• Published 5th Jun 2018
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The Darkness We Keep - volrathxp



A Journey Through Tartarus to Save Another Unfolds

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Chapter Two

The Darkness We Keep

Chapter Two

Darkness descended upon the once Summer Lands, bathing the landscape in a harsh light that covered every inch of the valley. Once this land had been bright, soothing, wonderful. That was before the time of Tirek. That was before the time of the Nightmare Realm.

Celestia peered out upon the darkened valley from her cell inside the castle. Tirek’s army gathered there, leaving the Summer Lands through Tirek’s twisted magic to go to Equestria. Celestia grimaced. There was no way to stop him at this point. His magic, her magic, was far too powerful when combined with the magic of Serenity’s to prevent him from losing. Celestia only hoped that Luna would be able to hold him off long enough to rescue Twilight and the others.

Twilight. Celestia scowled. She had failed her student. She had failed to contain her past, had allowed Twilight to see the worst parts of her. How she had failed Equestria, her sisters. Serenity.

Serenity. Celestia had tried several times to get through to her fallen sister, but to no avail. She was firmly in Tirek’s grasp, almost robotic. She seemed to be completely unresponsive to anything but his word. And of course, Tirek’s word was law. Celestia looked down at her chains and sighed deeply. She had tried to break them so many times already, but her magic was weakened the more it became siphoned off to Tirek.

Celestia groaned and lowered her head. She needed to think, to rest, to save what little strength she had left. Furthermore, she had to hope that Twilight would find a way to defeat Tirek.

She had to hope.

* * *

Twilight Sparkle peered into the darkness and scowled. “Are you sure we’re going the right way?” she said.

“This is the only way I know that avoids unwanted attention,” the imp flapping his wings lazily in the air next to her said. “Unless you’d rather waltz right into the most dangerous parts of Tartarus and just announce yourself publicly.”

A grimace formed on Twilight’s face. She looked back at the others. They had been walking for what had felt like hours through a deep valley that cut across the realm of Tartarus and still they had not found the avenue that would take them into the Summer Lands.

“How much longer do you think it will be?” she heard Fluttershy whisper to Rainbow Dash. “This place is kind of scary…”

“Chin up, Shy. Everything is gonna be okay. We’ll be out of here with Celestia in ten seconds flat. Besides… look at how awesome I am. I’ll totally protect you,” Dash replied confidently.

Twilight glanced at Pix. “Lead on then, Pix,” she said calmly.

“Of course, Princess. I assure you that it won’t be much longer. The portal is just over the next ridge,” Pix replied, waving for the ponies to follow him. He flew forward of the group by himself.

“Are you sure that we trust him?” Applejack said in a low voice from Twilight’s side.

“I am,” Twilight said with a scowl. “As surprising as it sounds, he feels guilt over what happened to Celestia. I believe that somehow, he found a friend in her. Somepony who didn’t treat him as trash to be tossed aside.”

“Still. I got this eerie feeling that we’re being watched,” Applejack said. “I’ll keep an eye out the back, but I’m worried, Twilight.”

“Thanks Applejack. I’m glad to know you’ve got our backs covered,” Twilight said with a small grin. She turned her head towards where Pix was flying. “I’ll cover our front.”

Her horn glowed softly, casting a small protection spell over the group. If anything tried to breach their perimeter, she would know about it. She moved forward towards Pix, coming alongside him as they breached the top of the next ridge. Her eyes widened as she took in the sight below her.

The portal ring sat in the middle of an abandoned clearing, atop a dais that looked like it hadn’t been stepped upon in centuries. On each side of the canyon were several large statues of various demonic figures. They seemed to point towards the center ring. A path led down into the canyon valley from where they stood. Pix hopped with glee and motioned for the seven to follow him.

“Come, come. This is it, our way to save Celestia,” he said as he flew down towards the portal.

Twilight scowled once more before following. As she walked she felt exactly what Applejack had indicated to her prior. Something was following them. Something was watching them. It was all around them. Not only that, it wasn’t tripping her spell. Her eyes kept fluttering about as they made their way down the path towards the portal. Where was it? The presence she felt was absolutely overbearing, the power of such a thing simply too much.

“Pix! How wonderful of you to join us!” a booming voice echoed from across the clearing, halting the six mares and dragon in their tracks.

The imp froze in midair at the voice. “No… nobody should have known about this place… nobody was supposed to know… especially not you!” he shouted back.

“Come now, Pix. Is that any way to greet an old friend?” the deep voice said with a hint of glee. The voice coalesced into a massive form floating in midair in front of the portal.

The creature hanging there was not natural. Insect legs protruded from its torso, with chitinous scales covering it from head to toe. It’s tail ended in sharp serrated barbs, and its head was vaguely draconic shaped. Deep red eyes set in its forebrow, its mouth opening to reveal several rows of wicked teeth. Large leathery insect-like wings sprouted from each side of the creature’s body. It grinned deeply as several other demonic forms appeared in the clearing, surrounding the group.

“Daramaxis,” Pix said, shuddering at the name of the creature in front of him. “What do you want with us?”

“I smelled something that didn’t belong here,” the demon said. “In fact, several things that don’t belong here, least of all you, dearest Pix. And here I find you bringing ponies into our realm. Ponies and a dragon. I can smell their fear from miles away. Everything in this realm can.”

“Who are you and what do you want with us?” Twilight challenged. “I am Twilight Sparkle, the Princess of Friendship, and you will respect my authority in this place.”

The demon’s red eyes widened and the thing made a sound almost as if it were laughing. “A Princess of Equestria, here?! You have to be kidding me! You really think you have authority in Tartarus? You have no power in this place, Princess. As for who I am and what I want… all you need to know is that I am a major power in this place, and I want your heads for my wall,” it said.

The ponies behind Twilight tensed up as Applejack and Rainbow Dash edged around the back of the group, keeping their eyes solely on the demons behind them. Fluttershy and Rarity gazed watchfully from side to side, while Spike and Pinkie Pie kept their eyes facing towards Daramaxis and the demons on either side of him.

“Please, Daramaxis. As a one-time representative of the great and powerful Daxis… I implore you--” Pix started to say.

“Daxis! Daxis is dead, Pix! I killed him myself! Your once title holds no import in my court. I control the weak of Tartarus, which means you belong to me!” Daramaxis shouted, a mad chortle escaping his throat.

“He belongs to no one,” Twilight said angrily.

“Right! I belong to - wait, what?” Pix said, glancing sidelong at Twilight.

“Pix proved himself a loyal friend to Princess Celestia,” Twilight continued. “In that regards, that makes him our friend as well. And I do not allow anyone to hurt my friends.”

Daramaxis laughed madly once more. “Pix… a demon imp… friends with a pony! Hold still, you might kill me with laughter!” he exclaimed. He looked down at the demons on either side of him. “Take them. Alive, if possible. If not… oh well!”

Twilight scowled as the two demons in front launched themselves through the air at him. Her horn lit, spewing forth two bolts of magic that struck each of them in succession, knocking them away and to the ground where the magic wrapped around in the form of purplish nets. The two demons struggled to move.

Three demons from the rear moved in to attack as well, one of them meeting the butt end of Applejack’s spiked tail, sending it soaring through the air into a nearby rock wall. The two other demons landed in front of Rainbow Dash, snarling loudly. The chromatic mare grinned widely as her body began to shimmer and shake, the crackling energy sparking through the air towards the demons. They yelped as it struck them, knocking them to the ground.

“There’s too many of them!” Applejack called out, slamming into another demon with her bare hooves. “We can’t fight them all!”

Fluttershy squeaked loudly, huddling behind Rarity as a group of slobbering monstrosities came up to them. The diamond sheen mare above scowled, willing her magic into her tail. She whipped it about, releasing crystal shards that struck the beasts, impaling them upon the ground. Pinkie Pie bounced nearby, her innate magical ability somehow creating duplicates of herself that the demons went after instead of her, ending up attacking and destroying each other in the process. Spike stood tall above the others, spouting a gout of flame at any who would come near.

“Pix! Where do we go?” Twilight shouted at the imp, who appeared to be frozen in midair. “Pix! Pix!”

The imp shook his head, turning towards the alicorn. “There is… there is a place… follow me!” He motioned towards a path leading out of the chaos and into the barren wasteland.

“What about the portal?!” Twilight cried out, her magic flickering up once more to send another pair of demons into the rock wall. “We need to get to the portal!”

“There’s no time!” Pix replied frantically. “Daramaxis’ forces will overwhelm this place! We won’t have enough time to invoke the portal opening! We need to retreat and find another way!”

Twilight scowled deeply. No matter what happened, Pix was right about that one thing. There was no time. Frantically she called to the others as they pushed through a small group of the demonic hordes that attacked them. They ran up the path as Daramaxis chortled madly.

“You can run, Princess! But this is my realm, and you can’t hide for long! Follow them!” the flying demon lord crowed. “We shall yet taste their fear!”

Twilight glanced back once more at the portal. She sighed as she faced forward and ran, her horn charging up for the one spell she was the best at. With a loud *pop* the entire group disappeared and reappeared in the center of a barren clearing far away from the ridge. She slumped the ground, panting hard at the use of magical energy she had just expended.

“Everypony alright?” Applejack said immediately.

“Better than alright. Did you see how we just kicked demon butt?” Rainbow Dash crowed. “That was awesome!”

“That was scary,” Fluttershy said quietly.

“Dreadful beasts indeed, but at least we’re all in one piece,” Rarity added. “But where are we now?”

Twilight groaned as she stood up. “I don’t… I don’t know where we are. Pix?”

The imp was nowhere to be found. Twilight’s eyes widened. “Has anypony seen Pix? He was with us, right?”

Before anypony could say anything, a flash of red magic followed by the smell of brimstone erupted in the clearing. A scroll, charred by ashen magic, appeared there. Twilight walked over and picked it up with her magic.

“What is it? A party invitation?” Pinkie Pie asked excitedly. “Is there going to be cake?”

“Stinks of draconic magic,” Spike bellowed as he walked up next to Twilight. “But it’s… it’s different. It’s not a normal dragon scroll.”

“No… it’s a ransom note,” Twilight said with a scowl as she opened it with a flicker of magic.

The imp is ours. Come if you want to save him.

- Daramaxis

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