's belly. "I drank, and drank. You kept Bale Fire here, you coddled her, fed her in little amounts. I stalked through a whole Circle that was filled with souls craving physical touch, care, and love. They traded power to me happily." She drew her power back, slurping it up like a fine spaghetti. "You want a powerful mare to bear you foals, you now have two. But only four foals total."
The Lord of Avarice stared at Corignis with his sin plastered on his face. He suddenly closed his eyes and laughed. "You knew I would agree. You are each a delightful gem, and I must possess you both." He gave a dramatic sigh. "Can I not tempt you with relaxing and letting me take control of you, too?"
"No." Corignis breathed her power onto Courage, felt her friend respond to it as any succubus would—they kissed. Waiting until the kiss was ended on its own was right out, Corignis didn't have eternity to spend here. Reluctantly, she drew her snout back from Courage's hungry mouth. "The deal is now three foals."
Courage looked at her friend, her best friend, in the eyes. A tiny part inside her begged, pleaded to Corignis to make the deal and free her, but the rest of her was perfectly content to be with her Master forever. Turning, she directed her plot to Learned Scholar, giving it a little shake as she swung her tail to the side.
"Three?" The reduction in quantity hurt, but hinted at the quality. A shudder ran through him. "Three then, the third is by you." He looked Corignis in the eyes. "And we share names."
"Sharing names is fine. A demon only has power over another, when there is disparity." Corignis walked forward and lifted her hoof, getting a firm clop back from Learned. "You may do the honors, a spell to share our names at the same time if you please." Her lips curled up on one side, she was a succubus after all, and drawn to stallions with power.
Closing his eyes, Learned wove the spell, binding it to each of them, and reaching a third tendril out to Courage. He wrought the spell plainly, and then opened it up to reveal a pair of pockets. Leaning forward, he spoke words that never made it into the open.
Studying the spell, Corignis nodded to the configuration of power. "A partnership like ours could dominate many Circles." She leaned forward to the spell, and whispered her full name into it. She felt a slight tug, her essence being jerked ever so slightly by the spell, as it held her name. "Then let it be done."
"Yes." As soon as Learned said the word, the spell triggered and each of the pair heard the others' name at the same time. "Corignis, it is a delightful pleasure to—"
Courage slammed into the stallion, her hooves striking and knocking him sideways. "You bastard! What was the big idea? I…" She trailed off at the sound of Corignis' laughter. "And you! You bartered like a… like a…"
"Like a demoness?" Corignis smiled wide at Courage. "Come on Bale, you can't tell me he didn't teach you anything?" She grinned wider and wider at the angry look on Courage. "When you get out of here, you are going to be the best enchanter in—"
"I am going to be pregnant… I am pregnant!" Courage stomped her hooves in impotent rage. "Wait, how did you get past the river?"
"Same way you did, apparently. You are the one to thank for putting the idea into that stallion's head that he can rut a mare all the way across the river?" When Courage nodded, Corignis continued. "Thanks!" Both of the mares laughed at the silliness.
"Corignis, and Bale? You will forgive me for not having learned your name." Learned bowed deeply to Courage. "Given my plans, I didn't really have a reason to learn it—that changes now. Together, you are a potent power, and to think I own part of it makes me rail at this small Circle."
"What is up from here? Gluttony, right?" Corignis gestured upwards with a wing. "What do you think they will do? Try to overfeed us?" She laughed and narrowed her eyes at Learned, as he walked closer to her. "Already, Alphias?" The single word drew all of Learned's attention. "You use mine casually, so I will use yours. A reminder to both of us that have agreed to a bond."
"A bond it is, but now Bale Fire knows part of my name." Learned stood tall, looking at Corignis hungrily. "You gave away something that is not yours to give."
"You have as much of my name as I have of yours." Courage stepped up beside Corignis, glaring at Learned. "It doesn't hold power unless I know it all, so why complain?" She reached out with a wing to pat Corignis' croup. "Now, Learned, I think your deal said something about foals?"
Corignis cracked up laughing, particularly at the slightly bewildered expression on Learned's face. "Haven't seen two mares who can share? Or haven't had two succubi act quite this uninhibited before?" She gave Courage a curious look too, and saw a genuine smile.
"What I am trying to say, stud, is get your foal in her, and let me do a little more study before we have to leave." Courage turned and walked away, her blush suddenly rising. I am getting better at this but still need to work out where I stand with him. He has a deal with Corignis, but if something happens, where does that leave me? She opened the original print of Celestia's Guide to Gewgaws, trying to ignore the sounds of Corignis turning, her hooves clopping on the library floor as she jockeyed into place.
Looking back over her shoulder, Corignis flicked her tail. "Well?" She did more than flick her tail, now she cocked it to the side, presenting for Learned. He moved forward, and before rising up on her he bit her dock sharply, making her wings stand up and spread. "Get on me gosh-darned-it. You don't need foreplay with a succubus."
"You don't need foreplay, but I like it." Learned bit again, smiling as Corignis stepped around a little again. Lowering his snout, he inhaled the scent of her vulva, and then ran his tongue along it. The desired result was gained; Corignis' power flowed out of her again, tangled around Learned and put him further in the mood. Not just her arousal, not just her power encouraging me on, but a display of what she can do. He trembled and licked again, fighting his urges to immediately mount and mate.
A lesser stallion, Corignis was sure, would not be able to hold back from her now. Her power enveloped the whole room in a need for sex, the only reason Courage wasn't affected was because they shared their power. "Get on me or I walk away. Alphias, your mare wants you to fulfill your duty." Her words had the desired effect. Corignis felt Learned land on her back, pulling his way up as he humped at her blindly.
Learned felt his power nursed at—his energy flowing into Corignis, it only stirred him up more just knowing this mare could take such control. He drove forward, spearing into her, spreading her vulva around his shaft and finding her vagina welcoming. Grunting, he had never felt quite this tested before. He was held in the velvet folds of a grand succubus.
"Deeper… all the way… deeper." Corignis felt as Learned gave her just what she wanted in a quick few strokes. His hips met her plot and she moaned to match his. She knew what was coming, but no matter her preparation, his first stroke made her cry out in lust. His body jerked out and drove back in, sexual friction stirring her to louder sounds, and in the interests of hearing Learned make them too, she squeezed him.
The sex became a blur, power flowed back and forth, Corignis draining at Learned constantly, and Learned stole energy back from the waves of power she put off. He bucked and ground into her again and again as pressure built. His balls ached for release, and even as they began to churn and feel afire, he knew the end was coming. There was not a small amount of fear that Corignis would drink him away like a fine wine, but he couldn't hold back.
Arching her spine, Corignis trembled as the rush of heat swelled inside her, she knew the moment was ripe to guzzle power from Learned, but there was something stopping her. She felt bad about it. Damn this soul. As she thought the words, Corignis knew she didn't really mean them; a soul meant she had a conscience, but it also let her feel real love. She trembled in bliss, and turned her head to the side. "More." The word wasn't a full command, but it carried enough power that Learned groaned, and obeyed Corignis; he judged that in this one thing that she was truly the master.
This is a bad end, leading on from when Corignis teleported in to rescue Courage.
Courage was working over her latest experiment, her life felt like a dream now. Working the enchantments, folding and twisting, rebuilding them into a matrix of spells that made her old work seem like that of a foal. She was fixated on the magic swirling around the simple little orb, this was the latest step in her crusade to get free of this Circle.
"There you are!" Corignis stomped up to Courage, only to bounce into a protective shield. "Hey, Bale Fire?" She banged on the shield a little, but the mare inside seemed lost, staring at a trinket that floated in her inky-black magic.
As Courage turned to see who the intruder was, her eyes widened a little. "Master! An intruder!" She released her enchantment and turned her wrath on the succubus who was right behind her.
Corignis had a moment of staring at her friend and seeing a complete stranger looking back. "Bale—" A thick, black tendril of magic shoved into her mouth, silencing Corignis and making her feel strange at the same time. Magic trickled down her throat, strange magic that she had never felt before.
"Oh, nursing on my Insatiable Tentacles already?" Courage grinned and walked closer to the edge of her magic bubble. "Here, let me guide them." Her awareness slipped into the spell, like a hoof in a sock. She felt her extended body pressing into the demoness' mouth, leaking the addictive aphrodisiac into Corignis' belly. Snaking two new shapes up Corignis' back legs, Courage rubbed each against the demon's rear, smearing her plot with the same substance pooling in her belly.
The first of the rear-tentacles found Corignis' vulva and rubbed against it, smearing more of the goop on her. Her rear glowed with heat, her body aching more and more for the touch of the tentacles. Glancing at Courage showed the mare to be staring at her blankly. Her eyes fluttered shut as the shape shoved into her. Her body immediately tried to drink magic from the tentacles, but failed utterly.
Courage dove a third length of herself into Corignis, plowing through her tail-hole and squirming deep. She squirmed around, all her attention on how good it felt to penetrate the intruding demon. Pushing deeper, she felt Corignis squeeze around her lengths, and was enraptured with screwing her.
"My pet," Learned's voice cut through the mare's distraction, "leave the tentacles, they seem to have her under their sway. You may…"
The words rang in Courage's head. She had to yank back from the feeling of screwing Corignis and back into her body. "Play with her later." Courage's eyes danced. She loved her Master with every ounce of her being, but she also could feel his intent in ever twisted command-phrase she felt from him; as long as she stuck to the intent, she could modify things a little. She dispelled her shield and stepped forward, bowing her head to Learned. "Thank you, I hope you like her, my…"
"Master." Learned confirmed. "Do you know this demon? It is highly unusual for one such as her to travel between Circles, more so considering she looks almost exactly the same as you." He studied the newcomer. "Of course, what am I thinking. You know her as…"
"Corignis el Threpin ark Turas del Fife." Courage blinked a few times, and smiled up at her Master. "I did it! I remembered her name!" She nuzzled Learned's chin.
Terror flooded Corignis, in the depths of her pleasure-wracked mind. She knew what had just been spoken, it called to her no matter what her condition. She knew Courage had spoken her name.
"Corignis el Threpin ark Turas del Fife." Learned leaned forward. "By your name I bid you to rise." He had to jerk back as Corignis fought and struggled, fighting the clutching tentacles and her body's needs both, and standing up. "Good. You know what you must call me." He turned his head slightly, and nodded to Courage. "Dispell the tentacles, please."
Corignis struggled on her wobbly legs. She looked at the demon who had spoken her name and loathed the words she knew she had to say. "Yes, Master." It rang in her head. Her full name had hit her like a ton of bricks, and now she couldn't fight any command he gave. "What do you wish of me?"
"To start? Hearing you say those words." Learned chuckled. "Why did you come here, Corignis el Threpin ark Turas del Fife?" He enunciated each syllable carefully, and smiled wide when her ears folded back at hearing her name again. "And what do you know of my pet?"
Courage couldn't resist herself. She had implied permission to play with Corignis, and really wanted to explore the demon some more. Extending black magic, she lifted Corignis' tail and leaned under it. The heady scent of the tentacle's slimy venom hit her nose, fuzzing her own mind with more desire.
Jumping a little, Corignis felt a tongue stroke from her clit up her vulva to the top of it. She whimpered a little, but she had been given a command. "Yes, Master. I came here to help Courage Fire." her body quivered with each lick, the drug still riding her nerves. "She was a regular pony, from the normal world. I took her cherry, I fed so well on her I helped her. At first my aid was in the hope of getting more sex, then things changed. We had to work together to fight another demon, and when we did, it merged us on some level. I gained part of her soul, she gained some of my demonhood."
A groan left Courage's throat at the sound of her full name. Her head and soul burned, she felt a deep compulsion to keep servicing Corignis, to do as she wished.
"Courage Fire." Learned tasted the name. "Very tasty. So what I have is a pair of half-souled succubi?" He walked around the two, studied each of them closely. Using his magic, he gave a swift smack to Courage's plot. "Courage Fire, stop pleasuring my newest pet."
There was no question of wheedling around the command. Courage pulled her snout back and turned to her master. Giving a soft whine, she nuzzled at his foreleg, her head bent down in submission. "Please, Master, I was only playing."
"Relax, my good pet." Learned nibbled at Courage's dock, his snout pulled into a smile. "Trap her again, as many tentacles as you want. Let my new pet realize that she is on the bottom of the heap." Learned bowed his head, rubbed his horn along Courage's flank.
"Master." Courage felt a tighter bond wrap around her securely. She knew of his mind control, loved the feel of it slipping his thoughts into her head, but now she was completely Learned's pet. "Please… I need you…" She presented herself to him, she stretched her back legs and flagged her tail to the side for him. She expected her Master to mount her and take her body, but instead a thin, tapered intrusion pushed past her folds.
Corignis' legs folded. She couldn't fight the tentacles as they coiled around her limbs and pulled her to the floor. "Buuuuhhhhck." She was stuffed quickly, her tail lifting obligingly for the dark tentacles. They started to piston inside her, driving her mind into a frenzy of submissive glee.
Learned charged his horn with magic, and immediately felt an answer in Courage, and her foal. Bearing a soul like their mother, the creature growing within Courage would, with the right influx of power and purpose, be the next ruler of Equestria. Drawing his horn back, he pushed forward again, shoving his horn deeper into his broodmare. Rocking his shoulders, Learned worked steadily deeper and deeper, until his forehead pressed to her plot. Closing his eyes, he began the enchantment spell.
Screaming with pleasure and purpose, Courage's own magic roared and poured out, joined her Master's and dove into her body. The foal inside her became wrapped in runes, power suffusing their being. Filly. The thought came and went, Courage only moaned louder as Learned wove more power around the growing mass inside her.
He slowly pulled his horn back, and as he did, Learned rumbled softly to the bearer of his foal. "Good pet, Courage Fire. You understand the magic so well now." Pride and satisfaction coated his voice, and he watched the emotions have their effect on Courage.
Slumping down to the floor, Courage closed her eyes a moment in bliss; power seemed to radiate from within, a mix of hers and her Master's "Master, what was that?" She turned and looked over her shoulder to the big, dark stallion. "It felt like enchantment magic…"
"Which of course it was." Learned sighed, part of him wanting the more delightfully complex control of bending Courage to his will, instead of just breaking her with her name. "It is time to play a game with your friend, we are going to…"
Every part of Courage perked up, rejoicing as she felt her master's will bend against her, shaping her thoughts. "Hypnotize her." Courage struggled to get her legs under her belly, and failed completely. Taking a deep breath to steady herself, she tried again. Bubbling laughter left Courage's throat as she gained her hooves, legs wobbling. "Master, you have left me so wobbly after…"
"Plowing our foal full of magic." Learned nipped at Courage's flank, making her dance. Glancing towards Corignis, he smiled. "Your spell is quite effective, where did you learn that one?" He walked over, circling the stuck succubus.
"Master, that spell was in Sylliph's Salacious Spells." Courage's pride swelled as she walked up and leaned down. Licking one of the tentacles—one that had a firm grip on Corignis' wing—Courage groaned in bliss as the drug it leaked gave her a warm tingle all over. "What are you going to do with both of us? Eventually?"
Learned stopped and looked at Courage. "Once she is hypnotized too, I am going to bind you both to me in a very permanent way." Flicking his magic at Corignis, the tentacles disappeared and left her rolling on her side in desperation. This won't do. Drawing more power, he pushed into her being, wrapping the spell in her name, and pulled her back from the addiction to the tentacles.
Gasping, suddenly cold-sober, Corignis looked up and whimpered.
"Corignis el Threpin ark Turas del Fife." Learned watched the mare's head jerk up to look at him. "I am in control of your body now, quite completely. Will you submit to my…"
"…will." Corignis froze, spotting Learned's horn glowing with dark magic. "What are you going to do to me, Master? I am already yours." Somehow, she knew he wanted more from her, something she likely never wanted to give.
"Just relax. Let Master's thoughts replace the ones you don't need anymore." Courage pressed her snout under Corignis' tail and nuzzled the mare's vulva, rubbing her cheeks into it. "If you are good, Master will…"
"Control you, too." Learned walked before Corignis. "Isn't that what is happening already? I am in control. Just relax yourself, Corignis el Threpin ark Turas del Fife. Let my voice guide you, make me…"
"My Master." Corignis couldn't fight his mind when he used her name, and felt Learned's will shape parts of her own. The need to resist him just melted, the first target. Then she smiled and perked her ears forward, aching for his next word. "I want…"
"Me to own you." Learned pressed his snout to Corignis', breathing into her face, letting his breath be her breath, his words be her words, and his thoughts be her thoughts. "Relax yourself, listen to me. You will start to learn dark magic, and my other pet will teach you. But first, let me bind you into…"
"Your familiars." Corignis nodded, smiling widely. She felt a touch at her side, as Courage walked up beside her. Magic welled up between the other two, pouring out into a huge rune-weave around them. Two big circles, one around Corignis and Courage, the other around Learned. Then a shaft of runes etched itself along the floor from Learned's circle to theirs. Magic flooded Corignis, but she wasn't the focus. "Master, make us…"
"Mine." Learned sank his magic into Courage like a gaff into a fish. He speared the power deep into her very core, and used more to weld it in place. A feeling of heat flooded his body, of need to be filled, stuffed, claimed. Struggling against the sensations of a needy succubus, he turned the magic on Corignis.
Corignis slammed her eyes closed, but that did nothing to stop her feeling the thick black magic squirm into her, burrowing around in the morass of Her, until it found her core. Corignis suddenly belonged, had a place to be, and no longer worried about Courage or herself. Panting at the strength of the bond now welded into her very being, she looked at Learned. "Master, please use me as you wish." They were words for Corignis to live by now, and she felt the delight her master felt at them.
"You are both very naughty mares, and I know this link is already having an effect on me. But, binding two powerful succubi as familiars will boost my power to unimaginable levels, maybe even enough to leave this cursed Circle of Avarice!" Learned drew on their power, swelling out with it, and dimly heard a voice cursing.
If it were possible to actually relax in the Pit, Courage was doing that. Days were spent studying more magic than she had ever dreamed possible for her talents—her much expanded talents, now—and her nights were often spent with either Corignis, Alphias, or both. She was lying down, reading a particularly interesting book about potent uses for shadow-magic, when she heard a familiar voice.
"Given up, have we?"
Courage's head jerked up. She looked around quickly in panic before she steadied herself. "Just found a comfortable place to rest, before the final stretch. You… you helped me in the lower Circles, but I know you will want something for that; you are a demon."
"You are learning. Everything comes with a price. What will you give me for this warning, I wonder?"
"What warning? I trust Corignis, and Learned." She heard the voice try to cut in on her, but talked over it. "That is, I trust Corignis, and by extension Learned. He has given Corign…" Courage clapped her hoof up and against her snout.
"Curiouser and curiouser. What has the First Lieutenant to the Lord of the Pit given the wayward succubus?"
"Buck off." Courage flashed a smile that included more fangs than she had possessed before entering the Circle of Avarice. "I don't owe you anything because you don't know my name."
"And what if I told you that you don't have long before the one time I will open the gates of the Pit? I can only keep them open so long. Be there, or don't."
"What?" Courage jumped to her hooves, the copy of Super Spells for Shadow Pals going forgotten. "You can open the gates and let me out?" Her thoughts raced, actually getting out, and past Cerberus, was the biggest problem she had yet to solve. "How?" Courage waited, and listened, but all that met her senses was stray laughter from that dark voice in her head.
The laughter slowly faded, but the voice kept silent. Courage waited, with an angry frown on her face, for a full half an hour. "Time to go." Her voice sounded small in the room, like just saying the words was betraying all the knowledge that was held there. "I really have to." She turned, coming face to face with Corignis and Alphias.
"I agree." Alphias leaned over and nuzzled Corignis. "I have you both…" He trailed off his words without forcing his will on either mare—he no longer had to. They are both with my foals, I have everything I have ever wanted. A shackle broke in his mind, a chain that had bound him to the circle clattered.
"It's good to be wanted, my stallion." Corignis nuzzled Alphias back, but nibbled down the dark fur of his neck. "But we have a deal, and once we are settled in to raise our foals we will call on you." Power flitted between them, trading, blending.
"You both want a ride up?" Alphias raised an eyebrow. "You understand, I cannot follow; I might have broken the chain that bound me here, but the Lord of the Pit himself bid me never to lift myself from my prison."
Courage froze, remembering the title the voice had given Alphias. "What did you do that made him do that? And what chain? I don't get it." She looked at the stallion, studying his eyes. Hunger was there, but it was a hunger she had sated, and if she was honest with herself, would sate again and again. Her eyes widened as she saw the hunger in him grow. He wants me. He has me, but he still wants me. Alphias leaned in, pressed his muzzle to Courage's ear, and whispered his name right to her. Before she realized what she was doing, she opened her mouth. "Courage Fire."
A tremble of pleasure ran through Alphias that had nothing to do with how sexy he though either mare was. "You. Both of you. I wanted power, I wanted company. But what I almost did was kill the Lord. Who knows, with the backing of both of you I probably could, now." He tossed a hoof in the air and leaned back from Courage. "So you understand? He chained me here with my own avarice, he bound me in a place where I would never find the power I desired. He chained me here, and you both set me free."
"I think he…" Courage stopped, straining against her inner mind. Something struggled to stop her from telling Corignis and Alphias what she suspected. He is binding me, not letting me tell them.
"I hear Tartarus is great this time of year." Corignis missed Courage's struggle. "Gluttony, then Lust; well I can't see Lust being a problem." She grinned. "But remember one thing, Courage, do not eat the food in Gluttony. No matter how hungry you get."
Courage blinked at Corignis and groaned. "Where were you in the ninth Circle?! Every time I came to a new one I had no clue what was going on, and now you give me advice. Okay. I'll bite. What happens if I eat the food in Gluttony?"
"It will taste better than anything you have ever eaten. It is literally the perfect drug. One bite and you are hooked." Corignis scrunched up her snout. "So if you get hungry just find some stallion and buck him."
"Or call me." Alphias grinned, and walked around Courage. When he bit at her dock, her tail pulled obligingly to the side. Every part of Alphias wanted to climb on her, to screw her and never stop. But he shook his head. Make her call me, make her use my name. Then she will not be unhappy when I call hers. He kept walking, leaving her puffy vulva alone.
"Tease…" Courage felt jilted out of some good sex, but had to admit that it was nice to realize there was regular sex to be jilted out of. "Well, if worse comes to worst, we blast our way through." Just thinking about choosing what spell to use made her a little giddy. I really have learned so much here. She looked around the library and gave a longing sigh.
"Come on, before you find another book to read, or… Learned… decides you are worth mounting again." Corignis gave a bark of laughter. "Do we still need the Sphere of Ascension?" She looked to Alphias.
Grinning and shaking his head, Alphias snorted in amusement. "Of course not. Giving a special filly something to aim for that she could never hope to reach, was part of me snaring her here. I am sorry, Cou—"
"Bale. Bale Fire." Courage looked at Alphias. "Learned Scholar, if you please, we should practice using less exploitable names." She turned to look at Corignis. "Do you have an alias?"
"Corignis. A demon stole that much of my name many millennia ago. He shared it to all and sundry, I showed him up by wearing it with pride. My name is long enough that very few know more than that."
"Then call me Alphias." Alphias felt a little tension at the casual use of his name. "But Bale Fire will suit one with so short a name." He leaned towards Courage and inhaled her scent, finding not just "her," but also traces of himself and Corignis. "Go now, before I change my mind and keep you here for eternity."
"I…" It really struck Courage just how much the big demon was changing, was doing, for her. "I love you, Alphias in Sara Kin ark ti Fin Diablus." She watched his eyes widen with the use of his full name. "And you too, Corignis el Threpin ark Turas del Fife." She breathed deeply, power wrapping around her.
Alphias knew he couldn't get outraged, not when Courage had woven his name into a dedication of… love. "What have you two demonic mares done to me, that I find the use of my full name to be a thing of beauty? Go, now. But call on me soon, for anything you desire." He flashed his eyes at both Courage and Corignis then began charging his magic.
Courage's last thought, as the power wrapped around her and shoved her between Circles, questioned why she passed out each time.
~~~~~+++++~~~~~
"They're awake!" A male voice cut through the quiet of the room.
Courage turned her head to the speaker, and saw a cloaked pony stare back from under their hood. "Where are we?" She looked around more, seeing that Corignis was nowhere to be seen. The walls looked to be worked stone, and she lied on nothing more than a cot, a cot with scratchy hay in it.
"We are in a recovery room. You are safe after your journey. Did you come from Avarice, or from Lust? I think you came from Lust." The stallion reached up and pulled his cowl back to reveal an emaciated-looking unicorn. "Welcome to Gluttony, for what it is worth. My name is Hunger."
"Hunger?" Courage blinked at the name. "Wait, aren't you eating here? You look like you are skin and bones." She studied the pony, realizing that she could see the lines and edges of his skull through the thin flesh of his head.
"You are so astute! I fight the need, as does everypony here." Hunger gave a sigh. "And yes, I know how ironic my name is, but it helps remind me that I need to avoid eating the… the food."
Courage watched the stallion start salivating. "That's good. From what I hear, you really don't want to eat the food here…" Courage turned her head away from the pony, looking to the single, cell-like door. "I don't suppose you saw another mare just like me? Corignis?" It was then Courage lifted a hoof and bopped her head. "How rude of me. Bale Fire." She offered her hoof to the thin pony.
Hunger stared at the offered hoof, eyes almost glazing over before he lifted his own, thin limb to gently clop against it. "Sorry, we don't get many visitors from below, and definitely none that are this polite." He smiled, revealing bone-white teeth.
There was just something about the pony that put Courage's nerves on edge. Well duh, he is trying to live as best he can in a Circle of the Pit that makes food into an addiction. I would be a bit messed up too if I lived here for a few hundred years. She shook herself. "Okay. Well, I just want to find my friend and then we're headed for the next Circle up."
"Oh yes, your friend!" Hunger brightened up. "If you could help me find her, that would be great. Is there some way you locate each other, Bale?" Hunger walked to the door and banged once, then twice, then once again. Noticing Courage's focus, Hunger smiled that too-perfect grin again. "Security and all that. Don't want crazed demons roaming around."
"Right." Courage tried to smile, then remembered who and what she was now. Well, I am not crazed, I hope. But the rest is right. She was extra conscious of her wings as she ruffled them. "So where else could she be?"
"We are not the only defense for you poor lost souls." Hunger stepped out the door when it opened, leading Courage out. "But we like to think we are the most obliging. If we can find your friend and bring her here to safety, we will."
Courage saw another of the robed ponies, although this one didn't reveal their face. "I have noticed the higher I get the more pony-like everything is. This is the second Circle where I have only seen ponies, or pony-shaped beings." She shuddered at the memory of White.
"That stands to reason, the closer to the top we are, the more ponies that make their way down. I… I was sent straight here, from Tartarus." Hunger shuddered. "When I first arrived, I ate. It was before all this, all the safety. I joined the first group who set up the Sanctity."
"Is that the name of your group?" Courage felt comfortable, and berated herself for it. They are in the Pit for a reason, Courage. Remember White!
"Yup!" Hunger trotted along, the pit of his stomach aching for relief. Mentally he prodded his belly. Soon…
Following her guide, Courage soon found herself in the outer courtyard of a huge castle. "Wow, this place is huge. Is it really so crazy out there that you need this?" She admired the big walls and pony guards marching along the wall to guard from attacks, but there was one feeling she couldn't shake. I am being watched closely. Her head turned to Hunger.
"Not so much here. But even still, sometimes whole armies come and lay siege to us." Hunger couldn't help but drool a little at the thought. "They have never gotten in alive, though." Completely unable to hold back a manic little giggle, Hunger led the way to the open front gate.
"Halt." A big pegasus—their wings trying to cover their gaunt ribs—stepped out from a post beside the gate and stepped between Courage and the outside. "Hunger, you can't go out alone. We have reports of gorgers roaming around."
Courage didn't fail to notice the guard's eyes keep drifting to her, not that he looked at her face. "Gorgers?" Looking to Hunger, she tried to probe him for answers with her gaze.
"Uh, ponies who like to eat a little too much. They can become quite monstrous." Hunger looked to the guard. "Lieutenant Devour, Bale Fire here said she came through the downward gate with a friend." He waggled his eyebrows out of sight of Courage.
"Well, sounds like you need a security detail." Devour spread a big smile that showed off a set of sharp teeth. "Attention!" Four guards—all looking just as waif-thin as Hungry—presented themselves. "I only need three." He glared at one of the guards until they retreated.
"Hey, I can look after myself." Courage railed against having the guards, particularly since there would be two pegasi and two unicorns. "And if we can catch up with Corignis there will be two of us to fight." Her smile wilted under the gaze of the three guards and their Lieutenant.
"Oh, uh…" Hunger looked between Courage and the guards, moving between them in the hope he could somehow get this all to work. "We wouldn't dream of letting you get hurt, would we Lieutenant Devour?"
Devour's eyes were planted firmly on Courage's rump; it was hard not to drool under the circumstances, and the only thing that stopped him from attacking the mare right away was the thought of having two. "Of course. We only want to make sure you are both safe."
"you don't seriously trust them, do you?"
Courage had to hide the snort of amusement under a cough. She wanted to reply with something snarky, but didn't dare. "I really hope we can find her quickly." It was true enough that Courage could avoid outright giggling.
"Maybe you should just kill them all. This is Gluttony. They should be reveling in their sin, not hunting ponies for food."
After hearing the words, even in her head, humor abandoned Courage completely. "So what are these gorgers like? I have been around a little—lower that is—and have seen a lot of strange things."
As Devour and his squad marched forward, Courage and Hunger fell in behind. "Well, they have been eating and eating. It is amazing to see. They are bloated and huge!" Hunger's eyes closed in bliss. "A little too fatty, but they—" He stopped talked at a glare from Devour.
"So, how do we find Corignis?" Courage didn't want the guards to get angry at her, not yet. She began to use her magic, reaching out with it.
"Stop that! The… uh…" Hunger fished for a word, "gorgers can sense magic, and will hunt us down!" He nodded, clearly hoping that the explanation would stop Courage from what she was doing.
"Why don't you just kill him? The others probably wouldn't notice if you did it just right."
Better idea. Courage schooled her features into shock. "Oh no, I twisted my hoof!" She slumped gracefully to the ground, one back leg extended out. "Now I will never be able to—" Energizing her horn again, Courage used thick black tentacles of power to grab the guard who pounced at her. "W-What are you doing?" she said, painting her words with startlement that Courage hoped would hide her set up. The look in her attacker's eyes had been enough for Courage to firmly shove him in the "monster" category—he looked like a mad animal.
Snarling and snapping, the guard fought at the restraints. Biting at the dark magic, his eyes widened when he heard a snap.
The urge for Courage to drink the life-force out of the dying creature was great, but she remembered Alphias' warning, and assumed it meant any kind of sustenance for pony or demon. "Oh my! Did you see that? He tried to throw himself on me!" That she had just killed a pony didn't register; the thing she had killed was a monster, which her pony-self was more than okay with dispatching. Her demon side had no problems either way.
Four stunned faces stared at Courage; Hunger was the first to react. "Are you alright?" He moved carefully to Courage, gulping back his sudden fear at how casually she had killed the guard. "Would you like a hoof up?"
"Thank you." Courage lifted herself up, not wanting to rely on the slimy little toad of a pony. He is the one leading me to reveal Corignis so they can get her too. A sudden urge almost had her reach out with her magic again.
"And then there were four."
"Something must have possessed him." Lieutenant Devour stared at the dead guard. Gulping sharply, he kept back his own urges to jump on the dead pony and rip him apart for his meat. He contemplated his chances of rushing the mare, and started leaning forward on his hooves.
"I see something!" One of the guards—who was actually doing his job—pointed with a hoof toward the horizon. "Looks like some kinda fight."
Courage perked up, tracing the pony's foreleg into the distance. When the rush of magic leapt into the sky and then crashed down, Courage immediately recognized it as Corignis. "That's her! We need to rescue her!" spreading her big wings, Courage pumped them rapidly, lifting herself into the air with a whoop of excitement. Airborne, she had a much better view of Corignis, and the dozen guards she was fighting; guards that looked exactly like Devour and his cronies.
Corignis was well surrounded, hemmed in by a mix of tough earth ponies, quick pegasi, and a few unicorns who seemed intent on not letting her take to the air. Swinging her powerful whip of magic around again, she lashed one of the unicorns across the face. "Come on, can't any of you take me on?" She brought her whip around again, forcing all her attackers back; then one of them suddenly caught fire. A chill of power ran up her spine, and Corignis started to laugh.
Slamming down to the ground, Courage drew her flames back from the pegasus who had been about to stab Corignis. Power surged through Courage as her horn lit. A purple-black mass of tentacles erupted from her own back and reached forward. Tearing at one of the guards with the tentacles now under her control, Courage sent her flame out to dance within Corignis' mane and tail. "These are not nice ponies!"
"You think? One bit me!" Corignis danced around, her burning mane swinging, but when her tail did the same it connected with one of the guards. She turned to watch as the bale-fire spread over his body. "That one, in fact!" She laughed. "What is their deal? I thought this was…" She trailed off as she lashed out with a hoof, caving in the face of another of her attackers. "I thought this was Gluttony?"
"Interesting friend you have. She is right though, this is Gluttony, and those are—"
"Cannibals. I told them I needed to find you so the runt they left in my cell wouldn't try to eat me on the spot. I have no idea what their game is, but they still count as addicted, right? Eating ponies is still eating?" Courage now had her own foes to face, some guards breaking off from milling around Corignis to circle her.
"Kill them both!" Lieutenant Devour landed on the outskirts of the melee, pushing and shoving his way in. "They are just stupid ponies, drag them down and rip out their throats!"
"Friends? Bale-darling, you shouldn't have." Corignis spun around, but her attackers were wise to her tail being a weapon. "Are you going to—" She stopped short when the big tentacles on Courage's back arched up in the air and dove at Devour. "Buck that's awesome…"
Courage shoved each tentacle into a different limb, slamming the last through Devour's back. He turned his head and bit into one of her tentacles, but the damage was already done. Courage swung the new limbs, pulling Devour off his hooves and flinging him into the crowd that was between her and Corignis. "Sorry I'm late." She glared at the other pony guards, daring any to step forward and challenge her.
"I'll save you, fair maidens!"
The shout drew everypony's attention to one side, where the oddest thing happened. "Is this for real?" Courage looked at Corignis, then back to the hugely overweight pony. Their "savior" had heavy plate armor doing a good job of wrapping their body, but as they charged the guards she saw actual competence in their movements. Yellow-gold magic held a heavy pole-arm, swinging it into the shocked guards.
"My hero!" Corignis batted her lashes at the newcomer, even as he grabbed something from his backpack. To Courage she whispered softly, "A hayburger?" She watched as the huge pony made short work of the cannibals, cutting down nearly a dozen and sending the rest into full-rout.
"I literally can't believe this." Courage watched the "hero" stalk around the foes he had laid-low, giving each a finishing blow. "Uh, sir?"
"Yes? Oh! The maidens!" Finishing the last of the downed guards for good, the brave stallion trotted—with much jiggling—over to Courage and Corignis. Lowering down to one wobbling knee, he bowed his head. "Sir Thunder Hoof, at your service."
Corignis was quicker on the uptake and dipped her own head as Thunder climbed back upright. "Sir Knight, you saved us from a fate worse than death itself!" She lifted her hoof up and actually tittered when Thunder gently kissed it.
"Much as I hate to rush, and particularly with two such well-mannered mares, but they will be back with friends—lots and lots of friends. We must away…" Thunder groaned a little, reaching to his bulging pack and pulling out another burger. "Mfmfm, pweeph ephquooz my eaphin, Wuphuny." He munched on the big, greasy burger with every look of adoration—for the burger, not for the maidens.
"Uh." Courage blinked at the happy knight. "Yeah, if there are more we really should move. Do you…" she fumbled for a word, "have a castle of your own?"
Nodding around his food, Sir Thunder started trotting back the way he had come from. "Goph a phawl ephpape…" He gulped down the last of the burger and sighed. "I have a small estate. We should make it in no time, tally-ho!"
"I wouldn't have expected a brave knight to be in Gluttony." Corignis slipped her damsel-in-distress mentality off, since it seemed like Thunder wasn't quite so stupid as she initially thought. "Why are you here?"
"Good question. I was meant to be further down. You see, when I was alive I walked away from all I was and did some evil things. Of course, I repented and tried to atone for myself. Who would have thought a lifetime of making up for it, wouldn't." Thunder sounded jovial despite the subject. "That was a long time ago. I should be in with the other heretics, but these… biters…" he resisted the urge to call them any of the less-kind names—there were mares present after all—and used the lest offensive word, "guard the exit. They raid us, trying to steal ponies away to eat."
"Well that explains why the lower levels are less populated." Courage gave a little nod. "And I guess any that are even a little gluttonous tend to join up with them?"
"Sadly, it is true. Not many souls that come down here will eat another pony, but to them we are all food." Thunder's voice hardened for a moment, then he let out a sigh. "Sorry about phiff." His last word was choked around a rolled-up pizza.
"Why didn't you just burn them all, Cor?" Courage walked along, following Sir Thunder Hoof at Corignis' side. "I would have thought you could have just blasted them all away?" Ahead a castle was visible, but being stuck on their hooves meant that distance took time to eat up.
"Of course I could have. I got some of your magic, remember?" Corignis reached a leathery wing out to brush down Courage's spine. "But this is Gluttony, we shouldn't eat here. A drained succubus is a hungry succubus."
"Succubus?" Thunder stopped and turned on the two mares. Narrowing his eyes, the oversized stallion let out a sigh. "Who am I to judge? I am sure you are both terrible monsters and just wish to enslave the whole Circle to your evil ways." He couldn't see it, but he assumed both mares rolled their eyes. "Doesn't change how I treat you. Until you give me a reason to distrust your motives, you are my guests."
As Courage watched, Thunder took another perfect hayburger out of his pack and started eating it. She stared for a moment before she had to ask, "Where do you get hayburgers? And you pulled a pizza out before!"
"Mmmff, lofn ftowy." Sir Thunder ate fast, but still savored every bite. "I held out a long time. I starved myself down to skin and bones… worse than even those monsters back there." Trotting along, Thunder let out a deep sigh. "Gluttony doesn't let you die, not from hunger. You waste away more and more until even those cannibals would ignore you. Every day was a pit of… a pit…" With a sigh he reached back to the pack and pulled out a small pile of donuts.
"So you ate something?" Corignis had to fight from doing more than just stroking Courage's back; she really wanted to play.
"Did I eat something?" Thunder liked the donuts quite a bit, and not just because of the flavor. "Of course I ate something, I ate everything anypony offered me. I ate and ate and ate. I left my deathbed with a distended belly and a hunger for yet more. Like every other denizen who tried food here, my backpack appeared then." He gestured back at the thing. "Nopony knows where they come from, but my theory is they are shards of the Circle itself. Whenever you are hungry—all the time by the way—you can smell just what you crave inside."
"Corignis would end up with a bag of dicks." Courage covered her snout with a hoof the moment she made the joke. She looked at Corignis and saw the big smile on her friend's face.
"Well, Bale's pack would be full of books. I swear, you are the only succubus who ever spent so much time reading." Corignis leaned close to Courage and hugged her against her side.
The three entered relative silence (punctuated only by Sir Thunder's eating), right up until they reached the castle. The three hunkered down on the last ridge overlooking the plain. "A siege?" Sir Thunder Hoof almost exploded into action. "Of my castle. Well, at least we won't want for food." He popped another doughnut into his mouth and started to chew it angrily.
"Anything that would destroy them all would take too long and too much power." Courage tapped her chin with a hoof. "What do they," she waved her hoof at the horde of cannibals, "do apart from eat?" She was trying to stir up some creative solutions by brainstorming.
"Torturing ponies. They claim it 'tenderizes the meat.' " Sir Thunder's face twisted into a grimace of disgust. "And they have this 'Guard' group. Basically, the bullies. If we could break their backs, the rest would likely just shove off."
"She's got an idea." Corignis grinned. "Look at the way she is smiling. When Bale smiles like that at you, you run." She stuck her tongue out at Courage.
"Do you?" Thunder's mouth felt empty; reaching up with his magic, he pulled a grilled cheese sandwich out.
"Yeah, I think I have something. Low on magic usage too. More of a curse really." Courage grinned as she looked over the fields of emaciated ponies. "Would you like to see it?" She looked to Sir Thunder.
"I am to act as the moral compass to a succubus now, am I?" Thunder Hoof followed Courage's gaze. "They lost their souls to this place long ago. They are not ponies anymore; they are monsters."
Courage wove the first part of the spell, binding it in mid-air with thick, black runes. "We start with an old, but good spell. Want-it need-it. I hear a princess once mistakenly used it on a random curio. The town where she lived nearly ripped itself apart trying to get to it." She built an enchantment next, a very nasty multi-folding one, layering it over the want-it need-it. Tapping the enchantment caused it to unfold and wrap the spell up tightly in fresh, glowing runes.
"Contagion?" Corignis recognized some symbols Courage had used in the enchantment used. "You are making that spell contagious?" She noticed as well that Courage's eyes had taken a green and red hue.
"With this lock." Courage wove another enchantment. This one fit to the first like the key to a lock, which is exactly what it was. "The contagion will only trigger on whoever eats the flesh of the infected." She smiled at the spell, floating mid air and looking a lot more deadly than it had any right to be.
"Are you going to cast it or what?" Corignis rolled her eyes at Courage's flourish. "I didn't even know you could enchant a spell like that." She watched the magic shoot off and angle towards a target that was yelling at a lot of other cannibals in the siege camp.
"Bang, perfect." Courage lifted her hoof up and pointed. "And in three, two, on—"
"Too slow. Look, it started already." Corignis watched as the pony who she guessed was the camp leader was suddenly attacked by those around him. If only one or two of the magically compelled ponies had rushed in, the big stallion likely could have dealt with them, but he was dragged down in a grand melee.
Courage watched what she had unleashed. She trembled in shock at how violent and bloody things turned. Images burned in her brain of ponies falling on each other in the only way these knew how—with their teeth.
"Hey." Corignis pulled Courage closer with a wing. "They are monsters, you are just putting them down in the quickest manner you can." She pressed her head against Courage's cheek. "You aren't like them. You will never be like them." The soul Courage had shared with her was hard at work—its chief weapon being empathy. The emotional blade was sharp and long. "You don't realize it, Bale Fire, but there is a huge part of the Pit that is a less terrible place because of you. That spider monster, the fighting pits, even Alphias seems more relaxed."
"That is amazing." Sir Thunder Hoof bit into another pizza. "Oof an fem fun!" He climbed to his hooves, hefting the bulk of his body up and retrieving his weapon. "Pweef fom on." Stepping forward, he was in clear sight of the swarm of cannibals now, not that any noticed him.
"Hold on, we need a shield against the spell." Courage got up and nuzzled Corignis on the cheek. "Come on, let's go with him." Together, they trotted up beside Thunder, and Courage cast her protection spell.
"You are both fine maidens…" Thunder Hoof paused a moment while both Courage and Corignis chuckled. "You don't actually have to giggle when I say that. I know it isn't true, but it makes me feel more comfortable. I can only assume the world has changed a bit since I…" He visibly fumbled for words. "Since I died."
Courage was unsure how to take it. She certainly wasn't a maiden, but a compliment was a compliment, and it really seemed like he was being sincere. "Thank you, Sir Knight." It was the best she could do. "I am… I am from a more modern time, it is true." She thought to all the fancy science that was bandied about in Equestria. "I hope to be returning soon. Is there anything I could tell your—"
Thunder hadn't realized he had moved. He was suddenly staring at Courage's face, desperation etched on his own. "Please don't. Please don't tell anypony what my fate became." He was on the edge of begging. "My whole life I fought to rise above what I did. To have failed would spoil my memory." He blinked as Courage kissed him chastely on the nose.
"Then I will not track down the grave of the brave knight who protected me and my… sister." Courage's eyes flashed to Corignis.
" 'Sister'?" Corignis snorted. "Is that all we are after all this? I have part of your soul, you took part of my demonhood. We share a stallion, Bale." Corignis stepped closer to Courage and nuzzled her ear. "We carry his foals. We are as much mated to each other as he is to us."
"This is totally not the place to get sexy, Corignis." Courage wasn't really wrong; they were walking past the fetid remains of dozens of cannibals. She looked around and felt any libido she had melt away. "Come on, Sir Thunder Hoof, your home awaits."
"Thank you. This…" Thunder gestured around the quiet plain. "This would have cost lives to deal with. If you could teach us that spell, I am sure we could find a good use for it in the future. Uh… it doesn't need that particular type of magic to cast though, does it?"
"Oh! No, that is… that is just how my magic works now." Courage blushed at the firm proof that she had studied maybe a little too much of the darker magics.
"Ho there!" Thunder pulled a fresh long-sandwich from his pack and waved to some ponies on the wall. "I have returned and broken the siege!" At his words, cheering broke out from the large shapes on the wall. "Open up!"
Loud clunks sounded, Courage looked to Corignis and they each shrugged as Thunder led them through the opening doors. "I went to Canterlot once, but this castle is something else. Is it all made just for defense?"
"The exterior is a little austere I will admit, but within is my home. Stout foundations and solid walls, that is how you keep your ponies safe." Sir Thunder Hoof smiled at the portly guards that trotted up to him. "How goes?"
"Sir! You came just in time, they were threatening to undermine the walls!" One of the big guards sketched a salute with a hoof that didn't wobble, despite the extra mass on it. "What did you do that made them turn on each other like that?"
"That was thanks to a master magician. Bale Fire?" Thunder turned and smiled to Courage. "Please, you are safe now. If you don't mind, though, I think we might need to have a feast to celebrate." The moment he mentioned "feast" a huge cheer went up around all the gathered ponies.
"Water, water, all around…" Corignis gave a sigh. "We need to get ourselves out of here as quickly as we can. I am hungry and horny."
"Remember what is the next one up? We probably aren't going to be able to feed there, either." Courage tried to ignore the cheers of the ponies jostling around her, but their merriment was just too much. "Ugh, come on, Lust can wait for one day."
"I don't know if you are joking, or even if the joke is a bad one." Corignis moved smoothly in behind Sir Thunder Hoof, pulling Courage along with her in his wake. "There is probably some trick here we still haven't encountered. Each Circle has one for demons to be able to move on; Gluttony is probably 'don't go crazy and kill all the ponies and eat them for a day,' or something."
This is a bad end, leading on directly from the previous chapter.
Courage woke up in a soft bed. There was a certain amount of delight to being between soft linen, on a comfortable mattress, that no amount of happy barn-sex-and-waking-up-laying-on-hay could come close to. As she shifted under the covers, however, she remembered how hungry she was.
"What—" Closing her eyes as another mouth pressed to her own, Courage smiled into Corignis' lips and gave a happy little groan. She pushed her legs forward and wrapped them around Corignis and pulled her in tight. Parting their lips, Courage gave a sad sigh. "I would love to go further, but this is Gluttony. No eating, remember?"
"Didn't seem to hurt him." Corignis gestured behind herself. She nuzzled Courage's neck as the former unicorn looked over the rise of Corignis' shoulders.
"That is Sir Thunder Hoof!" Courage stared at the big stallion weighing down the other side of the huge bed. "You didn't…?"
"We did." Corignis stretched lazily. "You would not believe the stamina that stallion has. If he would only let me paint some ritual marks on him, I could have made this the most exciting day he has ever known."
Courage squirmed in the bed as Corignis rubbed down her belly and between her back legs. "We weren't meant to eat anything, remember? Corignis, what got into you?" The moment she asked, Courage knew what answer would be coming.
Corignis raised one eyebrow and grinned widely. "I am not even going to justify that with an answer. What I want now is, for you to work your magic and grow something hard and stiff that can push into me." She booped Courage on the snout. "Please?"
A warm rush of need spread from the contact point—her nose—all the way down through her body, diving into the fertile ground of her groin. Courage groaned and pushed forward. "I can't say no to you, Corignis, you know that." Courage thought of at least three spells that would do what she wanted, but focused on one that she knew her sister would love.
"Oh, what is this?" Corignis pressed firmly against the shape growing from Courage's body. "Not quite like a stallion…" She reached a hoof down to feel it before, in shock, she jerked back the covers. "Oh buck!" Staring at a long, thick tentacle that left Courage's body, Corignis reached a hoof down and gently touched it with her soft frog.
Courage moaned, the touch exciting her even more than she already had been. Snaking her new body-part around her sister's fetlock, she gripped it loosely. "I didn't think it would be that sensitive…" She bucked her hips against Corignis' body, leaning in and nipping her sister on the shoulder. "So… so you tested this. We are fine if it is just sex?"
"Sex and feeding." Corignis drew her hoof back from the friendly tentacle, arched her back and then pressed her sex towards it. The tip squirmed at her entrance and quickly parted her lips to dart inside. Corignis and Courage both howled in pleasure as the tendril sank deeper and deeper.
As Courage felt herself rolled to her back, Corignis pressed down to claim all of her tentacle. Though she squirmed the tentacle around inside her sister at first, Courage started to find ways to move it that felt better for her and made Corignis squirm more.
Looking down into Courage's face, Corignis squeezed down with her pelvic muscles and lifted herself up. She got nearly two inches into the air when, deep inside, Courage's tentacle grabbed her body and pulled her back down. "Is… is this a challenge?" She panted hard.
Courage was working out the tricks her tentacle could do, and the best so far seemed to be "stay." When she flicked a spot deep inside Corignis, making the succubus perched above her squeal loudly, she had found a new trick. "More." She flicked again, feeling waves of pleasure pour off Corignis, pouring off herself as well before they mingled together. It was like a giant mixing pot of lust and, with a glance at her demonic twin, she knew that they were both feeding off it. "More…"
"More would be good." Corignis kept fighting the tentacle, testing its grip inside her. Each tug on its grip sparked a little jab of pain that merged with the pleasure, driving her to spend even more pleasure. A presence stirred in the room, and she turned her head to Sir Thunder Hoof. "Mmm, our stallion is awake."
Turning her head to look where Corignis was, Courage spotted Thunder lift his head and look around in a slightly dazed way. "Sir Knight, I believe we wish to make use of your… prowess." She jerked back on Corignis, yanking her back down sharply with her tentacle.
"Ahem." Sir Thunder looked at the lewd act going on in the bed beside him and frowned. With his magic he levitated a burger up from his backpack at the side of the bed, and took his first bite of the day. Savoring that first mouthful, he gulped it down. "While I was certainly happy to celebrate a good plan last night, I really shouldn't partake in… demonic…" He was more than a little distracted by Corignis' plot bouncing up and down.
"What if I said, 'Please'?" Corignis spread her wings a little, fighting the feeling of the tentacle inside her, struggling with every fiber to not give in and climax. "You told me your vows didn't include chastity, or I wouldn't have offered last night."
Thunder hauled his body upright, fighting the weight of his bulk with the muscle that was hidden. "You are a lusty wench. 'Maiden' indeed!" He gave a laugh before climbing Corignis' back, sandwiching the demoness between himself and Courage.
Courage laughed at Corignis' situation. "You can't get away from me now." She squirmed around inside her lover, rubbing all the parts that had made Corignis howl so far. But her tentacle was no longer alone within Corignis. A heavy shape squeezed the walls between colon and vagina, and Courage judged by Corignis' face that Sir Thunder Hoof had just taken her too.
Right where every succubus wanted to be, Corignis twisted her body side to side to stir her lovers up. "Come on, Sir Knight, all of you now." Her teasing hit its mark, and Thunder started to buck and drive into her rear. The pulsing mass of lust-soaked power they had been building swelled further, and Corignis didn't refrain from taking a huge bite from it.
While Courage watched, Corignis gulped down more and more of the energy, slurping it up greedily. "Uh…" She looked at the wild eyes her sister had and started to worry. "Corignis, maybe you should—" She cut off, feeling energy being drawn from her directly. "Stop, now."
The two words hit Corignis hard. She froze where she was and blinked at Courage. "What the buck am I doing?" On her back, Sir Thunder Hoof was still bucking away, charging her with energy she suddenly didn't want. "Courage… help…"
Courage leaned up and kissed Corignis. "I'm here for you. Feed me what you don't want." The pool of energy built again, but this time both mares were locked in a tight kiss. Drinking together now, Courage got lost in Corignis' eyes. "What are we going to do now?" She lazily poked around within her lover with the tentacle penis, and watched her face twitch and twist each time she found somewhere just right.
"Eat." Corignis squealed with pleasure when Courage tickled another perfect spot. "Eat and eat and eat." She turned her head and gazed up at Sir Thunder Hoof. "Oh my, are you telling me all you needed was a nice succubus?"
Sir Thunder couldn't believe what was happening. In the past he had maintained some dalliances with a few of the local wenches, but never before a succubus. His whole body ached, and he was pretty sure he couldn't stop bucking Corignis if he tried, but what was happening made him hungry. Years feeding at Gluttony's table had left his chiseled physique layered under piles of fat; fat that was sloughing away as the two demoness' drank. "It would…" he grunted with the effort each thrust was taking, "seem that… way…"
Corignis laughed with delight when she felt a blossom of warmth in her rear. "All of it, I want all of it, Sir Knight." Her voice was deep and husky, she was making demands and, as far as she could tell, Thunder was doing everything she desired. The rush of heat and solid thrust that she got from him was more than enough to trigger her own orgasm.
Drinking deep of both her lovers, Courage moaned in pleasure too. Her body didn't peak like the others', instead she felt a deep satisfaction as she fed on the potent meal of lust and power. Relaxed, if not relieved, she looked at Thunder properly now. "Wow."
"More." Corignis looked down at Courage, saw the slight nod of her sister. "Can you help me get this stallion off?" Magic wrapped around Corignis and Thunder, burning black power that she knew belonged to Courage. Laughing, she was lifted free of both Thunder Hoof and her sister's tentacle. "More."
"Put me down!" Sir Thunder Hoof couldn't keep the laugh from his voice. He felt good, no, he felt great. "Put me down so I can get on one of you again!" As soon as his hooves hit solid ground he tried to chase the sister he hadn't got on yet, but was surprised when she teleported behind him and mounted him. "What are you doing? You can't—"
"You had some pretty wenches downstairs." Corignis watched as Courage slammed her long tentacle into Thunder's rear. "First time?" When the stallion nodded, Corignis reached up with a hoof and gently patted his cheek. "It will get better. I am off, time to see if there is a flower here I can pluck. Come on down when you are done." Power suddenly seized her again, dark magic burrowing into her body. She groaned deeply as she sprouted her own tentacle.
"You are…" Courage was bucking into the stallion under her, pegging him for all she was worth, "going to need… that…" She wasn't even sure if the tentacle would let her reach orgasm, but she was sure going to have fun trying. "Maybe more…" Her power folded back from Corignis, draping over her back like a cloak.
"What are you doing?" Sir Thunder looked back, only to have one of the dancing black tentacles on Courage's back dart forward and shove into his mouth. A thick, sweet goop began leaking into Thunder's mouth, and being a slave to Greed he didn't hold back and started to suckle on it.
Courage felt raw energy pouring through her: she was powerful. Instincts rolled through her as she plowed in and out of the stallion's body, she claimed the Knight as he hadn't been before, and she drank the remainder of his gluttonous energy away like a fine wine. "Do you taste that?" She leaned forward, letting her squirming tentacle explore deep in Thunder's body. "Not as addictive as your burgers, but you aren't going to want for hardness." She fed him more of the essence, more of the corrupting milk from her tentacle.
With his eyes closed, Thunder Hoof drank and drank, feeding on whatever it was Courage was dosing him with. It felt wonderful in ways he would never be able to explain without giving a soft moan of remembrance. When Courage's tentacle started to lavish his prostate with attention, it was far too much for him to hold back any longer. Bucking and spraying, his climax stole all sense from him.
As she slurped down the last of the feast Thunder had given her, Courage dismounted him. Focusing on her tentacle in his mouth, she caused it to swell a little, locking in place. "Now come my stallion, time to put you to stud." She eyed the rock-hard shaft under him, eyes dancing as she started walking from the room.
Given no choice, Thunder Hoof followed along still rock-hard from the drugs he was being fed. There was a sense of panic as he left his backpack behind, but then he remembered what was happening. His eyes settled on Courage's plot as she led him into his own main hall. Without doing more than grunting around the "lead," Thunder reared up and mounted Courage. He snorted through his nose and drove into her. Bucking, he built up a pace that was as reckless as it was unsustainable; he just didn't care. Plowing through her body, every nerve screamed at him to buck her breeding passage for all he was worth, and he was not in a position to argue.
"You, are a naughty stallion. Wonderful." Courage saw Corignis, astride another mare while a stallion rode her. She launched more dark magic at her sister, similarly equipping her with tentacles down her back. Just as she felt a hot rush of seed deep inside, Courage plugged another of the tentacles into the Knight's rear. He was loose from her own stretching of him, but she didn't care. Slurping up power, she felt all the raw energy of Gluttony feeding her, and it was delicious.
Courage woke up in a cold sweat. Her eyes stared blindly at the room, but she felt something happening. The bed was rocking in a rhythmic motion, and Courage could hear the sounds of lovemaking nearby. Turning and spotting Corignis riding Sir Thunder Hoof, she lit her horn with her dark magic and grabbed her sister.
Suddenly flung across the room and forcefully dismounted from the horny knight, Corignis came up with a growl. "What are you doing, Courage?!" She bared her fangs. "In case you didn't notice, I was a little busy!"
"A little busy getting stuck in Gluttony forever." Courage used her magic to boop Corignis on the nose. "You know as well as I do, eating stuff here binds you, what do you think you were about to do?" She started to giggle at the sight of the mighty succubus staring cross-eyed at her scrunched up nose.
"You are sure of that?" Corignis suddenly stared past Courage, to the bewildered stallion on the bed. "You better be right, I am really hungry…" She flopped on her belly and looked up at Courage.
"I had a nightmare." Courage knew how stupid it sounded. "Look, I have been having them every time I get free of the Circles. In each dream, I live out how I or both of us get stuck in the Circle we just escaped. This is the first time one has happened before getting free. I am not going to risk it." She walked over and nuzzled Corignis.
"That's great," Sir Thunder climbed to his hooves and glared at the two mares, "would somepony please explain this to me?" He strode forward, hard shaft swaying under his belly.
"We were told not to eat while we were here, but I didn't think a little sex would do it." Corignis turned to look at her sister. "What happened in the dream?" With any hope of sex blocked, she leaned across against Courage.
"You fed on Sir Thunder, then I did, and we couldn't stop. The hunger was like a pit, and everypony in Gluttony was our meal." Courage waved a hoof in the air. "On the plus side, being fed on apparently consumed all the… extra mass."
Thunder's eyes went wide. "You mean…" He shook in excitement. "You could free us from this curse?" He gestured at his overweight body.
"It would trap us here." Courage stood up and glared at the knight. "I need to get back, I can't be stuck in the Pit forever!" She saw the light of hope in Thunder Hoof's eyes being trodden on. "But there's another way. What if we found a succubus who would be willing to come and 'save' you?"
"A whole Circle full of ponies eager to screw? We would have trouble keeping it to only one." Corignis gave a bark of laughter. "We are heading to Lust next," she looked to Courage and saw her nod, "as Courage was thinking, we could ask around."
"Courage?" Sir Thunder Hoof raised a brow. "You should be more careful with your name, miss, if you are now a demon. Pony names are short, this is… well I would just suggest you stick to the new one."
"Her fault." Courage pointed at Corignis. "She knows to call me Bale!" It sounded like a filly trying to shift the blame, and her poking her sister in the ribs with a hoof wasn't helping make it seem any less so. "Hey, can we leave here now?"
Corignis pondered the question. "Uh, there really is only one way to find out." She took a deep breath. "And I am sorry about the name thing, I was a little distracted at the time…"
"Courage…" The voice sounded pleased with something.
"Not you too." Courage gave a grunt of annoyance and turned to Corignis. "Well, I still need to show them the spell." Waving a hoof at Thunder, she grinned. "Then we can try to get up to Lust."
"At least there I can eat!" Corignis gave her wings a flap in excitement at the prospect of a good "meal."
~~~~~+++++~~~~~
"It doesn't look like an easy spell, but I think we have one or two here who can cast it." Sir Thunder Hoof looked at the twisted arcane runes. "And it appears to use the dark side of magic, but it won't be needed often, I trust." His magic flared, floating a burger over and feeding the first mouthful to him.
"Well, hopefully not. How often do they lay siege like that?" Courage rolled the scroll up and bound it with a ribbon.
"Mrrf? Like that? Not often, and probably less so after they are done hunting each other." Thunder took the scroll and tucked it away in his own pack. "Lady Bale, Lady Corignis." Bowing, Thunder reached for their hooves one after the other. "It has been a pleasure, and I hope to never see either of you again." Neither mare could fail to grasp his meaning with the huge grin on his face, of course he ruined the effect by taking another bite of his latest meal.
"Well, maybe." Corignis smiled sweetly. She reached her hoof up and booped the big stallion. "I won't give you my full name, not now or ever, but summon me with my first name and I will find you." She rubbed his chin slowly, until he yanked his head back. "If I can, I will rip you from this hole along with anypony you care to bring. Until then."
"Wait, I wanted to—" Courage was cut off as Corignis started a spell that immediately ripped them out of the fabric of Gluttony. It was quite the different ride, she was learning, to journey through the Pit in the demonic manner. Gone were the days of passing out and waking up confused and lost. Fire rippled around both of them and Courage felt their bodies displace air as they ripped into Lust ready and prepared for anything—except what actually was waiting for them.
"Grab them!"
The moment they appeared, Courage and Corignis were rushed. Not mere ponies, the demonesses that tackled them didn't shy away until they had a bridle fitted on each of them. Courage felt her magic drain from her control and trembled with fury. "What are you doing?!"
"Laying an ambush." A single blue-furred demoness replied to Courage. "We were warned there were two deep-Pit succubi coming up, and we don't take well to tourists moving in." She smiled.
"Come on, we don't want to mess with whatever little setup you have going here." Corignis shook her mane out, fighting the power of the magic-nulling bridle on her head. "Just let us head up to Tartarus and we won't bug you at all."
"I command you, be quiet." The moment the demoness said the words, both Courage and Corignis felt a tingling sensation in the bridles, and then themselves. "Now, the reason we don't just kill you, or push you back down, is we have learned a good little trick."
Courage realized what the bridle was doing to her now; the restraint around her head was turning her own magic back in on her, wrapping it with enchantments and letting it flood back into her body. When the demoness had said "I command you," it had triggered the bridle to wrap the next words around her magic-stream. While the now "contaminated" magic remained in her body, she would not be able to speak. Worse still, while the bridle was on, the succubus could add more commands. She glared at them.
"You see, we can milk creatures even more effectively than ever before. Normally, to feed on a pony, a succubus would expend energy arousing them, working them to orgasm, and then getting their payoff. Which is why I invented these lovely devices." She waved a hoof at the room ahead. A tug at Courage's bridle had her hooves moving before she thought to stop them, and now they were moving she found she couldn't. Led into said room by their bridles, Corignis and Courage could see ponies fitted into "harnesses," suspended in frames, being pleasured relentlessly by the machines.
Corignis had a bad feeling about the situation. She couldn't quite trace what the bridle was doing to her, but she really wanted it off before the demoness in control issued more commands.
"And the best part is that even a succubus can be milked in these." Gesturing at the machines, the demoness pointed out an occupied one. "Like this one. Celeph here was the previous lord of Lust. She was gentle, she fed as she needed and encouraged us to do the same. She tastes so good now, so broken. My name is Mistress, and that is all you need to know."
Another tug urged Courage forward, and she glared at the demoness who held the reins to her bridle. Approaching an empty machine, Courage wanted to do everything she could to not go into it. She fought and struggled, but the only substance she could really fight with was her magic, and that was what was controlling her. Stepping into the machine, Courage didn't stop until her chest hit a set of straps.
"Hold still." The demon holding Courage's reins started pulling straps up and around her body. First to be dealt with was binding down her wings, then more straps held Courage's head still. More and more bindings were added, wrapping her legs and body, before finally a strap secured her tail and pulled it up and forward. "This one is pregnant."
"Oh? And I wonder who's get that is?" Mistress walked around to look into Courage's eyes. "No matter, I don't care. Your foal will be birthed and then fitted to their own machine. They will only know the bonds of servitude. I promise they will have a happy life."
Courage whimpered in panic as her body was lifted up, pulling her off her legs and suspending her by the straps. Something heavy landed on her rump, but it wasn't a stallion. Mechanical limbs wrapped around her flanks and gripped tightly to her body before two shapes started to push into her. She cried out in forced pleasure now as the machine took her.
Jolts of pleasure blasted into Courage with each pump. The machine seemed to change its pattern slightly, until both shapes pistoned back and forth, alternating their dives into her aroused flesh. Courage groaned softly into the bridle, wanting to push backwards, to get more of the shapes to go inside. Her world went dark as something came down over her eyes and head.
With a dark hood pulling tight around her, Courage's world narrowed down to the pressure building inside her body. A final rush of need hit her before her orgasm rushed over her like a wave. A succubus' instincts called for her to drink and drain her partner, but when she tried to do that something shoved—metaphysically—into her own energy.
Pleasure poured out of Courage, flowed from the hole in her magic field and she felt like she was drained. Her orgasm was passing, and the flow stopped, but the machine didn't. Part of her eagerly relished the continued pleasure, and Courage found herself rocking back, her muscles fighting the straps to get the shapes deeper, faster.
Corignis watched her sister being taken by the machine, watched her start to rock in time with whatever it was doing. She felt real fear flood her. Shaking her head, she tried to pull back as her reins were tugged on, but she walked forward at a steady pace until she was stepping into one of the machines as well. Before Corignis, Courage's covered plot rocked, and she could see the machine pumping shapes in and out of her.
Straps were fastened around Corignis, binding her head, legs, body, and tail. She wanted to scream as the machine lifted her up, positioned her. She knew what was coming when the weight dropped on her own plot. She clamped her teeth down tightly to avoid actually making a happy sound when she was suddenly filled.
Each thrust of the shapes bucking in and out of Corignis made her panic more, but she fought it as best she could. Her rising orgasm, thanks to the enchanted machine, was impossible to avoid. Puffing and huffing her breath, Corignis felt when the same hood as Courage wore dropped over her head. The moment the covering pulled tight around her face, Corignis felt the thing try to suck at her, drawing at the demonic magic within her body. When her resistance to the pleasure broke, Corignis was thrown into an orgasm, and she ached to feed.
Unlike Courage, Corignis was much more experienced with lust magic. She knew there was nothing to feed on, and fought her instincts to a standstill. As the pleasure waned, she grinned within the hood, but the shapes were still pounding away at her.
"She is fighting it." Mistress stepped up to Corignis' body, stroked a wing down her side. "But she cannot fight forever, and that is how long she will be here."
Courage felt another orgasm well up. She moaned into the gag filling her throat and tried to push back into the constantly pounding pressure of the machine. It didn't do her any good, nothing she tried would change how fast the machine screwed her energy from her body. There was pleasure-times, and building-times; Courage's whole universe had narrowed down to such small measures, and what the machine continued to do.
As her orgasm faded, Courage felt no stop in the action of the machine, and it rolled on as if she hadn't just lost a little more of herself to pleasure. She had spent the first few times begging it to stop, pleading in her mind to leave her alone, but then she lost count of how many times it had driven her beyond her ability to think. Courage was adrift.
Another orgasm. Rest. Another orgasm. Courage was at her limit, and she could barely focus at all anymore, even in the rest periods. Then another rest, and another orgasm. She lost the last of her energy. Hunger set in: ravenous hunger. The little part of Courage still able to think started to become fixated on getting more energy. Rest. Another orgasm.
Corignis was fighting everything. She hadn't always had the tools to fight, but merging partly with Courage's soul had ignited a new fire inside, and it was that fire she reached for. The thing worked her up to another orgasm and pushed her over the edge, but she resisted its tricks and wouldn't let it feed on her.
The bucking stopped, and Corignis smiled around the gag locked in her mouth. She was so sure she had won, until the shapes pulled from her body and were replaced with larger ones. She knew what was meant to happen; the enhanced pleasure from being even more full was supposed to disarm her mind and kick her succubi instincts into high gear. Pleasure grew and grew, and Corignis moaned into the gag, but even with the machine pounding her with the bigger shafts, the fire of anger and hope burned.
When the machine built Corignis through to another orgasm, she shoved all her emotion to anger. The flame inside her burned brighter with each release. She realized what was happening; she was gaining strength.
Courage was desperate; like an animal that was drowning, she reached for anything she could find. But just as the device on her head stabbed into her magic and drained her, it stopped her from reaching out. Rest. Another orgasm. Each time she hit her climax, the tiny trickle of energy her pleasure produced was stolen from her. She tried to thrash and tear herself loose, but each hoof-curling climax halted her in her tracks.
Without being able to track time, Courage was adrift as the periods of rest and climax came and went. Unannounced, she felt a pulse of energy. She was kept from eating it, but it was there and it felt so good, like having her fur brushed. Another orgasm. She screamed into her bit, not wanting to forget that lovely wash of power. Rest. Another orgasm. Something was changing—the shafts that measured time within her body stopped. Part of Courage begged with the emptiness in her head to have the pleasure back. She screamed at the darkness to be given her rest, then another orgasm.
Corignis burned hotter than any fire. She snapped her eyes open and shook her head, the fire pouring from her had slagged the hood and its mana-stone. She knew what dripped from her wings and hooves was balefire, it had consumed the machine that had been trying to break her. Gazing around the huge room, she couldn't see any guards. Where her body walked, and where the flames dripped from her to the ground, she left puddles of burning fire that didn't seem to want to stop. But the fire didn't burn her, it loved her. As she reached out her wing to the trapped mare, her sister, she washed the flame over the bonds.
"Oh buck…" Corignis jumped back when the flame finally melted through Courage's bonds and the mana-stone that stored the energy it had sapped from her. She felt a void reach from her sister's body, grasping for something warm, for something with power. "I hope you are still in there…" She blew a gout of fire directly at Courage's face.
Courage thrashed in what was left of her frame. She screamed and screeched at the other demon. The fire that touched her felt hot enough to melt her body, but it seemed to know her. Regardless of the nature of the fire Corignis covered her with, she couldn't feed off it; her eyes settled on Corignis.
"Oh no. Not me. You find one of these poor horse-apples to feed off. There!" Corignis stalked around Courage—her sister's eyes apparently glued to her—and positioned herself so another trussed-up demon was in her field of view. She had no idea how to defend against the chill her sister carried, but the moment when Courage's bestial mind found the energy storage stone of the demon in the restraints, Corignis saw that lance of coldness shove into the device.
Heat poured into Courage. She drank and drank from the oddly hot enchanted mana-stone. Shivering as the raw power pooled in her body, she wanted more. Still drinking, she turned her eyes on the other demoness, and had a spark of recognition. Sister. Lover. Soul-mate. The words made sense in a way that nothing else did. "C-C-Cor—"
"It's those two! Get them before they can steal more of our energy!" A pair of demons had crashed through the door at the end of the room, startling both Courage and Corignis.
"Courage." Corignis smiled at her sister. "It is not often a succubus becomes a predator of quite this magnitude, but it seems delicious that they reap what they sow." She lifted a hoof and pointed to the two succubi rushing towards them.
As her eyes focused on the raised, fire-dripping foreleg, Courage's mind managed to get the thought through that Corignis was pointing. She turned her head and groaned in delight. Rushing at the demons, Courage shoved her icy, cold hunger into the first and dove upon the second. Power rushed into the void that had been created from Courage's drained energy reserves. She closed her fangs around the neck of the second demon, screaming against their flesh while drinking the other so fast and hard that they collapsed on the spot.
Corignis giggled at the sight of her sister; Courage had pulled back from the first demoness she had drained, and sank her chill into the second. At the end of the big room, the doors slammed closed to trap the two freed succubi. "Well, that's no fun. We need to break out and destroy all these useless demons, free ourselves from…" She blinked at the sight of Courage licking at the downed succubus' vulva. "Free ourselves… really hungry I take it?"
Hunger was Courage's world, she felt her thirst sated quicker and quicker as she pleasured the demoness. She lapped up her sopping folds while she drank her magic. Her head jerked up from her meal and she heard herself growling, until she recognized Corignis. "Sister!"
Corignis loved that word so much she would have framed it if she could. "Courage, you seemed a little hungry," Corignis gestured to the demoness Courage had been attending. "there are more trapped creatures over here—feed off them too."
Blinking, Courage's eyes focused on the glowing—to-her-senses mana-stones of the other trapped ponies. Her hunger swelled up and before she realized it, her icy need for power lanced out, stabbing into stone after stone in what felt like the tentacle spell she now remembered using. Power poured into her, and she drank every one of the stones until it was empty. Power boiled within Courage, and she felt it sloshing around, more than she could normally hold; but Courage was still hungry.
"Courage? How do you stop… this?" Corignis pointed a hoof at the balefire still dripping from her. "I mean, I love that it got us out of those machines, but I would like to be able to pick things up again." She stretched out a wing and watched the fire boil along it. "I used to be terrified of this stuff…"
"No idea. How did you start it?" Courage shook her head, trying to suppress the hunger that burned in her. She looked at the creatures still fastened into their machines and gave a sigh. "They aren't putting out energy fast enough. I am really hungry…" She lit her horn and sent burning magic at the bonds of the demons that were harnessed.
Corignis looked from her wing to the big door at the end of the room. It was the only exit, but now she knew a great way to open it. Trotting down to the heavy, bound door, Corignis lifted a hoof and pressed it to the spell-encrusted wood. White fire jumped from her hoof to the door, fizzled a little and then flared bright again.
A chill rose behind Corignis, and she turned to see what had happened. Her eyes settled on Courage first, watching as her sister shredded another of the restraining machines and freed the poor wretch within. Nearly a dozen of the cold-hungry succubi were pulling their way to their hooves. Some drained creatures had already settled on the two demonesses that Courage had dealt with, and the others were stalking towards Corignis. "Don't." She knew her words wouldn't be enough. Courage had been trapped in the machine for a short time—or so Corignis counted it—but these poor beasts had been in for much longer.
Courage saw the others bearing down on Corignis. She spread her big wings and leaped over their heads, turned and slammed herself down between her sister and the monsters the demons had become. "This is not yours!" She snarled at them, her own magic lashing out to deflect their chill hunger. "Corignis, move to the side and get this door open…"
Corignis spared a glance at the demons that stared at her with wild hunger in their eyes. "This is worse than Gluttony…" She turned back to the door, spread her wings and fanned her fire at it. White flame whooshed forward and tore through the door. The enchantments had been able to fight off a little of balefire, but when a sheet of the stuff impacted with the wood and steel, the magic was consumed as fast as the rest of the door. The hallway was packed with succubi. Corignis' wings were still spread from dealing with the door, but as she felt the choking cold of the former prisoners walk up to her she drew them back and leaped to stand beside Courage.
"Devour them!" Courage screamed the words, and the demons with her and Corignis moved like a pack of wolves. Her heart raced as they leaped and bounded past her and Corignis.
"That was hardly fair." Corignis turned to her sister and kissed Courage. The violence was sudden and short, with the starved demons each pinning down a succubus and shoving their chill into them. Things tightened deep inside Corignis, and she spread a flaming wing around Courage's withers and pulled her tighter.
"BACK!" Mistress unloaded a blasting spell, knocking her own minions and the starving demons to the sides like leaves on the wind. "What is going on here? You two?" Her eyes flicked from Courage to Corignis, and widened only a little at the white flame. Walking forward, she smiled at the sisters. "Balefire? Very nice."
Courage lashed out, throwing the shafts of her hunger at Mistress as fast as she could. Barriers deflected her attacks as quickly as she could throw them. "Sis, she isn't being very welcoming…"
"She isn't?" Corignis stopped trying to suppress her flames and instead devoted her magic to fanning them. White fire poured around her, splashing the ground and Courage. She stalked past all the succubi still being fed on, and stood just meters before Mistress. "Piss-off back to Tartarus you hack."
Shoving her magic forward this time, Courage deflected the dark, life-stealing bolt of energy Mistress sent towards her sister. "Forget it, Corignis, this has gone too far for that." Courage looked directly at Mistress and grinned. "I don't know what your bucked-up machine did to me, but I think somepony is going to want to show you."
Mistress had a moment of confusion; she slammed up her shield against the balefire-wreathed succubi, and readied another blast attack, when something cold hit her from behind. A chill radiated out from her withers and she shuddered. "What…?"
"I think her name was Celeph, or so you said." Corignis smiled wide as she watched the emaciated demon land on the back of Mistress. "How long did you have her in that harness for? How long did you spend making her into your doom?"
Celeph's eyes blinked at the word that she recognized. The syllables burned in her thoughts precisely because it was part of her name. She locked eyes with the fire-cloaked demon and bared her teeth.
Corignis watched as her distant kin turned her head to the side and bit down into Mistress' neck, while Celeph's icy cold grip drained the energy from their foe.
This is a bad end, leading on directly from the previous chapter.
The burning balefire that covered Corignis drew back, flowing up to mingle among her mane and tail, and she stalked forward. Walking past the pleading gaze of Mistress and to Celeph's side, she reached a wing out and gently stroked the growling, older succubus' shoulders and back. "I don't know how long she trapped you in there, Cousin, but your revenge is my gift to you." The growling stopped and changed to a softer whine. "You are still in there, but there will be a lot of feeding before you are as wonderful as you used to be."
"You know her?" Courage's hunger was still strong, but she could keep it at bay. She watched as Celeph drank and drank, Mistress having had quite a lot of energy stored up, but it was quickly apparent that Celeph was not going to allow Mistress a chance to repeat her tricks.
"I knew of her." She stroked the former Queen of the Succubi more with her wing. "But they all need more energy. This is… this is not how we should live. A succubus uses their hosts, but what Mistress did here was… it was really wrong."
"Where are the new ponies coming in?" Just the thought of a previously untainted pony made Courage salivate. She leaned into Corignis, leaned her snout up to her Sister's mane and nuzzled the fire there.
Courage's words stirred all the hungry succubi, who lifted their heads and stared at her. Corignis watched even Celeph's head gaze up at Courage. "Come on, Sister. Bring our pack and let us investigate." Spreading her wings, Corignis pushed magic under her own wings, manipulating the fire that had become a part of her to push her quickly down the hall.
Hooves thundered in Courage's mind, and along with that thunder her heart started to race. "We hunt." She whispered the words, but had no doubt that all the succubi heard them. Turning to follow Corignis, Courage let out a howl of excitement.
The search was inexact, but there was only so much to the modified Circle of Lust. Atrophied by the clinical methods of lust extraction that Mistress employed, the Circle had shrunk to accommodate the small-minded ruler.
When Corignis finally found the newest "collection room," she laughed. "Sisters, let go of your charges!" The group of succubi trying to fasten ponies into extraction machines stared at her blankly, and when they didn't act immediately, Corignis landed and walked slowly towards them. "What about if I say, 'Please?' "
"W-Where is Mistress? Who are you?" One of the succubi looked to her sisters—who were restraining a newly arrived stallion—and then back to Corignis. "Why should we do what you say?"
Courage's sharp hearing had picked up the conversation ahead, even as her "pack" were practically howling to feed. Her icy need reached out, but when she saw the stallion she snarled a halt to her pack. "She said please."
"C-C-Celeph! It's me, Cirenia!" Cirenia let go of the pony she had just helped collect. "Queen Celeph is back!" As she trotted forward, however, Celeph leapt on her and shoved her down to the ground. Trembling as her neck was grabbed in her former Queen's tight jaws, she whimpered in fear.
"Your Queen is freed, but she doesn't rule." Courage paced around Cirenia. "You smell tasty…"
Celeph knew her Alpha's intent, and kept herself from feeding on the succubus in her jaws. A little growl had Cirenia trembling in her grip. When she heard Cirenia whimper, Celeph loosened her hold and let go. "Mine." The word was the first Celeph's mind had made since she woke, and it was utterly possessive.
Corignis walked to the stallion—who was staring at her with a terrified fascination. "You were sent to the Circle of Lust as your punishment for life. What did you do?" She could almost taste him, and started to cast the spells that would mark a pony to give extra energy when fed from. She reached out with a wing and spread her fire over the stallion's head. The flame melted the bridle on him, but his flesh was safe. Corignis gave a big predatory grin at the mastery she was gaining over her new element.
"I… I lusted after mares…"
"And? Last I looked, ponies don't get sent here for improper thoughts." Corignis walked around the stallion, laying more and more dark magic sigils on the stallion's flank. "What did you do to those mares that got you here—in my care?"
"I bucked them… I bucked them all. I didn't care if they were married, it only made it better. I bucked them and bucked them… I made up lies and—"
"Shhh. That was enough. You were an adulterer; you made other stallions into cuckolds; you lied and cheated into the beds of mares." Corignis nuzzled the startled stallion's ear. "I am married, of a sort. I have a foal in my belly." She smiled and bit his ear. "If you are good you will get to have me."
Celeph's eyes were locked on something new. She stared at the rampant stallion. She watched his shaft grow harder and harder as Corignis talked to him, but what really made her body want him were the dark sigils all over his body. The stallion was like a beacon to any succubus that was present.
"But you know who is going to be your first lay in the Pit?" Corignis stroked the stallion's mane with her wing. "She was once the Queen of Lust, but now she isn't much more than a beast. If you are good to her, you will be given the honor of bedding two married mares at once." She drew back from the stallion just as Celeph tackled him.
Courage watched as Celeph bowled the stallion over and landed atop him. At first she was worried her "minion" would use that icy-cold hunger on the pony, but Celeph plunged herself onto the stallion's shaft with complete abandon. She turned to Cirenia. "More. Where are more?"
Cirenia was staring at the former queen as Celeph rutted the stallion. "I-I-In the next room," she looked up at Corignis, "Your Majesty…" It was a risk, but when she saw a beatific smile on the flaming succubus she couldn't help but return it.
"Lead the way." Corignis followed Cirenia, and grinned as Courage fell in at her side. "Things are changing—Cirenia was it?" She watched Cirenia nod. "Mistress might have enjoyed the cold dominance of holding an entire Circle in her machines, but we will not stand for that. No more machines, no more trapping each other. Free the ponies from their bondage and care for them." She glared at Cirenia's companions. "Go and free them."
"M-M-Mistress is…?" Cirenia opened the door into a vast chamber, where dozens of succubi were "catching" ponies, fitting bridles on them, and leading them off.
"Mistress is defeated!" Corignis bellowed the words as loudly as she could. Succubi stared in the direction of the newcomers. "Remove their bridles; we are succubi, not parasites."
Confused stares were the order of the day, a few ducked out of the chamber into halls, but some others did just what Corignis asked. Courage trotted into the huge room with her pack, drinking in the atmosphere. "Feed." She giggled, then laughed. "Feed on the ponies, free them first, then grant them the pleasure that is their right!" Power flowed through her, dark magic flowed from her horn and ripped the bridles from any ponies she was near.
A rush of pleasure hit Courage, staggering her for a moment. She stared blankly ahead as an entirely new kind of power rushed into her. This wasn't the cold rush that learning had given. It wasn't the hot torrent that sex brought. This was solid power, and it tasted amazing. "What… what was that?" She spun to look at Corignis, seeing her Sister recovering from her own rush.
"I… I don't know." Corignis had to straighten her back from the "presenting" stance she had taken. "It tasted of-of real power, and…" She turned, trying to gauge the direction it had come from, and looked back whence they had come. "…Celeph?"
The rush came again, Courage pranced a little at the delight of it. "This is amazing!" Some of her pack had found themselves ponies to feed from, while some hunted the fleeing succubi. "What is happening, Cor?"
"We are taking over." Corignis felt more rushes of that amazing power, and looked around the room to work out what it was. The charge each time was smaller than what Celeph had given, but she puzzled out the problem. "Each time they drink we get a small measure… Master's Tithe…" She noticed something else, that she and Courage both seemed to be growing, getting taller and a little leaner.
"What?" Courage was struggling against the wave of pleasure and energy. "What does…" She stopped and moaned at the wonderful pulsing of energy now steadily feeding her. "… does 'Master's Tithe' mean?" When Courage squealed in pleasure, her haunches sank to the ground.
"I said it myself. We are taking over, we have taken over." Corignis spread her wings and poured her fire down them. "We are the masters here, we are the Queens of Lust." She strode over to Courage and leaned against her back, pressing her belly-fur against her sister's. "It feels good."
Courage knew it wasn't a question, but she nodded anyway. The flow was much less now, but it was a constant stream that had her aching with a need to use it. The ice-cold hunger inside made her snarl and spin around to face Corignis. Gazing into her Sister's eyes, she channeled the power to obey her will.
Staring between Courage's back legs, Corignis' jaw dropped as her Sister grew a thick, hefty pony penis. Hunger overtook every other emotion and need guided her to turn. Courage's weight landed on her back, and Corignis gave a deep, lusty groan of appreciation.
Spreading her wings and shoving herself forward with a powerful flap, Courage shoved deep into Corignis. She began to weave more magic, duplicating the symbols Corignis had painted the stallion with earlier, mirroring the designs on both of them. The rush of magic coming in seemed to stop, but she could feel the link to every succubus that had followed their commands.
Each rune that adorned her body made Corignis squirm, but what really made her moan out lustily was that Courage had painted herself with them too. The perfection of their partnership was not lost on the demons and ponies around them; every creature in the huge chamber had stopped and was staring at their new rulers.
The bonds Courage had with all the other succubi strengthened, and she tugged at them like a hundred leashes. "Feed. Feed! FEED!" The sound of her hips slapping against Corignis' rear gained an echo as another succubus followed her command. Then another, and more. The combined energy boiling in the room drove Courage, Corignis, and all their minions into a frenzy of power. Courage had almost lost track of herself as she drove into Corignis faster, their own pleasure adding to the cacophony of lust.
Corignis soon lost herself to the bliss, grunting hard as the heavy shaft her Sister insisted on driving into her pushed her beyond her limit to endure. She trembled and shoved back as best she could, her last conscious thought as pleasure overwhelmed her completely.
When Corignis' muscles clenched down on her shaft, Courage sped up to increase the magnitude of her own impending release. She felt the electric fire building in her hefty balls, felt the agony of anticipation as she rested on the very edge of release. All the runes over both their bodies flared brightly, and thunder pealed as she hit her own climax while shoving Corignis into her second.
A tsunami of magic flooded the huge room. Every creature within was pushed into their own orgasmic release as the Queens of Lust climaxed together. No being was safe from their power, not in their own domain. Energy boiled through Corignis, flowed around her body and briefly focused between her back legs. As if to match her sister, she felt a shaft of her own grow.
Enraptured in the bliss of the orgy, Courage watched as Corignis' forehead glowed, and two long horns emerged from her sister. She was so focused on the pleasure and Corignis that she didn't feel the sensation of her own horn changing until it very suddenly split in half. She screamed as more power flowed, she bucked as hard as she could as her own demonic horns curved back over her head. But what Courage didn't feel was any lessening of her magic—far from it.
This is a bad end, leading on from the previous bad end, just as Celeph attacked Mistress.
Courage's eyes widened as she watched Mistress die at the tender mercy of Celeph's icy magic. She swung her head to look at Corignis. "We need to leave, quickly!"
"Aww, but it would be so cozy in here. You could become Queens of Lust." The voice sounded quite amused at the idea.
Blanching at the thought, Courage stared sightlessly as Corignis started to give orders around her. She heard her sister order the "pack" to move forward and hunt more succubi that wouldn't surrender Mistress' ways. "Cor?" Her voice wavered, she wanted to tell her sister all about the voice, but something was stopping her again. "Cor… please Cor, we have to leave. Let Celeph take control back."
"What's wrong? I kinda like this… how things are going." Corignis did stop and pay full attention to Courage, particularly since she had suddenly started acting afraid.
"We would become Queens in here. We would be bound to Lust and never get free." Courage stepped closer and nuzzled Corignis. "I want to be free again, I want… I want my life back." She knew she was whining a little, but she had been fighting so hard for this one thing, and she didn't want to give it up to be Queen of anything related to the Pit. A small part of her rebelled, claimed it wanted to be Queen, but she slammed down on it.
Corignis closed her eyes and smiled, nuzzling her sister back. "This was always your journey, Courage. I will walk it with you wherever it leads." She kissed Courage on the lips and lifted her lids to stare into Courage's eyes. She practically drowned in the pools. Breaking the kiss, she gave a little lick. "Screw Lust. Let's get you back home. I have no idea how we are going to get out of Tartarus, but I don't think even Cerberus will stop you now."
"So how do we get out? We need to go 'up' to Tartarus, right?" Courage stiffened when power started to flow into her, an entirely new kind of power. "W-W-What is that?"
"That is your new pack feeding you. A few more moments of this and you will become the Queens of Lust. Such a shame, you really deserved to be free."
Fear filled Courage—along with memories of half-experienced dreams—and so she rejected the energy, flinging up shields and throwing it back to its source. "Leave us alone!" She poured more power into the shield, strengthening it with reserves she had only just regained. "Cor, get us out!"
Corignis had no clue what exactly would be the trigger for this realm, but she shoved the mental trigger and poured magic into it. A sucking sensation built, and Corignis knew it was working. "Come on, Bale," she put emphasis on Courage's fake name, "let's blow this place." Wrapping a wing around her sister, she felt Courage grip back tightly as the magic ripped them out of the Circle and wreathed them in Corignis' balefire.
Welcoming the flame, now her namesake, Courage plunged through the void with Corignis at her side, and when they slammed into ground again, she smiled and spoke just one word, "Tartarus."
Unwilling to surrender her sister's grip, Corignis looked around the threshold Circle. The ground was not rough dirt, but fine stone tiling. The Circle seemed to be a wide, winding path that led into the distance, and was flanked by a deep drop into lava. Off to the sides were pillars of rock, standing tall but distant from the path. On each of the pillars was a cage, and in each cage was a being—except one. "Wow."
As one, the two mares took a step, then another. Courage gestured with a wing at one of the pillars with a pony-sized shape in it. "Tirek…" Courage blinked at the impotent-looking creature, but kept walking. The one empty cage drew their attention, and the gate that consisted of one side of it stood open. "Whose was that?"
"The Lord of Chaos." Corignis walked a little closer to the edge nearest the empty cage. "Even Cerberus cannot open these cages, the keys are held by one creature—a pony." Stopping, Corignis pointed with a hoof. "It is said the cage waits for its owner, hungry to have him inside." She waited until Courage was about to ask again, before answering her question. "Discord, Lord of Chaos."
"Oh, he is free in Equestria, now." Courage giggled. "I met him once, he turned my fur yellow for a gag. I didn't laugh at first, but he changed me back."
"You have met him? He is free?" Staring at Courage, Corignis' jaw hung open. "That… that is—"
"Madness? He seemed nice, and had quite a sense of humor." Courage kissed Corignis' nose and giggled. "Now, let's get out of here before—" She was interrupted by a crack of thunder, and a loud voice.
"Ah, finally made your appointment. Are you doing well, little pony?"
It took a moment for Courage to realize the voice wasn't in her head—she heard it with her ears. Spinning around, she looked at the source of the voice and her blood ran cold. She had heard names for the beast that slowly flew down to the ground before them. He had huge horns, lightly curled and arcing back from his head. Great burning wings flapped, the flames looking to have no core that was visible. But the huge scales that covered the pony-like creature gave it away. Courage stared at the draconic head of the kirin. "Y-Y-You!"
"You know the Lord of the Pit?" Corignis looked at Courage and was half in a panic. She saw terror in her sister's eyes—a terror that went beyond the being before them just sending the two all the way back down to the depths.
"You can tell her now, if you wish." Lord tipped his head to Courage, as if granting her a great boon. "You can tell everyone that all this time you were my agent." He paused a moment, before continuing. "This was such a grand struggle, and look at you! You could have been a queen!"
"I don't want to be a queen! I want to go home!" Courage felt tears touch her eyes. "Just let me leave! I don't want to be here. You promised me—"
"I said I would help you leave, but I have your name, and there is more than enough demon in you now to have such a thing bind you." The Lord of the Pit paced around to the side of the two mares, his eyes tracing them. "Two powerful succubi; the most powerful succubi."
"What is he talking about, Balefire?" Corignis was looking at her friend, but caught a slight look of surprise on the Lord of the Pit's face at the word.
"When I arrived, I fell on a throne—a huge one. A voice thundered and told me to move, told me that if I accepted his aid I would only have to grant a simple boon to him." Courage's heart was beating fast, she dared not take her eyes from the Lord of the Pit. "He-He changed my cutie mark."
The Lord of the Pit ruffled his big flame-wings. "Courage Balefire." His eyes held Courage's, but he saw no flash of recognition that should have sparked if he had spoken her true name. "You have tricked me?"
Corignis shook her head. "N-N-No, Your Lordship. You cannot ask a demon for its real name." When the kirin turned to look at her, she dipped her head a little lower. "Balefire," a real thrill ran through her, and she pulled Courage to look away from the Lord of the Pit, "let's run."
Not wanting to think, Courage struck her hooves on the polished stone and took off after Corignis. "Where are we going?" She gave her wings little flaps to gain more speed.
"The end, to the gates!" Corignis didn't even register the titanic monsters in their cages on the pillars, she ignored everything but the huge set of gates in the distance.
"You are going nowhere!" Dropping down before the mares, the Lord of the Pit planted his scaled legs firmly on the path. "You are mine, Courage…" His face screwed up in rage at the lack of owning Courage's name. "There is always another way to get the name from a demon."
Corignis stepped in front of her sister, called her flames and lashed out at the Lord of the Pit. "Leave her alone!" In her head, though, she was cursing herself for an idiot.
The Lord of the Pit laughed and lashed out with a wing at Corignis. "Fire? I was born of fire!" When his wing lashed out and slashed at Corignis, he screamed and pulled it back. Some balefire still clung to his own wings of flame. "What is this?"
"Where do you think she got half her name from?" Corignis was putting on the best bravado she could. His wing had connected with her, and unlike Corignis' balefire, it had burnt her. "Leave us alone and let us leave!"
"NO!" the Lord of the Pit's horns lit with power and formed two huge burning lashes. When he brought them down—one after the other—they left scorch marks on the stone ground, burning runnels into it. "Give me my pet!"
Her eyes flaring bright, Corignis had to dance for all she was worth to dodge the lashes. Each one seared the air itself as it whizzed past her. When one struck even closer than ever, she tried to shift more out of the way of the second, and turned to look for Courage. "Run!"
Courage watched as the second whip came down across Corignis' back left leg, slicing through demonic flesh and bone. She didn't get even a moment to respond before the first lash came down again and severed Corignis' limbs just below her hips. Anger and fury poured into Courage, the wolf form of her time in Violence shoving its way through her body. Fury consumed every thought, and Courage rushed forward and caught the second whip in her mouth.
The Lord of the Pit froze at the sight. Nothing should have been able to stop the whip short of the near-impregnable stone of Tartarus. "What… what are you doing?" A cold chill seeped into his magic, and he watched as Courage's dark fur started to turn a chill white. He dispelled his lashes, having felt the one that the succubus held actually draining him.
"You attacked us!" Courage's anger was loose, and she rushed forward, only to collide with a wall of force. "No, you won't escape me! I will kill you!" She shoved that ice-blade of magic into the shield.
The Lord of the Pit raised his wings and pumped them hard. "I should have killed you when you first sat on my throne!" As he got a few pony-lengths into the air something crashed into him. "What the fuck is wrong with you?!"
Corignis' face was screwed up with pain, but her wings still worked quite well. "Some buckin' clopper cut my buckin' legs off!" She dove at the Lord of the Pit again, and wrapped her wings around his hindquarters.
Screaming in agony, the Lord of the Pit felt the balefire burn him deeply as Corignis wouldn't let go. Flying as fast as he could for a pillar, he tried to ram Corignis into it to dislodge her. Turning to line up the mare with the unyielding stone, he never saw Courage coming at him.
When Courage landed on the Lord of the Pit's neck, she called up another of the monstrous forms and though she lost her sight, she had many more limbs to grab him with. She didn't have her ice to stab him, but she had magical webbing that she began to wrap around the arch-demon.
Struggling in the grip of the huge spider-pony, the Lord of the Pit knew real fear as he felt energy leeching from him. The more he writhed and fought the magical webbing the tighter it got, and the faster it drained him.
"Shhh. Shhh." Courage nuzzled against her prey. "Just relax, you don't need to see, you don't need to think." She petted over the Lord of the Pit's face, smoothing out his features and leaving him sightless. Sealing his mouth up, she drained more and more of his destiny—his power.
Corignis was shocked by what she was seeing, as Courage started to burn with power. "C-C-Courage? What are—"
Courage turned to stare sightlessly at Corignis. "He took your legs." She leaned forward and kissed her sister. "Have them back." She couldn't seem to give her sister an equal measure, but she poured as much of the power into Corignis as she could.
Shoving away from the suddenly tumbling body, Corignis beat her wings and stared down at her hindquarters. Two blazing limbs replaced the ones she had lost, burning with hot balefire. Reaching out to Courage, she laughed. "Come on. Back to succubus for you!" She caught the giant spider as Courage changed, and together they both spiraled up and landed on the stone above.
"He's gone?" Courage looked down, her eyes somehow cutting through the smoke around the lava and watched as the Lord of the Pit impacted with the liquid stone. She watched him burn for a while, before standing back up straight. "Let's go!"
"Courage, you can't." Corignis gave a sigh. "Look at yourself."
Courage cast a spell to create a mirror, and saw three proud horns leaving her head. Turning her oddly sharp eyes to her own being, she gasped. "But… how can I rule the Pit?" Her fur was chill-white, and her eyes were completely black pools of power.
~~~~~+++++~~~~~
Courage's eyes widened as she watched Mistress die at the tender mercy of Celeph's icy magic. She swung her head to look at Corignis. "Buckity, buck-buck! Okay, we can't do that again..."
The dream tears away the uncertainty one page at a time. It reveals the ways lesser stories could end, and stealing them again in a heartbeat. We continue the story of Courage's Inferno, with our favorite demoness' once more in Lust.
"What's wrong?" Corignis looked to her sister, sensing something about Courage that set her own teeth on edge.
"A dream again; don't ask why, but you need to put up a shield now." Courage struggled against the hunger, eased this time due to familiarity with the sensation. When Corignis had a shield of demonic energy up, she gave a sigh of relief. "Okay, quick rundown. First time around, Celeph and the others started feeding us with a 'lord's tithe,' " Courage nodded to Corignis' wide-eyed look. "And we ended up stuck here, ruling the place as it was meant to be. Nice, but not what I want."
"Yeah, you want out still, right?" Corignis leaned closer to Courage and nuzzled her cheek. Outside the shield, Celeph—without a leader to guide her—claimed control of the situation herself, and sent her pack out to hunt.
"All the way out. The second time we avoided being queens in here, but then we faced…" Courage faltered, struggling to mention the Lord of the Pit to Corignis. "Ugh, we fought a big demon and I became lord of this place."
Corignis held off her nuzzling to give Courage's cheek a lick. "Of Lust?"
"Of the whole pit." Courage gestured vaguely. "Then that ended and I woke up back here again. We have to do things differently; we have to get out of Lust and negotiate our way free."
"Who is the 'big demon' we defeated? Must have been someone important to make you… wait, it was him? The Lord of the Pit? We actually beat him up?!" Corignis' eyes were wide. "How the buck did you do that…? Did we do that?"
The mention of the Lord shattered the enchantment in Courage's mind—the one that kept her from talking about him—and she gasped hard. "Yes, the Lord of the Pit. He was the one who spoke to me first in the Ninth Circle. He was the one who told me how to get out. He… has been talking to me the whole time, watching and listening. He thinks he knows my name, but he doesn't!"
"Slow down." Corignis was trying not to panic, just the thought of fighting the ruler of the Pit was driving fear into her. "Right, the Lord of the Pit wants us dead, but why?"
"I don't think he wants that. If he wanted us dead, he would have killed me way back when I first got here… when I was still just a pony." Courage shook her head. "He told me that he could only open the gates for a short while."
"He will want something. No demon does anything for nothing." Corignis grinned at Courage. "Except me of course." She kissed her sister warmly on the lips, and the pair set aside their panicked planning for a full minute before coming up for air.
"I have never been like this," Courage kissed Corignis' snout to emphasize what she meant, "before in my life, you know." Courage smiled at her sister—and lover—and let her heart melt all over again.
Corignis licked Courage's lips. "I do, I remember I was your first." She gave a happy little groan at the thought. "And don't you think for a moment that I will forget that." Leaning forward again, Corignis started to kiss Courage once more, when the bubble of magic she had around them was shredded.
"And what are my little saviors plotting in here?" Celeph's tone was more playful than serious; she had already won back her Circle, and was now stronger for it. "Not that conspiring isn't just the thing a succubus queen likes to see, but I do wonder why you blocked me."
"This is a long one. You can have the full version, or just the condensed one." Corignis broke the kiss and bowed her head a little to Celeph. She was shocked when Celeph clopped right up to Courage and leaned in to kiss the startled mare.
Courage's eyes widened, but then energy flowed. She closed her eyes as the gnawing hunger inside her was fed, but it wasn't the wild feeding a succubus normally experiences. This was more akin to feeding a pet. She whimpered when her reserves were restored, and moaned as Celeph overfed her.
Rolling her eyes, Corignis waited for the moment to pass. Just as Celeph drew back from Corignis' sister, the demon queen claimed Corignis' own lips as her next target. The taste of power was overwhelming, and Corignis gave in and fed on all that Celeph fed her.
Panting and a little dazed from the surprising kiss, Courage took a few moments to square everything in her head. "The Lord of the Pit is waiting for us in Tartarus, and I don't know what it is all about. I… I have visions of things happening, and in the last vision, when we went there, we fought him."
Breaking the kiss, Celeph raised a single eyebrow. "And what happened?" She stretched, more than content at giving up so much energy to the two mares. Being the Queen of Lust meant she was already being resupplied as her minions fed.
"We beat him, I…" Courage remembered her shape-changing, and how effective it had been. "I turned into the demon I was in Heresy… the giant spider." Her memory told her just how amazing it was to drink not just the magic from the kirin, but also his destiny. "I drained him of his power, and dropped him into the lava. I became the Lord of the Pit…"
"Forgive me, Your Lordship, but where do these dreams leave us?" Celeph gave a cross-eyed Corignis a gently pet on the head—it was nice for a demoness to be reminded she still "had it."
"I know he is waiting for me, and I know fighting him right away isn't the answer." Courage tapped her chin and thought. "So negotiating would be better. But how do I convince him of that?"
"Wait a second." Corignis tapped her head with one hoof, trying to improve her thinking process. "When we were caught here, what did they say? Something about an ambush, and being warned?" Her wings ruffled a little at her sides as implications started to set in. "And didn't…" she paused a moment, her eyes flashing to Courage, "Learned Scholar sort of get put in your way too?"
"Testing her?" Celeph jumped to a conclusion like a practiced feline after a mouse. "But to what ends? Does this mean all the events here, my imprisonment and torture… it was all a plot to test you?"
Courage backed up a step. "N-N-no!" She felt her plot press to the wall and realized she was in a corner. "It's not my fault!"
"I don't doubt that, but I went through a lot of pain for... for this purpose." Celeph stepped up before Courage, and was at a loss what to do. "You freed me, you turned down my worship of you so that I could rule again…" Closing her eyes, the Queen of Lust calmed the chill anger and focused on the problem at hoof. "It is wholly the fault of whoever set these tasks ahead of you, and I can only think of one creature who could—and would."
"What if it wasn't testing?" Corignis didn't want to trigger the Queen into attacking, but she was ready in case she reversed her stance. "What if it was always a plan to build Courage up? She was put in danger again and again, and while it was a series of tests, it was a series of trials designed to make her what she is."
"That is a much more interesting idea." Celeph leaned a touch closer, and kissed Courage on the bridge of her nose. "I hold no grudge. You are always welcome in my Circle, at my table, and in my bed." She turned back to Corignis after a moment of staring into Courage's eyes. "But first, names. Who are you both?"
"Corignis Fire." Corignis bowed to Celeph, and gestured to Courage. "And my sister here, recently become a demon herself, is Bale Fire."
"Wait…" Lifting a wing, Courage gestured for the proceedings to stop. "He screwed up my name; he thought Balefire was my last name. Corignis, we have to do that again. He already knows my first name."
"If I accept this is all fact—and I have certainly heard wilder stories that were true—then we need to craft you a more delightfully confusing name. If these are really visions you have, and you have another, make sure you introduce yourself to me with at least Leorins in your name." Glaring at both the sisters, Celeph tried to impart the gravity of the name on them. "That is my second name, and a word more of it than any other being knows."
"Threpin." Corignis bowed her head, and turned to Courage. "Add that as another of your names. Throw in Learned, and some random nonsense, and we can go with that."
Courage smiled and cleared her throat. "Courage Threpin Leorins Learned…"
"No, you are doing it all wrong." Corignis rolled her eyes and looked at Celeph—who was grinning. "Courage el Threpin lis Leorins aj Learned." The words slipped from her tongue easily. "And if you live long enough, I would suggest dropping these names completely and cooking up something completely new."
Tapping her hoof to the cadence of the name, Courage sounded it out in her head. Then she spoke it. "Courage el Threpin lis Leorins aj Learned? What is with the extra words?"
"Mostly placeholders to make it sound right, but also because different names at different places mean different things. There should be another name in there, but since Celeph has given you part of her name, she has put claim on you." Corignis gestured to the Queen of Lust.
Nodding, Celeph cut in. "You carry the blood of succubi, and no matter how far the blood roams from Lust, you are one of my daughters." The weight of her words stirred in the air.
"And you are my sister. You carry part of my name, and I yours." Corignis reached her hoof up and gently booped Courage. "And finally, Learned. He is your bound stallion, your mate. You carry his foal, and will one day call on him again, probably for another."
Courage coughed at the implication, but something in her mind would not refute it. "Courage el Threpin is Leorins aj Learned. It really is a mouthful. Okay, so when he wants my name, tell him that?"
"No!" Both Corignis and Celeph shook their heads. Corignis continued. "When he asks your name tell him what he already knows. It won't work without all of it. If he pushes hard, sell him another word at a dear price. If he tortures you, give him all of it." Standing beside Corignis, Celeph nodded to the plan. "And do try to get at least his first name, if you give him all of yours."
"So is that it?" Courage looked between the two demons, and got a pair of nods. "I guess the rest is up to me. Memory of the spell that had ripped a hole between Circles came to Courage from her dreams, she reached out with her dark magic and started to weave the runes.
"Wait, I have one little gift for His Lordship." Celeph walked up to the slumped body of Mistress where it lay on the ground not far away. She pulled at the cold that the dead demon had grown inside her, the hunger that even now wanted satiation. "This will be perfect…" A chill wave of power, like a blizzard focused to a thin blade, swept out and removed Mistress' head from her neck. The icy blade of power froze the wound as it cut, leaving a bloodless stump and head behind.
"Do you want us to take him her head?" Corignis reached out with a wing, picking up the head from the ground.
"You are as much my daughter as Courage is. Take this… excrement… and show His Lordship what the succubi of Lust do with traitors." Celeph gave Mistress' body a little kick. "Damn you, child, you never even shared your first name with your sisters; I should have seen you coming."
Taking her place at Courage's side, Corignis felt one of her sister's wings pull her tight. "Be well, and make sure you live an interesting life." She heard Celeph's peal of laughter as the spell ripped them from Lust and catapulted the pair towards Tartarus.
This is a bad end, leading on from the previous chapter.
Flames rippled around Courage and Corignis, and they slammed into the ground hard in Tartarus. Courage was struck with deja vu, and shook her head a few times to try to shove out the feeling that they were just going to do the same thing again.
"We are bound to her, now." Corignis nuzzled the side of Courage's snout, working her cheek against her sister's. "But not bound like we are with Learned. She linked us to her line, and made us go free." A brief pang of sadness welled in Corignis at the thought that she and Courage could have been the Queens of Lust, but she had set her hooves on whatever path Courage chose, and that was to not be a queen.
"I can feel it. Even now she feeds us strength." Courage's eyes swept around the familiar landscape, and beheld all the same things as her premonition. "It is exactly the same. The pillars, the cages, even the empty one that should have Discord in it; he really likes tea, you know?"
"Could all these premonitions and stuff just be Discord?" Corignis gestured to the empty cage. "It really seems like the kind of stuff he is known for." Her vision was caught by a shape in the distance approaching quickly, and something about it just seemed to scream for her to bow her head. "Is that—?"
"The Lord of the Pit." Courage's eyes narrowed. "Don't provoke him, but if he does attack…" She closed her eyes and took a deep breath to steady herself. "… don't hold back. If we are forced to fight him, and become lords here, so be it."
Corignis arched her wing back and brought it forward, rolling Mistress' head along the worked stone path until the newcomer lifted one scaled leg and stopped it. He looked down at the head, then up.
"You have come at last, my little pawn." The Lord of the Pit smiled widely, showing off a healthy set of sharp teeth. "But you aren't just a pawn. You betrayed the lamia. You out-thought the guards. You out-fought the very master of Violence. You embraced Heresy. You…" the demon grinned wide, "… fucked your way through the Styx. You overcame Avarice. You starved your hunger. And you loved Lust." He lifted one flame-wing and gestured around. "What are you going to do in Tartarus—in Limbo?"
"Well, we could fight. Corignis is very good with her balefire," Courage's words were accompanied by Corignis lighting her mane and tail, flaring them bright with the white-blue fire that burned everything, "and I have become more than adept at using the worst parts of the Pit to my advantage. But I have seen the future, a fight between us is advantagious to neither of us."
"Visions of an oracle now? That is something I didn't foresee. Bravo on surprising me." The Lord of the Pit ruffled his wings and gave his long tail a swish. "So what do you propose? You want out, and so do I."
"You want to leave? But you are the ruler here!" Courage felt confusion set in. "Why would you want to leave? This is your domain!" She waved a hoof to encompass all of the Pit.
"It is boring. I have murdered murderers. I have raped rapists. I have cheated cheats and even out-eaten gluttons. I want more, I want Equestria, and you are the key to getting it for me." The Lord of the Pit stepped forward and spread his wings wide. "Will you help me, Courage?"
"W-W-What's in it for me?" Courage had to fight not to take a step back. Her eyes flicked to the kirin's horns, and she remembered how devastating they had been.
"In it for you?" The Lord of the Pit tilted his head up and a peal of demonic laughter rang from his throat. "You delight me in ways that I haven't known before, and that is why I do not lash your hide and fit you both to a dray." Taking a deep breath, he drew in the scent of the two mares. "You owe me a boon."
Courage's eyes widened, and she felt her mouth go dry. "I… I…"
"You don't, do you?" Corignis looked at her stricken sister and paled. "W-What did he do for you C-Courage? The boon cannot outweigh the debt."
"I gave her the greatest gift." The Lord of the Pit gave a flourish, gesturing one wing at Courage. "I gave Courage her life. I protected her in the depths of the Pit before she could properly stand on her own hooves. If it weren't for me, I am sure she would be dead!"
"No!" Courage stomped a hoof, and saw her sudden defiance mirrored in Corignis. "You helped me, but if you had not I would not be dead: I don't owe my life to you!" The chill hunger rose within her unbidden, and despite being full, she lusted to feast upon the Lord of the Pit.
"And how would you prove that? Taking the word from a half-demon is far from the smartest thing I could do." The Lord of the Pit smiled widely, showing off his fangs. "Or do you deny that lying and—"
"Courage would not lie about that, and if you have seen any of her journey you would know that." Corignis had the absolute displeasure of having the kirin turn to face her. She glared into the slit, red eyes of the Lord of the Pit and snarled.
"Corignis el Threpin…" The Lord of the Pit trailed off, raising an eyebrow. "You have shared parts of your name far too freely, Corignis el Threpin." Each mention of nearly half of Corignis' name made the demoness wince.
"You… you don't know enough of it to be useful, or you would use it!" Corignis had never given the last part of her name to anyone except Courage and Alphias, and she was sure neither of them would betray her.
"ark Turas del…" The Lord of the Pit reached a hoof up to his head, pantomiming trying to remember the last part of Corignis' name. "Oh, this part always slips my mind. Very well," he turned to Courage, "your boon to me is simple, what is the rest of this demoness' name?"
Courage's eyes flared wide, the request wasn't impacting her own life, but she hated the thought of putting her sister at the kirin's mercy—she knew he had none. "No."
"Now there is a word I don't hear every millennium. You owe me, Courage. You owe me for being here. What about if I send you back to Treachery? Send you back to the very beginning so you can become the plaything of the lamia?" The Lord of the Pit ignited his horns with power, slowly weaving a targeted banishment spell.
"Stop!" Corignis glared at the kirin. "Leave her alone. Courage, make my name count for something, trade it to him." Her shoulders slumped, and she looked at Courage with no smile on her lips. "Secure your release and tell him my name."
With the Lord of the Pit having already summoned his magic, Courage wouldn't be able to deploy hers fast enough to counter it. Closing her eyes, she leaned closer to Corignis and spread one wing around her sister. "You send either of us, and you send us both. Who knows, we might set up shop in Lust this time through, and then you couldn't use me to get out. So you won't banish us."
His bluff called, the Lord of the Pit ground his teeth together. "You are growing more irritating than useful. I think I might just send you there anyway. You claim you have visions of the future, yet you didn't foresee what I am about to do." Smiling widely, the kirin changed his magic from banishing to binding. "Corignis el Threpin ark Turas del, give me your name and you have my word that Courage will be free of this place if I am at all able to see her so."
"Don't you dare, Cor." Courage glared at Corignis. "We do this together or—"
"Fife." Corignis lowered her head, a smile growing on her lips. "My last name is Fife. Now take—"
"Good," the kirin yanked his spell, casting it like a lariat around Corignis' neck, "pet." Corignis fell towards him, dragged down and to her knees before the demon that held her name over her. "You will be joining us, of course."
"Corignis!" Courage shook her head and let steely resolve fill her. She looked at the kirin with malice and hatred in her eyes. "If you wish to survive long enough to keep that promise, you will give her to me."
"Give me all your name, and I will." The Lord of the Pit smiled divinely on Courage. "Fit yourself with a harness of my choosing and I will let you control the fate of my latest plaything." With a tug of Corignis' new leash, the kirin yanked her to the ground. "No fire, put that away, Corignis el Threpin ark Turas del Fife."
With her name invoked, Corignis was the kirin's slave. "Yes, master." She released her anger and let the fire fade from her.
"I'll help you escape." Courage couldn't take her eyes from her proud sister. "I will do it for ownership of Corignis."
"Willing? Now that changes everything. Come on then, join your power to mine. Only the Lord of the Pit can open the gates, but it takes a creature with a soul to actually leave." The kirin reached out with his magic, swirling it in the air before Courage.
In her dream, Courage had seen how powerful he was, and although she had drained him this was very different. "Corignis first. Give her to me." She held out a wing for the lariat.
"Your word you will go through with this?" The Lord of the Pit waited for Courage to nod before passing her the leash to her sister.
Courage looked down the length of the spell-in-solid-form that bound Corignis. "Stand up, sister." She gave a gentle tug on the leash. "You know my name, Corignis, now let me tell you your new one."
Staring mutely at Courage, Corignis regained her hooves. Shaking her wings, she stood still as Courage leaned in and pressed her mouth to Corignis' ear.
"Corignis Flameborn Threpin ti Fin." Courage whispered the words, sealing the surrounding air with a spell to stop them being overheard. "I love your, Cor. Don't ever do this again. If something threatens your freedom, fight it."
Corignis felt the words take on power, life and energy. She couldn't have easily changed her name as a demon, doing so took thousands of years, but her owner did it in a second. "I just wanted to see you free, Courage." Flame rippled up her tail and mane then it found the lariat.
"Your are bound to no being, Corignis." Courage watched as the balefire ate the lariat, consuming it in dancing white flames. "You kept your side of the bargain. Now I will keep mine." She turned to the kirin as she spoke, and called her own magic again. Raising her power, Courage started to feed it into the spiral-spell that the Lord of the Pit had begun.
"Perfect." The spell wrapped around both the kirin and Courage, pulling them closer and closer as it grew. "For this to work, you must endure one final change."
Courage arched her spine and screamed as the Lord of the Pit's fiery wings spread and reached around her. Where they touched, burning heat seared her and left marks of burnt flesh. She couldn't get away from the pain the wings inflicted; wherever she turned they were there. Courage's legs burned, her wings burned, her body and tail burned, but when the wings came in for her face, she closed her eyes and surged with anger. Intense pain lanced through her face, and Courage screamed her anger at the kirin.
"Courage! Courage!" Corignis stared at her berserk sister, not able to get close to her for fear she would lash out. Turning on the Lord of the Pit, Corignis glared at him. "Why did you do this? She was helping you!"
"I need a mate, not a slave or servant." The kirin gestured to Courage. "Her fate is no longer that of a succubus. I bound the flames with what parts of her name I know and her magic. I fueled them myself and sank my essence into the power. She still has her soul, but Courage is now so much more!"
The words of her "enemy" drew Courage's ire, and she spun to lash out. As she did, the burnt flesh of her face—that covered even her eyes—cracked and fell away; revealing scales underneath. "I'll kill you!" She drew on her magic, and was nearly blown away with the rush of energy.
A torrent of power unlike any he had witnessed before rushed at the Lord of the Pit, and he stood his ground before it—welcomed it. The power reached him, and washed around his body like air around a wing. He laughed and spread his wings out into the energy. "YES! YES!"
Courage froze at the exultant cries. "What did you do to me?!" She looked at her body, watched as more burned flesh flaked away. Her legs bore intricate scales of red/pink, while her belly was decorated with pure white. She still had fur, but it was sparser than before, and the red scales under it were clearly visible. An intense sensation of loss filled her, as she realized that she had forsaken nearly all resemblance to a pony.
"I have killed an uncountable number of creatures with that magic." The Lord of the Pit strode around Courage, inspecting his work. "Over half died simply trying to give me enough power to work the spell. More still burned up at the touch of my flames; some were consumed utterly, others managed to scream for weeks before dying." His eyes landed on her long, slender tail. The appendage sported a tufted tip of red fur at the tip, but was otherwise scaled and hairless. "One kirin could not smash their way out of here, but two could."
Clamping her odd new tail down as tightly as she could, Courage turned to look at Corignis. "Cor, is this as bad as it seems?" Her sister nodded slowly back to her. "Well buck." A leathery wing wrapped around her back gingerly.
When Corignis realized Courage's flame-wings were not going to burn her, she squeezed her sister tightly. "I will always be with you, silly pony. Even if you turned into a monster like White, or a beast like in Violence." She leaned against the solid kirin body Courage now sported. "And I love the horns."
Courage blinked. "Horns? Plural?" Corignis nodded to her. "Okay, buck this for a joke. Let's get this done and get out of here." She didn't pull away from Corignis as she looked at the Lord of the Pit. "Let's do it."
Four horns lit with power, as the Lord of the Pit and Courage Fire channeled their fell powers. Both kirin targeted their magic towards the distant gate. The Lord of the Pit opened the portal with ease, but it was a one-way barrier still. He watched the vibrant, burning power of Courage lance into the seal, and leaned into her magic with his own. "I will not leave you wanting for power to do this. You are the only creature that can tear that—" He stopped talking as Courage's magic did its job.
"It is open. All the way open." Corignis drew her wing back from Courage's back, and stared. "It… it is really open. You can leave, Courage. We can leave!" She looked back to see both kirin marching forward, so she fell in at Courage's side.
"There is one more thing." The Lord of the Pit advanced with them towards the gate, and as they neared it the problem became apparent; Cerberus was not snoozing, was not derelict. The Guardian of Tartarus glared at the three demons with all three sets of eyes. "I have waited for this moment for a long time…"
~~~~~+++++~~~~~
Courage's eyes widened as they landed in Tartarus. Her heart rate sped up as if she were sprinting, and she turned to Corignis. "This… this won't work. Well, it will, but not how we want it." She shook her head, casting off the last vestiges of the vision; watched helplessly as Cerberus ripped Corignis apart.
"Will you learn?" The words were soft, carried away with the last scraps of the dream, and Courage barely even caught them at all.
This is a bad end, leading on from the previous chapter.
Corignis looked at Courage, and swore she had seen the look before. "Seriously, another one?"
Still panting, Courage nodded. "Yeah…"
"So what happened this time? I take it from your expression it wasn't good?" Corignis started weaving defensive spells around them, not liking the idea that their plan wasn't going to work.
"We talked, he… he gave you an ultimatum. You gave him your name to save me, and I had to join him to protect you, and you still died in the end. Don't give him your name, Cor, he knows all but the last word of it." Courage took in the shocked look on Corignis' face. "I don't care what happens; if I have to spend all my life and the rest of my ponyhood in here, don't tell him your name."
"I wouldn't—" Corignis stopped when she saw the look on Courage's face. "Okay… I probably would. I want you to get out." She leaned against Courage and nuzzled her cheek.
"It's not worth it, Cor. Once you give up your name there is no going back. So promise me you won't." Courage spread her wing over Corignis' back.
"Very touching." The Lord of the Pit smiled at the pair. "But now you are going to help me escape. You see—"
"You can open the gates of Tartarus, but the only way for you to get through is with my help." Courage held out a wing and ticked items off her fingers one by one. "You know most of my name. You know all but Corignis' last name. You can make powerful whips with your horns. You can even turn another creature into a kirin like yourself, but so far you have been unsuccessful."
The kirin stared at Courage for a moment. "How did you know that?" His eyes narrowed, and the Lord of the Pit suddenly realized the mare might be useful in other ways.
Courage smiled, for the first time in all their encounters she had the upper hoof. "You need me, but I don't need you. I would love to escape this hole with all my heart, but I have started to realize that it isn't the end of eternity if I don't." Corignis beside her gave a little gasp when she got squeezed by Courage's wing. "So what will you offer me to assist you?"
Adept at using his formidable magic to rip his way out of problems, the Lord of the Pit started to cast a simple spell, a fast spell, and one that would kill a target dead. His target was Courage, and he snapped the spell off with impossible speed.
Jerking her wing back from Corignis, Courage could barely see the spell forming before she had to throw her own magic at it. "What are—" Her words were choked off when the second spell the kirin was casting, using its second horn, hit her squarely. Tight pain coiled around her throat, and Courage suddenly screamed and threw herself away from the Lord of the Pit.
"Courage, no!" Corignis launched herself at the kirin, and spoke words under her breath.
"She. Belongs. To me!" The Lord of the Pit spat the words out, and sliced at Corignis with his wings. When Corignis danced back from him, he knew he had her beaten. "You cannot fight me alone. Give up, give me that last part of your name, and take your place at your sister's side."
"I'm not alone." Corignis smiled, but a touch of worry filled her at Courage's fate. A flick of her eye revealed her sister fighting the infernal collar, struggling against the device that literally put the wearer's mind at the mercy of the summoner.
"She does not count anymore. She is mine." The kirin started two more spells, one was another collar, the other a copy of the death spell. "You can have one of these, your choice." She froze, however, when the magic around his horns—that was holding the spells at the ready—snuffed out. He only knew of one creature with magic powerful enough to snuff his own out. His eyes narrowed as the name bubbled up from the depths of his memory. "Learned." The tone of his voice spoke volumes for his dislike at using the pseudonym.
"Remove that collar from my mate, My Lord." Alphias stood behind the kirin, flanking it with Corignis. But he didn't hold too much hope that the Lord of the Pit would take the easy way out. "He Who Has No Name. Twice Foul. Incinerator of Legions. Lord of the Pit—"
"We made a deal, Learned." The Lord of the Pit didn't look behind him; he knew what his General would be planning. "I won't use your name, and you won't use mine. It was a deal sealed on our very life-force. Speak my name and die."
"He has a name, you know." Alphias walked around, keeping the kirin always before him. Reaching Courage's side, he reached a hoof down to stroke her mane. "My Lord, let her go or I tell Corignis your name, and damn the consequences."
Corignis just stared at the interplay between the two arch-demons. She shook her head in shock. "No… don't do that. I don't need that to beat him, we just have to fight together!" Her senses suddenly flared, feeling the collar around Courage's throat reaching out, questing towards its summoner, so it could bind Courage to him. She charged.
"Silly…" Alphias' hope to settle this, and go down in flames himself, faded as Corignis charged. Reaching out with his magic, he sliced first the questing tendril the collar was sending towards the kirin, followed by a counterspell for the the death bolt that was already zipping towards Corignis. "… mare."
The magic duel was secondary to Corignis. She slammed into the Lord of the Pit's side and knocked him over. "Let her go!" Fire rolled down her body, pouring over her form and down towards the kirin. "Let her go or I burn you!"
Alphias was doing everything he could just to counter the kirin's spells. Each time he shut one deadly or mind-warping effect down, another lanced at either him or at Corignis. So intent on dealing with the magic was he, that he didn't notice the collar around Courage's throat seem to flare with power.
"Finally." The Lord of the Pit lifted his ominous voice up. "Courage Fire, by your name and my collar, come to my side and defend me." The mare's name came to his thoughts easily, now that the collar had built the bond. Even removing the device now would not completely relinquish his control over her.
Courage stared at the kirin, the compulsion of her name and the bond causing her to climb to her hooves and rattle off a spell.
Corignis squealed as tentacles erupted from the ground around her, grabbing her legs and wings. She poured her fire over them, but it washed off the spell harmlessly. "Courage, what are—" A tentacle stuffed itself into Corignis' mouth, shoving deep into her throat. The pull of the dark tentacles tugged her down, dragging her to her belly.
"Learned, stop that now or I will have her kill you." The Lord of the Pit smiled as Courage sauntered to him. Reaching out one burning wing, he stroked her mane. "Good pet. If my general tries to stop me from claiming your twin there, destroy him." Stepping to the bound succubus, the kirin admired the artful way the tentacles restrained, plugged, and distracted the mare. "Pet, you can feel them?"
"Yes, Master." Courage hated saying the words, but there was no other way she could even dream of talking down to her master. She shook her head a little, the words coming forth unbidden from the depths of her mind. "M-Master…?"
"Speak up, pet. You can tell me what the problem is." The Lord of the Pit started another of the binding spells, ripping another of the collars into existence around Corignis' neck.
"Master," each time Courage said it, the word came easier, "will I always feel like this? I… I don't think I should be helping you."
"Does it feel wrong?" When the kirin asked, Courage shook her head. "Do you want me to take the collar off?" He was deeply satisfied at the look of terror in Courage's eyes, as she shook her head. "Then come here and greet your sister. You are both mine Courage Fire and Corignis el Threpin ark Turas del Fife."
The voice speaking her name pulled Corignis' attention away from the tentacles. She rolled her eyes to look up at her Master. Trying to nod, beg, whimper, or just groan was impossible, but it didn't stop her from aching to please her Master.
Courage looked adoringly at her Master, then over to Alphias. "Master, what about our husband?" She smiled sheepishly at Alphias, and was puzzled by the defeated look in his eyes.
"Your 'husband' has realized his mistake now. Learned, you brought them to me, so I am not completely displeased in you, but next time I will kill you if you raise a hoof against me." The kirin grinned, and before Alphias could reply he added, "And I will kill Corignis too.""
"Damn you." Alphias hated the situation, but he advanced on the kirin, and bowed to him. "What will you have of me, My Lord?" He looked between the two mares, his two mares, and his anger at the Lord of the Pit increased.
"Oh wipe that look off your face, Learned. I can smell your foals in them, and I intend them to birth them. In fact, I think it would be a fine pedigree to continue. Both mares are yours for their breeding seasons." He stepped to the edge of the path of stone, and looked at a lamia in the nearest cage. "Corignis el Threpin ark Turas del Fife, my pet, come with me."
Corignis felt the tentacles release her body, and like a puppy she spread her wings and got a shaky run, launching herself after her Master. Landing near him on the stone pillar, beside the prison cage; she trotted up beside the kirin. Nuzzling against his side, licking along his throat, she got a thrill of happiness when he shivered pleasurably.
"Burn his prison cell, Corignis." The Lord of the Pit stared at a lamia in a cage nearby. The long snakepony having been noticed at last. "You broke free, Sethrillin, the alicorn sisters themselves brought you back and locked you in here."
Sethrillin, the scourge of the Griffon Lands of Equus, stared fixedly at the succubus pouring balefire onto his cage. "My Lord, you wish to know the secret? Once this cage is empty, I will tell you." He hissed and slithered back from the flames.
"That is acceptable, Sethrillin." The Lord of the Pit smiled a big, toothy grin as more of the cage caught fire and burned. "Good girl, Corignis. I am actually thankful I didn't kill you." It was as close to admitting that he might be have been wrong as the kirin ever came.
"Thank you, Master." Corignis stepped back from the cage, just as the remaining bars of the big door fell towards her. "Is there anything more I can do for you now?" It felt so good to Corignis, to beg for more tasks from her Master.
"Return to your sister and Learned. Tell my General that the time has come to march. Tell him to call the armies." The Lord of the Pit looked at the huge lamia. "Sethrillin, you are free to join us, but first you will tell me how you escaped."
"It was simple. A mortal family. They know my name, and every year they perform a ritual to summon me." Sethrillin flicked his tongue a few times. "They are devoted, and summon me to Equestria without bindings or reservations. I reward them of course, and if it weren't for that cage I would have been back there again."
"Exactly what I thought, then." The kirin turned and spread his wings. Leaping into the air, he expanded the flame-appendages wide and flapped them to regain the path. "Courage Fire, you will be everything I need."
~~~~~+++++~~~~~
Courage nuzzled against Alphias' jaw, rubbing her cheeks and purring in her throat. "What's wrong? This is just what we wanted, wasn't it? To be serving our wonderful Master together, and be bound closer than ever. You should let him put a collar on you, too!" She licked the stallion's lips and kissed him.
Slamming to the ground and leaving burn marks from her balefire, Corignis shook her wings and trotted over to the pair. "Alphias, our Master said for you to make ready to march," as she said the words, Corignis watched Alphias' face register shock, "and to call the armies."
"Then his plans are already in motion." Alphias almost slumped in place. At each side, a mare was nuzzling and kissing him; it wasn't how he wanted this, not by half, but all things considered, the outcome wasn't terrible. He took a step forward and gestured triumphantly, assuming a grand pose. "Come, my mares. We call on the Host of Equus' Destruction!"
Deep inside Courage, past the bulk of her mind—that was deliriously happy she was going to get to carry out her Master's orders—the last part of her soul struggled, gasping for its existence. "You need to see all of this through, my little pony. This continues until you understand what you need to do." The words were unheard by the rest of her, the parts that now adored the collar around her throat. But that part of Courage Fire that was still free gazed out of her own eyes, and watched as the end of the world was engineered.
This is a bad end, leading on from the previous chapter.
Courage felt sure in her cause; she had the backing of the Lord of the Pit. Part of her realized she always did. "How do we do this?" Behind her, Tartarus trembled and shook, the Circle itself protesting its lord having violated its tenets.
"I will take Treachery," Alphias looked to Corignis, "you take Fraud," then his head turned to Courage, "and you take Violence. I heard you had quite a rapport with the wyrm." He grinned and flexed the magic in his horn. "With our lord's blessing, we need not step from Circle to Circle, the Pit is open to us."
"What do you mean? How do we travel to one Circle in particular?" Corignis was confused about the matter, and a glance to Courage revealed to her she was not the only one.
"Rip your portal open, but direct your will towards the emotion of the Circle to which you wish to travel. I will return us here, wait for me." Calling his magic, Alphias started to cast the spell that would pull him between Circles, and focused on the feeling of betrayal when Courage had turned on him and Corignis.
"Look! A pony!" The hissing voice came from Alphias' right, but he could see there were the lamia all around him.
"Not just a pony." Stomping his hoof, sending the impact through the stone and outwards, Alphias roared in fury. "I am a messenger from the Lord of the Pit." The pronouncement drew gasps from the snake-ponies. "He has found the way out, the way free. Come, call your master so that the Host can assemble!"
"I think we just take this pony and use them as a puppet." A lamia darted forward, net in its forehooves already being flung. "GET IT!"
"No." Alphias lit his horn, casting his magic around him and tearing huge spears of crystal from the ground. One found the net, the next speared the lamia itself, hoisting it into the air as the merciless, faceted crystals didn't just grow through the belly of the snake-pony, but jutted out perpendicular to the shaft, growing into the lamia. "I will not be trifled with." A brief pang of sorrow hit Alphias, remembering his son and their shared love of crystalline magic.
An uneasy standoff began, with Alphias turning slowly, glaring at the lamia, while the snake-ponies looked for any sign of weakness.
"Learned Scholar, First Lieutenant to the Lord of the Pit. Disgraced… last I heard." A huge snake-pony slithered its way towards the ring of lamia around Alphias. "Why are you here, and why did you tell my minions that the Host was assembling?"
"It is. The Lord of the Pit sent me to rally the Host. They will pay for what they did to my son, Siljet." Alphias ignored the hard look in the King of Treachery's eyes. "Come, we will maim and kill until we are both sated."
"I despair ever having given you that part of my name, Learned." Siljet readied himself to attack the sorcerous unicorn. "What are his chances… this time?"
Alphias started working a much grander magic, one that he could only cast with the blessing of the Lord of the Pit. "Considering who he has coerced to help, pretty good." He tore a hole between Circles, opening a gap between Treachery in the Ninth Circle and Tartarus, the First Circle. "This lasts as long as it needs to. Bring your army, Siljet."
Laughing at the fury that showed on the King of Treachery's face, Alphias opened another personal portal, pulling him to Fraud.
~~~~~+++++~~~~~
Corignis landed in the center of the city: Fraud. She turned in a circle, ruffling her wings a little to encourage the other demons to keep away from her. There were ponies here, most were not happy or in any way sane.
"Oh, a succubus from the higher circles," a sneering voice said from behind Corignis. "Think they're all perfect and proper, just because they are—"
"I am a succubus, and I have come from Tartarus itself." Corignis turned to face her accuser and ran an appraising eye over the demon who spoke. "The Lord of the Pit bade me come back down here and call on the debt every demon owes him."
The incubus rolled his eyes at Corignis. "The Lord of the Pit sent you? A common—" He didn't get another word out as white balefire splashed over him. He screamed and wailed as his body was eaten away by the hungry fire. The other denizens of Fraud watched the succubus turn her rear to him.
"Does anyone here have a more civil tongue?" The old ways of Fraud came back to Corignis quickly. Might makes right, and better to use might before someone else did. "Where is the Councilman?"
Faces blanched around her, and Corignis started to sweep her balefire-covered wings back to douse more targets, when a demoness rushed forward. "Wh-Who sent you?"
Corignis' attention turned to the mare. She studied her, noting the lack of wings, but the presence of two twisting horns. She had "cambion" written in every line; she was a half-cast demon. "The Lord of the Pit sent me, and by his words I demand to see the ruler of Fraud!"
Gasps and whimpers came from the crowd around Corignis, and though the cambion showed signs of shock, she dipped her head to Corignis. "This way, the Councilman will see you immediately."
Calling back her flames, Corignis left the crowd and followed the half-cast. "What is your name?" It was worth a try; if she was stupid enough to give their name to another demon, it was a sign they wouldn't live long in the Pit.
Leading the succubus quickly to the council chambers, the cambion turned her head to Corignis. "I am known as Bejal, the secretary." Bejal trotted along, not wanting anything to do with the balefire the demoness following her wielded. "My father is in the next room, please wait—"
"No waiting, sorry Bejal." Corignis could have slapped herself for the apology, but ignored Bejal's further protests as she walked forward and spread her wings to fan her flames onto the big door.
Staring in shock, Bejal's mouth worked as she watched the succubus set fire to the council chambers' main doors. In places, the white balefire started to burn through, and soon enough large chunks of the door were missing. She stared in shock as the succubus just walked into the flames, and gasped as the fire licked over her, and seemed to withdraw to her body.
"What is the meaning of this?!" The Councilman's demand was intense, but not as much as Corignis would have expected.
"Who are you? I am here to see the Councilman." Corignis looked around, ignoring the pony in the middle of the chambers. "Bejal! Tell me where the ruler of Fraud is, or I will burn this city to the ground!"
"He is the Councilman!" Bejal would not meet her father's eyes. "The ruler of Fraud is a pony… my father." She dropped to her belly beside Corignis. "Please! Please don't hurt him! Fraud is run perfectly, there are no struggles for dominance, and it is safe for…" She trailed off as her mothers entered the chambers.
"We are the council, but this stallion leads us. I am Eleris, and we ask that you not destroy what we have built." Eleris, first wife of the Councilman, bowed to Corignis.
"Fraud all the way down, isn't it?" Corignis was smiling, but she didn't feel happy. "Well, the Lord of the Pit sent me. The Host gathers, and you will come." She turned her attention to the mature stallion who walked towards her. "Councilman, I don't care what you are, I can feel the power of Fraud within you. Make ready to march to Equus."
"Corignis?" Alphias recognized his lover's work in the destroyed door, now that he had seen the fire she carried. Marching in, the arch-demon saw her addressing a unicorn stallion. "Corignis, I need to open a portal to send this Circle's tithe through. Who is in charge here?"
"I am." The unicorn looked from Corignis to Alphias. "Star Swirl the Bearded, at your service." Star dipped his head a fraction. "I will call for the demons, give me a moment."
Alphias looked from the stallion back to Corignis, and when she shrugged, back to Star. He was about to say something when a pulse of power poured out of Star, shoving into the Circle of Fraud and calling the demons. "Good. Your portal will be here." Again Alphias ripped the fabric of the Pit open, creating a portal to Tartarus.
"Come, Corignis, we must go to Violence next." Alphias stepped up beside Corignis with a last glare at Star Swirl. "I loved your work in bright magic, mage, but have you ever worked the darkness?"
Star Swirl cocked an eyebrow at his apparent fan, then stepped silently through the portal to Tartarus.
~~~~~+++++~~~~~
Courage felt the pull the moment her hooves hit the dirt. Before her was a partially rebuilt colosseum, and she could clearly hear the roar of the crowd as well as the clash of creatures within. She knew what lay just under the sand of the stadium; she remembered the rage of the beast as Corignis had flown her out the first time. "Violence!"
A rumble shook the stadium, shaking the structure and destroying some of the newly repaired sections.
"VIOLENCE!" Courage screamed the word, and used her magic to amplify it even louder. Temptation surged within Courage, and she wanted to kill the great wyrm so badly her blood boiled in her veins. Fangs grew in her mouth, sharp and ready to shred flesh. Claws poked from the ends of Courage's hooves as the energies of the arch-demon of Violence reached towards her with its power.
"The Lord of the Pit sent me." The rumbling stopped as Courage said the words. Though they weren't loud, the sentence was easily heard by the wyrm. "The way to Equestria… Equus… will soon be open. The Lord of the Pit needs your army, your terrible, hungry-to-kill army!"
The shaking was back, but this time the ground split and cracked, then started to thrust upwards. Beasts and monsters rushed from the stadium; running for their lives. Just like last time, a huge, faceless head pushed up, tearing the colosseum apart and reaching towards the sky. But unlike last time, it didn't stop. Two huge wings spread, and the Wyrm of Violence freed itself from the ground and gravity both.
Power surged like waves through the onlookers. Their slight mutations—gifts for winning in the stadium—seemed tiny compared to what was wrought now. Canine-like hell hounds became bigger and bigger, until their size would rival the oldest of dragons back on Equus. As the beast flying above circled around the gathered, its power surged through them again, and each became larger, turning into an engine of pure destruction.
"You were waiting for this?" Courage looked up at the sightless arch-demon circling above. "You were planning and training them, filtering out the weak from the strong." Looking at all the beasts surrounding her, Courage had a further revelation. "I was to be one of these, wasn't I?"
"Courage!" Alphias and Corignis appeared not far away from Courage, with monsters all around them. Corignis immediately summoned her flames, and Alphias his magic—sensibly, into a shield to cover them.
"STOP!" Courage felt a surge of desire suddenly rush through her, but it wasn't for sex. She ached to join her sister and lover, to turn on Violence's minions and destroy them. She stopped and breathed deeply, but the adrenaline-choked air had no room for calmness. Turning her blood-lust to motion, Courage rushed towards Corignis and Alphias.
"Courage, what is the situation here? Is Violence ready to march?" Alphias didn't take his eyes off the crowd of hellish monsters. Carefully making a hole in the heaviest shield he had ever put up, Alphias felt an ache of rage flood through, of the need to fight and kill.
Wrapping her lovers in her own shield, Courage looked to Alphias and Corignis. "You need to get them to Tartarus quickly, and we need to leave."
With a barrier between him and the madness of Violence, Alphias nodded and put up as big a portal as he could. Behind him, Corignis was already working magic that would pull them from Violence to Heresy.
This continues a bad end, leading on from the previous chapter.
The moment they blasted into Heresy, Alphias threw a barrier up. Pouring energy into the wall of force, he looked around with narrowed eyes. "Where is he?"
"Uhh?" Courage looked at Corignis and saw a little panic and laughter on her sister's face. "What do you mean?" Something was making her feel great, happy, strong.
"White. The demon lord who should be the lord here." Alphias peered out through the barrier of magic he had put up, but rather than the milk-white demon who ruled this Circle, he saw ponies. "What is going on here? Where is their lord to punish them?"
"About that… you can drop the shield, Learned." Corignis nuzzled Alphias' neck. "You see, Courage was having a little trouble with him." She gestured to Courage.
"He trapped me and stole my destiny!" Courage knew she was pouting, but didn't care. "So I beat him up… with Cor's help."
Alphias' mouth dropped open. "You defeated the lord of this Circle?" He glared at Courage. "Why didn't you tell me this? This changes everything!" Releasing his shield, Alphias saw that there were demons among the ponies living in Heresy, but they all looked oddly happy together. Things started to click into place, and Alphias gave a bark of laughter.
The demons and ponies approached the three visitors, but it was the demons who stepped forward. "Corignis," an incubus began, "we have done as you asked. The Circle grows stronger with every new addition." Unusual for his kind, the incubus was a soft yellow in color, and bore a mane and tail of soft blue. Huge yellow wings were folded on his back, and his eyes burned with devotion.
"Insepheral, I see you have done well." Corignis still felt the draw of the Lord of the Pit's command, but until Alphias helped resolve the new leadership of Heresy, she could relax somewhat. "How go the ponies?"
"You were right. They were so weak and lost. We are feeding off each other mostly." Insepheral gestured with a leathery wing to the other demons just behind him. "But some ponies have joined our dances." His smile hinted at just what kind of dance he meant.
"Who actually killed White?" Alphias looked between the two succubi that seemed to be the center of his world now. When Courage lifted her hoof and waved, he blew out another laugh. "So you have the energy of the Master of Heresy." Stepping closer, Alphias nuzzled Courage's cheek. "Take it, use it."
"But that will bind me to Heresy!" Courage shook her head. "And Master gave us orders—"
"He gave you orders to find the lords of the Circles. We can't do that unless you take your place!" Now that Alphias knew what to look for, he could see strands of magic reaching to Courage, begging her to accept them. "Our mission is failed unless eight lords stand before your master."
Courage looked at the mixed members of the Circle of Heresy. Most of the ponies lacked the facelessness that White had imposed on them, but there were ponies here and there that lacked eyes to see, or mouths. Some still sported the smooth coats that the spider demon had forced upon them, and yet others sported multiple, spider legs sprouting from their bodies. A few of the mares sported swelling bellies, and she had to wonder how much time had passed since she had faced White.
Turning her focus on the demons, Courage saw succubi and incubi, and most looked happy. The few that had outright hostile looks on had their wings slightly spread, and had put themselves between the three newcomers and the ponies they had sworn to protect. Even some of the succubi had bellies swelling with new demons (or cambions). "Alright." The word tumbled from her lips, and it was as if the land itself awaited it. Courage whimpered as she felt the plane bind itself to her, making the connections she remembered from the prophetic dream she had experienced about Lust.
While the ponies and demons in Heresy were working to change the nature of the Circle, Courage felt the desire of the very world around her to become what she wanted it to become. "Mine?" The word was answered by a surge, and Courage opened up to the feeling of desire pouring into her.
What really shocked Courage, however, wasn't the power that resulted from her being Master of Heresy, but the side effects of it. She felt a ripping within herself, her own mind separating from what she had believed was true, what she had thought to be required. "He doesn't control me?"
"Not with that collar, or your name." Alphias smiled at Courage, and watched her power ebb and flow. "The Lord of the Pit cannot hold any of the lords of the Circles in that way. It is why he only controls me with his power alone… and those I care about."
Courage's eyes followed Alphias', both of them now looking at Corignis. "What about Cor?" The "song" of Heresy now echoed through her being, just like her prophetic dream had shown her how Lust would have. "I want her free of his grip, too."
"The Lord of the Pit controls Corignis by her name, something we both have." Alphias felt a cool power shrouding around Courage, and knew it to be the essence of Heresy. "We could craft her a new name, but it would take time for it to catch onto her soul."
"What if she became the lord of another Circle?" Courage turned to look at Alphias. "If she were like this, she wouldn't be bound by her name!" The idea excited Courage, and she felt sure that would be the answer.
Alphias nodded a little. "First of all, as a lord of one of the Circles, she would be bound to him—as you are now—in a different way. He wouldn't have the level of control he has now. But this creates a new problem. It is only by his will that the lords can leave their Circles."
"Yes, but he is throwing the doors open, there will be a war over Equestria." Courage felt the very nature of her new land seep into her thoughts. "In war, there are often accidents."
"Kill the Lord of the Pit?" Alphias smiled, quite taken with the way Courage was thinking. "Now that would be a grand solution. Let him face off against one of the big ponies, Celestia or Luna, and then stab him in the back."
"There would need to be a lord." Courage nuzzled Alphias, trailing her lips up his neck until she found his lips. Kissing Alphias, Courage felt all the confidence she needed, and melting against his lips, she hoped he felt the same.
"What are you two doing?" Corignis pointed a hoof back at the gathered ponies and demons. "You know what is going to happen now there is no lord here?" When her two lovers continued their kiss, Corignis flapped her wings at them. "Hey, I'm talking to you!"
Courage laughed as she broke the kiss with Alphias. "Cor, what do you think. Do you wish to control Wrath?" She looked back to Alphias. "I only met one other in Wrath, on the Styx. Is the ferrypony the lord there?"
"Courage, if you don't tell me what you are talking about I am going to bop your heads together!" Corignis was more than a little impatient, and while she would have gladly carried out her threat, she wouldn't do much more than that.
"Being the lord of a Circle breaks the hold the Lord of the Pit holds over a demon." Alphias held up a hoof to ward Corignis' anger off. "So we were trying to work out what Circle to claim for you."
The words cut Corignis' train of thought in half. She blinked at Alphias for a moment, then looked at Courage. "What? No! No, no, no! I couldn't!"
"You already did. We took Lust together, and you already helped me kill ol' Lordypants already." Courage reached up with her forelegs and hugged Corignis. "He knows your name, the only way to break that grip easily—"
"Is to trap me in a Circle?!" Corignis wanted to pull away, to deny everything and run… run back to her master. In a moment of clarity, she recoiled from her previous thought. "Which Circle?"
"What about Gluttony? They were begging for us to send them a succubus. Why not send them back their queen?" Courage remembered the dream that foretold Corignis' rule there. "It wouldn't take much. You just have to do a little feeding."
"They do have a lot to give, and it could be a good calling for a succubus." Corignis gave Courage a counter hug, squeezing her sister a little. "And I think he was totally a hunk under all that… energy." Her thoughts roamed back to Sir Thunder Hoof, remembering the way he moved in combat. "Alright, but we still need Wrath, and Lust."
"What about Tartarus?" Courage looked to Corignis, nuzzled her cheek, then cast her gaze to Alphias. "Who is the lord of Tartarus?"
Letting out a sigh, Alphias shook his head. "Cerberus will not take his place as Guardian of Tartarus. He bowed to a different lord long ago."
"Wait!" Courage pulled back from Corignis. "So Cerberus is a demon? How did he escape?" She felt a touch at her side, and turned to see an incubus there, nuzzling her. There was a connection between her and the demon, a strong connection that firmly put him as her servant. So caught up in feeling out the bond was Courage, that she missed Alphias' reply. She shook her head and looked at her husband. "Sorry, what?"
"Princess Celestia ripped Cerberus from the Pit herself. He was the first to go missing, followed by Discord. The Lord of Chaos, however, broke free himself." Alphias watched more demons approach Courage and bow down to her, and he smiled. "Your host is assembling."
"My…" Courage knew there were a hundred things she should be focused on, but gathering an army from among her demons was not one of them. "I will go alone. White wouldn't have been expected to bring an army, and neither will I."
"We want to fight for you!" Insepheral bowed his head and spread his wings out and lowered them before Courage. "Master, please tell us to come?"
"No! This," Courage gestured to the ponies and demons around her, "this is wrong, and a heresy of the natural order. Demons are supposed to use and abuse ponies, but here we live together." It was the first time she stated her intention for the Circle, that it continued what Corignis had started was just convenient. "I will go alone; this is my fight."
"She's right." Corignis had finally gotten her head around the madness that had been planned, and despite her need to follow her master's commands, she felt she could do it. "You need to feed her more power. If she takes you from here, you will not be giving her the energy to fight. I put you here because you helped me in the past with ponies, and now you have proved that despite what we are, you can be a community together."
Courage watched as some of Heresy's pony residents clung to their own kind, but the others found a demon, or in some cases more than one. Power poured from the very situation that the creatures of her Circle were in. Thinking back to her dream, it wasn't as much as she could get if she actively harvested—like White had—but she liked the taste of her way better. "You stay here." She turned back to Alphias, not giving Insepheral a chance to argue further. "We need to move on to Wrath."
"Come then, Mistress of Heresy, let us find the ferrypony, and then to fetch our lovely wife a Circle of her own." Alphias began working the ritual that would rip a hole from Heresy to Wrath. "Corignis, come and face your future."
"You're both mad." Corignis stepped up beside Alphias, and put a wing over his back. A memory came back of her last time in Wrath. "We have to get three tickets through this time."
Courage laughed as Alphias finished the spell, and tore their way from Heresy.
This continues a bad end, leading on from the previous chapter.
Courage was aware of the dream. She was lucid, but that didn't stop her being caught up in the emotions within, to feel the power that becoming the Mistress of Heresy brought. But it was just a dream—premonition.
"This seems like a nice one." The soft voice in Courage's head sounded familiar, but she couldn't place it. "Do you want to see more? We can promise that you save both your lovers."
"Then what is bad about it?" It took a moment for Courage to work out how to speak, but with an act of pure willpower she made the words manifest.
"You will see."
Jolting to consciousness again, Courage was in two minds—literally. The part of her that was awake and in the dream didn't know it was a dream, but there was an onlooker, a passenger in her body that knew this was another premonition, and that if she remembered everything that happened she could take this path.
Wrath was bleak. The three demons were standing on a small, swampy island that was surrounded by a river that went on forever. The river Styx. Surrounded by legends and myths all its own, it meant the end of any creature to touch its inky waters. Courage remembered when she had entered the water. The feeling of having her soul torn free of her body caused the demoness to shiver where she stood.
"Don't everyone offer to ring the bell at once." Corignis shattered the mood and stepped forwards. Reaching up with a wing, she grasped the rope attached to the bell's clapper firmly, and shook it three times. The sound of the ancient bell echoed over the misty river. Corignis turned and raised an eyebrow at Courage, then started to dance sensuously, chiming the bell in time to her rhythm.
Courage's eyes were glued to Corignis. She watched the other mare move and felt desire and hunger in equal quantities. So focused on her love was she, that even when the ferry nudged the shore she kept watching.
Finishing her dance, Corignis turned coyly to see Courage and Alphias staring at her. A look at the shore showed the ferrypony in his sackcloth robe, eyes fixed on her. "If I knew I was going to have such an audience, I would have worn something I could take off."
"Repeat customers are not so common here." The ferrypony looked from Corignis to Courage. "Particularly coming from the same side twice in a row. It begs the question, who are you that you could bypass the Styx?"
"Learned Scholar. Arch-demon. General of the Host. Right hoof of the Lord of the Pit." Corignis gestured to Alphias with a wing. "And the best stallion I have ever gotten on my back." She leaned to kiss Alphias firmly. "And here we have Courage." She pointed at her other lover with her free wing. "Former cambion. Former succubus. Mistress of Heresy—"
"No!" The ferrypony shook his head and cut in. "That can't be! The lords of the Circles are trapped, they can't leave!"
Alphias barked a laugh. "You are missing some information then, colt. The lords of the Circles are trapped, until the Lord of the Pit calls them. He has called, and we are here to escort Death himself to join the gathering host."
"You want Gramps." The ferrypony breathed a sigh. "Hop on, but I don't think he will want to see you. It has been nearly forever since he has seen another demon." Moving around on the ferry, he prepared his pole to push off from land again.
Courage, Corignis, and Alphias boarded the ferry, and Courage felt some little desire to repeat her last ride—all of her last ride. She strode up to the ferrypony. "Nice to see you again, Nothing. Will you require payment for this ride?"
"You remembered my name." Nothing pushed the pole into the Styx and back firmly. "Are you sure big, dark, and arch-demon there wouldn't be upset?" He tilted his head in Alphias' direction.
"He is my mate, not my master." Courage walked right up to Nothing and inhaled the scent of him. Demon, her mind told her, Powerful. The old hunger of a succubus roused in Courage, bringing heat to her nethers and making her a little more wanton. "Maybe not a full fare, but…" she dipped her head down and under the stallion and found him ready for her.
Nothing groaned a little as Courage took him in her mouth. Fighting his urges, Nothing didn't buck at the mare, letting her pay her way. They were making good time to his grandfather's home, so to make it last a little he circled around twice.
Courage squeezed and sucked at the stallion's shaft, encouraging his pleasure along with her tongue and lips. But something was different now, she wasn't feeding off his energy. Courage wasn't a succubus anymore, despite having some of the neediness of one. When the hot rush of the stallion's seed hit the back of her mouth, Courage guzzled and drank it down. Not one to disappoint, Courage suckled at Nothing's shaft until he was not only done, but clean.
"If you are quite done?" Nothing looked back at Courage, and gave her flank a poke with his magic. Her head shot up with a smile on her lips. "We are there," He told her—as if they couldn't have been there earlier.
"I didn't get a drop from you…" Courage was musing a little on her altered state. "Magic… power… I'm not referring to your seed." Courage nuzzled Nothing's cheek. "I got plenty of that." She left Nothing staring at her as she swayed her hips seductively while making her way off the boat.
The island they landed on was larger than where they had started, but the center of it was dominated by a house. "Gramps!" Nothing, finally getting his wits back, strode towards the house. "Hey, Gramps! You have a visitor!"
"A visitor? What's that m'boy?" The door of the house opened to reveal what looked at first like an ambulatory skeleton. Wearing no clothing at all, the skeleton nonetheless produced a pair of old glasses from somewhere and lifted them up to his eyes. "As I live and breathe. Alphias?" A sickly green glow left the skeletal eye sockets and passed through the glasses.
Alphias froze. He had not given his name to many, but Death was one creature from which no name was hidden. "Death." He bowed a little. "The only demon that knows all names, and is not bound by his own. It is time, Death."
"Crime? What crime?" Death took some steps forward onto his front veranda. With some more of the dim light that hung around the Styx illuminating him, his actual body was visible. Swirling around Death's skeleton in place of the flesh of a pony, the dark waters of the Styx were part of the ancient demon. "C'mere, boy."
Alphias looked to Nothing, and got a look back that clearly said, "He means you." Striding forwards, Alphias fought terror for the first time in his life. A touch from Death really was your end, and it was obvious why. "Yes?"
"You are the General? Arch-demon and second in command to Lapsis?" The last word sizzled in the air between them, but it went no further.
"His name…" Alphias took a deep breath. "I am that. I have come to summon Death to the final battlefield." Back on his game, Alphias puffed his chest forward. "Are you ready?"
"Nope." Death reached a hoof up and rubbed his head, sloshing the water of his flesh around. "I can barely walk down to the waters anymore. How am I meant to fight?" He waved a hoof in the air, narrowly missing Alphias. "Nope. Go back and tell Lapsis I ain't comin'."
"Gramps, what's going on? You told me you were waiting for this day!" Nothing stomped up beside Alphias. "I remember all the stories you would tell when I was a foal—"
"When you were a foal!" Death shook his head. "Lad, I may not be as sharp as a scythe anymore, but I know you done got some growin' since then." Waving a hoof at the river, Death coughed up some phlegm. Spitting the mess of river weeds out, he looked squarely at Nothing. "If'n you like the idea so much, why don't you go?"
"Because I'm not you, Gramps!" Jabbing a hoof towards his grandfather, Nothing almost spat the words. "Come on! You are the last of the original four! You have to ride when Equestria is doomed!"
"Aristable." The rictus grin Death gave his grandson said more than any words could. "Nothing no more. Death." He lifted a hoof up and pressed it to his own kin's chest.
Nothing opened his mouth to scream, but as he did, his flesh started to melt. Sloughing from him in huge slabs, dripping from his bones in red runnels, Nothing's body was eaten away by the power of Death.
"Truth is," Aristable, the older Death, pulled his hoof back, "I have needed to rest my bones for a long time now. My boy here had a good life so far, but now it is time for him to take the mantle." He aimed his bony hoof towards the waters of the Styx. "Go on, lad. You know this is your destiny."
Courage wasn't sure what had happened, but she watched Nothing's body melt away more by the second. She opened her mouth to yell to him, but despite having no muscles left on his legs, Nothing ran.
He was dying, of that Nothing was sure, but his grandfather was right about one thing: it was time to take his duty seriously. Tossing his head, he felt chunks of the gray matter fall from his skull. His last eye barely beheld Courage in his mad dash for release, and his last thoughts as the river lapped around his hooves was how good she had been to him.
"Is he… is he dead?" Corignis stared at the place where Nothing had dove into the water. The moment all his hooves were in it was like someone cut the cords on the marionette. "What the actual buck just happened?!"
"Show some respect!" Aristable glared at Corignis. He could feel the water around his bones letting go of his form. The river was taking back its power from him and was giving it to his grandson. "Dig me a hole, Alphias. Six feet deep, wide enough that I can stretch out…"
Alphias didn't even think to argue. The venerable demon needed a grave, and he intended to supply it. Power poured through him, and thick black tentacles began to rip at the ground, digging down and forming a mound of muddy dirt beside it.
"Will either of you tell us what just happened to Nothing? Why are you digging? What are you…" Courage trailed off. "A grave."
"This was the lad's job, but he is a little busy dyin'." Aristable inspected the hole, even as he felt his own time ebbing away from him as the waters dripped and flowed. "Deep enough, boy." His tenuous grip on respect for Alphias wavered and failed as his end neared. "Fill it in… let one of the pretty fillies throw the first few clods." Green lights flickered in his eyes, and the old demon smiled up at Courage and Corignis. "M' boy told me about you both. Be kind to him, he is new at—"
Aristable, the old Death, collapsed into a pile of bones within the grave.
"Do what he said, start filling him over." Alphias shook his head, but turned to where Nothing had run. "I hope this works, I would hate to be the one to tell… Him… that Death rides no more." Swinging his head back, he saw his mates pushing dirt down into the hole. Judging it enough of a tribute, Alphias began to shift back the huge stack of dirt he had extracted.
The hole filled up more and more, but there was no neat mound to mark Aristable, only a slight depression in the muddy soil was his marker. "Should we say a few words?" Courage felt compelled to speak. She was staring at the ground where Aristable had been just moments ago.
"I think that is my job." The deep voice from behind them caused all three demons to jump, spin around, and gape. Nothing was gone; only Death remained. Aristable had been old, weak, his bones eaten by what diseases could keep hold on them over the millennia of his life. Nothing was Death the way someone would write it in all capitals, bold, and underline. He was DEATH. "Gramps, Aristable, you guided many to their last, and you wove the river Styx for longer than most demons can conceive of. I promise I will take the last soul for you." His horn lit a sickly green to match his glowing eyes, and Death hefted a last piece of clod onto the grave.
The four demons stood in silence, looking down on Death's grave. A cool breeze swept over the Styx, stirring Courage, Corignis, and Alphias' mane around. Death looked up at the house. "It's time." He marched forward, still feeling strangely heavy with his liquid flesh around him. Marching into the house, he saw it hanging on the wall where it always was. "End." The huge scythe's name was as simple as his own now. Death's horn lit, and he lifted the weapon from the rack. It was impossible to lift. Impossible to swing. But for Death, the scythe weighed almost nothing. The blade was a deathly blue in color, and sharp enough to sever a soul from its body.
Courage watched Death stalk from the house, his iconic tool held at his side. Something inside wanted to scream in terror and run. Fear, pure and simple, coursed through her, but when she managed to meet Death's gaze, she saw a familiar twinkle. Her mouth worked, and she spoke a single word. "Nothing."
"Aim me, General." Death marched forward on hooves that would bring death with a touch. He reached down with his magic and pulled his sackcloth cloak from the sticky, rotten flesh that had been his own. Dragging it around his shoulders and cowling his head, he looked at Alphias.
"Right this way, Lord Death." Alphias bowed deeply. It wasn't every day he got to see Death die, and Death be born. He ripped a portal open and gestured towards it. "We are skipping my domain, we ride for Gluttony."
"And Death traveled with them…" Courage lifted a hoof up and, very carefully, hugged Death around the shoulder. "We have a plan, you see. This is going to be awesome!"
The other part of Courage whimpered a little in horror at what had happened, and what it meant for Death to join the army of the Pit against Equestria.
This continues a bad end, leading on from the previous chapter.
"Do you think this is how ponies behave?"
Courage whimpered. It was a dream between dreams, a moment between Wrath and Gluttony. "I don't… can we please stop?"
"No. You will see where this leads before you can make your choice, Courage Fire. Know that this is a possible future, as they all have been." The voice itched in Courage's mind, and she could have sworn she had heard it before.
"If I can't stop it, can we get it over with?" Courage's mind felt like an open sore, every thought rasped on exposed nerves and caused her pain. "Please?"
"Come, my pony."
Courage was almost in tears when the group crashed into Gluttony. She looked at each member of their little group and couldn't fail to see symbolism in it. Four Horseponies: Death, Heresy (technically a disease upon society), Alphias (standing in for war, of course), and Corignis was soon to become Queen of Gluttony, which had run towards famine of late.
As the fog of the prescient world folded over her, Courage's panic settled and she centered herself. More details fell into being, and a great inferno in the distance lit up the dark, evening sky.
"Are we all here?" Corignis looked around and smiled at seeing her friend and lovers. "If I do become the empress here, I am making a few changes." She glared at the bonfire. "And if that is the castle I think it is, things are already on track."
Courage's brain caught up with the words and she turned on Corignis. "Wait. 'Empress'? I didn't think you got to choose your title." She started walking in the direction of the huge fire.
"Well of course. When you are the boss, what you say goes." Corignis, without a better idea, started following Courage. "Was that the castle they took you to when you first came here?" She pointed at the inferno with one wing-claw.
"Castle? What went on here?" Striding up to his mares, and leaving Death to follow, Alphias was content at letting Courage lead. "You made it through, obviously, but I have a feeling that every Circle was an ordeal."
"Cannibals." Courage's memories reminded her of what they almost did to her and Corignis, and who it was that saved them. "There seemed to be two factions here. There are the ponies who have given in to Gluttony's vice, they feed and feed, and live well despite it."
Death felt cold. His body was ice, even beyond ice. The chill waters of the Styx were his body now, and the touch of Courage's body only a fading memory. Putting one hoof before the other, he leaned forward into a walk, then a trot to keep up with the others. His ancestor's scythe was heavy beyond measure, and while the others talked he examined it a little more.
The old blade was sharp beyond measure. The old tool was just that. It wasn't a war scythe, or some other cobbled together weapon. When Death swung End, he sliced souls from bodies in a swath. It was a tool and a most efficient one.
"We were lucky enough to have one of the good ponies—the ones accepting their punishment—help us fend off the cannibals. In return, I crafted and cast a spell." A shiver ran up Courage's spine at the memory of the dread, madness-causing spell she had built. "It spread through the cannibals' ranks and they turned on each other."
"You constructed their end from their own nature?" Alphias sounded and was most impressed. "What did you do to build it?"
"Well…" Courage lit her horn and called power. A hurricane thundered through her, and without meaning to she almost cast the spell again by accident. "Whoa, hold on…" She frantically tried to adjust for the raw energy at her beck and call.
"Is the Mistress of Heresy having a power problem?" Alphias leaned in and nibbled at Courage's neck, finding the prospect of a demoness as powerful as himself positively intoxicating. "I could take some of that from—"
"Mine!" Courage's cold focus landed on Alphias, and in surprise at how possessive of her magic she was she stepped back from him. "S-Sorry…"
"My darling Courage, I doubt any could hold desire for power against an arch-demon such as yourself." Alphias purred the words, his eyebrows dancing at the mention of "arch-demon." He inhaled her scent, and found nary a trace of her soul left to her. "Yes…"
"Hold on!" Corignis butted her way into the conversation. "You give me half of your soul, and then dumped the rest to become a full demon?" In a huff at the idea, Corignis stomped her hooves a few times in annoyance. "I had best get rid of my part of it here…"
A little voice inside Courage screamed in terror, but was gently silenced by the sensation of soft wings hugging her. "It's so awesome." Courage closed her eyes and focused again on her energy. "Wow, this is a rush." Choking it down to a trickle of magic, she opened her eyes and projected the first part of the spell for her teacher and lover. "This."
"Want It, Need It. A very potent and simple spell. Good choice." Alphias watched the sigil morph in the air, twisting dark, potent black lines through it. "Spreading through blood contact, I think I can see where this is going. A fitting end for vile creatures."
Looking at the sigil in the air, Courage realized she could have cast it simply with her newfound power. She could have pushed it out and sealed it onto a creature and damned it to a horrible death and not felt bad about it. The voice inside actually screamed. Courage turned to Aplhias and smiled. "I thought so, and extremely effective." Courage banished the spell, unfastening it safely so it wouldn't manifest. "I am excited to see how well it worked." She accepted the nuzzle from Alphias, and returned it.
The nearer the group got to the fire, the clearer it was that it was a castle that was burning. Old, dry timbers thicker than a pony were alight, and as each structural support gave way, another part of the keep folded down upon itself.
The sound of crashing stone and timber brought a huge cheer from an encampment before the collapsing castle. Sounds of merriment—music and laughter—were loud from the tents set up around a much smaller bonfire than the castle itself provided.
"Halt! Who goes there?" The deep voice put both Alphias and Death on edge, but Courage and Corignis squealed in happiness to see Sir Thunder Hoof. "As I eat and feed, is that Courage and Corignis?" The huge knight was as large as ever, and looking every bit as deadly with his pole-arm leveled at the group. His face split into a huge smile, and swung his weapon and visor to the sky.
"And we brought friends!" Courage gestured to Alphias and Death. "Sir Thunder Hoof, I present my stallion, Learned Scholar. And this delightful demon doesn't need an introduction, I think." She gestured to Death.
"We have met." Thunder looked at the robe-wearing skeletal figure and shivered. He could still feel the moment when Death had come for him in Equestria, when his body had been left behind and his spirit sent to the Pit. "You will forgive me for not offering a hoof-bump. I have heard the second is a lot more intense than the first."
Death knew the stallion's name, and dipped his head. "If you will forgive me, that was not I. Gramps…" His bones—now the only part of him that was still him—froze at the memory of the stallion who had taught him everything. "Gramps was careful and efficient at his work."
Thunder froze and stared at the skeletal figure in shock. "Death… Death died? 'Gramps'? Lad, how old are you?" The huge stallion quickly jumped back as End swung out where he had been standing.
"SHIT!" Courage spread both her wings in shock. "Whoa, calm down!"
But Corignis moved faster, rushing between End and Sir Thunder Hoof, letting the fell-blade almost slice the fur on her chest. "Death, you may not reap in these lands!"
Nothing jerked back in shock at what he had been about to do. Death's death, his Gramps of course, still stung him, and he realized how much he missed the old demon. He stared at Corignis and felt her name. "Corignis el Threpin, you are not arch-demon yet. I will not reap, but don't presume to command me in this realm until you are."
Corignis' nose flared at the insult, but she stood her ground. "If I am going to claim Gluttony, I can't back down from any fight within it."
Seeking to break the potential for violence, Courage walked up beside Death and spread one wing over his cloaked back. A gentle squeeze reminded him of her warm body. "If you pick a fight with Cor, you pick a fight with Alphias and me too." Her body almost trembled with power. "I like you, Nothing. Don't push this for a slight."
"Death." Thunder Hoof circled around Corignis and faced the reaper. "I beg your pardon for the affront, and ask that you don't raise your weapon against me, mine, or these allies." He gestured to Corignis and Courage as he bowed. He had put himself within striking range of End, but even being undone at the ancient weapon's touch would have broken the tension.
"I am grieving for him still." Nothing tried to hold on to himself in the icy remnants of his body. The "flesh" part of "flesh and bone" had been the source of some of the best bits of being a demon, and now it was gone. He leaned a little more against Courage, the warmth of her body flowing through the Styx to his bones. For the first moment since he became Death, Nothing could feel some warmth. "I am sorry too."
Courage leaned in and kissed Death's cheek, keeping the cowl between her and his touch. "Then let's go see what the celebration is about!" She released Death, but looked back and saw a ghost of the demon he had been. Part of her felt longing for him.
The look in Courage's eyes was enough to sustain Nothing, to give him the fortitude to fight off the soul-crushing bleakness of his office and keep his own thoughts. The feel of her body under his rushed back, and if he still had flesh he would have shown his excitement. "I think I would like that."
"First…" Sir Thunder Hoof narrowed his eyes and then groaned. Reaching to his pack, he pulled out a steaming hot hayburger. Munching on a mouthful while the four demons waited for him, he gulped down the wonderful meal. "… ahem. First, what is this about standing up for this Circle?" He leveled his gaze at Corignis.
"Gluttony hasn't had a lord for a many centuries." Alphias stepped up beside Corignis. "And the Lord of the Pit has put out the call; the armies of the Pit are summoned, each Circle to be led by their lord. There is… a geas on Corignis… one that can be broken by becoming a lord of a Circle. So here we are." He gestured with a hoof to Corignis.
"We have been doing jolly well…" Thunder paused and took another bite of his burger. "… wiffou a word." His mouth couldn't work fast enough, but he was long past being mortified by speaking with his mouth full.
"Learned, darling, there is a more diplomatic way of handling this." Corignis leaned up and kissed Alphias on the cheek. Turning her face to Sir Thunder Hoof, she flashed a more possessive smile. "We promised we would secure you a succubus, and I offer myself. Let me feed on you all. Let me organize the biggest orgy this Circle has ever seen, and let me grow bloated and full on all your energy."
The offer had Sir Thunder Hoof shifting a little in his armor. Before he could say something in haste, he shoved the rest of his burger in his mouth. Eating helped him not say the words that would beg Corignis for relief from his body, that would promise to put his snout at her hooves for all eternity just for a single day without the extra mass. A moment before he gulped down the mouthful he pulled out a quesadilla.
"Are you eating so you can focus? Or are you scared to say yes?" Corignis leaned forward, and to Thunder's shock she nibbled at the edge of the cheesy meal. "You must say yes now." She kissed the stunned knight. In her belly, she felt a gnawing hunger start, a hunger that was eternal and ancient. The Circle itself poured into her as a vast void that needed filling, and boy did she want to be filled.
Turning, Corignis flicked her tail to the side. "Feed me, Thunder. Feed me and release yourself from this prison."
The sight of Corignis offering herself stirred Thunder beyond any hope to contain. Taking a big bite of the quesadilla, he jumped forward, armor and all. "Curf ooo." He juggled his magic, holding the meal while unfastening the plate covering his underbelly. Corignis was a maddeningly attractive succubus, and he was rock hard already.
"There…" Corignis arched her neck as Sir Thunder Hoof took her. The hunger inside latched on to her succubus-side, and she felt herself already feeding from him. He was every virile stallion she had taken, he was perfection and just what Gluttony wanted for her. Corignis spread her wings as the knight on her back humped again and again. The demoness flapped to the rhythm of their lovemaking—pushing back into his thrusts.
Growing smaller, lighter, Thunder couldn't believe how amazing he felt. With each driving thrust into Corignis his body freely gave up pounds of flesh as raw energy. He had started because his lusts had overwhelmed him, but he continued because this was a purely enjoyable process, for himself and Corignis—or so her vocalizations claimed.
"Quite the sight, isn't it?" Courage nuzzled Nothing's cheek again. "Maybe we could work something out. Maybe I could find a way not to die at your touch." She rubbed her cheek along cowl covering his face, and through it felt the curve of his smile.
"Isn't Learned your stallion? You and Corignis?" Nothing felt more warmth, and he dearly wished that what Courage said was possible. "Why does he put up with you two acting this way?"
"We are succubi… at least Cor still is. But I am stuck with the urges of one it seems. Learned is a realist and knows that while we may share ourselves, we are his, and he is ours." Courage gave an excited little grunt when she saw the knight finish himself in Corignis' body. "I have walked the waters of the Styx, I have swum its depths. Maybe it won't kill me now?"
"You what?" Nothing jerked back in shock. "Of what do you speak? The Styx claims the lives of all that touch it!"
The little voice inside Courage begged to just reach out and touch him, to end the madness of this premonition. But the soft touch of wings remained, and she watched as Nothing pulled back too.
"I see the future. I see what could have been, if things were different. In one of those lives I displeased you greatly, and you shoved me into the river. I fought as long as I could, but a brave fighter stripped my soul on the surface. I fell down, but was still hungry. I hunted and fed." Her mind roamed over the failed history. "I even pulled you from the ferry."
To Nothing's shock, Courage leaned forward and kissed his "lips."
This continues a bad end, leading on from the previous chapter.
Color drained from Courage's face as she felt an icy stab through the contact with Nothing's lips. The water of the Styx felt a warm body, and it hungered for the soul that dwelled within.
The universe seemed to freeze. "You really wanted to end this so quickly?"
"Please, just tell me what I have to do to avoid… to avoid this!" Courage screamed, gesturing with a hoof at the image of herself and Nothing kissing. "I just want to go home, please?"
"I don't think you have learned the lesson of this journey quite yet."
Courage whimpered and felt herself drawn towards the static image. Closing her eyes, she felt the scene drag her back in. The moment her body connected with the other, time started to flow, and she was shunted to the back of her mind. The Courage in control of her body lacked any knowledge of that other being, but she knew the soul-twisting pain the water of the Styx tried to inflict.
But the icy, magic water found an echo of itself within Courage. A demonic pony who had already faced the Styx and given herself to it. Courage felt the waters embrace her. Trembling in pain still—the Styx was not a gentle river—she looked into Nothing's eyes. "You're not a bad kisser, Death."
Even hearing the moniker "Death" did nothing to curb Nothing's enthusiasm. Shoving forward, he pressed his deadly lips to Courage and wrapped one big foreleg around the only mare who would not be killed by his touch.
"Well, such a position to be in." Alphias looked from one of his mates—under a huge stallion—to the other—making out with Death. "My lovely mares grow in power, as does… His… for having them as his followers." The words were egotistical, and in no small part expository of his situation, but it helped him work through his plan. "Corignis?"
Corignis' body was burning with need, but it was a need that was being slowly sated. She slammed back with every stroke Thunder delivered, meeting his body with needy groans. Her name, a part of her true name, cut through the hunger. Turning her head while keeping her rocking motion going, she smiled to Alphias. "I have a mouth, too."
"You have a lovely mouth, Corignis." Alphias walked to where the mare in question stood, and completely ignored the stallion riding her. "A tasty mouth, too." He leaned down and kissed Corignis.
Ice and fire exploded in Alphias' mouth, and he couldn't help but press harder against Corignis' lips. Hunger and need burst through his body as his mate's desires became his own. Holding nothing back, Alphias' passion became an inferno despite the chill of Corignis' power drinking at him.
"On me. Now." Corignis barely got the words out and she had another weight to support. Ducking her head, she spotted her target and opened her mouth for Alphias. Hot, hard, and all for her, his length fed into her, poking to her throat and deeper.
Unable to stop with such need bleeding into him from his mate, Alphias started bucking. Joined in pleasure, he felt his body burn hotter to counter the chill. The other stallion that Alphias had earlier dismissed now became a new target. He had not considered other stallions as partners before, but filled with an arch-demon-succubus' desire, he pressed his lips to the waiting mouth of Thunder Hoof.
Corignis' magic was running wild. She felt the passion of both stallions flowing into her, but her eyes alighted on Courage and Nothing. Like a fat, lazy tentacle, Corignis' power reached to the two other arch-demons, infected them, and latched on.
Nothing couldn't hold back; he was suddenly feeling flesh and bones again and wanted to prove to Courage just how thankful he was for it. Nipping down her body with deadly bites, he reared up and landed on her back.
When Nothing closed his "eyes," he could almost believe he wasn't Death. He was atop Courage as he had been before, and it felt very right. Shoving forward, his body found hers waiting, and as more of Corignis' magic touched him, he claimed Courage's body. The dance was quickly joined, and with the Styx accepting Courage, he quickly built his pleasure within her.
Corignis felt more power—felt her hunger burn colder despite it. She wanted to beg for more, but with two very excited stallions servicing her, she had no way to say the words. Instead, she spread her magic out, reaching to a large group of ponies she felt nearby. She wished she had the patience to be gentle with them, but her hunger wanted food now. She shoved magic into a mare, and felt a link forged between her and the young maiden.
"My Empress?" Persephone jerked her head up from the alfalfa she was eating. She had been in Gluttony a long time, but she had kept herself smaller than the average hot-air balloon by keeping her diet much more tame than the others. Her wings let go of the plate of green shoots, and she stared around her. Mares, stallions, everypony looked tastier than what she had been munching on. The words she had spoken had been a strange reflex, but she ignored it.
The mare's willingness enchanted Corignis, and she reached deep into the mare. Power flowed into Persephone, and even as Corignis invested her with magic, she also invested her with Corignis' own hunger.
The Circle itself stirred, feeling the power gathering in a willing supplicant. Content normally to feed its inmates until they were ready to burst, Gluttony poured into a succubus, raising her power further, claiming her as its Empress.
Alphias stepped out of the portal and into Lust, not that it felt like he wasn't coming from it. Ignoring the succubi that was waiting to greet them, he turned to Corignis. "Careful, or Celeph might tear you to pieces just for stepping foot here. The old queen is none-too-fond of other lords in her domain."
The building that held them, hewn from rock, was crude but familiar to some of the group. Staring in shock at the group, a single succubus backed into a corner.
"Really?" Corignis blinked a few times and opened her mouth wide. "Celeph!" Her bellow shook the hall around her, and Corignis was left smiling at the effect it had on the local succubi.
"Y-You're mad with power, Corignis!" Alphias started drawing his own power, preparing a portal to take them away. Courage's forehoof slashed through his prepared spell, scattering the magic. "What are you doi—"
Celeph stormed into the room and stared at the group. Her eyes narrowed as she examined Nothing and Alphias, but the corners of her mouth turned up when she saw Courage and Corignis. "Well, well, well. My girls are all grown up. You both reek of arch-demonhood, sex, and… hunger." She licked her lips and stepped closer to the group.
Courage leaned against Alphias. "Don't worry. Celeph is our mother… kinda." She watched the Queen of Lust march up to Corignis.
"You have grown, my daughter." Celeph leaned forward and met Corignis with a kiss. The moment their lips touched, her own icy hunger met Corignis'. "Whoa!" Celeph pulled back and blinked in surprise. "That is new. When did you get so hungry?"
"I am a glutton for such things now." Corignis smiled wider at her pun, and felt the aching maw inside beg for just another taste of the Queen of Lust. "Sorry, but I have to…" She leaned forward and kissed Celeph again.
Celeph moaned as need and hunger poured in and drew back. It was a rush of power she hadn't expected Corignis would ever possess. The kiss broke just as suddenly, and when she pulled back Corignis looked as hungry as ever. "What…?"
"Sorry, I needed a taste." Corignis trembled in bliss. "You are delicious." Still close enough, Corignis licked Celeph's snout.
"Hold on. You said you were a glutton?" Celeph looked from Corignis to Alphias, then to Nothing, and finally Courage. "What is going on here?" Her tone demanded an answer, it was her Circle after all.
"Allow me to present," Alphias bowed his head and gestured to Corignis, "the Master of Gluttony, Empress Corignis." He watched Celeph's face register shock and amazement. "There is more. You know I am Master of Avarice, but I also have the delight in presenting Mistress Courage, Master of Heresy."
Celeph's eyes bulged now. She barely registered Nothing, knowing full well that "Death" was the Master of Wrath and Sullenness. "Five lords meet. This is no coincidence. I can think of only one reason the Lord of the Pit would allow you from your Circles."
"War." Alphias smiled. "Celeph, I have come to call on you and yours. Your demons make some of the best irregular fighters we have." This time, when Alphias started to rip a hole between Circles, nopony moved to stop him.
"Well, the company is pleasant if nothing else." Celeph waved a hoof around her four visitors. "But I am not bringing my army. If it weren't for these two wonderful mares, I would be trapped here still. Enslaved, I might add, by the flunky sponsored by Lord 'Two-Horny.' "
"He almost deposed you?" Alphias finished the spell, opening his portal up to Tartarus. Nothing stalked forward, first to breach the tear between Circles.
" 'Almost'? If it weren't for my daughters I would still be trapped, feeding Mistress' succubi like a sweetmeat." Celeph shuddered. "Which is why I can trust the darlings, despite their power… adjustments."
Courage was trembling inwardly. The part of her that hated every second of this premonition was wailing and screaming. The part of Courage that was in control, however, smiled at Celeph, Alphias, and Corignis, then walked through the portal.
"You have bound yourself to the Pit this time, closer than even its Lord."
"Shut up! If you aren't going to help me I might as well just let this one happen. It's all hopeless, no matter what I do!" Courage spun around in circles, looking for the source of the voice. "Why don't you show yourself so I can see who is tormenting me?"
"See me so you can use me to break free. I think not. You think a lot like a demon now, Courage Fire, you even let the demons give you a name."
Courage stumbled as she fell out of the portal. A strong leg supported her, and she looked at its owner. "Thank you," quickly remembering where she was, Courage adjusted her choice of name, "Death."
Nothing leaned down as he pulled Courage to her hooves. "Never a problem, Mistress of my Heart." He kissed Courage then pulled back.
"Well, well, well. What is this?" The Lord of the Pit tried his best not to gape at Nothing courting a mare, a mare that should be dead. "Death, I knew not you were willing to steal my own sluts."
Alphias, Corignis, and Celeph strode through the portal next, and all three got to witness Courage laughing in the Lord of the Pit's face.
"Slut? Is that what you think of me?" Courage bared long fangs she didn't realize she owned. "Choose your words carefully, or I will leave with my Circle's power."
The words earned Courage a double-take from the Lord of the Pit. His gaze flicked to Corignis, and despite his attempts to pull at each with the slavery spell, neither mare reacted. "Curious. Very well. Is this all of us?"
Alphias looked around. The huge half-snake demon was surrounded by a veritable swarm of scaly bodies. Above, the wyrm that was the Lord of Violence circled while his beasts roamed like wild animals. In chains, with a large collar around his neck, Star Swirl looked miserable., Alphias could only assume that the reason the old pony's presence was tolerated at all was because he was actually a Lord, despite being a demon only in the loosest sense of the word.
"Are we ready?" Alphias stepped forward, planting himself between the Lord of the Pit and his mates—Celeph and Nothing too, by their proximity to Courage and Corignis. "Your own little games have left several Circles devoid of fine warriors. Lust, Heresy, and even Gluttony want for fresh souls."
"You reap what you sow." Nothing kept all the laughter and life from his voice, like his grandpa had showed him. He had trembled when he learned it, but now that it was his own voice, Nothing smiled.
"Lust had a little shakeup. There were rats in my grain," Celeph bowed to Nothing and smiled for the farm metaphor, "but it is fine now; I found how they got in." She wound up looking impassively at the Lord of the Pit.
"Let's begin, then." Alphias trod on the Lord of the Pit's hooves by presuming to give the order, and then he walked past him casually. "Can you open the gates for us?"
Realizing he was losing control of the situation, the Lord of the Pit grumbled to himself, and reached out to steal Courage's magic. "We have this one. Her soul will open the gate!" He stopped and stared. Fumbling again, he found himself unable to snare Courage's soul. "What is the meaning of this?!"
"Didn't you get the memo?" Courage rolled her eyes. "You can't use me for that. After what you put me through, I have no soul." Outwardly she laughed in the Lord of the Pit's face, but inwardly Courage was scared beyond belief.
"Oh, buck no!" The tiny voice inside Courage trembled in fear as the Lord of the Pit searched her for her soul.
"No, he won't find you." For the first time since hearing the voice, Courage felt warmth in it.
This continues a bad end, leading on from the previous chapter.
"What is this?!" The Lord of the Pit poured magic into his horn and lashed at Courage. The strike had all the attention and care to detail of swatting a fly, but just before the magic should have struck her it halted dead in its tracks.
Nothing stood between Courage and the deadly strike. End held high, Nothing grounded the handle and planted the blade firmly before the power. "Nothing dies without the will of Death. This mare did nothing wrong, yet you punish her for your own misdeeds."
The Lord of the Pit stared at Nothing. Rage, fury, and violence were boiling at the surface of his mind. "There has to be one with a soul, I can smell it." Looking around the assembled host, he reached out to brush his power past each in turn before stopping at Courage's twin.
Empress of Gluttony, succubus, adopted daughter of the Queen of Lust; Corignis held the Lord of the Pit's look and smiled. "Boo, you found me. So you want this door opened, and only a demon with a soul can do it, huh?"
Courage laughed at the turn of events. "Look, are we invading Equestria or not? I don't know about the rest of you, but I have a Circle to take care of…" It was mostly bluster, but she didn't want to appear too reserved. "Well?"
"Focus your will on the gates. Tell them to open for you and they will." The Lord of the Pit gestured to the gates, not too far away. "And do it quickly. The Mistress of Heresy is not the only one here who is impatient."
"Alright, alright." Corignis smiled despite the annoyance she was clearly causing the Lord of the Pit. She smiled wider when her expression inflated his annoyance further. Walking towards the gates, the structure loomed above her and seemed to tremble in anticipation.
"You don't have to. The worst he can do is try to kill us, and I don't think Nothing will let him." Courage kept pace with Corignis as she approached the gates. The huge arched gateway towered high. Carved in runes and patterns that seemed to change constantly, the magic of the door seemed immense even by the standards of the denizens of the Pit.
"Open." Corignis looked up at the immense gateway, and for a moment thought nothing would happen. She prepared to say the word again, when the universe itself tore in half. The two huge gates weren't sealing an opening, they literally ripped one open. Time and space bent, curved, and screamed as more and more runes on the gates flickered into light and opened the rift wider. A kiss on her cheek surprised Corignis.
"Coming?" Courage drew her lips back slowly, then turned and looked at the waiting demons.
Stepping into the portal, Corignis stayed side by side with Courage. The night air of Equestria burned where the portal they had stepped through cut into it, but neither mare minded fire anymore. "Okay, so first problem is Cerberus. Used to be the Hound of Tartarus… sort of still is. He doesn't answer to Lordypants, though.” Around them the open-air practically bubbled with anticipation. They were on the edges of a vast swampland that seemed to go on forever.
The Lord of the Pit strode through the portal, and then skirted around the two mares. "Finally, I am free!" No sooner had the words left his lips, than a piercing howl pierced the air. A second howl met the first, and a third finally joined in. "Hound of Tartarus, come to heel or face your end."
More demons came through the portal. Courage and Corignis moved to make room, but just when they saw Nothing and Alphias leave the Pit, the hammering started. The ground trembled at first, then it shook as if a mountain were angry. The three howls of Cerberus came from closer now, and as all the demons looked ahead, the mighty beast seemed to appear from the gloom around them far too close, and slammed into the Lord of the Pit before any of the demons were prepared to stop him.
Courage had heard stories about Cerberus, but she had never seen the warden of Tartarus herself. At first, he looked like a huge, lean canine with three heads, but what shocked her was when he held down the Lord of the Pit with one mighty paw and drew a knife (sized for Cerberus, so it was like a greatsword to a pony).
"You think this will work any better this time?" The Lord of the Pit twisted side to side, but as the dagger came down he flapped his burning wings and set fire to Cerberus. "This is the part where I am supposed to offer you a place at my side, but no." He kicked upwards, shoving Cerberus off of him.
"I don't want a place at your side, Lapsis!" The middle head of Cerberus seemed the most talkative, or at least it spoke first. Standing upright, he drew another edged weapon from his side.
"He's a diamond dog?" The revelation shocked Courage, and she stared at the beast. "Cerberus is a di—"
"I heard you. He isn't a diamond dog, Courage, he is the first diamond dog." Alphias strode between Courage and Corignis. "And he isn't the greatest foe we have here today."
For an instant the night seemed to fall back from the world, and a beam of light crashed from the sky above to land behind Cerberus. Darkness seemed to mimic the dazzling display, depositing another form. Two more flashes—pink and purple—left the number of enemies for the group at five.
"Celestia! Luna!" Courage's eyes narrowed down to pin pricks. The plans to invade had been so simple to discuss and formulate, but to actually stand against the princesses of Equestria made her blood chill. "W-W-What now?"
"We fight them, Courage." Corignis smiled to her sister and then turned back to face the alicorns of Equestria. "Well, I already know who I want to fight. Love is lust is hunger, and I know hunger." She took a step towards Princess Cadance.
"I heard tell that one pony in particular played a large part in my son's demise." Alphias turned to the other end of the line of Princesses. "Princess Twilight Sparkle of Equestria, you will not be killed this day." His voice dripped in malice, and everything civilized about Alphias in Sara Kin ark ti Fin Diablus fell from him. "Come and face me."
A roar nearly deafened all present when the Wyrm of Violence entered a dive. The Master of Violence slammed into the ground between Celestia and Luna, snapping and flailing at each of them in turn. All the alicorns had been engaged, which left Courage to choose her own preference.
Before she could make her decision, she watched Alphias get gobbled up by a huge white beam. Shock filled her, and she realized that this fight was more real than anything that had gone before it. The serpent army swarmed at Twilight Sparkle, which left Courage the choice between the diarchs or Princess Cadance. But it wasn't a choice at all.
"Why are you doing this? I don't want to have to fight you!" Cadance took a defensive stance and readied her most potent magic.
"I am doing this because it is what we do. Demons corrupt, and you look absolutely delicious." Corignis didn't stop in her approach. She paused her advance a mere body length from the alicorn. "Do you have any loved ones?"
Cadance's thoughts turned to Shining Armor and Flurry Heart. She felt love and adoration grow inside her, as well as a touch of worry. "I do. They are safe from you so long as we stand here." Her resolve firmed by thoughts of her greatest loves, Cadance prepared to unleash her power. Focusing down on all her love and screwing her eyes closed, she built it to an immense blast of power.
A kiss on Cadance's lips stunned her from her focus. Her eyes snapped open to see the demon looking very happy with herself. The lips felt like liquid silk on her own. Corignis was soft and insisting, however, and despite herself Cadance was getting aroused.
Running her tongue along Cadance's lips, Corignis left behind power where she had touched the alicorn. "Don't you want more?" She stole another kiss against the mare's cheek, then another. "Your family will be safe. Your ponies too. Let me have you and I promise everything will be just as you desire it."
"S-S-Safe?" Cadance's thoughts clouded with lust, but she drove through them to the core of what Corignis said. "You can't promise that."
"I can and I do. Love me, Princess of Love, and I assure you and yours will be forever in my care." Corignis nuzzled the alicorn's lips again, feeding her a little more. Cadance moved first this time, her body aching for more of Corignis' power. Their lips were joined in both kiss and promise.
Twilight Sparkle looked at the demon. He seemed familiar, like she knew him. When he spoke of her destroying his son, she could think of only one pony who could live up to the title. "Sombra's father?"
"Yes." Alphias strode closer and closer, finally stopping when he felt a magical barrier just before him. Powerful was such a small word to describe the force of the magic between Alphias and Princess Twilight. "You killed Sombra with your magic, but do not worry…" He summoned the darkest powers he could, calling into being a bridle and tack that stank of black magic. "… I have a plan for you. Lower your defenses, come to me and swear you will be my servant forever, and I will not force you to wear these."
Having experienced shadow magic before, Twilight fully expected Alphias to use it, but she didn't expect the tidal wave of force he used to make the foul items. The controlling magics and enchantments on the bridle frightened her right to her core. "I won't let you. There is no way I am going to—"
Alphias didn't wait for the mare to finish. Tendrils of force sliced into her magic shield and started to pierce through it. As more and more of her shield was invaded, the threads of magic worked together to force a hole to appear. Alphias rushed through, and used his magic to send the bridle and gear ahead of him.
Twilight had a moment to think. The demon had left himself somewhat open, but she had the bridle coming at her. She didn't have much time, she had to choose between the demon and his creation. Aiming her power, Twilight Sparkle sent a blast of pure magic at Alphias. Her power was pure and unsullied, and was forged by the friendships she had built with nearly every pony she had ever met.
Alphias, like his son, was no match for such a concentrated blast of power. He felt it search his body and mind, hunting for the diseases that it usually targeted. But in this case the demon was the disease. White hot power burned and melted, it ripped the demon apart and left nothing behind.
With barely a moment to celebrate, Twilight Sparkle felt the bridle slap against her face. Writhing tentacles of dark magic pulled themselves around her head, pulled a barbed bit into her mouth and latched on. She screamed as the sharp hooks on the bit sank into her tongue, but Twilight Sparkle couldn't get away from the pain, and through that pain the bridle sank into her mind.
Luna and Celestia were battling the great wyrm. Tag teaming, they blasted at it over and over with successive blasts. So focused were they on the beast that neither saw Courage sneak up to them.
Celestia was Courage's first target, and she moved up behind the Princess of the Day, and growing four extra legs she rushed up and sank her teeth into Princess Celestia's cutie mark.
Screaming in shock, Celestia tried to turn on the spider pony attacking her, but lethargy and weakness spread from the bite. She managed to shake Courage free only with Luna's help. "Courage Fire, cease your aggression!" Despite her resolve, Celestia felt the poison at work in her system.
Dancing away from a beam of power sent from Luna, Courage cast out her magic webs at Celestia. She watched the alicorn struggle within the bonds, and felt as an immortal alicorn's essence drained into her. Courage moaned happily and jumped at Celestia.
Nuzzling at the white mare's neck, Courage brushed one foreleg up and over Celestia's face. "Relax. Calm yourself, you don't need to fight anymore." She felt again, and couldn't find eyes, mouth, or nose anymore.
"Stop this, Courage!" Luna dodged between the wyrm's blasts of fire, calling out to the demon that had just defeated her sister. The latest bolt of fire was her undoing. Princess Luna took her eyes off Courage for a fraction of a second to track it, and when she looked back she couldn't see Courage Fire anymore.
Courage cast her net at Princess Luna. The sticky spell sank down around the cobalt mare and started to work immediately. Skittering up to her prey, Courage leaned down to nuzzle Luna's snout.
"It is time to stop, Courage Fire." Luna looked up at the demon on top of her, and though her mouth moved, her words flowed to Courage's ears and mind equally. She ignored the sting of the webbing, even a fireball that rained down and engulfed Celestia. "Courage," Luna held the mare's eyes, "we are done here. Look at yourself, Courage Fire."
The semblance of Courage that was unaware of the dream snapped away and let the real pony out. The hidden piece of Courage's pony soul was no longer just a terrified observer. She was again in full control of her twisted body. Courage was a demon, a foul one capable of stealing that which every pony is entitled to—destiny. She lifted her head to see the Wyrm of Violence tear Princess Celestia's sightless head from her body.
"What have I done?" She backed away from Luna and looked further afield. Corignis was being serviced by Cadance. The Princess of Love was wrapped in runes of power as she compromised herself to feed on Gluttony. Alphias was no more than a memory, but she could see a panicking Twilight Sparkle—her reins grabbed by one of the snake ponies from Treachery. The Princess of Friendship stared at the snake, terror mixed with devotion in her eyes. "This needs to stop. I don't want this!"
"Then you are still a pony." Luna flashed with blue energy and dispelled the webbing around herself. "This will happen again and again. You cannot stop this fate when you turn to darkness, Courage Fire."
"Then what do I do? Let it take me? Let myself be completely eaten away and become nothing but some demon's pet?" Courage's legs folded under her. "I just want to be…" Words stuck in her throat.
"Say it." Luna smiled.
"I just want to be a pony…" The words held such power as Courage had never known before. She felt lightness rush into her being, banishing all the demonic energy that she had gathered. Lifting her head, she looked up to see a smiling Princess Luna. "Thank—"
Luna was gone, as was Courage's spider-like body. She was panting hard and staring at the rip between Lust and Tartarus. "Wait!" Shooting a wing forward, Courage grabbed Corignis and pulled her back from the spell portal. "This is all wrong. Oh, Luna, why didn't I see it?!"
Corignis didn't fight Courage's restraining wing. "Let me guess, another vision? What happens?" She waved a hoof at the fading portal. "Is the Lord of the Pit waiting for us to go through so he can do something nasty?"
"No… Well, yes actually. But it isn't just that. I have tried getting Tartarus right a few times now, and each time it just got worse and worse. The last time a new voice started to talk to me." Courage wanted to pace and rant about everything that had happened, but with Corignis' wing around her, she managed to relax a touch.
"Okay… so is this a vision?" Corignis gestured at the Circle of Lust around them. "Am I just a figment of your dream, and when you wake up again I will be gone?"
For nearly half a minute Courage stared at Corignis before her friend finally cracked and giggled. "Cor! This is serious. It was Princess Luna all along. The dreams… I should have guessed from the start that she was trying to send me messages."
"Oh, sure. While I am all worried about you, just go gallivanting off on adventures with a princess." Corignis had to sit down she was laughing so hard. Straining, she managed to keep talking. "Oh no, Your Majesty—"
"Stop it, Cor!" Courage was laughing along too now. "Besides, for a princess you say, 'your highness.' " A lot of stress poured from Courage with the laughter, but when it was done with, she still had her problem. "Princess Luna said I can't get out of here without destroying something I care about, unless I do it as a pony."
"That explains a lot, really. So how did she say we zap you back to being a pony?" With a wing around her sister and lover, Corignis studied Courage's face for clues to the half-pony's emotions.
"I have no clue!" Courage threw her forehooves up and plonked down. "It was a lot easier becoming part demon than it was getting back to being a pony. All I had to do was listen to you." She poked Corignis with a hoof.
"Thank you." Corignis nuzzled the hoof until Courage pulled it back. "But think, there has to be someone who would know how to restore you to a cute and bangable pony, or something!" Waving a wing out, she vaguely implied all of the Pit. "Think. Did this princess of yours show you anything in the dreams that was odd?"
Courage thought back through all the Circles she had seen, and then the return to each in her latest nightmare. "Sir Thunder Hoof… but we both know about him. Nothing…" She trailed off with a blush, only to glance at Corignis and see her friend smiling. "You too?"
"Of course. That colt could buck!" Both mares nodded to Corignis' summation. "Anything else?"
"The snake lord in Treachery… no." Courage worked from the bottom up. "Star Swirl the Bearded in—" She cut off suddenly, flapping her wings in excitement. "That's it Cor! Star Swirl the Bearded!"
Corignis searched her extensive memory for the name, but came up dry. "Never heard of him. Where is he?"
"The Lord of Fraud." Courage had the satisfaction of seeing Corignis actually stunned silent. "Guess you didn't know the lord of the Circle you toiled in was a pony, huh?" Having pulled more than just terror from the latest dream, Courage remembered the spell Alphias had made use of.
Weaving the magic just as she remembered it, Courage felt the effect actively blocked. She tried again and finally a third time. "I don't get it. In my dream Alphias could cast this and travel from one Circle to any other. What gives?"
"Huh? No demon magic can connect non-adjacent Circles. Not unless the Lord of the Pit allows it." Corignis quickly realized where the thought would go. "Oh no. Not through all that again!" She backed away from Courage, but not too far.
"You would follow me if you thought it was important. But that's the thing. You said demon magic can't do it. Then how did I get myself into the bottom circle right from the start?" She had a pretty good idea what to do. All Courage needed was a moment to transpose the spell from one method of casting to another. "No demon magic, but what about pony magic?"
Corignis stared in wonder as Courage recast the spell, but this time it actually ripped a portal open. "Wait! But that…"
With her pure pony magic still trickling from her horn, Courage turned to her sister. "That's how a pony casts, or had you forgotten Learned spent a lot of time with me?" Courage laughed at Corignis and bounced through the portal, her voice trailing off. "Come on, slowpoke..."
"Now you are on the right path, my little pony." The voice was obviously Princess Luna's now, in Courage's head. "We wish we could give you more hints, but some things must be done by oneself."
Unlike with the demon-powered portals, the pony one was practically calm and serene. Trotting forward, Courage landed on the street in Fraud. "Cor?" She turned, only to see her lover tumble out too. Courage did a happy little dance. "It worked, Cor! It worked!"
Corignis laughed and pressed her hoof to Courage's snout. "Courage, uh… calm down… we are making a scene." Pony magic practically swirled in the air, emanating from the now dissipating portal. All the demons nearby stared at Courage and Corignis.
"Oh buck them. If they try to do anything, use your Balefire." Courage waved a hoof at the crowd, who at mention of the deadly flames took a few steps back from the sisters. "Okay, where is the Lord of Fraud?"
"That's the Councilman, Courage." Corignis heard hooves pounding the moment she mentioned the word "Councilman." Turning around, she spotted a demon making a run for it. Stretching her wings, Corignis took the air and after briefly losing sight of them, quickly spotted her prey again. "Come on, Courage!"
Two sets of bat wings were soon beating over the city as Corignis and Courage were led on a merry chase by the runner. Courage remembered the dream, and watching Corignis weaving through the city then, too.
"At the next intersection, let's just grab her." Corignis pumped her wings, pushing herself to get ahead of the demoness below and landed in the end of the alley.
Smiling, Courage flew back to the other end of the alley to trap the demon between them. Walking along the tight gap between buildings, Courage made sure to overturn everything to make sure her target wasn't hiding. "Bejal." Courage dredged the name up from her memories. "Bejal et Secrat li Solon!"
"How did you learn her name?" Corignis, upon hearing Courage's challenge, trotted up the alley. Their target was standing in a doorway, frozen. "Anyway… why did you run, little snack?"
Bejal threw a sneer at Corignis, but her look turned to pleading when she faced Courage. "Please don't hurt me…"
"Shut up. I am not going to hurt you." Courage pushed Bejal into the building and entered behind her. "I just want to talk to your father. Tell me where he is." Shock and panic played out on Bejal's face. It was what Courage expected. "Bejal et Secrat li Solon, where is your father? Where is Star Swirl the Bearded, Councilman of Fraud?"
"He…" Bejal cursed her cambion nature. The compulsion of her name was irresistible, and she felt herself already starting to blurt out the truth. "He is underground. There are four entrances to his location, and one leads from here."
Courage froze and before she could think, reached a foreleg out to pull Bejal against her. The cambion was crying, and the moment Courage hugged her, Bejal started to bawl. "Calm down! Relax! Look, I am not here to hurt him, or your mothers."
"How do… how do you know so much about us?" Bejal knew better than to try to get away, and with Courage hugging her, she couldn't even try to round up the confidence needed. "Dad kept this a secret for over a thousand years!"
"Duh. Courage is a prophet. She sees things in her dreams. I bet she dreamt of coming here and kicking plot!" Corignis looked around the building they were in. It was a huge warehouse, but it was completely empty. "If he is underground, where is the entrance?"
Bejal glared at Corignis. "I don't have to answer you—"
"Answer the question, Bejal et Secrat li Solon." Courage saw defeat register in the captive mare's eyes.
"Over there. A hidden trapdoor and a staircase leading down." Bejal pouted and tried to look away from both succubi.
"Corignis, burn the door, then burn anything on the other side." Courage kept her foreleg around the name-yoked cambion, and stepped back a little.
Stepping up to where she thought the door was, Corignis relaxed her grip and let the fire pour from her. For her, it was like taking the first breath after being choked, or eating the first meal after starving for far too long.
White flames first found the illusion that kept eyes from noticing the door. Growing hotter, the fire licked at the now obvious door, and the moment they touched it, magic flared for a moment then died. "The door was trapped." Corignis held one hoof dangling over the trapdoor, dripping more of her flame onto it.
Bejal watched in terror as the alarm spells on the door burned up in the flames. "What are you?" She couldn't look away as the white flames danced from the demoness and onto what remained of the door. "Please don't hurt us, we are trying to do the right thing here…"
"I know." Courage tightened her grip, fearing Bejal would run ahead and warn Star Swirl. "And I know it isn't worth anything, but you need to trust us."
"You're right. Your trust isn't worth anything. So far all you have done is coerced me and threatened everypony I love." Bejal struggled and got free of Courage's grip.
Stunned at the summary of her actions, Courage stared at Bejal. "Ah, buck!" She slumped to the ground as if struck down. "I am messing this all up, and I haven't even found the pony I am looking for." She looked up at Bejal with pleading eyes. "Please. I am sorry for this, but I am desperate to become a pony again."
Staring at her captor, Bejal started to take a step away from her but halted. Courage didn't use her name, nor did she threaten Bejal with Corignis. "You want to become a pony?" Her eyes widened. "But… you're a demon!"
"Half demon." Courage stared at her forehooves. "Everything was… All of this… It was all to corrupt me, but leave me whole enough that I could open the gates to Equestria and let the Lord of the Pit leave with his army." She lifted her head and looked at Corignis. "If we had gone to Tartarus he would have captured both of us, then used us to coerce Learned. From there… it got dark, Cor." Her voice quivered at the end, and Courage's eyes grew wet with tears.
Corignis rushed to her sister, even with the Balefire dripping from her fur. Pulling Courage into a hug, she squeezed her tightly. "We are going to do this, Courage. I don't care what happens, but we are going to get you back to how you want to be, and get you out of here."
Bejal watched in shock as the two mare's hugged, each ignoring the deadly fire. "F-F-Follow me." Inside her head, Bejal screamed at herself. She could have run away from them. She could have raised the alarm. Calm on the outside—schooling her features to not show her inner turmoil—she waited for Courage to stand back up before leading the way down to her father.
"It's hopeless. Just look at me!" Courage sniffed sharply. "I can't stop acting like a demon. Luna was wrong!" Courage nuzzled against Corignis' neck, sinking her cheek into the soft ruff.
Helping Courage until she could walk on her own, Corignis kissed her sister on the cheek. "No, Courage. A demon wouldn't have broken down and cried like a virgin mare to an incubus when she realized she had done bad things." She kissed Courage's cheek again. "Buck up, you still have a pony inside you, and the Councilman will either help dig her out… or have us both tortured for a few thousand years." Corignis just shrugged.
"Father doesn't do the torturing." Bejal threw her all into adding some levity to present some false bravery. "He leaves that to my mothers." Reaching a set of huge doors at the bottom of the tunnel, she lifted a hoof and rapped on them five times.
A return rap of one came on the door.
"What's this?" Courage looked to Bejal, her eyes narrowing as she suspected treachery.
"A code." Bejal thumped back six times on the doors, and they immediately swung inwards. "I could have given the wrong code, but you would have burned through the door regardless." Stepping forward, Bejal felt a measure of confidence return. "Are you coming? Father is waiting, and although one of my mothers will likely flay me for bringing you down here, I am interested to see how this will go."
Corignis stepped before Courage, and gave her sister a wink as she did. "If one of us has to fight her way into this place, it will be me." Of course, Corignis' eyes landed on the cambian's plot. She got a touch distracted by Bejal's movements, but tried to keep her eyes open to danger.
"I don't think it works like that, Cor. If we are attacked, I am going to defend myself. I would just rather not be the first pony to pull out their claws." Courage followed along, watching the big doors close behind them. "Besides, I don't think they will attack with their daughter among us."
Bejal gave an exasperated sigh. "I told you. I am not double-crossing you!"
"What about me?" The male voice came from an obliquely angled side passage. A large, neat beard trailed down from the stallion's muzzle. The unicorn turned his gaze from Bejal to Corignis, and then finally studied Courage. "Why have you brought two strangers here to die, Bejal?"
"Daddy!" Bejal started to rush towards Star Swirl the Bearded, her father, but a raised gesture by the stallion stopped her where she stood.
"Tell me your business quickly. I have much to do and for each moment I spend with you, my wives are going to spend an equal amount breaking you." Star Swirl was, honestly, bored by the situation. He thought that two demons had bullied his daughter into this.
Courage's enthusiasm stopped. She gave a sigh and started to turn around. "We were wrong, Cor. This old geezer hasn't got a fraction of his ponyhood still with him. I guess I can't be cured…"
A flick of Star Swirl's magic was all it took to put a barrier between Courage and freedom. "This old geezer has plenty of his heritage left in him. I am intrigued, though. Most who come here wish to steal my power. You apparently desire something else. What is so important that you would sign your own death warrants?"
Her heart pounding, Courage examined the pure, Equestrian pony magic that formed the barrier. "Princess Luna came to me in a dream. She told me the only way I could get out of here was to become a pony again. This," she gestured to her body, "is not who I was."
"Luna…" Star Swirl felt a lot of history bear down on him, and unreservedly he shed a tear. "Follow me. I will share a story about Luna, if you share yours." He retreated down the hallway, walking to the room that served as his living room in the underground complex.
"So do we follow him?" Corignis looked to Courage for the answer. "It's your play here. I assume he was the Councilman?" When Courage started walking before replying, Corignis fell in behind her.
"We do. Even if he isn't Star Swirl the Bearded, and I am fairly sure he is, he knows some amazing pony magic." She kept her pace just fast enough to keep Star Swirl in view, but wasn't pushing to actually catch up to him. Tagging along behind them, Bejal kept quiet in the presence of her father.
"If you say so." Corignis followed along, disliking the thinner corridor they had turned into. She recognized the reasoning for it, to limit attackers to single file, but it meant she couldn't face a possible enemy at Courage's side.
"I might even wait a while before ordering you killed." Ducking into his chosen room, Star Swirl reached out with his magic and poured himself a drink of strong apple brandy. Settling on his favorite seat, a partially read book already waiting, he took as sip and relaxed.
Courage stepped into the room, and immediately felt like she was back in Equestria. Soft wood lined the floor, "normal" furnishings were scattered about, and there was a stallion who looked just like a normal pony sitting in a chair beside a warm fireplace. A seat, empty, sat diagonally opposite the one Star Swirl was in.
"Since you are my uninvited guest, you may go first." Sipping from his drink, Star Swirl gestured to the other seat that faced the fire.
Courage walked over and sat in the indicated chair. She frowned at the realization that her radically changed body made even this simple pony pleasure uncomfortable. She settled on scooting to the edge of the chair.
"I messed up a spell." Courage thought back to the beginning while she stared at the dancing flames. After feeling balefire play across her fur harmlessly, regular flames just didn't hold any fear for her. "I was drunk, and I had just stored a lot of energy in a new weapon enchantment. The magic went berserk, I tried to get a wall of protection up but it was too late. I woke in the Ninth Circle…"
Star Swirl listened as the mare told her fantastic story, and by the time Courage had gotten to her fourth encounter with the alternate "dream" realities, he nodded. "Luna."
Something about how Star said the Princess' name twanged in Courage's head. She picked at the pronunciation and lack of a title, and came to a conclusion: Star Swirl had been a close friend of Luna's. Courage returned to her story, describing each and every excursion into a Circle, until finally she got to the latest "ending."
"It is such a shame you all must be dealt with, it sounds like you are having quite the adventure." Star Swirl lamented the loss of the contents of his glass, and floated it back to the drinks cabinet to refill. After a moment, his drink returned with a double measure of the strong alcohol in it. "So I guess you would like to hear my own story about Luna, Princess of the Night?"
Courage stayed quiet. Something told her that Star Swirl was playing his own, odd game, and that ruining it would cost her dearly. Focusing her attention on the stallion, she listened intently.
"It must be a bit over a thousand years ago now—certainly at least that—when I made the mistake that cost me my life, my afterlife, and almost destroyed Equestria." Star Swirl finished the fiery liquid in his glass. "I was a fool, I was in love. I had fixed my eyes on two mares, and both stirred me so much I had to have them." Magic took his glass, and he realized Bejal was getting him a refill.
"Lovely Celestia, I had to woo her first, as custom dictated. We dated, we spent nights together just holding each other for comfort, and we even made love." Star Swirl knew he saw the past through rosy glasses, but also his story was not one that would work out. "I informed Celestia that I would pursue her sister as well.
"Luna, Princess of the Night, Owner of Half My Heart." Another sip was required. "You have to forgive me, hearing her name on your lips had been a shock. When I approached her, she grew angry. Even throwing powerful, deadly magic at me, she was majestic. I let her tire herself blasting at my defenses, and when she had finally calmed enough to listen, I explained myself. I told her how much her night was a thing of wonder for me, and how much I loved just watching her move with such grace."
Her jaw almost hitting the floor, Courage tried her best not to interrupt Star Swirl. In the end, she had to state the obvious, and in a question. "You dated both Princess Celestia and Princess Luna?"
Star shook his head. "Now, now. I am getting to the crux of the problem. I threw myself into showing Luna how much she meant to me, how much I loved her. But there was a problem. In my enthusiasm to bring her together with Celestia, I may have neglected to actually tell her exactly what I was intending.
"She was practicing her dream magic, and came to me. Of course, I was younger then, more… excitable." Star Swirl took another sip, and felt the drink start to affect him. "I dreamt of Luna, Celestia, and myself. I was making love to Celestia while Luna watched, but when she stepped into my dream she stepped into that Luna."
A deep sigh left Star Swirl's throat. "I had no defenses against her fury there. She shredded my mind in her anger, she ripped me apart and sent me on. All the while she screamed about her hatred for Celestia.
"It was a valuable lesson I learned, and thanks to the fraud Luna thought I had committed, even though it was mostly because of my own stupidity, I was placed here." Star Swirl rubbed one hoof in a worn patch of the couch he was on. It was worn because he had rubbed it just like that thousands of times before. "I had nothing with me but my body and mind, and the demons of this Circle were happy to take even those. I fought them, I claimed I was working for the Councilman. All a lie, of course, but soon demons started to gather around me, to throw their lot in with my 'master' and join his cause."
Corignis stared at Star Swirl, her world thrown upside down. "I... I thought you just took his office. The... the councilman was always just a pony? A lost soul?"
"He, and I, am and always was." Star Swirl smiled at his own silly wordplay. "And we are both caught here for the rest of eternity, juggling the lives of my fellows, along with the demons of Fraud. I live the biggest fraud of my life trying to keep them all safe." He exhaled and took in a deep breath again. "And you being here is a problem. You are both just as much cambion as Bejal."
"Cambion?" Courage looked to Corignis. Her memory brought back what she had done to her sister that had made her a "sister." She smiled. "Corignis has some of my soul, she needed it to survive."
"Interesting. Regardless, there is one surefire way to establish yourself as a pure pony again. You need to give up all this," Star Swirl gestured at Courage's wings, "you need to find out what you are in your heart. What was your destiny before you got drunk and threw a tantrum at a piece of metal?"
Courage blushed, but despite herself she had to admit that she had indeed thrown a drunken tantrum at a piece of metal. "I worked with magic. Enchantments mostly, I even worked for the Royal Guard when they needed special things." She couldn't help but smile.
"There is more, I wager." Star Swirl downed the last of his drink and sent the glass over to the cabinet to wait for him to clean it. "Something nopony should ever be without."
"Huh?" Courage stopped and thought about it. Then, like a hammer, it hit her. She turned and looked at Corignis, her smile returning and growing wider by the moment. "Hammered, Corignis, Alphias." She didn't even register that she had spoken her stallion's proper name. "Friends."
"Friends? You are kidding, right? All Courage needed to do was stick to her special talent and make friends?" Corignis flapped her wings a little until her sister's snout reached up and kissed her on the nose. The tiny, intimate moment broke all Corignis' anger. "What?"
"I think I am ready to go home." Courage turned to look at Star Swirl's chair, but the stallion was standing and pulling in great, powerful magic.
"This spell would have failed if you hadn't found yourself again, Courage." Star Swirl winked to Courage, proving that he held more over her than she knew. "I don't want to see you again. Make sure you go somewhere else next time." Magic rushed out, wrapping Courage up in its transmutative force.
The world seemed to buckle and twist around Courage, and she felt herself being twisted too. Her wings were the first to go, then her fur was returned to its normal, orange color from the fiery red/black it had become, and her mane ran back to the dirty orange it had been before the loss of part of her soul.
One look at Corignis, however, tore at Courage's heart. Her sister was a demon, sure, but she had part of Courage's own soul, and even as Star Swirl's spell started to wrap around her, she reached out with her magic and grabbed Corignis.
Where Courage's magic touched, Corignis felt a burning unlike any she had ever experienced. All over her body a blanket of flame spread. She felt it tear at something inside, and when it tore loose she felt lighter, almost lost. "C-C-Courage?"
The spell completed, and when Star Swirl was done with it he cursed. The two mares were gone, but nearly half the floor of his room was on fire, and all the furniture was either burned or had soot damage. "This is what a pony gets for doing a good deed. Come on Bej, this is more your fault than mine."
Bejal smiled at her father and set to work putting out what was still smoldering. "I don't get it, where did the demon one go?"
"She was a little too much like her pony friend, Bej." Star Swirl rushed to stop his liquor cabinet from toppling. "Forget the rug, save my jacked cider!"
Courage woke in a bed that was under a starry night. She snuggled under the covers, and felt a pair of hooves reaching for her. Rubbing one of the hooves, Courage knew who the owner was instinctively, and reached out to pull Corignis against her.
Something seemed wrong; the world around Courage was too perfect. Opening her eyes, she realized that the bed was sitting in an open field with the night sky truly above them. Gazing up into the pinpricks of light, her eyes were drawn to the moon.
"What's wrong?" Corignis was pressed so tightly against Courage that she could, as she woke, sense her lover's confusion. "Wait…"
A flash of light, and the dark shape that had marked the moon for a thousand years was gone. "Hello, Courage Fire." Princess Luna herself was standing beside the bed, a tight smile on her lips.
Courage laughed at the sight and rolled from the bed and wrapped her forelegs around Luna. Hugging the Princess tightly, Courage wept for all she had been through. "Thank you! Thank you!"
Though Luna hugged Courage back, her attention was split between the mare before her and the one in the bed. "You found another pony in the Pit?"
"Ye… kinda." Courage had no idea how Princess Luna would act upon meeting Corignis, but she couldn't lie to the Princess. "This is Corignis." She let go of Luna and reached a hoof out to her sister and lover. "Cor?"
Luna looked over the mare. Corignis was now an earth pony with yellow mane and tail, and light blue fur. "If she isn't another pony then—"
"I was a demon. A succubus to be exact." Corignis reached her hoof to Courage's and let her lover pull her to the edge of the bed. "But Courage gave me something I will never forget."
Blinking and looking between the two mares, Luna ventured a guess. "Her soul?"
"Nope, her dong." Corignis grinned wide at the mortified princess. "Actually, she gave me part of her soul too. Blasted things are worse than the flu. Once you get so much as a hint, next thing you know you are fully infected."
Courage didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "You can't say that to Princess Luna, Cor…" She took a step back from the bed and shook her head. "Please, Princess Luna, she doesn't really mean—"
"It's okay, Courage Fire and… and Corignis…" Luna took a deep breath and let it out. She expelled her prejudice against Corignis with it, remembering how demonic she had been herself. "…welcome to Equestria."
Corignis tilted her head a little, then turned to Courage in surprise. "My name!" The blank stare from her sister made her no less excited. "My full name! Quick, say it!"
Blinking and trying to keep up, Courage shrugged. "Corignis el Threpin ark Turas d—"
"That's enough!" History had taught Corignis to be wary of her full name, but even a major part of it—like Courage had just said—should have made her uncomfortable. "But does that mean there's no demon in me at all?"
The question made Luna truly smile. "It means you are home, my pony." She spread a wing around both Courage and Corignis, and gently shook them from their shared dream to face their first day in Equestria together.
Though Princess Luna had visited them in a dream, she had not gone to meet with the two mares in the waking world. Courage managed to fit back into her profession, taking odd jobs to pay for the resources she needed to do better and better work; bootstrapping her way back into business.
Corignis performed odd jobs as well, although since most of her life had been spent trading in ponies in the Pit, she had a much shorter list of professional skills than Courage. Between the two of them, they built enough income to buy a nice house and settle in.
Were Luna to have visited, she would certainly have had interesting questions for the pair, mainly relating to their growing bellies. Being a good ways from Canterlot had its advantages and disadvantages. Courage got plenty of work coming from the Royal Guard, but getting the right materials and layering multiple enchantments was time consuming..
A knock at the door, one day, stole Courage's attention away from her latest project. Closing the book she had been writing in, she heaved her large belly up and slowly waddled over to answer it. "I'm coming!"
"Finally! Look, when my friend said to just mail our gear to you with the money we were a bit skeptical, but seeing what his sword could do…" The young stallion trailed off when he took in Courage's gravid state. "Oh… uh… I'm Brave Heart…"
"Come in." Courage backed away to make room for her visitors. "So you are here to pick your things up?"
"Yeah! This stuff had better be worth the bits we sent. If you are just trying to rip us off…" The stallion let his voice trail off as the room seemed to grow a little chilly.
Courage turned back and looked at him. "You paid me for the special burning enchantment on three swords. Why would I rip you off?" Courage felt her blood quicken at the insult and veiled threat. "You wanted weapons to slay devils; I made them. If you want to discuss the quality I could give you a demonstration…"
The chill in the room seemed to deepen, and the light of the crackling fire seemed to throw shadows everywhere. "Brave, maybe you should apologize…" Bright Flash, the party's unicorn mage tried to pull their friend back. At that moment the shadows flickered, making it look like Courage had a huge pair of black, demonic wings.
Corignis seemed—to the group of adventurers—to slip up beside them from nowhere. "Would anypony like something to eat?" As a succubus Corignis had been all curves and soft flesh, but becoming a pony had not dulled her looks at all. She knew her pregnancy had dulled some of her finer looks, but some ponies found even that alluring.
All eyes in the room were drawn to Corignis, and just as Brave opened his mouth to reply, more shadows flickered. It seemed like Corignis grew horns, large black wings, and her features seemed to pull into a twisted countenance of hunger.
"Look, you paid half up front. There are your swords." Courage pointed to the three blades wrapped in oilcloth on a nearby table. "If you will just give me the rest of the…" Her voice trailed off. Somehow, the three ponies managed to grab the swords, drop a bag of bits in their place, and flee from their home before she got another word out.
"That was mean." Corignis reached over to the leaking bag of bits. One coin was still spinning on the table, and as she stopped it with a hoof, Corignis shook her head. "There was no need for all the theatrics." She gestured at the dancing shadows.
"But it's fun!" Courage used her magic to pull the darkness around her like a cloak. "Next time they won't even want to visit. And can you imagine how they will tell their friends about the awesome swords they got from a crazy demon-witch and her creepy, beautiful, sneaky marefriend?"
"If you haven't scared them away for good, that is." Corignis started counting the bits.
If you liked the happy ending, with everything going right, then you should stop here. This story continues, as Courage and Corignis have a little more to do before they are done with their destiny. Read on, brave soul, and find out what happens beyond "happily ever after."
One day, after getting a special package delivered, Courage decided that their time was done. "Cor, I want him."
"Alphias?" Corignis watched her sister nod. She was working on knitting, a craft she had surprised even herself with how easily it had come to her. "I miss him too, but what can we…" She trailed off and stared at what Courage was doing. Corignis wasn't a master mage. She had barely known the runes a succubus needed to get her work done, but she could recognize the items needed to make a ritual circle.
"I am not going to have our foals born without at least meeting their father." Courage layed out the necessary pattern from a book in Avarice she remembered. Her head practically rattled with lore from her time spent studying under Alphias, and the absence of him only made her heart ache more.
Corignis, now interested in Courage's latest project a lot more, put down her knitting and got up from her chair to inspect her lover's efforts. She watched as Courage used her magic to draw complicated runes on the floor with chalk. "You are doing this from memory?"
"Alphias was clear when he enthralled me: he would not tolerate a student he had to show something to more than once. It felt like years there…" Her eyes followed the runes, and added extra ones as she remembered them. "This is more than a simple summoning. I will need to burn these patterns into the floor with magic."
"Burn it… Courage, what are you doing?" Corignis knew summoning, every demon who wanted out did, but this was apparently a lot more than that. Then something clicked in her head. "I have seen those runes before…"
"In Avarice." Courage giggled. "This isn't a summoning, Cor, I am opening a gate." She double-checked her work, examining each marking once more before moving on to the next step. From the package she pulled out a little vial of metal shavings. Following the chalk lines, she sprinkled the metal around.
"This is going to blast a ton of demonic magic around though, right?" Stepping back to let Courage have room, Corignis watched her sister continue the meticulous work.
"I won't be opening it with demon energy. This will be pony magic at first." Courage finished with the metal and poured magic into the shavings. White hot metal flared, and caught up the magic that sparked it. The combined mundane and magical energy scorched the pattern Courage had formed directly into the stone floor of their little house.
Corignis could appreciate an artist at work, and when it came to enchantments and rune-work Courage was a master artist. "At first?"
"I would have done almost anything to get back to Equestria." Courage walked around the large circle, examining it carefully. "I had some lines I wouldn't cross. Some deeds I wouldn't commit. Hurting you was one, and Alphias was the other. I gave up all the power I had to get back here, but now…"
"Buyer's remorse?" Corignis giggled. "Don't get me wrong, I like being just a pony, but I miss—"
"Alphias. Sex with him was the best." Courage shook her hips a little, but then looked back at Corignis. "Sorry, Cor, you are amazing with your tongue, but this mare likes more than one flavor."
"I am going to make you climax for a week when I get my power back." Corignis stuck out her tongue at Courage. "And then I will make you make me climax for a week as payback." She nodded to the logic.
"And Alphias can join in?" Courage saw Corignis' eyes roll.
"Well of course Alphias too. I love that stallion…" Corignis trailed her words off a little, marveling at how good it felt to say them. "So when are you—"
Magic poured from Courage. She shoved her power at the portal, but there wasn't enough. She had planned for this, and turned to Corignis. "Tantric energy, Corignis?"
"Aww, does my little unicorn not have enough 'oomph'?" Walking closer, Corignis nuzzled and nipped around Courage's tail. "Well, already in the mood?"
"With Alphias practically on his way, yes." Courage folded her forelegs, keeping her plot raised for Corignis. Heat burned through her as Corignis nibbled and nuzzled her way under her tail, and Courage gave a little squeal when her sister bit down on her dock. "What was that for?"
"Because you love it." Corignis bit on Courage's dock again, but this time the mare moaned instead of squealed. A musky scent rose to meet Corignis' nose. Closing her eyes, the former succubus inhaled the aroma of her sister and lover. "You love it, and I love it."
Holding the magic she had already poured into the runes was a challenge when Courage was with such a talented lover, and worse still because Corignis knew her body intimately. She didn't hold back her moans when Corignis' tongue ran along her vulva, and she felt the wet, hot power start to slowly fill her.
Warmed to her task, Corignis lapped and nuzzled, tasting more of Courage's secretions. A buzz in the air, crackling power that Corignis knew all too well, reminded her of everything she had given up. Hunger drove her. Hunger for pleasure. Hunger for power. Hunger to give both to her lover.
Courage rolled her hips, trembling again and again as mini orgasms propelled her pleasure skyward. Her vagina clutched down on nothing, but her mind imagined the stallion she had pledged herself to on her back. The runes of the circle were feeding off their lust, and Courage could feel them actively draining her. She was wondering, panting like she was an animal in heat, when her climax would hit.
Leaving her lover's folds alone for a moment, Corignis bit down on Courage's dock again. Thunder rolled through the sky outside, and the rush of power through their bodies finally did what they intended and activated the gate.
Alphias spotted the incursion to his domain the moment it happened. The old portal, a gateway that had been used centuries earlier, fizzed with power and then manifest into an open rift. He stared at it for a moment, then stepped closer. "I wonder what I will find through here…?"
Rather than simply step through, Alphias sent a probe of magic first. The demonic energy slid through the perfectly formed portal, sampled the other side and quickly pulled back. "Equestria?"
A dozen pony heads lifted from books in Alphias' library. In the middle of an influx of new souls, Alphias was loath to leave his Circle. But a hint of the magic used to make the portal tasted familiar. "Courage?" He didn't hesitate now, shoving his snout through the portal, intending to follow it.
A soft nuzzle touched his muzzle before he got more than the tip of his face through. A second nuzzle, on the other cheek, made him curl his lips into a smile. "Well, well, well." Alphias stepped through the portal, landing in Equestria and now bracketed by his two mates. The sight of their swollen bellies would have been enough to arouse him, but that combined with the scent of Corignis and Courage post coitus pushed him fully into desire.
Courage had to content herself with staring at her mate's face, not that she didn't want to look under him. "We gave up all our demonic power."
"All of it." Corignis nuzzled at Alphias' throat, nipping gently. "I don't suppose our stallion might know how to get it back?" Her tone was simpering, but in truth she was almost ready to pounce on Alphias. She had given Courage an orgasm, but now wanted one for herself.
"You are both somewhat less than when we met last, but look," Alphias gestured out the window of the little house, "we have a whole world to play in while you recover." The smell of Courage was tempting, but he could hear the need in Corignis' voice reaching frustrating levels.
Watching Alphias climb atop Corignis' back, Courage whined. She wanted him, she needed him, but then she remembered what was on the other side of the portal. Stepping closer, she checked her work for stability, and found it perfect. Stepping through, Courage felt the stifling heat of the Pit first. Looking around Avarice, she saw the shelves being patronized by many ponies, each apparently in their own little metaphysical manacles as they tried in vain to sate their hunger for knowledge.
Walking brazenly up to the first stallion she saw, Courage nuzzled his flank and nipped at him. "Come on, I have a lot of catching up to do."
