As Luna finally materialized she had quite the sight to take in.
A gigantic, darkened land spread across as far as her eyes could see. Bizarre creatures of all shapes and sizes phased through Luna as she starred in awe at them. Batponies, gargoyles, skeletal ponies, Cerberus, and decaying dragons were just a few that Luna could recognize in this place.
Luna looked up to Gorgus.
“Relax, they can’t touch you”, Gorgus said, “They are just memories. We do not exist for them.”
“I understand that”, Luna said, “But where are we?”
“We are in Tartarus, your majesty”, Gorgus explained.
Luna watched breathlessly at the scenery before her in awe.
The entire ground was covered in what looked to be fire grass; the trees grew everything from golden apples to nectar: a green and white fruit resembling passionfruit.
As she watched the ground Luna noticed a few flowers started to appear. They looked like orchids, but every petal was colored differently and it was at least half the size of orchids. The flowers also bared very sharp leaves which were metallic in their appearance, giving off an illusion of a freshly sharpened sword blade.
“Is that ambrosia?” Luna asked Gorgus, pointing at the flowers scattered around the floor.
“Yes it is, but we don’t have time to admire the pretty flowers”, Gorgus rushed Luna, “Every second the serpents are growing in strength and we must stop them! So let’s get moving!”
“Of course!” Luna clicked and followed Gorgus.
As they walked through the crowd, Luna could clearly see something big was going down. All of the creatures suddenly stopped as the sound of trumpet went off in the distance.
“That sounds like our next destination”, Gorgus said as they followed the crowd.
Luna wondered what is going, but soon enough all became clear.
The crowd gathered around a magnificent castle.
It was completely carved out of red stone and it had five towers around. The peeks of the main structure were shaped like a cupola and it had three spikes on the top. Surrounding the main building were five towers with the symbol of Tartarus Guard, which was a dragon with an axe and an olive branch in his claws.
On each tower a wyvern stood in a black and white armor overlooking the ceremony.
All of the balconies were beautifully decorated by carvings of roses, lions or warrior ponies, but only the highest balcony was decorated with the Royal Insignia above it.
Upon this balcony, Luna could see two Gargoyles standing with trumpets still in their claws. As they watched on, Luna’s eyes bulged up.
From the castle and onto the balcony exited a being she knew far too well.
It was Radifus!
Luna could feel her anger slowly building up at the wretched reptilian in front of her.
As she observed him closer, Luna could notice that his scales were much lighter.
The golden spikes that adorned his tail weren’t there and even his horns still haven’t grown. The sharp row of razor sharp teeth was still present there, but even they seemed to be smaller than she remembered. Even his eyes weren’t golden now. They were pale green and actually gave off a pleasant vibe, allowing Luna to ease her anger. She could barely recognize him!
“Is that Radifus?” she whispered to Gorgus. Gorgus nodded in affirmation.
“Stunning difference, wouldn’t you agree?” Gorgus commented.
“I’ll say”, Luna said to herself as she looked on.
Radifus looked at the crowd with a smug smirk plastered on his face. It was at that moment that Luna noticed the beginning of the beast that plagued her.
Radifus coughed as the crowd fell silent.
“Presenting King Hadeus and his wonderful bride Queen Persephone in company of the newly crowned prince Darkrim, the Royal Trinity that will guide our glorious nation into a new reign of peace and prosperity”, Basilisk finished his introduction as all of ponies and creatures cheered.
From the castle exited three figures.
Luna automatically noticed the young form of Darkrim, as well as the other two ponies.
A dark unicorn stood proudly to the left of Darkrim. His luscious mane was filled with black magic fire as it waved gently on the wind.
His eyes were burning with a passionate orange glow as he looked onto his people with pride and joy. His smile exposed his pearly white teeth. From his forehead emerged a twisted dark blue and black horn which seemed to actually be consisted of two smaller horns.
On his head he wore a sharp red crown made of the finest rubies bits could buy.
This was King Hadeus, the ruler of Tartarus.
He stood with his head held high and had his hoof proudly placed on the newly crowned prince.
On the right was a feminine alicorn.
She stood in an elegant pose smiling kindly at her son.
She had a grey coat with cyan blue mane. Her mane seemed to be consisted of pure ice as it flowed gently like a snowflake’s dance. A pale blue aura seemed to surround her and her deep blue eyes generated a certain kind of calmness that eased even Luna.
Her horn was curved to the back in the shape of a crescent moon and it gave off a bright shimmering glow. Her wings seemed to be completely transparent with edges as sharp as an icicle.
The more she looked at Queen Persephone the more she understood that the tales of a cold beauty living in the fires of Tartarus were true.
Around her neck Persephone wore an amulet of her cutie mark, which was a double tailed ice siren.
“My loyal subjects”, Persephone began in a gentle voice that could be only described like the ringing of silver bells, “Today we celebrate a very special occasion.”
“Our son”, Hadeus began in a bombastic voice, “Has finally been christened as a prince. On this day, his ninth birthday, we have our next ruler! All praise Necessity for giving us this wonderful gift and may we prosper even more!”
“All praise Necessity!” Radifus said and others followed him.
As the crowd cheered on, Luna could notice a creature being awfully silent. He seemed like other gargoyles, but something was off.
A devious purple glow was coming out of his eyes.
Luna nudged Gorgus.
“Gargoyles don’t glow purple, right?” she whispered to him, quietly signaling to the devious looking beast.
“Not that I know of”, Gorgus replied as he observed the monster.
Gorgus began to take out his axe, but the infected Gargoyle took notice of it, causing it to dash in fear.
“I’ll follow him in the air, you go afoot!” Luna commanded as she took flight.
Gorgus nodded his head and chased the gargoyle.
As they chased him Gorgus had to mind other creatures. Even though they were invisible to the crowd, the crowd wasn’t transparent which allowed the gargoyle to hide easier.
However, Luna was completely in her element and she could easily see the gargoyle’s purple energy.
Every time the beast thought it was safe, Luna would alert Gorgus of its whereabouts.
Eventually the two managed to chase the gargoyle out of the crowd and onto the open field.
Once the purple glowing beast was in the open, Luna darted herself in front of it, causing the monster to be flung right into Gorgus’ arms.
“Well, well, what do we have here?” Gorgus said as he tightened his grip on the gargoyle.
“Let go off me, you big buffoon!” the infected being wriggled and clawed at Gorgus.
Luna walked over to the gargoyle and stared in its eyes.
It was like she could see all of the horrors and all of the sins of her past returning in one moment. She shut her eyes and averted her gaze from the monster.
“What is it, princess? Scared of the truth?” the gargoyle mocked the night regal.
As it laughed, Gorgus took the gargoyle by the foot and slammed him onto the ground. The force of the hit made the being revert to its serpentile form.
Before it could slither away, Gorgus picked it up by the tail.
“We’re not done with you just yet”, he said in a furious tone.
Once Luna fully composed herself, she focused all of her lightning magic and struck the serpent right in its head.
The beast screeched in pain as the electricity passed through its body, charring him completely.
Gorgus dropped it as quick as he could and fell down.
Luna rushed over to Gorgus.
“I am so sorry!” she began apologizing to the wounded behemoth. He just got up and brushed himself off, much to Luna’s surprise.
“Don’t worry”, Gorgus laughed, “It takes a lot more than that to keep me down!”
Luna sighed in relief.
“Note to self: Be more careful with lightning magic”, Luna whispered under her voice.
“Well one down, who knows how many more to come”, Gorgus said as he watched the charred remains of a dead serpent.
“And they are only going to get worse from here on”, Luna commented.
As they walked back Luna could feel something weird. It felt just like she was reentering the memory world all over again.
Time seemed to be sped up as Luna and Gorgus were transported to a whole different place.
She closed her eyes, so she wouldn’t get dizzy, and, as the night regal reopened them, she could see, clear as day, a luscious throne room.