-TERRARIA, THE UNDERWORLD-
A sudden demonic rune manifests itself into being as Starlight Glimmer followed soon after. The unicorn mare was currently sitting on her flank and still had tears coming down her features following the events of the library as she comments:
“I’m so sorry, Shadow Thunder… everything we had planned was ruined-” Suddenly, the unicorn cuts off her own words as she now truly takes in her surroundings. Fire and brimstone were all around her as she gazed upon the fiery underworld with a shocked expression. “W-where am I? This place is… evil... horrible.”
“Why thank you,” A new and deep voice responds which not only sends chills down the unicorn’s spine but also causes her to jolt onto her hooves and turn towards its source. Starlight was at a complete loss for words as she saw multiple entities flying before her very eyes. Their skin was as red as the hellish landscape all around them all while they possessed bat-like wings. Various types of horns adorned the features of every entity before her as the individual whom spoke before, comments:
“We demons are so glad that you feel that way. We try our best to get such a reaction from those like you,” The other demons all around them start to laugh in agreement before the creature before Starlight continues: “But I digress. It seems that Tanner has captured yet another pony. That’s two down and only one more to go before our glorious invasion can truly begin.” Upon saying those words, all of the demons present start to let loose terrifying roars in unison all while Starlight is stunned in horror as she watches the hell dwelling entities celebrate what is coming.
Soon enough, the demons halt their laughter as the one who floated just before the pony begins to lower itself. This causes the frightened unicorn to fall backwards as she says:
“N-no, p-pl-ease, stay away from… me,” The demon simply smiles devilishly as fire begins to leak from its snarl, all while it continues to draw closer. One would think that the unicorn should fight back, to fire up her horn and start blasting away at these demons of The Underworld. Sadly, the mare was simply too frightened by these entities in addition to the hellish landscape all around her as she says: “No, stay away, I don’t want to-”
“Hahahaha!” The encroaching demon laughs in a mocking fashion before saying: “Fear not you pathetic creature of Harmony. We won’t kill you… yet.”
Somehow managing to form a coherent thought, Starlight tries to fire up her horn in an effort to escape from her current predicament. However, the attempt failed and absolute dread was plastered onto her face as she comments:
“M-my magic, why can’t I-”
“The rune that brought you here cuts off your supply of mana. It denies you from escaping at first before it then completely shuts you down by embedding a mark onto your body,” The demon interjects as the entity then points at her chest. “See for yourself.”
As was pointed out by the demon, Starlight looks down towards her chest region and sees a pentagram encased within a circle embedded onto her very being. The unicorn now felt absolutely helpless as the demon drew ever closer while cackling at her current situation.
The demon now stood before the quivering unicorn as the entity carelessly picked her up by her mane, which caused her to scream out in pain as the demon states:
“Yes! Your screams are lovely! It’s music to my ears!”
“Please! Stop! It hurts!” Starlight pleads.
“That's the point!” The demon responds brutishly. “You’re in The Underworld! Pain and suffering is always present here and we demons love to enforce it!” Using their remaining free arm, the demon points the appendage behind them and conjures forth a sort of hell portal. “Usually I’d torture my prey until their soul is beaten and battered before I consume them,” He then brings the pony closer, all while she continues to cry out in pain and tries to free herself from the demon’s grasp. “But Lord Legion ordered us to throw you into your little cage. But know this, pony. Once your usefulness to The Wall Of Flesh is over, I will come back for you and the other ponies. Your suffering will be endless!” The demon then looks over its shoulder and towards the portal as the entity spins around and hurls Starlight into the hellish anomaly.
Within a cell that was positioned in the dark depths of a structure made entirely of black bricks, a portal of hellfire suddenly materializes and opens up. Soon after, a unicorn mare comes flying out of the anomaly and skis across the floor of the cell a short distance.
Incidentally, someone was already being held within the prison as a lavender colored alicorn, who also happens to have a demonic rune etched onto her chest region, widens her eyes in realization and shouts:
“Starlight!”
Twilight hurriedly makes her way towards her student as she lowers her head and nuzzles Starlight while saying:
“Are you ok, Starlight? They didn’t hurt you too much, did they?”
“Tw…Twilight?” Starlight inquires in disbelief as the alicorn’s nuzzling manages to catch the downed unicorn's attention. Starlight’s eyes widened in a mixture of shock and relief as she jolted onto her hooves and hugged her teacher while saying: “Twilight! It was so horrible! This place is so terrible!”
“I know, Starlight… I know,” Twilight responds in a comforting tone as she pats her distraught student on their back with a forehoof. “But at the very least, we have each other now.”
After holding each other for a few moments, Starlight gently breaks away from the hug and comments:
“Twilight, just what in the world is going on? Why are demons capturing us? And how was a demonic rune in my bedroom?”
“Starlight, I don’t know how to truly explain this but dark forces are at work here. Forces that want to not only take over Terraria… but also, our world.” Twilight responds which causes the unicorn’s eyes to widen in horror.
“What do you mean ‘our world’? You’re saying that these creatures want to somehow take over Equus as well? How can they do that?”
“It’s more than that, Starlight… It’s so much more,” Twilight then looks towards a nearby object and continues: “Perhaps you should tell her the rest of it, Tanner.”
“T-Tanner?! But those demons told me-”
“That imposter isn’t me. He is The Voodoo Demon,” A familiar voice interjects which notably sounded exactly like Tanner The Guide. This causes Starlight to turn towards the object and her eyes widened when she sees what stood leaned up against a wall: A doll. “Hello there, Starlight. Twilight’s told me all about you.”
“T-Tanner? Wh… what the hay is going on here? Why are you a doll?”
“I’d like to apologize for what that imposter has done to you all, but I assure you, I am Tanner The Guide. The real Tanner. But I suppose you could also call me: The Guide Voodoo Doll. And I have a lot to reveal to you, as I did for poor Twilight here,” The doll then takes a moment to recollect itself before saying: “Before we begin, could I be so bold as to ask you to carry me, Twilight?”
“Of course, Tanner.” Twilight responds as she walks over to the doll and performs the action. She holds the object within her left forehoof and caresses it against her chest region all while the doll’s face looks forward. The lavender alicorn brings the doll closer to Starlight as Tanner says:
“I’m going to tell you what they have planned for both of our worlds, but you must hold any and all questions until after I’m done explaining it,” The doll then chuckles before saying: “Twilight here kept cutting me off every five seconds when I told her the very same thing that I shall soon reveal to you.”
“Ehehe… yeah…” Twilight comments as she smiles sheepishly.
“So, um, If I’m understanding things correctly… You’re truly Tanner and not some monster who’s deceiving us?” Starlight inquires with a hint of fear.
“I’m the Tanner that should’ve been there when you all came to our world… the one who should’ve properly guided you all, instead of that damned imposter. However, we can get to regrets later,” The doll then goes silent for a moment as it seemed to be trying to gather the appropriate tale for the unicorn mare. The doll then lets out a sigh, which was rather strange given its current form, as the object then says:
“The Wall Of Flesh, or Legion, is in fact an ancient Outer God who has incredible control over reality: Nyarlathotep. Here’s a side fact: It was that creature who lured Cthulhu to our world but you’ll be happy to know that it backfired on Nyarlathotep. To an extent, anyway.
Returning back to the main subject, Its current objective is to merge both of our worlds into a singularity. One merged world. They have already set things in motion and have captured two of the three final pieces that they need to open an established link between both worlds. Think of it like a bridge for the Outer God to cross over and bend to their will whatever lies on the other side of that bridge,” The doll pauses for a moment and goes on to say: “Judging by your expression, Starlight, you have something to say?”
Hearing the doll’s words, Starlight swallows a lump that was forming in her throat during the real Tanner’s tale as she then replies:
“Um, these three pieces that they need… are these being kept away from them? Someone must be protecting them, right?”
Both Twilight and Tanner, the voodoo doll, were hesitant to answer the unicorn mare’s question. However, Twilight takes it upon herself to answer the inquiry as the alicorn looks at her student and says:
“It’s us, Starlight… we are the pieces… and they already have two out of three.”
“B-but, why us?” Starlight questions in a saddened tone. “Why does it need us?”
“It’s because we’re from Equus,” Twilight responds in a matching tone. “And like Tanner has said before, this is like a bridge. Sadly, we are the three pillars that will support that bridge by force.”
“There is however one thing that baffles me,” Tanner The Doll comments which catches the attention of both ponies. “Why does one of the three have to be you, Twilight?”
“Wait, what do you mean by that?” Starlight inquires.
“Apparently, I’m needed for the process to begin and only two of any one of us from Equus are needed alongside me. But, that’s just the thing, I don’t know why I would be so vital to their plan.”
“Funny you should mention that, because I’m here to confirm a suspicion of mine and it involves an ‘associate’ of ours,” Another voice injects itself into the conversation. Everyone gasps in horror as they see… him. Twilight’s eyes widened in shock as she questions in disbelief:
“Y-Yharim?!”