“Fancy place you got here,” Armonia remarked. Had she been informed of this new turn of events she would have sent the element bears to deal with this perceived threat themselves, but now, she had to admit, she had slacked off long enough in this kind of matter and was a bit rusty, so a change of pace was something she was willing to welcome.
“Oh please, I thank you for the flattery, Ms. Armonia, but there is no need for such formalities,” Toby responded, leading the both of them down to his personal office, where they could discuss other matters. “After all, down here, we see ourselves as the lesser side of the coin, we are more of a necessity than anything else and there is no shame in hiding your disapproval. Even then, we are just doing what is, as to how some would assume it, a service of good, a place of retribution. That’s not to say we don’t provide opportunity down here, although they are few and far in between considering those are either earned or, in the rare cases, a divine intervention from the competition.”
Much to the devil's surprise, an embodiment of harmony had giggled at his remark. Harmony incarnate, who had taken up Twilight Sparkle's form, had seen the pain that was brought down there, yet as the devil explained, it was a sort of necessity than anything else. And to some extent, it reminded her of her predecessor, Order, who at most times had a serious demeanor overshadowed by their line of work.
“Not at all, although I find such necessities… deplorable to some degree, I have to agree with what Discord had said, you are much more approachable than what most would describe you.”
“Part of the job.”
Looking around, Armonia noticed that despite the clearly hellish theme of the office that the devil worked in, it actually, and eerily, looked the part of an office that she might see every now and again in Equestria, one that expelled the feeling of dread and confinement, as a literal sight before an important and rigorous business interview. Compare that to the three beings she had met earlier that week, the so-called ‘Divine Trinity’, whose approach was much more open, there equivalent to the devil’s office being a garden, the name drops to the true name of that said garden being ‘The Garden of Eden’.
But as she thought to herself, she decided it was a memory best remembered for another time, at least until she finished up with the devil, there were others who would like to meet her, but for now, she had to finish and wrap up the meeting in the big leagues.
“By the way,” She began, suddenly noticing a pattern in the devil’s office.
Because from her point of view, apart from the desk, chairs, and cabinets that littered his office. The most intriguing part of it all was the windows, there were three fairly large windows that allowed them to peer into the surprisingly sophisticated hellish landscape below them. Hell, much to both Armonia’s dismay and surprise, was littered with buildings and devices that introduced many different ways of delivering anguish, from simple machinations that would repeatedly and continually send someone to relive death over and over again to the old-time furnace that would burn whatever was inside it alive, and that doesn’t even go over the much more inhumane and near-undefined complexity of ways that this place continues on to burn and fuel the anguish that is this hellscape.
To her surprise, the devil had seemingly furrowed his brow from both her question and the direction she was looking at, yet he allowed her to speak first, keeping his comments to himself for the moment.
“I must ask, for the incarnation of sin, of misdeed, what is the sin you find most deplorable.” She asked, genuinely interested in his response, and to her surprise, he indulged in her question.
A deep sigh was taken before he sat down on his chair, rummaging through the desk of his drawer. When he finished, he pulled out a single piece of feather. If Armonia had to take a guess, she could have mistaken it for a feather preened from the current co-ruler of Equestria, the feather itself was of a pristine white with no signs of dust or any of that sort.
“Personally, I think it would be betrayal and unfounded lust, two of the most punishable, I have seen their effects first hand and what it could lead and be caused by. Still,” he said. Inwardly though, he remembered the day that he and his fellow loyalist turned tails and waged war against their creator and anyone who hadn’t backed him. It wasn’t out of a sense of selfishness and greed, although it did play a role, it was more of a self-justified retaliation, as though they felt like their service was merely being exploited.
“On the basis of principle, I think it would be misplaced self-righteousness and reason, and when one takes it onto another level beyond what is ‘alright’. Not necessarily a sin within itself, but it could lead to other consequences.” Lifting the single piece of feather in a specific place, where the small shine from those above and divine, it glinted unmolested, a beautiful shimmer of life and hope. A life bygone, he must admit. Returning the feather into its proper place back, he now returned his gaze back to Armonia while he lifted the tape recorder to his side.
“I know we’ve already done the introductions, but for formalities sake, I hope you won’t mind if we record this, do you?”
“Not at all,” She replied, a smile adorning the muzzle of the being she had taken form after.
“Great!” Toby replied, now withdrawing another set of files from one of his cabinets.
Setting the sheet of papers down, he passed a pen towards Armonia’s direction, indirectly telling her to take the center stage and the initiative to move forward. She, of course, obliged the request, levitating said pen as she drew closer to the file and the contract that is outlined. As much as she hated herself for admitting this fact but it won’t be the first nor last time she would sign such a pact similar to this in nature.
Reading through the contents of the file with relative ease, the file outlined a very vague proceeding moving forwards, nothing too extreme for that matter. She assumed the vagueness was because of the devil leaving loopholes within his own contracts for future gain, but the reality of it couldn’t be farther from the truth, since Equis was, by and large, the first real world, or maybe dimension, that the devil and his contemporaries would actually be able to directly influence. Sorcery was and still is, a privilege in most worlds, but to some, it was considered more of a right, and Equis was one of these worlds where it was a right. Allowing for such a bridge to be formed directly, of course, the business structure that they had employed would say otherwise, but nothing they can’t manage.
“Well,” Armonia began, having finished through with the entire file. “As far as I could tell, I’ll only have a few changes and we are good to go.”
“Do these changes also apply to our opponents?” Toby asked, suspicious of her motive but nonetheless leaned to save face.
“Yes,” she simply replied, hovering the pen to outline said changes to the file, “I would like that these specifics be changed accordingly,” as she outlined her request, she explained herself if only to compensate for the silence of his supposed intrigue.
“I’d like the link between your world and mine to be limited at best, your overall presence, along with your associates, foe or otherwise, also be limited, and that magic should serve as a commodity than anything else if such a transfer might occur.” She said, all of those were just vague and barebones, but she could worry about the specifics when these beings crossed a line or made a move.
“Fine by me,” Toby responded, with a snap of his fingers, he changes the parts that Armonia requested to be changed. “I have to admit, you are by far one of the most back seated beings I have ever come a crossed.”
“Comes with just being a tree for most of my existence.” She remarked, fondly remembering her time as a tree, just, you know, sitting there, being able to feel and hear nearly everything.
“Well, I had the privilege to look and partially interact with many universes and dimensions, some better, some worse, but they were all the same, they always had three constant forces, something in the lines of ‘Good and Evil’ and there’s the middle or the neutrals as some would say.”
“On that note, I know it’s obvious and all, but why are you and your competitors so... formal?” She finally asked the question that bugged her mind.
Staring directly at the being before him, he took a deep breath before answering, “We are but a group of beings who preside such formalities, and others like us, like devils of different magnitudes, chaos beings, gods of order, and plenty more. Now, some might rule with an iron will, some even live with and amongst their creation, but as it stood, I and my contemporaries are the largest of the bunch, spanning our ‘business’ in millions, if not trillions and more of other dimensions and universes. Admittedly, we had to adapt, make do, and bargain with other similar beings, but we would like to set an example, be it in punishment, rulership, or even creation. We started from humble beginnings and we continue with what we can see as a sort of ‘mutual understanding’ between what is essentially opposing ideologies. We do what we can, and bragging rights is really the only ‘true’ form of currency we share amongst ourselves and onto others, there are simply just some things that have to be earned, not willed. Besides, you got to pass the time in some other manner, being ‘leader’ or ‘boss’ can get old pretty quickly, not to mention that we’re, and still are, a sort of comfort and guidance for the beings that first conjured us with their imagination, beings of humble beginnings for sure, they gave us the vision to fulfill, and the rest is like a ribbon of fate or something.”
“Ah...” Armonia took her time to process what she had just been told. On one hoof, she found it fascinating, on the other, these are clearly powerful beings that could match, and most likely, surpass even the combined power of the whole alicorn race at its height, a literal race that once descended from gods. Truly, she and Discord might just have to play their cards carefully.
While she thought to herself, she can’t help but subconsciously look around her, and especially at Toby, a face that, although a hellish red that reflected the embodiment of sin and misdeed, could make and present a plethora of emotions at once, even now at that moment, she could see that he was thinking to himself, what he thought Armonia could only guess.
“So…” Toby looked around his office, although a being with a lifespan that even challenged the age of his creator. He was never one for conversation, despite the silver-tongued that he naturally had been gifted, but like an angel, or used to be in this case, he like his former brothers had difficulty communicating with mortals. They had always preferred to manipulate ‘nature’ to their whim, performing so-called ‘acts of god’ and ‘miracles’, all part of the job Toby used to do, at least until he threw it away.
“I have to ask, how did you come to be?” Armonia asked, noticing the clear lack of pictures in the office, not that there weren't any present.
A smirk formed at the devil’s face, and with a snap of his fingers and him setting down the glasses that he had subconsciously cleaned all throughout this meeting to the side. A few moments later and a knock came to the door, shortly followed by the door swinging open to reveal a human in a white lab coat and a red cross at the side of each shoulder. Speaking a heavy German accent, the being allowed himself in as he inspected the devil first before laying an eye on Armonia.
“Ooh, Fascinating.” He remarked as he drew a closer inspection of Armonia and her form.
“Clearly, za magic zat zis one possesses is unzoudabtly greater zan any we have seen zus fa. I zo hope zat zer is a better reazon to your calling.” He looked to the devil, clearly unhappy and being called at such a time, presumably having been taken away from something he was doing.
“Don’t sweat it, Ludwig, I got a guest that you'll have to entertain for the next 3 hours, don’t worry, you'll be compensated accordingly as per the contract.” Toby replied, easing the concerns of the unlicensed ‘professional’.
“Anyways, Armonia, please meet ‘Dr.’ Ludwig Humboldt, one of the most fascinating beings that I am willing to admit exists. He will introduce you to the other mates that I work with and here in the company and a brief overview of HELL Inc. In general, I know you'll have an interesting time with what he has to say and talk about.” He finished, leaving the room to go off to who knows where. Leaving the two beings to interact with each other.
A brief moment of silence is shared until Armonia decided to break the already melting ice between her and the human.
“So, how did a doctor find himself by the side of the devil?”
“Ha,” the doctor chuckled, before answering in kind. “I know za man could be za ominous type, but believe me, he go’z about with za contractz like za angel he was before, straight forward und a true sore. Truly, za geneticz zat he und hiz brotherz share iz nearly inseparable. Now zat is an interezting story for you my zdear, but would you like za story of the devil first? Or perhapz za story zat you have never heard before?” he asked, smiling at Armonia eagerly awaiting her answer.
“Give me a daring one.” She replied, smirking at the thought of whatever story that the doctor is about to share.
“Very well zen,” he replied, clearly jovial at her choice as he began his story, “It all started after za day zat I had gained my medical license. It waz za winter of 1943 und za works zat I have done throughout za fieldz of battle und science brought za Riech to its greatezt hight, zen, out of za nowhere fieldz zat I have vworked on, za great chaos gods had been awakened, und zey approached me with a propozal...”