REMASTERED - Chapter 1 - Into the Unknown
Arc awakens in what appears to be an ancient temple of some kind. He sits up slowly in an attempt to regain his senses.
“Ugh…. my head. I… where am I?”
He looks around but sees no clues as to his whereabouts other than the large sigil on the floor he was lying on and a single large wooden door. Arc notices that he is still clutching the Spear of Hope. Standing up slowly with the aid of the spear he grimaces and sighs.
“I hope Derpy is okay. Although I'm sure Twilight will see to it she and her baby are taken to the hospital.”
He looks at the spear in his hand and up at the wooden door before him.
“Well… no use hanging around here.”
Arc walks through the door to the building's exterior. The landscape is as barren as it is depressing. Terrain similar in color and texture to that of Mars with a sky of blackness stretches out before him. He sighs, clutches the spear tightly, steps forward into the unknown wasteland, and starts walking. Before too long he comes upon a dirt road.
“A road? Great! Roads lead somewhere! Maybe I can find some answers if I follow it.”
Arc walks for several hours until he spots something in the distance. Squinting, he can just make it out.
“Is that a wagon being pulled by bugs coming towards me? Maybe one of the locals here can answer a few questions.”
He heads on the direction of the wagon. It soon stops. A moment later he sees why.
“Who… or what ARE those things?!”
Arc sees a pack of what can only be described as monsters attacking the wagon as the driver attempts to knock them away.
“I have to help!”
Arc rushes to the aid of the driver. Fighting his way through the creatures to reach the wagon, he is surprised to see that the one fighting the creatures is a blue lizard wearing black scale armor and wielding a spear similar to his own.
“Need a hand?!”
The lizard looks over at him. “I’ll take any help I can get right now!”
The pair stand bravely against their attackers, but are soon fighting back to back as their assailants seem almost limitless. As the beasts close in around them for a final attack the lizard turns to him.
“Thanks for trying to help, stranger. But it looks like this is the end of the line. You fought well I’m proud to meet my end by your side. My name is Ember of the Vile Tribe.”
“Name’s Arc. But just to be fair… Ember, I’d prefer to skip the ‘meet my end’ part.”
He turns to their assailants and holds up the Spear of Hope.
“LIGHT OF HOPE!”
A bright light shines forth from the spear as Arc jabs it down into the ground. The creatures turn to mush in an instant. Ember looks to him, wide-eyed.
“How… did you DO that?!”
Arc looks at the weapon, clearly confused. “I don't know. It just... came to me.”
She looks the bloody creature standing before her up and down as she raises an eyebrow.
“Are you all right?”
Arc looks down at her clothes which are soaked with Derpy’s blood. “Don’t worry. It’s not mine.”
Ember turns back to her wagon. “We can talk more about it later. Right now we need to get out of here. Need a ride?”
“I was hoping you’d ask.”
The two climb aboard the wagon which is hitches up to what can only be described as giant beetles. Ember grabs the reigns and the wagon begins to move.
“So where are you from?”
“Earth originally.”
Not taking her eyes off the road before them. “Never heard of it.”
“Equestria more recently. I traveled there via a portal and was living in Ponyville. Can you tell me where we are now?”
“Central Tartarus. It's where Equestria sends criminals it can't handle. The worst of the worst, you might say.”
She points a claw behind her.
“Back that way is the capital city, Vengeance. It's ruled over by the strongest of the demons, King Malevolence. They don’t take kindly to non-demons though. Stay away from it if you want to keep living.”
“Thanks for the heads-up. Um… I just have to ask. What are those things pulling the wagon?”
“Domesticated beetles. Something wrong?”
Arc shakes his head. “Not… really. Just never seen anything like it before.”
“Yeah, me either. But a lot of things here in Tartarus take some getting used to.”
“Like what?”
“The sky for starters.”
Arc looks up. “What sky?”
“Exactly.”
A few moments of silence ensues before Ember looks over to him. “I hope you don't mind me asking, but… who's blood is that?”
“Well… it’s kinda a long story.”
Ember shrugs. “Time is all we have at the moment.”
Arc recounts the story of delivering Derpy's filly and the misunderstanding that led to his being sent to Tartarus.
“I know it's a rather hard story to swallow, but that's what happened.
Ember nods. “Yeah, I believe you.”
“Really?”
“Sure.”
“That’s a relief. Truth be told, I don’t really believe it myself.”
Ember chuckles. “Well at this point you don’t really have much to gain by lying.”
“There HAS to be more to it than THAT!”
“And your body language says you’re being honest.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah. Liars have tendency to fidget of look away when they’re telling stories. You spoke matter of factly and without hesitation.”
“Mind if I ask you something, Ember?”
“Go ahead.”
Arc looks at the spear next to her. “Your weapon. Where did you get it?”
Ember sighs. “That's a rather strange story.”
“If you don't mind telling it, I would love to hear it.”
Ember keeps her eyes on the road as she begins to speak.
“Alright. I’m originally from the Dragon Lands. It’s a country across the sea to the east of Equestria. My father, Dragon Lord Torch, initiated a contest know as ‘The Gauntlet’ to determine who would become the next Dragon Lord. Many competed, of course. But it was a scrawny little dragon named Spike who reached the goal first.”
“I know Spike.”
Ember looks over to Arc, surprised. ”What?!”
“Little guy about two feet tall. Purple scales. Green comb. Nice smile. His friend Twilight Sparkle is the one whom brought me here to Equestria from Earth.”
“Glad to hear Spike is doing well.”
“Sorry for interrupting. Please go on with your story.”
Ember continues. “Right! So, after Spike reached the end and claimed the Bloodstone Scepter he generously gave it to me saying that I would make a much better Dragon Lord than he would. I guess he was only doing it to protect the ponies of Equestria from certain other dragons of lesser moral upbringing. Anyways... when I returned with the scepter my father was furious. I wasn't even supposed to be there, much less win. He banished me from the Dragon Lands until I could prove to him I was a great warrior.”
“Quite the task. So how did you end up here?”
“Well… I wasn't sure where to start, so I just started flying northwest. First city I hit was Baltimare where I decided to stop and rest. While considering where to go from there I was stopped by the Royal Guard. Apparently the bodies of several ponies had been found recently with large claw marks in them. I was questioned by the Captain of the Royal Guard, a jerk named Captain Decimus. Although there was no proof of the deed I was found guilty and sentenced to banishment to Tartarus.”
Ember sighs.
“I wonder how many others can say that they’ve been banished twice in one week.”
“Quite the story.”
Ember chuckles. “Just wait. It gets better. When I was thrown into the portal to Tartarus I expected to fall through and be in Tartarus. Not sure how, but I found myself between Equestria and Tartarus in some kind of limbo shadow world. Some bright looking figure told me I would be a great Dragon Lord one day. When I asked how that could be, now that I was sentenced to eternity in Tartarus, it said this was not the end of my journey and gave me this spear. I awoke in Tartarus and assumed it had all been a dream. That is until I noticed the spear in my claws. Somehow, I knew it was called the Spear of Courage. As long as I wield it I have the courage to do anything.”
She eyes his spear suspiciously. “And yours?”
“This isn’t actually mine. In truth, it was originally wielded by the mare whose foal I delivered. I was holding it when I was banished. It too was given to her by a mysterious creature of light similar to what you described.”
They continue on for some time. Eventually Arc looks over at Ember.
“So, what have you been doing since you came here?”
“Well, after I arrived I went looking for fights to hone my battle skills.”
Arc raises an eyebrow. “You went looking for trouble?”
Ember shrugs. “Why not? Nothing had worked out so far, and I needed the practice. Anyways, I saw some rather large demons harassing some pony-types. It just... made me so mad to see the ponies bullied like that! I threw myself at the demons like a crazed banshee and while I managed to drive them away, I was badly hurt. The ponies I had saved took pity on me and brought me back to their hideout and took care of me.”
“A hideout of criminals?”
“Hardly. The original founders of their settlement were ponies who were banished here hundreds of years ago. Mares and stallions, they have long since passed on. But the hideout is full of their descendants. Their only crime was being born here.”
Arc looks down sadly. “I see.”
Ember sighs. “I help them out by making supply runs. Most of the demons around here don't want to take me on. They probably all heard what I did to their pals.”
She points ahead with a claw.
“That's the hideout. It's usually pretty peaceful. Every once in a while a roaming gang of demons will attack. But they usually move on after a few hours of hitting the gate.”
Arc squints as he looks ahead. “Um… I see they’re pointing at me.”
“So what?”
“With their weapons.”
Ember rolls her eyes. “Just let me handle this.”
Approaching the gates Ember calls out to the sentries overhead. “Hey! Open up!”
A sentry peeks over the gate with a number of his cohorts. The look down at them, spears trained on Arc.
“Step away from the creature, Ember!”
Ember raises an eyebrow. “Uh… why?”
“Because he’s working with the demons!”
Shaking her head Ember facepalms. “That would be a little bit difficult since he JUST GOT HERE!”
Arc nods. “Yeah, I haven’t even been in… what’s this place called again?”
Ember groans. “Tartarus!”
She turns her attention back to the sentries.
“Look, he helped me out back there. Give him a chance.”
“But…!”
“Here’s an idea. Go get Mythic Honor. He’ll be on board with this.”
The sentry suddenly has a pained expression on his face. “We… can’t.”
Ember raises an eyebrow. “So he’s taking a nap. Just nudge him and…!”
“No, no! We can’t because Mythic Honor isn’t here.”
“What?! Where else would he be?”
“He… was testing some new… um…”
Ember clenches a fist. “Spit it out!”
“…bird calls.”
“…what?”
“Mythic Honor was up here testing them out on the wall.”
“And…?!”
“A large Roc flew down and grabbed him.”
“WHAT?! Why didn’t anyone go after him?!”
“He told us he was fine and that it was all part of his plan.”
Ember groans. “And you BELIEVED HIM?!”
Arc clears his throat loudly. “Why don’t you and I just go find him?”
He turns to the sentries before continuing.
“Which way did they go?”
“To the eastern hills.”
Ember shakes her head. “Yeah, that’s where they make their nests. In any case, I’ll go after him. In the meantime open the gate and let this newcomer in.”
The sentry shakes his head. “I’m sorry, but only Mythic Honor can authorize allowing new citizens inside.”
“Are you kidding?!”
“We still don’t know that he isn’t working with the demons.”
Arc sighs. “That’s fine with me. All we have to do is help your friend and bring him back here, right Ember?”
“I’ll handle this myself.”
“But I can help too.”
Ember rolls her eyes. “You don’t even have any armor on.”
“So?”
“Don’t you know what a Roc is?!”
“Guessing it isn’t a stone.”
“No! It’s a foul tempered bird with talons like knives! You should stay here!”
The sentry frowns. “He’d be an easy target for whatever walks by first then, Ember.”
Gritting her teeth, Ember nods and plops back down in the driver’s seat. “Fine. Let’s go.”
Motioning for the beetles to advance they turn toward the mountains as Ember mutters indignantly under her breath.
“Doddering old fool.”
“Is this a regular thing?”
Ember sighs. “Kinda. Well, not the whole being carried away part. Generally when someone is taken by something they’re not seen again.”
“Uh… so are we looking for body parts then?”
“If it was anyone other than Mythic Honor, yes.”
“What’s so special about him? He some bigshot warrior, or something?”
Ember laughs heartily. “Hardly! He’s a spindly old tinkerer!”
Arc raises an eyebrow skeptically. “But I thought you said…”
“He’s got the devil’s luck. Believe me when I say that he’d find a way to not only survive but thrive out there.”
“Then he’ll be okay?”
“Probably, yes. But our settlement needs him back. That and like the sentry said, you can’t get in without him looking you over.”
They drive on for some time. Eventually Ember stops the wagon at the base of the hill and hops out with her spear. Turning to Arc, she frowns.
“Be careful around here. Like I said back there, you don’t have any armor.”
Arc sighs. “Yes, that would be nice about now.”
“Well, if you survive this we’ll get you some. Now follow me and keep quiet.”
Nodding, Arc follows her up the rocky hills. They climb all the way to the top and look around. Ember frowns.
“They’ve camouflaged their nests.”
“That’s new?”
Ember nods. “It means they’ve learned from the past.”
“Avoiding predators?”
“Yeah. Us.”
“Huh?”
Ember grits her teeth. “We come here every so often to hunt for eggs.”
“Taste good?”
“Terrible. But they’re high in protein.”
She looks around again and squints.
“I think I see something over there.”
Arc looks in that general direction. “What am I supposed to be seeing?”
“A bit of blue.”
“I see it. What’s that?”
Ember groans. “The tip of Mythic Honor’s cloak.”
Checking the skies, Ember looks back to Arc.
“I don’t see any Rocs flying around. But it’s expecting too much for them to all be out hunting right now.”
Arc nods. “That and there’s still the matter of the one whom brought him here.”
“Right. Let’s move out quickly but quietly. Can you do that?”
“I’ll try.”
Moving as best he is able, Arc follows Ember toward the spot of blue ahead. As they approach a nest comes into view. An elderly stallion lies with a number of what appear to be baby Rocs. Ember reaches toward him with the butt of her spear and prods the stallion. He opens one eye before sitting up and waving.
“Hey Ember!”
Ember hisses. “Not so loud!”
The stallion chuckles. “Oh, don’t worry about them! Young Rocs sleep like a stream bed!”
Arc raises an eyebrow. “Is that… good?”
Ember shakes her head. “I have no idea. Let’s just get you out of here.”
Mythic Honor turns back to Arc as he hops out of the nest. “Looks like you found a new breed out here, Ember! Never seen on of these before! Some kind of demon/beetle hybrid?!”
“How do I resemble either of those things?”
Ember groans. “Can we please just get out of here before…!”
Mythic Honor turns to her. “…before the mama Roc shows up?!”
“YES!”
“Too late!”
Pointing a knarled hoof, Mythic Honor gestures to a large bird flying toward them at a great speed. Arc gasps.
“Can I assume we should run?!”
Ember nods fervently. “Unless you want to be birdseed, yes! Back to the wagon!”
Running at a feverish pace, the Roc begins its dive. Arc points and calls out the alarm.
“Incoming!”
Ember grimaces as she tosses Arc her spear. “Catch!”
Grabbing Mythic Honor, Ember picks the stallion up and carries him away from the Roc’s talons which whiz by them. He looks around, seemingly unconcerned and points a hoof.
“Hey look, a cave!”
Ember turns to it. “Good enough for me!”
She dives inside it with Mythic Honor as Arc follows mere inches from the Roc’s second attack. Rolling across the floor and breathing heavily, he lets go of the spears and lays there. Ember quickly gets to her feet and grabs her spear as she looks down at Arc.
“What are you doing?!”
Dashing back outside, she brandishes her spear and challenges the beast as she calls out to Arc.
“Get out here an help me!”
“But…!”
“NOW!”
Picking up Derpy’s spear Arc runs back out to join Ember.
“Hurry up and do that, uh… thing from before?!”
“What thing?!”
“Whatever it was you did to get rid of those demons earlier!”
“I… don’t actually know how I did that!”
“Are you KIDDING ME?!”
“I told you it was a fluke back then!”
Ember groans. “Fine! I’ll handle this!”
Spreading her wings, she takes flight and charges the Roc. The pair go back and forth for a few minutes as Arc looks on from the ground. Eventually Ember gains the upper hand and slashes at the beast, slicing its wing. Squawking loudly it retreats back to its nest as Ember flies back to the cave entrance. Arc grins at her.
“That was really…!”
He is cut off as Ember punches him in the face.
“Idiot! Why do you have such a powerful spear if you don’t know how to use it?!”
Arc sits up and rubs his jaw. “Like I told you before, it’s not mine.”
Mythic Honor steps forward. “Now, now. No use crying over spilled oatmeal.”
Ember appears confused. “Spilled… what?”
The stallion turns and gestures with a hoof toward the cave. “It appears that there’s a bit to talk about! Why don’t we go back in there, sit down, have a snack, maybe clean out our ears, and talk it out!”
Arc nods. “Yeah, I was told…”
Ember frowns and pushes past him. “Fine. Let’s sit down and talk.”
Arc and Mythic Honor follow her into the cave. Sitting down, she rests the spear in her lap and frowns as she glances over at Arc whom is looking cautiously outside the cave.
“Do you think it’s really gone?”
Mythic Honor nods. “As certain as I am that chickens come from the moon!”
Ember shakes her head. “I still don’t get you.”
Gritting her teeth, she looks to Arc.
“Start talking.”
Arc turns to Mythic Honor. “I was told by the ponies guarding your town that I needed your approval to enter.”
“Oh, so you want to join the Vile Tribe, eh?!”
“I guess so. Is that what you call yourselves?”
“Yup! Demons came up with it!”
Ember shakes her head. “Right. They’re full of good ideas.”
Arc sighs as he looks to Mythic Honor. “Right now I don’t think I really have any other options.”
“You’re new to Tartarus! How’d you know about us?!”
“I didn’t actually. When I got here I just kinda started walking. At one point I saw Ember here being attacked. Even though I tried to help her, there were just too many. I did… something with this spear and they vanished. Then she invited me to come to your… base, I guess.”
Ember frowns. “That was back when I thought he was a warrior.”
Mythic Honor looks at the spear. “Very nice stick you got there, mister not a warrior!”
“It’s actually a friend of mines.”
“What do you think, Ember?! Should we let this human in?!”
Ember shakes her head. “No way! He might… wait, what did you say he was?”
“A human!”
Arc frowns. “How did you know that?!”
Mythic Honor shrugs. “Just a guess! But I’m right though!”
“Yeah, I guess you are.”
Ember raises an eyebrow. “What’s a human?”
“I’m… um… it’s my species.”
Mythic Honor nods. “Yup. Just a different creature.”
“Well, I say we should part ways with him here.”
“Why’s that, Ember?!”
“One, he’s a weird looking creature. Two, he’s not a warrior. Three, he’d just be another mouth to feed.”
Mythic Honor turns to Arc. “Everypony has to pull their own weight in town! That’s how we survive here! Some ponies cook, some clean, some build and maintain…”
Arc interrupts him. “What do you do?”
The stallion grins and reaches into his robe. Pulling out what appears to be a cloth owl, he holds it up.
“I do macramé! It’s the ancient art of tying lots of little knots to make stuff!”
Ember groans. “Yeah. He’s also the town’s doctor.”
“Alchemist, Ember!”
“Whatever. We can’t be keeping those whom can’t contribute though!”
“Like you?!”
Ember glares at Mythic Honor. “What do you mean ‘like me’?!”
“Remember, when you came here you didn’t do anything either!”
“I was critically injured!”
Mythic Honor shrugs. “Eh, call it what you will!”
“Well, he also doesn’t know a thing about how to survive down here!”
“Like you didn’t when you…?”
Ember roars angrily as Arc scoots away from her. He and Mythic Honor are silent as she works through her rage. Eventually she speaks.
“Fine… you’re the stallion in charge anyways. Do whatever you want.”
Mythic Honor turns to Arc. “Welcome to the Vile Tribe then… uh… what was your name again?!”
“Arc.”
“As long as you can pull your own weight you’re welcome among us!”
He extends a hoof, which Arc shakes. Ember sighs.
“If you two are done, maybe we should head back to town. SOME of us have work to do!”
Mythic Honor stands up and walks toward the cave opening. “Sounds like a plan to me!”
Returning to the wagon, the begin the journey back. Ember turns to Mythic Honor.
“That reminds me. When I got back earlier the sentries told you me you were carried off by a Roc, but told them not to help you.”
“Right!”
“What the heck were you THINKING?!”
“Testing out a theory!”
“What theory?!”
“I thought it would be possible to convince the mother Roc that I was one of her chicks by making certain bird calls!”
Arc looks over. “Is that why they didn’t eat you?”
“Yup! She thought I was a chick!”
Ember rolls her eyes. “It’s lucky we showed up when we did though. You couldn’t have kept the farce up forever.”
“Actually, I was planning to just walk back tonight under the cover of darkness!”
“Well, your calls didn’t work that well. After all she did give chase.”
Mythic Honor nods. “Very true! But fortunately they were only trying to kill you two!”
Arc sighs. “How lucky for us.”
Arriving back at the hideout, the sentries look over the wall and down at the wagon. The sentry looks Arc over suspiciously.
“I see you made it back with this creature and Mythic Honor, Ember.”
Ember groans. “Not the best time I’ve had, but yes.”
Mythic Honor waves. “Yup, I’m fine! And you can let him in! He’s going to be one of us!”
The sentry nods. “Very well, sir. But he will be watched... closely.”
The gate opens and a town stretches out before them. The wagon again moves forward as Mythic Honor turns to Arc.
“Welcome to the Vile Tribe Hideout! It's not much, but we call it home!”
Looking around Arc notices that most of the town's buildings look very old. As if they were cobbled together by the town’s founders. Ember parks the wagon and beckons Arc over to the shabbiest building in town.
“This way.”
Mythic Honor calls out after them. "Come see me in the Town Hall when you're done! I just need to get cleaned up!"
Arc nods. “Thank you. I appreciate the help.”
Ember seethes. “You’d better be worth it.”
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Confuse. Did time pass very quickly for the human or is it that all seasons are mostly just mix into only Unicorn Twilight time?
Yeah... I'm sorry but at this point now I'm confused.
First I'm told that this series was meant to take place in the early seasons when Golden Oaks Library was still standing, but probably after the 'Nightmare Moon' case... Yet not only do we meet Ember, who would go on to be the 'Dragon Lord', but apparently he meets Ember who appears here sometime 'after' Spike won that competition?
I mean, pardon me if I'm coming into this confused, but that was practically Season Six and by then the library would've been burnt down by that point so... I'm just going to focus on this chapter for this canon, I'll get into this later.
*Clears throat* So anyway, it turns out Arc is not only the visitor in this mysterious realm as the next inhabitant he meets is Ember, who also has a spear (Not the Dragon Lord staff, but a... Spear of Courage... Makes sense). So apparently she's been banished to this realm to, but just because she wanted to prove herself to her father. I mean I 'did' wonder how Dragon Lord Torch would react upon this revelation, but at least in the television show they toned it down and made him somewhat understanding. But here... There is NO mercy.
Well... Ember and Arc have each other given they're going to be stuck there for a while.
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This was one event that was changed from the cannon story-line.
The full story behind Ember's banishment is spoken of in a later volume. I can't really say any more about it here for spoiler's sake.
In any case, the Gauntlet was there to make sure only the strongest would claim the scepter. Spike only got it because he and Ember worked together. Had they not, it is unlikely either of them would have made it that far. One might even go so far as to say that by working together they cheated, therefore ruining the results of the Gauntlet.
Man, it kinda feels like arc has no emotions with how he barely reacts to anything. I know it gets better later on but man these early chapters are rough
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I really can't argue with that.
No pictures now? That's a bummer.
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This is due to the fact that I have to pay for each one. 
Pictures are less frequent, but are still present in later chapters.
So Arc got banished to...
Australia.
Fair enough.
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Or New Jersey.
Not sure why that's an internet stereotype though...
Welp, off to Brazil
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Brazil?