Devils

by rillegas08

01: Nothing

BARREN

Harsh winds blow across an expanse devoid of life. Dust covers everything, encroaching on mountains far off in the distance, eroded by time and harsh winds. Clouds, made of the remnants of fires long since burned out, remain steady in the sky, blocking out all but the smallest portions of sunlight.

Trees here have no leaves, and even the oldest of creatures that still exist recall no time when they did, assuming they can be found. Many are charred, most are broken and fallen, but all are dead, many turned into the brilliant warm colors of petrification. Stumps indicate the removed remains of those that were pilfered for what little resource they had left by those just trying to survive.

There is no life in this wasteland.

ENTROPY

Though an uncommon sight, evidence of a civilization long since forgotten does lay scattered throughout the wasteland -- broken, fallen, and half-covered in the dust. Wooden structures have broken, been buried, and rotted. Plaster has crumbled into dust and scattered to the four winds to beat upon what little still remains. All that remains remotely intact are the stone structures which, like the wooden buildings, are broken and buried.

Stone roofs collapsed centuries, even millennia ago, breaking the stone pillars that once supported them. The pillars themselves lay strewn about, angled and half-buried as the dust slowly conquers them. Nature is a cruel mistress, controlling the destruction of all who oppose her.

There is no order in this wasteland.

OUT

An orange figure stretches out upon one of the columns that lay half-buried in the ground. The column was at a slight angle, and the figure was taking full advantage of it, with her head at the top and her outfit placed neatly on the broken base of a pillar nearby, leaving her body nude and fully exposed to the elements.

The figure itself is a young female with bright red and yellow hair, and light orange skin tattooed with symmetrical red flames. The flames adorned her forearms to the backs of her hands, and the sides of her torso, across her stomach, and down between her legs. Her head resembles something of equine origin, with folded ears and a short snout, while the rest of her body resembles something more human, a creature unknown to her land. Her eyes are closed, and above them in the center of her forehead is a curved horn.

A gust blows, and then dies. Her chest rises, inhaling deeply the clearer air left behind after the dust blew past, and then lowers as her lips part in a sigh. It isn't a sigh of sorrow or of boredom, but one of contentment. For many years, coming above the surface always gave her a sense of tranquility.

"Sister Hellfire, what are you doing up here?" asked a voice that the orange female immediately recognized. "You know it's forbidden to come up to the surface without one of the Mothers."

A sense of tranquility that, in many cases, was so rudely interrupted in this same way. Hellfire clears her throat, but keeps her eyes closed.

"Well, you're here now, Mother Midnight," the orange demoness retorts, "so that's no longer an issue, is it?"

Hellfire smirks, having finally been able to use a line she'd prepared after the last time her friend had caught her alone on the surface. Midnight crosses her arms, staring silent and unamused at Hellfire's comment. Hellfire frowns, having expected at the very least a small chuckle, but receiving nothing. "I'm sunbathing, of course," she replies, her eyes still closed.

Midnight sighs. "Hellfire, since we've become friends I've been up here almost as much as you have --"

"Not since Mother Daybreaker elevated you from a Sister to a Mother," she mumbles. Midnight ignores her comment and begins again.

"I've been up here almost as much as you have, and I've never seen this sun you believe is there. I've asked Mother Daybreaker and Mother Nightmare, and they haven't seen it either."

At Midnight's mention of the two matriarchs, Hellfire's eyes burst open and she sits up, facing Midnight with the heat of fire filling the coolness of her teal eyes.

"You told them I still come up here?"

"I didn't have to," the lavender Mother replies, putting one hand on her hip as she lets the other hang freely. "Others can't find you after you finish your duties. They look for you, but find you missing until it's time to eat or time to meet. The egress guards you pass on your way out talk." She crosses her arms again. "If you're trying to be stealthy, you're not doing a very good job at it."

Hellfire lay back down, her head resting on her forearm as she stares up at the infinite expanse of clouds, resting her other hand on her stomach.

"All for something that doesn't exist."

"I've seen it, Mid," Hellfire immediately replies, using the nickname she'd given her friend when they were children. "It was before I brought you up here the first time, but I saw a break in the canopy one day. There's something blue behind that dull gray canopy, and the sun lives there. I know it's there, and I just want to see it again."

Midnight picks up her friend's neatly-placed boots, armor, and loincloth and holds them out to her. "You'll never have a chance to see it again if you continue coming up here without permission." Reluctantly, Hellfire takes her clothing and starts putting on the burgundy thigh-length boots. "Now come on. It's almost time for the meeting."

Hellfire finishes putting on her second boot and leans down to pick up her loincloth. "The Mothers sure love their meetings." She looks up at Mother Midnight. "No offense." Midnight stands still and raises an eyebrow at her friend. "As long as you're just standing there, Mid," she turns away from her purple friend, "will you help me put on my armor?"

"Don't you usually do it yourself?"

"Usually, yes," she responds, "but I also usually have to press my chest against a wall or something in order to awkwardly reach back to fasten it. And since I have a friend here to help me this time..."

Midnight sighs and rolls her eyes, but obliges the orange woman. "Arms out," she commands, and Hellfire, who had just finished putting on her bracers, does as she's told. She closes her eyes and holds her arms out as Midnight deftly places the armor on her breasts. Without a word between them, Hellfire places her hands on Midnight's, allowing her hands to slide out from under them to fasten the clasp in the back. Hellfire surreptitiously brushes her tail against the calf of her friend's plum-covered boot.

"Watch your tail, Hell," she says with a mixture of annoyance and anxiety, and swats it away. Hellfire sighs, hearing Midnight's old nickname for her used in such a way. "You know Mothers and Sisters can't --"

"I know!" Hellfire turns around. Her eyes hold a different kind of fire than before, a cold, almost mournful fire. Her eyes glisten with moisture held back. "It's not my fault they elevated only one of us, Mid!" Midnight's expression softens, and she puts her hand on her companion's shoulder. Hellfire's own expression softens in response with memories of their bygone intimacy.

"I miss it too, Hell. Now come on. We've got some place to be."

Hellfire rolls her eyes with a sigh, but complies with her superior, grateful for her leniency.

There is no sympathy in this wasteland.

DESCENT

Midnight ushers Hellfire down the wind-beaten staircase that leads down to their underground community, following behind her. The purple woman used to look much like her friend, but that changed with her ascension. Where she once was slightly shorter than Hellfire, she is now nearly a head taller, which caused the teasing about her height to cease. Her curved horn, likewise, grew longer through the magenta highlights of her purple bangs. Mother Daybreaker also gifted her with two more horns, these a duller purple, nearly gray, than the one on her forehead. These sprout from the back of her head, curving around her scalp. It's because of these that Midnight no longer sleeps comfortably on her side, though the rayon fabric of a Mother's bedding certainly helps. But by far the most jarring change was the sudden existence of large bat-like wings with sharp bony protrusions. It's because of these that Midnight no longer sleeps comfortably on her back, and the rayon fabric of a Mother's bedding does not help in the slightest.

She also has tattoos like her friend, though only on her arms, which now disappear under the long gloves she wears. Her armor, also, was increased in size to curve under her breasts down her sides about the span of her hand, culminating in a point. These points hold clasps, to which white voile drapes elegantly down to clasps on her loincloth. Unlike Hellfire's armor which is pressure-fit around the breasts, Midnight's dark mauve armor clasps in the front and the back, allowing for more convenient donning and doffing. The back clasp connects two more strips of voile drape around her arms, one on either side, connecting to an intricate golden pendant that houses a bright faceted turquoise.

Hellfire feels like a prisoner being led by a guard down the steps, but her years of training don't let her thoughts show in her facial expressions or body language. Neither does Mother Midnight; she does, however, know her former partner too well to believe that Hellfire's stoic exterior does not hide a struggle between her duties and her desires.

There is no attachment in this wasteland.

Author's Note:

Each named character in this fic has an equivalent character from the show. Some will be easy, while others may be more difficult. See if you can match all of them as the story continues!

Eight years ago today, MLP:FiM premiered. Four years ago today, I published the first chapter of The Princess that Equestria Never Had after six years of creative drought. Today, I begin publishing my Halloween fic.

Comments

[Versatility]

wouldn't femescubi be succubus and manscubi be incubus?

[SCP049]

9223231
That is correct.

[rillegas08]

9223231
9223248

I actually used those terms on purpose for a couple reasons. The words "succubus" and "incubus" have such a relationship with sexuality in our world, and while the characters in this fic do have a culture that's more sexually open than ours, I wanted words without such extreme connotations. By creating my own terms, I also avoided any possible confusion with why "succubus" and "incubus" exist in an Equestrian-like world where Greco-Roman culture didn't quite have the same impact as it did in our world.

[Ze1a7in]

I'm intrigued by this.

[Kotatsu Neko]

9223251
Okay, but you aren't actually making new terms, are you? They're clearly derived from succubus/incubus, which is why we're having this conversation in the first place. Changing the race names to something completely different - djinn/ifrit, devil/demon, or something completely new - would prevent more questions along these lines. I guarantee someone else is going to ask about this at least once.

Seems interesting, by the way. I'll be keeping an eye on this. ☺

[rillegas08]

9223645
Yes, I did use succubus and incubus as inspirations for my new words. It's kind of like the Equestria Girls, who aren't quite humans though they have a lot in common. You do bring up a good point, though, one I hadn't considered before.

[Ri2]

...Huh. Okay, this could use a little editing, but...I am very much intrigued. What happened to the surface to ruin it so?

And can poor Hellfire and Midnight ever have snu-snu again?

[rillegas08]

9224143
Stay tuned. There's a lot in store I have yet to reveal

I thought I'd edited it well, but then again I did start working on it months ago, forgot about it, and spruced it up a bit the same day I published it. What did you find that needed work?

[rillegas08]

9223231
9223248
Actually, I just remembered the real reason I created new terms instead of using the traditional ones. In the original language, "succubus" means "one who lies beneath" and "incubus" means "one who lies above". The context is who takes on the submissive and who takes on the dominant roles during intercourse, and back then gender roles were pretty set with women taking the submissive and men taking the dominant. I wanted more neutral terms, since I planned both the Femescubi and Mascubi to be fighting for dominance, one of the reasons they're in separate communes.

[Ri2]

9225008
Wow, I did not know that! Huh, the things you learn.

[Ri2]

9224978

Hellfire's own expression softens in response with memories of .

Also, is 'viscose' a real word? And it feels like you said Twilight can't sleep on her back more than once.

[Vigriff]

[rillegas08]

9225240
Ah, that was one of the things I added quickly. I'd intended to finish it, but I guess I forgot. It's fixed now.

The repetition does exist, and it's a running literary tactic I've used throughout this chapter, such as the "There is no ___ in this wasteland", as well as lines preceding each that includes a contrasting imagery.

And yes, viscose is a real word, chosen for a specific reason I'll reveal in a later chapter. It refers to a solution made from treating cellulose, and fabric can be made from it. Though looking into it, the treated fabric is actually called "rayon". I should probably fix that too.

Thanks for the input!

[rillegas08]

9225373
I like it!

[Vigriff]

9225489
Thank you.

[Ri2]

9225401
Ah, okay.

Also, that's a VERY pretty cover.