Every story needs a good villain. That villain is you. Equestria has gone on for too long in peace and happiness. Now is the time to destroy and/or conquer this land. Now is the time for darkness, and misery. Now it is your time, Dark Lord.
Equestria, the crowning achivement of harmony and balance. The symbol of all that is good, not just to the world, but the entire universe. That will change. A new threat has arisen, and he will bring this world to its knees. That threat, is You! You are destined to become the greatest villain in the history of Equestria! The path to power however, is up to you.
2nd-Person (Partially) Interactive Story.
Featured on May 11th 2014. Thanks!
This is my first FIM fic, comments are highly encouraged as this is interactive.
In the darkness, you can only feel cold, seeping through your very veins. Then you wake up.
You are lying on your back in a dark room. You can’t see anything the blackness is all around you. You rise to your feet and check your surroundings. All you see is endless black.
You feel calm, as if knowing this is not the end, merely the beginning.
Suddenly a white light shines behind you. You turn around to see a doorway; its features are blurry except for the vague outline of an entrance. You feel drawn to it, as if it is beckoning you to enter.
You walk forward toward the entrance, as you step, the temperature becomes warmer. You feel more comfortable, and at ease.
When you walk through the entrance, you feel a wave of power rush though your body. It causes you to pause in curiosity. What force is this; you push the thought to the back of your mind. There are more pressing matters at hand.
When you enter the new room, its features appear clearly. It is a small, white, round, room; centered on a small, black bowl atop a pillar that seams to connect to the floor of the cavern.
Suddenly you hear the entrance behind you slam shut. You turn around quickly to see no entrance. It looks as if there was no opening in the first place. You are now filled with curiosity as to the point of this room.
As you look around the room you notice that the walls seamed to be made of a mix of metal and, from what you can guess, some sort of exoskeleton. You reach out with an outstretched hand and touch the space where the door used to be. You jump back a little bit; the walls are cold to the touch.
“Greetings traveler.”
The sound of the voice makes you snap around to the source. What you find is surprising.
Standing on the other side of the room is a tall equine. It is a long, slender creature. With a light teal coat, and a long white mane with streaks of grey running through it. But unlike most horses you have seen she carries traits that are not familiar to most of her species. Folded neatly on her back are two, large, majestic wings. Holding many silky feathers. And atop her head stands a tall, spiraling horn, ending in a sharp point.
Another distinguishing feature is her eyes. They are almost completely blank save for two very light grey circles that from what you can tell form the irises. It almost appears as if she, you’ve identified the creature as a she from what you can tell by her lean figure, is blind.
That is, if she wasn’t staring at you.
You find it strange how this equine got in this room, there was no discernable entrance aside from the one that just closed. But she came in on the other side of the room. What made it even stranger was the fact that this creature just appeared out of no ware without any smoke, or explosion. She just sort of… arrived.
And you two were staring at each other.
“Welcome, to my home.” She says in a soft voice. Her voice reminds you of a leaf falling of a tree. Her speaking has awoken you from the trance and now you feel inclined to speak.
“Who are you?” you ask. Your voice resonates deeply within the chamber.
She smiles casually and stops looking at you. She then walks toward the bowl.
“I am the Watcher.” She says. This answer only raises more questions.
“What are you?” You ask, more specifically.
“I am the Watcher, I watch over all that was, is, and will be throughout the cosmos.” She says. You are satisfied, momentarily. You look around once again of your surroundings.
“Where am I?” you ask.
“My home, a place outside of existence. Far away from the nuisances of mortals.” She says.
“Why am I here?”
“You come bearing many questions traveler, there was once a time where I could be prone to answer them all, but alas, I can not waste anymore time. For time is a most precious thing.” She sighs. She looks down with her blind eyes in weariness, for a moment. Then she raises her head up to face the bowl
Suddenly her horn is encapsulated in a blue, sparkly, aura. Then the bowl suddenly loses its bottom, it opens up to reveal and endless space within its small confines. Then the room suddenly changes color from white to black and the light in the room fades away except for a growing light in the bowl.
This action startles you, but for only a moment, as you find yourself walking toward the bowl. The light then grows until it explodes into a collection of tiny lights. You realize that these little lights are stars, and you are staring at a small scale version of the universe.
This amazes you, you look up at the Watcher, who shows no emotion, she simply stares at you as she speaks.
“As the Watcher, traveler, it is my eternal duty to observe the universe from a distance and make sure that everything is in check. I must make sure that everything remains balanced, that everything is bound to the rule.” She says, her voice becoming more resonant and powerful.
“The rule?” you say
The equine smiles, “That every action, thought, or word spoken, has an equal but opposite reaction. This rule is what keeps the universe in balance. Every thing that ever happens, must have an opposite, whether it be in the same place, or thousands of lifetimes away, everything has an impact.” She says. As you listen to the Watcher’s words, you feel the awesome impact of how big the universe is, and small you must be. Yet according to the rule that the watcher is describing, you have an impact within this universe, even if you might not know it. You also understand just how powerful and grand this being before you really is.
“Then… why am I here?” you ask. If this being is so powerful, then why are you here?
“The rule must always be upheld, if one action does not have a resulting reaction, then the universe looses balance. There is a great imbalance in the universe. Behold.” She then motions with her great wings.
Suddenly the map begins to soar through countless planets, stars, nebulas, and asteroids.
“This imbalance was detected recently in this system. It is the greatest inequity I have ever beheld.” She says. The map suddenly zoomed in on a small planet near the middle of the universe. It is mostly blue with one large continent on it, but suddenly something struck your gaze. It is surrounded on two equal sides, by what looks to be a moon and a sun. Both smaller that the planet, and both at equal sizes.
“The world is known as Equis, the land upon it is known as Equestria. It is a place filled with many different creatures, most notably the ponies.”
The images turns into a view of equine creatures similar in appearance to the Watcher, but much smaller, and with physical differences.
“There are four types of these species. First: the Earth Pony. They are strong, resilient, and great builders of industry.”
“Second: the Pegasus. Pegasi are ponies with wings, they are fast, sturdy, and have the ability to control the weather of this world.”
“Third: the Unicorn. They have magical horns upon their heads, they are smart, well mannered, and powerful in the magical arts, some more than others.”
“Finally: The Alicorn. They are beings who posses the attributes of all ponies, they are powerful immortal beings who rule over the other ponies with kindness, fairness, and gentleness.” When she finishes the vision closes and returns to the planet view. You look back at the Watcher, wondering if the current from she is in is actually her own.
“Now hold still traveler, I will show you all there is to know about these creatures and this planet.” she said. Her horn began to glow.
Suddenly you feel a great swelling of information in your mind. You close your eyes what you see, is incredible.
The creation of the planet, the rise of the Alicorns, the battle against Discord, the founding of Equestria, the fall of Nightmare Moon, the rise of Ponyville, the return of Luna, and the many adventures of the Main Six.
All this information, all this history enters your mind and suddenly you open your eyes. It’s breathtaking.
“Incredible…” You mumble. The Watcher’s face becomes stern.
“Indeed, but there is a great imbalance in this world, can you guess?” she asks.
It takes you a moment, but you realize the maning of the Watcher’s words.
“The harmony.” you say. The Watcher nods.
“It is through this harmony that Equestria has obtained a universal peace, there is no war, no strife, no prejudice, and no hatred. There is good, but no evil. There is order, but little chaos, not with the reformation of Discord anyway. The universe is not in balance, the rule must be upheld.” She says. You begin to understand what the Watcher is saying. With all this harmony and happiness, the scale of good and evil is tipped to one side, unequal.
“This world needs a force take tip back the scale, to restore the balance. It needs a champion of evil. The greatest Equestria has ever seen. Someone who bring this planet back into the proper course. That person, is you, traveler.”
This revelation shocks you.
“Me! Why not you?” you say.
“I am the Watcher, I only watch the universe and keep it in check, I cannot interfere with mortals.” She says.
“Then why me?” you ask.
The watcher shrugs. “Because the Great Spirits chose you.”
This revelation causes you to pause.
“The Great Spirits?” you ask.
“Beings of old, creators of the universe, the ones who charged me with my duty, as well as you with yours.” She says.
“But why?”
“Because they saw the potential within you for this task.”
“The potential to be evil… that’s charming.” You say with a tinge of sarcasm.
“Good and Evil exist within the universe, traveler. Not here, the Great Spirits do not think ill of you. Be grateful that they have singled you out from the rest.”
“Thanks… I guess.”
“Do not thank me, I had nothing to do with your choosing, I am merely the one who is to give you this mission.”
“What if I refused?”
“You can’t.” she said. An awkward silence fell upon the two of you. After a moment, you sighed and gave in.
“Alright I accept.” You say.
“Your acceptance was never a part of this charge, but it will definitely make things easier.” The Watcher says.
“Gee thanks.” You say.
“Now pay attention.” She says. The Watcher flexed her wings once again and the view of Equis zoomed out till it was about the size of a marble on the map.
“We great beings cannot interfere with the mortals directly, however this is enough. I will send you down to Equis to begin, you are to become the most evil, powerful, and dangerous threat Equestria has ever faced or will face ever again. However you are allowed to chose the path in which you take.” She explains
“What do you mean?” you say.
“You are given three choices on the details of your background.” As she explains this to you, three glowing balls float up from the bowl and hang over the mini planet. One red, one yellow, and one blue.
“Choose the red orb.” She says. “And you will become a ancient enemy from Equestria’s Past. A fallen god who once rose against the Alicorns, but was defeated. You shall return for vengeance against the Princesses, and claim the mantle as Equestria’s sole god king.”
“Interesting.” You say.
“However if you choose the yellow orb. You shall become an enemy of Equestria’s Present. A citizen of Equestria, tired of the rule of the Princesses and wishing for your own power. You would become the greatest terrorist in Equestria. Your spread of fear would be legendary.”
“Fascinating.” You say.
“Of course, if you select the blue orb. You shall become a extraterrestrial threat of Equestria, possessing technologies and powers of the Future. You would be an alien conqueror bent on claiming Equestria as your new prize. Your arrival will be unexpected to the ponies, a great advantage.”
“Remarkable.” You say.
“Now choose, traveler. Now is the time of choice. Past, Present, or Future. Choose…”
The Watcher Nods at you and turns toward the red orb. It begins to grow in size. It becomes brighter and brighter as its size increases. Suddenly the red orb explodes in a flash of white light, you are blinded.
You feel as if you are falling, in a dream, falling toward certain death. Suddenly you land.
The jolt wakes you up, as you jump and let out a startled gasp. You look around to find you are not in the Watcher’s home.
You are in a large chamber with no discernable exit; you are surrounded on all sides by what looks to be bright red mist; that seems to be seeping down from the ceiling. However as you look up, you can see no roof above you, just darkness.
You suddenly hear a sound that catches you off guard. It sounds like a lightning strike. You jump and look toward the source of the sound. In the red mist in front of you, you see red electrical currents flowing through the mist. You look around and notice that the electric currents are only in that one spot in front of you.
You begin to notice that the electric currents are jumping out from the mist, almost as if it was… reaching out towards you. You suddenly feel compelled to touch the lightning.
Your see your arm reaching out to the currents and you begin to walk toward it, almost as if in a trance. You can’t tell if you’re being forced against your will, or if this is of your own accord. All you can tell for sure is the goose bumps on your arms. Then you feel it.
The lightning takes hold of your fingers and travels up your arm, and through your body. You are feeling huge senses of euphoria, you observe the current traveling through your very being, lighting up your muscles and skeleton.
Then the lighting subsides, and the flashes stop. You breathe deeply as adrenaline rushes through your body. You begin to laugh, laugh in excitement. You feel the power within you, waiting to be unleashed. Begging, screaming, demanding, to be released.
“A gift, traveler.” You hear.
You tune around, expecting to find the Watcher, but she is not here. You only hear her voice, echoing within the chamber.
“The power to conduct, and control electricity. This ability will remain with you for all time. Use it sensibly.” She says
“I’m not too sure about using sensibility in what I’m about to do.” You chuckle. You begin to pace in a circle around the mist.
“Never the less, try to retain some maturity. People being bestowed powers of any kind tend to let it go to their head.”
“So you’re saying I shouldn’t go power mad?”
“Of course, individuals drunk on power are arrogant, they make mistakes. They die quickly. You will not make these mistakes. You will find out that our enemies will be more than a match for you.” she explains
“Alright, I get it. So what now?” you say.
“Now for your next choice, you are to become a god, you are allowed to choose what kind of god you want to be. Observe.”
Suddenly the red mist in front of you changes. You stop pacing. The mist opens up a hole in the middle of the wall, about the size of your torso. Within the hole is darkness. You lean forward a bit to examine to see if there is anything to see within the opening.
All of a sudden, an image fades into view. You lean back and fold your arms across your chest. Within the hole is an awesome sight.
A colossal black dragon stares back from the portal. Not directly at you, but in your direction. It’s burning red eyes stare with malevolent intent. It is a huge powerful beast, sitting in a giant pool of lava, atop an active volcano. It almost seams to be bathing within its fiery depths. You then notice tiny shapes circling the dragon. You lean in and squint to see what the shapes really were.
You are shocked to find that they are full grown dragons, circling the huge dragon. That dragon must be over a million stories tall. If full grown dragons are dwarfed by it; imagine how tiny any alicorn would be compared to this monster, let alone a filly.
“Your first choice: Garmaddon the Destroyer. He is the god of Hatred and Tyranny. He is the patron god, and creator of all dragons and reptile creatures.” The voice of the Watcher explains.
The malevolent dragon opens his huge, powerful jaws to reveal a mouth that is lighted by some fiery core coming from within the throat. It raises its head and spews out fire and black smoke from its mouth. It is incredible; it’s like an atomic bomb being funneled out of this awesome creature.
You are quite impressed. Then the view changes. It changes to a dark cave. The walls are covered in a black exoskeleton, similar to the Watchers home, but covered in a layer of slime, and it almost appears to be alive. The whole cavern is lighted by pillars with large green sacks, giving the whole area an eerie emerald glow.
You study the sacks and notice that there are black objects floating within the sacks. As the image zooms in you notice that inside are fetuses. They are unhatched changeling babies!
Then you hear a sinister hissing sound. The images zooms back to show a creepy sight crawl down one of the pillars. You can’t make out what it is until it reaches the floor. But when it does, the sight is quite horrifying.
From the bottom up you see what looks to be a huge spider. You see eight long legs support a long abdomen. But when you look at the base of the abdomen, you see a long, insidious stinger resting on the back. As your eyes travel along the back, you notice two long forewings across the top of the abdomen, attached at the area where the head of a spider would be attached. But there is no head.
Instead where a spider’s head should be, a torso is there. As your eyes follow up you see a skeletal upper body with two long arms on either side of it. With long sinister claw-like hands attached on the ends of them, leading up to the head.
It is a horrifying sight. It’s a smooth, featureless face; with two bright green eyes with slits inside them. Mandibles hang from the area where a mouth would normally be. You see venom drip from the tips of them. The head of the creature is elongated back from its face, and splitting of into three long spikes, giving it almost the look of a demented crown.
Its entire body is covered from top to bottom in a smooth, black, exoskeleton, giving off a creepy shine from the light.
“Your second choice:” the watcher’s voice breaks your trance. “King Syither, the King of the Changelings. He is the creator of the changeling horde, and as such, its master. He is the god of Corruption and Decay.” The Watcher explicates.
The figure lays a clawed hand on the sack and slowly rakes it across the sack. The fetus moves a little bit. You can make out what appears to be a wicked smile upon the creatures mandibles.
You find this choice very interesting. Then the view changes once again, to a new sight. You are looking over a humongous stone labyrinth. The sight stretches on forever in every direction. You can’t see a stopping point for this incredible structure. The view stops on a large square in the middle of the maze. The view zooms in to an intense spectacle.
A large assortment of imps, demons, and wild beasts are fighting amongst themselves in this area, it is almost like a giant death arena. But the vision flows past the carnage toward a raised structure, a throne of skulls and horns. Sitting atop this terrible seat is a large, imposing figure.
A 25ft tall Minotaur sits in this chair. He is a huge creature; he is incredibly well built, wider than a truck. His black coat is unkempt and scarred from battle. His horns curve upward, and are sharpened to deadly points. His breath sends a gust of red steam from his snout. He is wearing shining black armor over almost every part of his body. The armor is covered in intricate carvings of bulls, weapons, and battles. A huge 15ft long double bladed axe sits next to his seat. The blades on the ends of the weapon look so sharp they could chop a diamond in half without a scratch. And you bet it could.
What interest’s you most however is the eyes. The eyes are blood red; they are filled with a deadly intensity. You can feel the sheer rage coming from the beast.
The Minotaur sits, watching the chaos. His face is etched into a snarl, hungry for battle.
Then the watcher’s voice returns.
“Your third choice: Minos, the Raging Storm. He is the God of Violence and Rage. He is the patron god of all Minotaur’s, and wild beasts.” The Watcher says.
The monster suddenly rises from his throne, and picks up his axe in one fluid motion. He lets out a great and powerful roar that shakes the entire labyrinth. The beasts before him stop and look at him in fear. The Minotaur smiles sadistically. Then he lets out another howl, and, quite literally, bull rushes the mob of monsters.
All you get from the view are the screams of the creatures and the splashing of blood across the walls. Then the view goes dark. You are intimidated.
The hole closes back into the red mist. You hear a whiling of the wind behind you. You turn around and look up to see the Watcher, floating in the air and staring down upon you.
“You have seen them traveler, each of these gods are worthy of being your vassal. But you must prove yourself worthy to be their dark soul.” She explains.
“I understand.” You say
“Are you ready to choose?” the Watcher says.
“I am. I am ready to choose my avatar.” You say.
The Watcher nods. “Very well, now make your choice!”
“Very well, understand this, you will not remember any of this when you leave.” She says.
You pause for a moment, look down to consider, then you look back up and nod.
The Watcher nods and closes her eyes. Suddenly they open again, to reveal bright white lights. The light in her eyes intensifies. As the light grows brighter, you notice that the whole chamber begins to light up. Your vision becomes bright.
The whole chamber grows brighter and brighter. You can’t see anything.
Suddenly you feel a tug, and then you are falling again. You feel the bottom getting closer and closer once again. You can only hope it doesn’t hurt.
… It does. You feel the pain of landing shoot through your entire body; you can hear the breaking of your bones. Then everything goes black.
I want you to remember these words, Celestia. That in all your private moments, in all your deepest, darkest nightmares, I will never stop tormenting you. I will always be hanging over your head like a dark shadow. I want you to know that your pain will never stop. Not until I have destroyed everything you have come to cherish. Not until this pathetic world that you love so much is burned to the ground. Not until everyone you hold dear is turned to ash before your very eyes. When this happens, and all that you have built comes crumbling down. Then I will kill you. And the only thought that you will take with you to oblivion; is knowing that all your subjects will live in eternal fear and torment, beneath the shadow of my wings.
You are drifting through space, blackness. You feel weightless, like your swimming through water. Everything is calm and at peace. Suddenly you see it, a portal leading to an unknown location. You float seamlessly through it.
On the other side is a large grassy meadow, filled with flowers and cute little animals, all within the cover of bright green. You see that the meadow is bordered by a wall of huge, snowcapped, mountains to the south. They stand majestically over the field, almost as if watching over the meadow as its protectors. The sun is setting in the west giving the whole pasture an orange coat.
Then you look over to see a single tree in the middle of the field. You fly towards it to get a better look. What you see is a lovable sight.
Two ponies lay beneath the tree. One, a tan mare, the other, a brown stallion with wings, they are nuzzling each other. They must be lovers, you think. You then notice a red and white pick nick blanket beside them, with a big basket in the center. Then you hear laughter, the laughter of children.
You see two young foals, specifically, a brown colt, and a tan-brown filly; running up toward the picnic. They run around in circles and laugh; it is some of the most adorable sounds you have ever heard. The foals tackle each other and giggle with delight. The two adults look at each other and smile warmly. Then the mare leans in on her husband’s chest and nestles him warmly. The stallion leans his head on top of hers, and hugs her in a warm embrace. It is a beautiful sight, the definition of happiness.
It sickens you.
Suddenly thunder roars in the distance, waking the couple up. The children stop laughing, get up, and look toward the south.
Dark clouds seep out from over the mountains. Lightning strikes out from the clouds. The sky is blackened by the dark clouds, and the wind begins to pick up. It carries away the basket and blanket. The children become frightened and huddle next to their parents, who are now standing. Their eyes widening with fear.
Suddenly a great roar bounds from over the mountains, it shakes the earth, the children fall of the hoofs. The mountain crumbles from its might. Then finally, it appears.
A dark shadow rises from the peaks. Its mass is covered by the dark clouds, the lightning turns from its white color to the color of red, blood red. Then the clouds part and the great shadow, is revealed.
A colossal black dragon, bigger than the mountains it came from! It hovers above the meadow, its fiery eyes filled with contempt. It then narrows its slit pupils on the family.
The children scream in fear and hug their parent’s legs for dear life; the two parent’s iris’s shrink to the size of marbles as their jaws drop.
The dragon smiles a sadistic grin on its long snout, baring teeth the size of boulders. It rears its head back and opens its mouth. A fiery core shine from inside it’s throat, and it gets brighter and brighter. The mother and father cover the children from the inevitable, in a pitiful attempt to protect the children. A huge ball of fire grows within the dragon’s mouth. Flames flicker out through the teeth almost as if trying to escape.
Then the dragons head shoots forward, its breath is unleashed. In what can only be described as a storm of fire and death falls upon the meadow, engulfing the entire field with its flames. The family is swallowed by the fire; the earth beneath scorches and melts from the intensity of the heat.
You stop breathing your molten death, and look upon your good work. An entire valley turned from grassland to a scorched wasteland. You feel the heat radiating off the remains of the once life-filled land and laugh. You laugh deeply and loudly. This is only the beginning of the end! This is a sign of what is to come! You will burn this world anew and rule your new shining kingdom over the ashes of its dead!
Ahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!
Then a sound wakes you up.
What? You’re… awake!
Yes! You are awake! Finally! Lord Garmaddon has risen! Well… not yet, but still, after centuries of sleep you are once again conscious. Wait… but why are you awake. Then you hear that sound again. That… clinking… Yes you recognize it as the sound of metal against dirt. Someone or something is digging their way down to you.
The sound is growing louder and louder. You try to open your eyes, but you are still too weak. Yes, even you will admit that you are currently weak, not all gods would admit it. But that is a sign of arrogance, something to use against enemies. You are not “above” admitting that after what must be centuries of being cast down into the earth into what was supposed to be an eternal sleep, waking up will leave you a bit groggy. Besides, something is covering your eyes, most likely rock.
The sound is getting louder, almost as if it was right next to you! Then you hear it, the breaking of the earth. You hear the sound of the rock giving way to weight.
“W-whoa!” you hear.
Someone as fallen into your chamber, how unlucky for them. You tire of this nonsense. You want to see what that entire ruckus was about; you want to see the faces of those foolish enough to wake you from your slumber.
You concentrate hard and focus your power. You feel your dark powers coming back to you already. It takes a little effort, but eventually the desired effect happens. Your vision returns to you… sort off. You are using one of your most useful abilities, your sight beyond sight. It allows your vision to leave your body and travel any ware you want. Very useful for spying on your enemies, as well as seeing where you are when your eyes can’t.
You look around in the dark and notice a gigantic tunnel. It is completely dark, luckily for you, your sight beyond sight allows you to see in the dark as well. You also notice that the tunnel ends at a giant wall, in a peculiar oval shape.
You recognize this as your eye, covered up by what looks to be a large layer of rock. You then notice a pile of rocks to your left. It is in front of a small opening in the cavern that is not naturally formed. You also see the leg of a pony sticking out of the rubble.
Of course, you thought. Ponies, that degenerate race who dares call themselves masters of this world. How long you have hated these equine beasts, with their talk of “harmony” and “friendship”. Even the thoughts of such foolish beliefs leave a bad taste in the mouth. You then chuckle to yourself and admit, it isn’t their fault that they preach theses false ideas. It is in the nature… a nature promoted by their infernal rulers!
The sound of more ponies interrupts your thoughts. A group of ponies make their way through the hole. They are carrying lanterns in their mouths or on a stick.
One of the ponies’ points at the leg.
“There he is!” he says. He then reaches out at the leg, and pulls out a big dark blue stallion, with a cutie mark of a pickaxe.
Ugh, you remember what cutie marks are. How pathetic are a race, who must have the chosen mark of their profession tattooed on their backside! Are they really too dense to find out what they want to do in life on their own? Ha! How sad. When you created your children, you gave them a single purpose, destroy and conquer in your name. Easy to remember.
Then you remember; the thought rushes you in an instant. The dragons! What has happened to them? Surely they must still be alive, even after you were cast down. You know the ponies are too kind to kill an entire species, another quality of their weakness you might add. You must find the dragons and unite them once again to your rule, unless they’re still worshiping you. Which should be the case; you made strict rules that you alone were to be worshiped. But then again, who knows how long you have been gone. When you get out of here you must find the dragons… but first…
The ponies all gather around the stallion, he shakes his head and then sighs.
“I’m fine guys, nothing to fear, just some loose rock that’s all.” He says. Suddenly a light brown unicorn with a cutie mark of a map with an x on it steps forward.
“That loose rock could have given way to a chasm, Steel Hoof.” She says. You chuckle. No, no, you have found something much worse.
“You’re one of our best miners, Steel. We can’t afford to lose anymore ponies on this expedition. You know that.” she says with urgency.
“Yeah, yeah, I’m sorry, Miss Tracker. I’ll be more careful next time. But you know I’m a full grown stallion, not a foal. I signed up for this expedition knowing full well the risks involved, we all did.” He says. The other ponies look at the one known as Tracker. Honesty shines on their faces even in the dark. Tracker smiles and nods.
“Alright then gentlecolts, let’s continue.” She says. An aura surrounds her horn as a paper and quill float out of a saddlebag on her back, and hover in front of her. The quill zips across the paper writing numbers and equations, the unicorn murmurs to her self as this happens. She then turns around to face the group.
“According to my calculations we are around 3,000 miles underground.” She says.
“This mountain sure goes pretty deep, deeper than I’ve ever seen. Wow, this place is huge.” Steel Hoof says.
“Well like I said, the Dreadrock Mountain is no ordinary mountain. Its specific type of rock spreads throughout the bottom of the Badlands; it has many different tunnels and chasms beneath ranging from tiny tubes to… ones a big as this, stretching almost all the way to the Royal Palace. It appears we are in one of those caverns.” Tracker says.
Dreadrock Mountain? You wonder. The ponies then walk over to your rock-covered eye.
“What’s this?” Tracker wonders. She puts her hooves on the rock and examines it.
“Peculiar shape, it’s shaped into some kind of oval.” She mutters.
“Could be lava.” One of the ponies says.
“No, no, lava doesn’t form this way, not at this level, see there is rocky texture here.” she points to specific points of rock that stick out more.
“It must have formed over a long period of time over something on the other side.” She says.
That something is your eye, but you let this draw out. You like to toy with your prey.
“Steel Hoof, could you?” Tracker asked. The stallion nodded and motioned the other ponies to follow him. The ponies all gathered around the formation with pickaxes in hoof, and hammered away at the rock.
You could feel the rock being chipped away as the pickaxes strike them you can feel the tools banging away at your eye. You hate it, you want to reveal yourself. But you wait. You must reveal yourself at the proper time, like a good showdragon.
Then the rock falls away. The ponies back away from the crumbling rock as it falls into dust, revealing your giant, black scaled, closed eye. It is a refreshing feeling. But this is not the moment of reveal. The ponies look upon your eye wonder and astonishment.
Good, your form deserves such praise.
One of the ponies, the same that recued Steel Hoof, leans down and picks up some the collapsed rock.
“I’ve never seen rock that cracks as easily as that.” he says.
“Must be magical.” One of the others says. Tracker doesn’t notice their talk; she is too fixated on your eye. She feels her hooves along your scales and gasps.
“This is incredible, a dead dragon, buried under the earth…” she says. Dead? Oh she will be quite mistaken. “Dragon?” Steel Hoof says. “I don’t think dragons grow that big Miss Tracker.” He says wearily. Not normal ones anyway. Tracker pays no mind to Steel Hoof’s words. She leans against your eyelid and places her head against it and knocks three times.
You feel the knocks; they are small, but irritating. That is it. You have had enough of this charade. Now is the big reveal. Using your internal heat, you focus your heat upon your eyelid. It takes a little bit of difficulty, more than you would like to use your power, but eventually the desired effect works.
Your black scales turn to molten orange, the heat of lava radiates off of them. Tracker’s coat begins to sizzle and burn against your fiery skin. She jumps back in shock. She yelps in surprise more than pain. Some ponies rush to her side and try to cool her off but here eyes focus on yours, as the rest of the party does.
You then let your scales mellow, letting the heat fade away. Now is the big reveal. You reside your sight beyond sight, and your vision goes dark, but not for long.
You open your gigantic eye. It burns with the heat of your core. It lights up the entire tunnel with a shine of flame. The ponies cover their eyes for a bit. But when the hooves reside, you see the fear within them. You move around your iris just to get the hang of it again. Then your focus your gaze upon Tracker.
She freezes, as mortal terror digs its claws into her. You feel a smile upon your snout. Using your strength you pull away from the tunnel, the rock breaks from your great power. The whole mountain shakes from your awakening. You notice as your pull away, there is no rock to your right. You open your right eye to reveal a different sight.
An expansive underground chamber, pure bedrock shaped into a cone spiraling upwards. The whole chamber is lit in a light green. You look up to see that at the stop of the cone is a large, teal, crystal. Providing light to the entire expanse. You look along the edges of the chamber to see tiny holes along the spiral. You recognize these as tunnels similar to where your eye was. This reminds you.
You pull your entire left half of your body from the side, freeing yourself from the earth. You also notice that from your torso down is a gigantic pool of steaming teal water. Interesting place, you thought. You turn your massive head and stare down upon your awakeners. You smile along your powerful jaw, and begin to speak.
“Equine beasts, bid thee thanks.” You begin. Your voice booms with power and malice, it shakes the whole cavern. It enters the ponies’ minds, corrupting their thoughts and dreams as they stare upon your mighty presence. Your power to control minds with your voice, a power that can only be protected against by a strong will, something these ponies obviously lack. But that is expected amongst ponies. You continue.
“For thou hath freed me from my eternal slumber. I shall now reward you, with the honor of being my first meal in centuries.” You say. The ponies’ minds are too corrupted for them to voice any resistance. They simply stare, wide eyed as you reach down to consume them. You hate food that fights back. You take out a large chunk of what was once the tunnel, along with the bodies of the ponies, and begin to chew your meal. The rock melts within your jaw as your chew. You swallow the melted rock and equine and smile.
You stretch your wings out. You feel the satisfying pops within the bones. Your tail rises from the pool and splashes back down. You stretch your entire body ready to break free of this prison, ready to amass your armies and destroy all ponykind!
Then you feel a tug upon your neck, a powerful tug. One that keeps you from escaping. You reach up and feel around your neck to find a metal clamp.
What!? You look down to see a giant metal clamp around your neck, connected to a giant chain reaching down into the pool.
What? A chain, to contain the great Garmaddon!? Never! You grab hold of the chain and pull. It doesn’t budge. You pull again, still nothing. This will not stop you! You will escape. You pull hard, harder than you’ve ever pulled before. You pull using the strength that could move a planet, using a force that could topple mountains. Yet the chain doesn’t give. You stop and lean your neck down to loosen the chain. Then you hold it across your hands and inspect it. You see the texture shimmer in a magical rainbow light.
As you inspect this chain across your hands you notice two other metal clamps attached to your wrists, with chains also leading into the pool.
You roar with anger. It shakes the chasm. You then summon fire from your mouth to burn away at the infernal chains. Your fire is legendary to destroy anything it touches, from bedrock, to stars… to gods.
But you find that when you try to summon your internal flame, you can’t. You ponder as to why but then you realize the problem.
The pool!
You then notice the temperature of the water, its freezing, the coldest thing you’ve ever felt. That’s why it is steaming. To cool you down enough to keep you from using your breath; that’s why it was difficult to even make your scales hot, let alone using your breath.
Then it all hits you. This place isn’t just a chamber, it’s a prison! Your prison. Then you remember it, you remember everything.
Your betrayal, your war against the ponies, the genocide of the gods; all of them except for two of them. The two ponies who imprisoned you within the earth, the two targets of a prime form of hatred deep within you, reserved for only those who have done your great pain. The two “princesses” of the pony race. The vile duo that placed you within this earthly prison. The Princess of the Night, Luna, and The Princess of the Sun; a name full of such regality and goodness that the mere mention of it fills your thoughts with merciless contempt.
Your giant claw smacks the god to the ground. Weak as expected. You sigh in disappointment as you look down upon your enemy.
Morpheus, the alicorn god of the night, lies at your feet. You chuckle. His once magnificent dark blue coat is dirtied and lacerated. His crown is broken, and his mane that once flowed gracefully, carrying many stars and constellations within them, is now hanging loosely, with dimming stars and broken constellations. His cutie mark is the Northern Star, shining in the blackness. It is crying to be stamped out.
As his defeat is inevitable, you take time to look around your surroundings. The Kingdom of the Ponies, the crown jewel in all of Equis; now lies burning.
What was once a majestic valley that stretched from the Southern Sea to the bordering Northern Mountains; is now a fiery wasteland. You look around as the capital city is burning around you. An ocean of buildings, made up of years of architecture and history; burning under a blanket of black. You watch as the flames spread from building to building, dancing to their deadly tune, it is beautiful.
You look in the distance to see your children, the dragons laying waste to the earth, as they should. Dragon’s territory is naturally burnt and fiery. It is why you gave your children their breath, to carve out the land for their own. You are standing upon the ruins of the palace of the monarchs of the ponies. What was once the majestic seat of the king and queen, atop a grand hill. Is now just a couple of broken pillars, and burnt earth. All this destruction, all this chaos, by your doing.
You look down to the fallen god and laugh.
“How sad dear Morpheus, all this loss of life. I could almost cry, that is, if I had remorse.” You say, mockingly.
Morpheus struggles to his hooves, blood trickles down his legs. He coughs, and looks up at you with hate.
“Garmaddon, thou have no honor!” he spats out.
Your laugh echoes through the valley.
“You cannot speak in the royal tongue to me Morpheus, only kings are allowed. And as you can see, I have deprived you of your land, and your subjects. You’re no more a king than an insect, Morpheus, which is what you are.” You say. Your eyes narrow menacingly on those last words.
“Vile creature! It is not land or subjects that makes me king. It is the will to serve and protect my people-!” he cannot finish his sentence before you slam your hand into the ground and pin him under your claws. He grunts in pain. His head and front hooves stick out from your fingers.
You lean your mighty head down to his level.
“Something you have failed at, it seams.” You say, your hot breath cinders his face.
“GET AWAY FROM MY HUSBAND!” A familiar voice cries out.
You turn around quickly enough to see a bright yellow light fly at your face. It smashes against your jaw, your neck cranes to one side from the blow. You groan in pain as your head swings around to the right. You shake your head and let the pain dull. You turn to face your attacker, hovering behind you.
Queen Aurora lingers in the air. Her coat is pure white, while her mane is a combination of all the times of day, ranging from dawn to twilight. Her cutie mark is that of a galaxy. She is battered, burnt, and bleeding. She was once a being of such composure, now driven to anger so primal, that anyone else would have been intimidated, but not you.
She is breathing deeply, her eyes blaze with the furious light of a thousand suns. All absorbed by your sadistic grin.
“So glad you cloud join us, Lady Aurora. I was hoping you could be here. Now you can join your husband in death.” you say.
“The only one dying today is you, black dragon!” she screams. Her horn then lights up to a white aura. You can feel the air flowing towards her, as if being absorbed by her power. She fires an intense beam of pure light at you.
Your great wings quickly flex outward. An orb of transparent blackness shields you from the impact. The beam hits the shield with great force. But it holds. Your power is much stronger than hers. Unlike her, who has been fighting your army of dragons, and monsters. You have been saving your energy for this fight. Of all the gods you have faced, these two would be the most challenging. So you sent your minions to wear them down. This strategy has proven to be most affective.
Your wall of darkness holds supreme against the beam of light. Aurora seams to be putting all of her power into this attack. She is not only weakened, she is desperate.
“No Aurora stop!” Morpheus cries from under your claws. You press down on his lungs to silence him, he cries in pain. You stare intently at the queen, watching her waste her energy. You feel the pressure of the shield fade, the beam of light is weakening.
Then the beam stops. Aurora gasps, her horn is steaming from the spell, and she is tired. That last attack exhausted her stamina. Her eyes are wrinkled and tired. Her wings beat weakly, barely supporting her. She drops a little with each measly wave.
“So misguided.” You say. You summon a bolt of dark lightning down upon her. She screams with pain as the bolt hits her.
“No!” cries Morpheus, as his beloved falls to the ground. She lands with a solid smack against the desecrated earth, smoldering. You reach out towards her with your left hand and sink your claws into the ground around her.
You then drag her towards you along the ground, leaving giant claw marks in the earth. You pull her next to your other hand, so now the two gods can face each other. Morpheus looks towards his fallen wife.
“Aurora…” he gasps. Aurora eyes flicker with some life as she awakens and meagerly looks at her husband. Tears stream down both their faces, pooling in the dirt by their heads. They stare into each others eyes, as if they were speaking through them.
“How sentimental.” You mutter. You summon your internal heat within your scales. Your palms grow bright red, and the two beings begin to burn and scream. Their misery fills your dark soul with delight. You laugh at their pain.
“I have waited so long for this moment, my little fleshy friends. I have to say I remain, disappointed. I expected more of a fight from you two. But I shouldn’t be surprised, I mean, you are after all, just ponies. Perhaps I could have some more fun with the other two.” You say.
“What?” Morpheus cries under the searing heat. You stop the torture of your scales and lean down to speak to the elder alicorns.
“The children, Morpheus. Where are they?” you ask in the most polite manner, as you squeeze the two in your grip.
“I’ll never tell-ARNG!” he screams. The heat returns, hotter this time.
“You’ll never find them, monster. They’re far gone by now.” Aurora says defiantly.
Then you sense something, a powerful presence heading toward you. You look up to see in the distance a blue streak from far away zooming at supersonic speeds, gaining power as it gets closer towards its target, you.
“It appears that you are wrong your majesty. Your daughter has arrived.” You say.
The two ponies look up to see the streak rushing toward the three of you. Their faces turn to hopelessness. You smile and brace for the impact. Then you notice something. The daughter, just one. There was another, you remember. Where’s the other one?
Suddenly you feel an even more powerful presence. You can feel the weight of it. It’s… its right above you! You snap your head to look up.
A bright flash of light hits you dead in the eyes before you can raise your shield. The pain is intense, you can’t see anything. You scream in pain and let go of the ponies beneath you. You raise your hands and rub your eyes. As your vision returns you see the blurry streak of blue headed right for you.
“W-what the-” is all you can say before you feel the greatest gut punch in your life. All your breath is knocked out of you, as you fly back from the force of the blow. Unfortunately, you are sent failing over the side of the hill, a 100 foot drop. You feel the wind soaring past you as you descend, you try to flap your wings, but it is no use upside-down.
You crash into the burning buildings below with a great boom. Your landing shakes the earth; the shockwave topples all buildings within 100 miles. Your back is riddled with pain. You growl in anger as you look up to face your attackers.
Floating above you is the two you have been searching for. The dark and powerful Luna, her coat is not as dark as her father’s, but her mane still swirls with stars. Her cutie mark is a shining crescent moon surrounded by darkness. And the bright and holy Celestia, her coat is pure white like her mother, but her mane is that of an amalgamation of many different colors. Upon her backside is the mark of the sun, shining radiantly. Together, they loom down upon your form with anger, and disgust.
“Be gone Garmaddon! If you wish to fight us then so be it!” Celestia calls down to you.
You snarl and roar against them. How dare they strike you down!
“Face my flame! Spawn of the day gods!” you roar. You summon your powerful breath, and spew its fiery force toward them.
But they are too quick, they zoom around the flame, and down towards you. You swing your arms in attempts to swat them away, but they easily dodge your attempts.
They simultaneously punch you on ether side of your jaw joints with the force of a hurricane. It rattles your head, and your flame breath subsides. A cloud of smog flies from your mouth, and lava drools from your teeth. You cough up the magma, and snarl.
The two accursed twins fly up above and lock horns. They light up as a powerful spell is summoned. They fire a twin beam of light and darkness straight at you.
You roar and quickly flap your wings, and with a powerful swoosh, fly above the beam. You quickly rise to their level in the air. They try to follow you with the beam, but they are to slow. For the concentration for such a spell impedes their momentum. You rise above them and summon another force of breath. However, it is not your fiery breath, but rather a giant molten ball of fire and death forming in your mouth.
You fling the ball of death, not at the siblings, but over them, as it heads straight for their parents, still lying weakly upon the ground. Luna quickly notices this, and let goes of the beam, it quickly evaporates. She zooms down to protect her parents.
Celestia turns back to Luna.
“Luna!” she cries. But Luna could not hear her.
Luna lands in front of her parents, holds out her two front hooves, and lights up her horn in a dark aura. The fireball, ten times her size is held in an aura. But she is struggling against the weight of the molten orb.
Perfect.
While Celestia was distracted; you reared back your fist, and summoned your dark lightning to charge your palm. When the princess turns back it is already too late.
Your electrically charged fist smacks her with full force, Celestia cries as she is sent flying down towards the fireball. She only has enough time to create a minor shield before she impacts the sphere. Luna senses the oncoming force and can only wince her eyes.
Celestia slams into the orb, causing it to explode into a great ball of fire and magma. The explosion rips into the whole face of the hill, sending an avalanche of rock and lava into the city below.
You gaze down maliciously at the destruction you caused. As the smoke and dust clear, a large crater is left from the impact. Within the crater are the shaking forms of the two goddesses.
They are trying to get on their feat. Celestia has wrapped her hoof around Luna and is trying to help her get up.
“Sister…” Luna stutters.
“Come on Luna… we have to get up.” Celestia says, fright is well within her voice.
Now they know who they’re dealing with.
“Celestia… Luna!” calls a voice. The sisters look up to see Morpheus and Aurora standing above at the edge of the crater.
“You shouldn’t be here! Leave now!” Morpheus calls down.
“We won’t leave you here alone!” Celestia yells.
“You were supposed to evacuate the citizens!” Morpheus yells. You raise your brow. Morpheus tenses up at his slip of the tongue.
“More citizens?” you say.
Yes, you look up to the northern mountains, far away. You sight beyond sight zooms in on them. It zooms in to show a massive horde of ponies climbing the mountains, carrying wagons and carts full of personal items. They are covered in rags, and are freezing in the stinging cold.
“Well, well, well Morpheus, trying to send the children to look after the pesents?” You say. The royal family looks up at you.
“What a shame, they’re all so cold in those lonely mountains. I’ll have my children warm them up when our business concludes here.” you say.
The family only looks at each other. You sense something is wrong. You use your powers to concentrate on them. You pick up muffled voices in your head; you realize that they are communicating mentally. You focus your hearing even more to hear them.
“We can’t keep this up forever, he’s too strong.” Morpheus says.
“What do we do? There’s no way we can defeat him, unless…” Aurora says.
“No!” Celestia and Luna say.
“It’s the only option!” Aurora says.
“But it might not work!” Celestia says
“It’s our only hope.” Morpheus says
“In the dungeon, go!” Aurora says.
“Nothing can save you from my wrath Morpheus!” you call.
The family looks up at you, but for only a moment. Morpheus and Aurora look down at the siblings and nod. Luna and Celestia nod back. Then the king and queen suddenly fly straight at you.
The speed of their flight catches you off guard, long enough for them to simultaneously punch you in the face. The blow knocks your head back. You look down to see the siblings flying towards the ruins of the castle. Whatever they’re doing, it’s not good for you.
You try to fly towards them, but a great blow from the back of your head sends you flying into the crater. Your crash cracks the earth, and sends some loose boulders down the cliff. You look up to see the two monarchs hovering above you; the lightning behind them gives them a grand silhouette.
“Your fight is with us, Garmaddon.” Morpheus says.
You roar in anger.
“My fight is with your entire race!” you yell. You look back to see the sisters entering the ruins. You turn around, and quickly send a fireball hurling at the structure.
It impacts the ruin with a satisfying explosion. Rubble and flame fly every ware. You look back to the couple; a look of horror is etched in their faces. Your fire has killed many a god, and it just claimed two more.
“All is lost.” Aurora mutters.
You smile, but for only a moment.
You flap your wings, propelling you towards them. Before they can recover their senses, you raise your arms and smack the two of them to the ground. But they quickly recover, and before they can hit the ground, they fly back up to meet you.
You grimace and look up to the dark clouds. An idea forms in your head. You flap your powerful wings and soar into the clouds. They may have wings, but the sky is your territory. You look down to see them following you; the death of their siblings must have disbanded reason from their heads. Now all they want is vengeance. They will not be given their wish.
You fly up into the skies. The darkness surrounds you; flashes of red lighting lighten up the smog. You are not afraid, you control this lightning. You stop and hover within the clouds, waiting.
Then you sense it. You look forward into the darkness, you sense Morpheus. You use your sight beyond sight to locate him. He is hovering, looking for you, sweat drips from his brow like syrup. Once you have pinpointed him, you unleash the storm.
Thousands of red lighting bolts are sent through his body. He screams loudly, angrily, this is his final hour. Then your senses pick up the other.
Aurora is speeding towards you from behind your back. You won’t fall for the same trick twice.
You swing your mighty tail across just as she is within its range. You swat the god away like a fly. Before she can descend you swoop down and grab her in your left hand. You then stop the lightning barrage on Morpheus, he falls. You catch him in your right hand. You summon the heat within your palms and they sizzle. You apply the heat so that the pain is so intense they can't even scream, only let out pathetic gasps.
“Time to die.” You say.
You swing your arms back, preparing for the incoming impact. Then swiftly swing them forward. You slam the two gods between your palms with the force of an earthquake.
The shockwave is so powerful that the clouds are parted and blown away. They sky clears to a starry night, and a shining full moon. You look up to the sky, them you open your hands.
The two gods lay on their backs; their legs are sprawled and broken. Smoke rises from their bodies and disappears. They are not moving, neither breathing. You look up at the sky again.
Let the heavens weep.
You look back to the bodies are about to let them drop when you sense a familiar presence.
No…
You look back up to see Luna and Celestia fly above you. They are badly burnt, but still alive. They are carrying a floating chest behind them. They look down upon the carnage, in dismay.
“We’re too late…” Luna says.
“Stay strong Luna, we have to be strong… for them.” Celestia says. Her voice is wobbly and not confident at all.
“I’m afraid you are too late my little ponies.” You say. “Accept your demise willingly, and without struggle; and I being a merciful lord, shall oblige you with a quick death.” you say. You can feel the hopelessness within their souls. There is nothing left within them. They are defeated. Finally, at long last, you have won-
“Tia…”
What the? You look down to see your enemies. Aurora’s eyes are half open, and Morpheus is breathing again.
“What!? Still alive!?” you yell.
“Use the elements…” Aurora says. A glimmer of hope appears in Celestia and Luna’s eyes. They’re body language change to positivity.
Bah! They will die along with their parents just like the gods before…
Wait…
What’s that?
That… power…
Yes, you look at the chest. You couldn’t feel it at first, but the feeling of hope… gave it life. Yes…
It feels alive, like a heartbeat, radiating with power. Raw, unlimited power. You haven’t felt this amount of power since… since…
Oh no.
Then you feel it, a stinging grip on your molten heart, you recognize it. You could feel the icy cold grip of fear within you. Your face did not hide this fact, in fact, it showed it.
The princesses seeing your face, and suddenly feel the power within the chest. Look at it with grim determination.
“No.” you say in disbelief.
When the chest opens, and the contents are removed. Your fear is confirmed.
“The Elements of Harmony…” you say.
The Elements of Harmony, six powerful gems that fell to Equis thousands of years ago, before the creation of the mortals, before the birth of Luna and Celestia, when you were younger; almost at the beginning of time.
Born from an unknown place, when it fell to Equis, the gods had no idea what to do with them. They only clue was a stone tablet that read an ancient poem. A poem you know well
When evil spreads throughout the land, all will fall against harmony's hand for unbridled chaos must be mended by a chosen few, born to end it and so they must become warriors of light to protect others, who cannot fight
When the gods discovered this, they declared it a prophecy. When an evil legion of demons attacked Equis, they nearly destoryed all life on the planet. But when all hope seamed lost, the elements called to you. You and your fellow gods used the elements to seal the rampaging horde of demons within Tartarus. After the battle, the elements became stagnant, and unusable. They were sealed away, only to be used by the chosen few. After all this time, you remember how powerful those gems were.
The power you feel now is the same one you felt all those years ago. And it fills you with dread.
“It… cannot be!” you yell in terror.
The six crystals float around the sisters; you remember each one, representing all the elements of harmony.
Red, the element of Loyalty
Green, the element of Kindness
Teal, the element of Laughter
Pink, the element of Generosity
Orange, the element of Honesty
And worst of all: Blue, the element of Love.
All these values, is everything you are not, everything that you stand against. But this, this is the most ultimate power in the universe.
And it is being used by your enemies!
The crystals float around the sisters, they close their eyes. A bright light surrounds them, the crystals light up.
No… they can use them!
Then the two siblings open their eyes. They are filled with white light. You can feel the power radiating off of them.
They open their mouth and speak in unison, in a voice more powerful than the royal voice.
“Garmaddon, Lord of Dragons. You are accused of the greatest crimes in existence: The grave misuse of your powers. The genocide of every non draconic race in Equis. The spread of chaos and destruction across these lands. And worst of all, The betrayal and murder of your fellow gods.”
You have had enough.
You unleash a torrent of the hottest flame you can breathe out, flame that could completely kill any god, ten times over.
The flames engulf the two beings and cover them. You continue to send them flames upon the two. You can keep this up forever.
Then, the unthinkable happens.
An orb of a force you cannot comprehend pushes back the fames.
What! Impossible! No one can fight back against your breath, not even a god. You try to put the pressure on. But it has no use. The princesses push back the fiery death, so much so that it simply flows around them.
No, NO!
You keep up the flames, in desperate hope. But you have already crushed the hopes of so many, that hope has abandoned you.
The two siblings look down upon you, ready to cast their judgment.
“The punishment is eternal imprisonment.”
Then a light shines brightly, just above their heads. You can hear the energy summoned by this powerful spell.
Then suddenly, a giant rainbow fires from the light.
Directly at you.
It parts the unholy flames away, headed straight for you. You try to dodge, but it’s too late.
The rainbow hits you with a strength that you’ve never felt before. The pain is intense; it is not what you expected. It is a great icy chill, so cold it burns you. Morpheus and Aurora fall from your grip.
You scream and roar, as the rainbow engulfs you. Propelling you downward at increasing speed. You feel yourself thrashing and wailing, trying to fight back. But you can’t. You're powerless to stop it.
You plummet from the sky, like a falling star. Roaring in pain, all the way down.
When you hit the earth, the impact is an explosion. The earth literally parts around you, to reveal molten magma below. What was once your friend is now a potent enemy, as it surrounds you within its embrace. Your body sinks into the core, you can feel yourself descending.
Quickly thinking you use your sight beyond sight to see above the earth.
Your landing spot has now become a sea of lava, spreading and rising throughout the city, taking it with you. Up above the earth, the gods hover.
The powers of the elements let go of the princesses, they close their eyes and gasp. They nearly fall, if not for their parents rushing to their aide. They hold them up and stop their descent.
The elements, seemingly with a mind of their own float back into the chest, where it closes.
Morpheus and Aurora burned, broken, and bleeding. Hold their two tired daughters by the shoulders. The princesses look up and open their weary eyes.
“Is he gone?” Celestia asks in a tired voice.
Aurora begins to break down. She sniffs and huffs as tears form in her eyes. She smiles, along with Morpheus, who is also letting tears run down his face.
“Yes, my child he is.” Aurora says happily.
“The elements worked?” Luna asks, also tired.
“Yes Luna, you and Celestia have done the impossible. Garmaddon the Destroyer is gone, forever, he will never bother us again.” He says.
WHAT!? Gone? Forever!
NEVER!!!
You summon all the strength you have within your body, all the powers of your godhood. You will not be subjected to this! They will not get away!
Using strength found from adrenaline and all the powers of evil, you manage to break from the sinking prison.
You erupt from the sea of lava, with a great mighty roar. Drawing anger from the deepest corners of your black heart, you fire an intense bream of red light from your mouth. A power you never knew you had, but you were too blind with rage to notice.
The princesses, while tired, still were quick enough to jump out of the way. Morpheus and Aurora however, where swallowed by the blast.
“NO!” Luna screams as she lunges to reach out towards her parents, Celestia quickly grabs her sister and holds her back from the beam.
The two can only watch as the silhouette of their beloved parents, reaching out to them with an expression of shock entombed on their faces. The sister’s watch horrified and shake, as the silhouette of their parents fade away within the blast.
Then a force stops you from using your beam. A giant metal clamp wraps around your neck and locks with a loud clank. It immediately jerks back your neck, causing your beam to evaporate, and your neck to be pulled back. Your feel yourself being pulled into the lava. You look down and realize that your imprisonment is inevitable. You look back up to see the sisters, shaking in shock. They cannot yet comprehend that their parents were killed just before their eyes. Their eyes are dry, as they are too shocked to even shed tears.
“CELESTIA! LUNA!” you roar savagely. Your shout awakens them from their trance, they look down at you. Their faces filled with sadness and fear.
“I curse you!” you yell. “By all the black fires of Tartarus I curse you!”
You feel your torso sinking beneath the flames.
“I will not rest until you are dead, and all ponies are extinct! I will return and when I do! I shall unleash hell upon Equis!”
Your neck is almost completely submerged.
“The blood of innocents shall rain from the sky! I will unmake this entire planet before I’m done with you! Everything you will ever learn love will be ripped from your soul!”
Your head’s almost submerged.
“You will look into my eyes and know my name! GARMADDON, THE DESTORYER OF WORLDS!"
Your head sinks below the molten earth.
Your sight beyond sight shows you the princesses. They simply look at each other and hug. They weep loudly upon each other’s shoulders, in mourning for all that has happened to them and all that they have lost.
Good, they can start with that.
You sight fades. All that anger, all that rage. Has left you infinitely tired. You feel the darkness take you, as your mind drifts off, to dark dreams.
You sit in the pool, pondering your situation. You have been imprisoned for who knows how long in this chamber. You look around your surroundings, noticing every detail and every tunnel along its walls.
Destroying this place was out of the question. The real thing holding you here was the chains. If you destroyed this cavern, the only thing accomplished would be that you would still be imprisoned underneath rubble. Not a very comfortable situation.
You look down at your chains and growl. These infernal bonds cool your wrists and neck with their metal coils. As you inspect your shackles you notice that they are carved cleanly, with not a scratch on them. You run a claw against one. No marks are left.
Damn.
It will take some powerful form of magic to destroy these cuffs.
Then you notice something, a glimmer, a spark. It shines in the light at an angle.
You roll your wrist over to see the glimmer more clearly. What you see is startling.
On the metal clamp is a small symbol; small, yet large enough to recognize.
A little sun, with fires dancing off of it. Your eyes widen. This is the mark of Celestia’s cutie mark.
Again that word disgusts you even from thinking about those marks. Then it hits you.
You look over to your left wrist, looking for any sign to confirm your theory. Then you see it.
A small crescent moon, shining in the light.
You shake with anger. Quickly you look down into the pool, gazing in the reflection looking for any mark. You see a small heart in the reflection. You don’t understand what that represents, but you know one thing. These chains across your wrists are connected to the two beings who cast you down.
You focus your magic on the chains, sensing for anything. Sure enough you feel a positive force within them, beating like a heartbeat.
Celestia and Luna have somehow infused their life-force into these binds!
So, in order to break these chains… you have to break them.
Something easier said than done.
But first you need to get to know the world. Who knows how long you slept. You close your eyes and focus. Your sight beyond sight activates. You intend to find out what is going on above ground in your absence.
Wait… something’s wrong. You can’t leave. You can’t extend your sight beyond the tunnels. Something’s blocking you…
The crystal!
You look up at the crystal. Its magical glow shines over the cavern.
So, they really thought ahead when entombing you. You look down at your chains. You can’t reach high enough to grab the crystal… at least not with your claws.
You hoist your tail up from the pool; it rises toward the crystal like a serpent, swaying back and fourth. It wraps itself around the base of the emerald crystal, barely able to get a hold.
You tighten the grip and pull. It is difficult as the crystal is embedded in the rock, and you are pulling using an appendage you’ve never pulled with before. It takes a bit of your godly strength before you feel the rock come loose. But eventually it succumbs to your strength and is released with a quick thunk. Bits of loose rock fall into the pool as you drag the crystal down to you. As the source of light is lowered, your shadow is cast across the entire chamber; and the whole area darkens a bit. You hold it in front of your face and examine its features.
It is finely cut, with smooth edges on all sides. There isn’t a singe crack in the entire stone. This would be a rare delicacy for your children, if not for one thing.
The magic within it, this artifact is full of bright positive energy, meant to combat your hatred and evil. This thing is a barrier to all dark magic; it pulses with light, almost as if it were alive.
Your tail begins to tighten itself around the shard. You squeeze it with a powerful force. You summon your raw hatred and dark malice, and pour it into the crystal. While it is meant to combat your power, it can only take so much. This was evil in its purest form, nothing can last against it. You also heat up the scales around the gem, to put even more pressure. The crystal fights back strongly, it takes tons of effort. You frown in concentration; you focus completely on the destruction of the crystal.
Eventually, your work takes its toll. You see the crystal become dimmer and blacker. The light in the room is replaced with darkness. Pure evil is volatile to all forms of life and goodness, and it goes to show. The once beautiful emerald crystal has turned into a black shard of hatred. It easily cracks under the pressure of your mighty tail. With one last tight, it breaks into pieces and falls into the pool.
As you look down you notice that the pool is giving off a light of its own, a light green glow. It gives the entire chamber an eerie glow. It suits you better anyways. Now that the barrier is gone, it is time to evaluate your situation.
You focus once again with your sight beyond sight. Flowing past the layers of rock to find above surface grounds.
Then you see the skies, or more specifically the clouds. Black clouds to be precise. You look down to see a huge mountain, made from black stone. It is carved sharply, with many different natural spikes jutting out from the rock. Yet the stone looks smooth as can be. It glistens with malignant magic. The very top of the mountain is covered by the black clouds. You notice the clouds flow away from the top, almost as if the mountain is spewing out endless smog. The whole structure looks like a giant ominous castle.
Dreadrock Mountain, huh? You can see why. So this place is your prison. You look around to see that it is surrounded by a barren black wasteland, with not a sign of life, nothing but black gravel stretching for miles, interesting. It seams that the wasteland ends, being surrounded by a wall of mountains, serving as a barrier from the outside world. Even when imprisoned beneath a mountain, your influence spreads across the land above. Take that, elements!
Then you remember. The elements! They must still be around. You must find them and remove them, so that you can properly take revenge upon those sisters, without worry. But you’re still imprisoned. Hmm…
Wait, those chains were connected to Luna and Celestia’s life force. If you could somehow find out a way to weaken them, then perhaps you could weaken the chains enough to break them. But what about the chain around your neck? You will have to look into that further.
You should explore this world and find out what has gone on since you’ve last seen it. Learn about the new pony society, their possible strengths, but also, their weaknesses. Understand how the sisters have changed Equis. You know for certain that they are still in charge, as powerful as your dragons are, they can’t kill gods.
Wait! The dragons! Your children, what has become of them? They couldn’t have died off; the ponies are too self-righteous to commit genocide. But where have they gone? How have they survived without your leadership? You must bring your mightiest warriors back if you wish to conquer this world. Especially since you can’t take an active part in the conquest…yet.
Then you ponder… your conquest. The ponies have had time, time to adapt to a changing world. Perhaps becoming much stronger and more able to defend themselves than before. Perhaps it is time to step up the game. Now may be the time to call in a little extra help. Some demonic help.
You didn’t think about going to Tartarus when you last declared war on the gods. You always thought the demons of the black pit were below you, and the fact that many years before, you and your fellow gods cast them down into that realm. Bitter enemies do not make the best allies. Plus demons are natural tricksters, always signing deals and stabbing allies in the back on a daily basis, they even do it to themselves. But you are much more than a demon; they could never defeat you in combat. But in Tartarus…
But you are not actually there, are you? And besides, your aims are quite similar to theirs. For they have as deep a hatred for the ponies as you do, perhaps even more. Perhaps if you were to come to some sort of temporary agreement, then they could join your dragons. The legion of the dammed could be quite a useful ally, if kept in check. They would make suitable replacements as ground troops after the monsters you had to use last time.
Yes…
You have your priorities, but which of them to choose first.
Finding out what has happened since your imprisonment, finding your dragons, and regaining their loyalty, or recruiting the demons of Tartarus for your army.
You fly over the pony kingdom, Aurora’s sun shines brightly upon your dark scales. You close your eyes, and breathe. The air is cool, and clear. A slight breeze brushes your long face.
Ah the gift of flying, a wonderful ability. As long as you can remember, being able to fly is one of your favorite things to do. Even for as long as you have lived, that great feeling of adventure never left you. It’s a beautiful day for a flight. Aurora must have gone out of her way to make the sun shine extra radiantly. The pegasusi have been called of from weather duty today, as have all ponies in the kingdom. This is a special day for them.
Morpheus and Aurora have given birth to two daughters, in just the span of ten hours no less. This is a monumental occasion; it was unheard of for a god to give birth to an actual child. Even while you created the dragons, and refer to them as your children, you never thought of actually conniving one.
It was almost as shocking as when Morpheus and Aurora came out with their intentions. Before the birth of the princesses, the rulers of the pony kingdoms proclaimed a great decision.
They decided to… die.
When they came out to reveal their intentions to age away and die naturally, it came as a shock to everyone; even the buffalo or the draconequuses didn’t see it coming. Then they went on to say they intended to have children to lead after they’re gone. Needless to say, it was quite an astonishing day.
And now, 9 months later, here you are. Flying toward the castle, the capital of the pony kingdom, to see the newborn gods. A grand celebration was to be held in the castle and all were invited to come, not only you, but the rest of the pantheon as well.
You listen closely; you can hear the chapel bells chime down on the earth. You open your eyes and look down upon the city. The cobble buildings shine in the sunlight. The streets are filled with ponies. All of them slowly headed down the street toward the palace, they bristle with excitement. If you focus your hearing enough, you can hear them talking about the upcoming event, and what it means for the future of their species.
“Quite beautiful.” A soothing feminine voice states.
You snap out of your concentrated listening, and look up upon the most beautiful creature in the entire world.
Flying beside you, is the fair Arthrena, the jewel of the skies.
The long graceful dragon, her scales are the purest white. Along her back and sides unblemished white, under her jaw to her tail, are bright azure scales. Her wings beat majestically through the air, sunlight shines through the membrane of her wings. Her horns sit upon her head, curved back to look like a beautiful crown. But her best and most notable quality: her eyes. Stars above, those beautiful eyes; those sapphire eyes, so striking, yet so calming. Whenever you look into those eyes, you feel comfort, warmth, happiness, but most of all love. Not only the love that she feels for you, but the true significance and preciousness of your love for each other.
If you could thank whoever, or whatever, created you and your fellow brothers and sisters. You would thank them paramount, for Arthrena.
She notices you’re staring and raises her brow.
“Garmaddon?” she asks
You awaken from her trance.
“Sorry?” you say. Arthrena giggles.
“I said: quite beautiful, Gar.”
“Of course you are.” You say smiling. Her chuckles give warmth to your heart.
“Not me, them, down there.” she points down to the sea of eager ponies.
“What, them? Eh, they’re all right I suppose. But not as beautiful as you, Arth.” You reply with extra charisma.
She rolls her eyes. “Not everything is about me Gar.” She says
“That’s why the world is a flawed place.” You reply.
“Oh shut up.” she says. It’s your turn to chuckle.
“Don’t you find it beautiful, how one event can cause so much happiness amongst so many?” she said. You turn your head back and look ahead.
“Well, I guess.” You say, nonchalantly.
“You guess? Is that all?” she questions, astonished at your lack of enthusiasm.
“Well… yeah it’s kind of amazing how everyone comes around to see great events, but its happened before.” you say.
“I guess, but, aren’t you happy for Morpheus and Aurora? Gar?” she asks.
“Are you happy for them?” you reply.
“Of course, what living being isn’t happy for a couple having children?” she clearly indicates this question to you.
You look down and ponder.
To tell the truth you didn’t know what to think of it yet. You appreciated the fact that Morpheus and Aurora wanted to have children. But… to want to leave this world and just… die? That was shocking.
“I’m not sure…” you say.
“How so?” Arthrena asks gently
“I don’t know. I understand their want for a family of their own. But don’t you think that wanting to give up their immortality up, give their rulership over an entire species to their children, and then pass on is… selfish?” you ask.
Arthrena looks at you as if you said something offensive.
“Of course not!” she gasps. “How could you even think of such a thing?” she asks, her tone suggests she is generally discouraged.
“Dying is not selfish; it’s a natural part of life! The fact that Morpheus and Aurora, who don’t have to die, being immortal themselves, chose to accept death, was very brave of them.” she says. You look down.
“How many times have we faced death together ourselves, dearest?” she asks.
“Too many times.” You say somberly.
“Were we not brave then?” she says. You look at her and smile, she has made her point.
“Alright, I understand. I’m sorry. It’s just… if they die… then what about us?” you ask
“What about us?” Arthrena replies.
“Well… if Morpheus and Aurora believe that their time is over, and it is time to pass on. Then should we go as well?” you ask. Arthrena raises a brow.
“Should we?” she asks.
Open your mouth to say something, but… the words to not come. You’ve been thinking about subject ever since you heard the news. You still can’t comprehend an answer. You and Arthrena have lived for a very long time, have you done all that can be for your children? Can they live on without your guidance and teachings? Was it time to say ‘I’ve had a good run’ and then embrace death? You don’t know. You simply look ahead and sigh.
“I don’t know.” You say. “I’m just conflicted about it, that’s all.” You say. Arthrena’s face softens back to gentleness.
“It’s alright; we were all startled when we heard the news. It’s just going to take some time getting used to.” She says.
You simply nod and look back at her. Your eyes show your worry. Arthrena simply smiles and places her hand on your shoulder.
“I don’t know if it’s our time yet, or if we ever will take that step. But if we are going to die, then that’s our decision, Garmaddon.” She says.
You look deep into her sapphire eyes. You smile warmly.
“Our decision.” You say.
She takes your hand into hers.
“Our decision.” She repeats, stressing every syllable.
You place your left hand over hers.
“Alright then.” You say. You look into each others eyes, feeling the electrifying connection your love gives.
“Uh, excuse me, your grace?” you hear a voice ask.
You look to your right to see a bright red dragon staring at you.
“We’re almost to the palace, my lord.” he says.
“Oh, yes good, thank you.” you say. You let go of Arthrena, she smiles slightly, and you can’t tell if she blushed or not. It’s very hard for a white scaled dragon.
The red dragon nods and flies back behind you. Your eyes follow to see him take up a v formation with seven other dragons. As gods of all reptiles, and royal monarchs of the dragons, whenever you or Arthrena leave your mountain, you always come with escorts, and (if meeting with other nations) diplomats; it’s not for protection, you can certainly protect yourself, it’s just… tradition. It’s a little weird for you, but you get used to it. Arthrena got used to it quicker than you. ‘Maybe that happens a lot’ you ponder.
“There it is.” Arthrena says, she points her finger toward the castle.
It is a tall, grand, structure. Standing atop a gigantic hill, the great Pony Palace stood above the whole city. A massive crowd of ponies are waiting around its large doors. A large path has been cleared by the royal guards, to make way for important guests. As you near the castle, you notice its great details.
Giant marble pillars support it, carved by the most articulate of hooves. It stands over 30 feet tall, with four giant towers on each humongous corner, and a great big glass dome in the center of it, allowing a view inside the great ballroom. Two giant metal door stand to guard the inside from the crowed, their metal frames carved with ancient art of alicorns. It is covered with giant stain glass windows, depicting important events in Equis’s history. It is a magnificent piece.
But a bit too small for your sizes, luckily, you already came prepared.
You and Arthrena swooped down toward the castle. Your shadows cover the entire crowd of ponies; they look up at your giant forms and gasp. Your wings flap quickly to sustain your landing, as your perch yourself right behind the great castle. Your wife follows suit and you both sit behind the palace. Your dragon escorts fly in front of the palace and wait. You don’t come to the palace often, but when you do, everyone notices it. After all, you and Arthrena are two of the biggest creatures in the world.
But that presents a problem; most structures aside from your mountain castle, simply aren’t big enough for the two of you. This was a bit of a problem, until you decided to create a spell that would allow you to enter smaller buildings.
Creating an aspect.
An aspect is a spell that allows you to have an out of body experience, sending your soul outside your body. It then projects an avatar of your soul, your aspect. Your aspect is a ghostly image of your, that can talk, touch, feel, shape shift, and cast magic. The only problem is that it works at a limited range, you’ve been getting better at increasing range progressively, but it has yet to be as far reaching as your sight beyond sight. It still is a very useful tool for getting into smaller places, and it helps that you don’t intimidate people the way you would if you simply talked to them in your real body.
You and Arthrena look at each other, she nods and you both bend your heads down and close your eyes. You summon your great mystical power. You feel yourself slip away from your body; it always feels like climbing out of water for you. You feel cold and slippery, but only for a moment.
You feel your incorporeal body materialize. You feel your nerves and scales prickle, like electricity. Then you open your eyes.
You are standing in the walkway that leads to the palace doors; you can hear the crowd of ponies on ether side of you letting out oohs and aahs. You look around and see their dumbstruck faces. You smile, that never gets old. Looking at your hands you can see that your body is surrounded in a dark purple smoke, you are a spirit after all. You look behind you to see your dragon escorts, you are the same size as them. It is always humbling to see from other’s points of view. The dragon escorts bow their heads in respect, and you repeat the gesture.
Then a bright white light flashes next to you. It’s Arthrena’s aspect. She looks the same as her normal self, just at a smaller size and surrounded in a white mist. She smiles at you and nods at the escorts. You look up to see your bodies towering behind the castle; it’s always awkward to see yourself from an outside perspective. The sooner you got inside, the better.
You begin your walk forward, with you and Arthrena leading the front, while the escorts follow suit, very gracefully too. You don’t have to look to know that the ponies are watching you, even the royal guards. It’s a lovely felling. Dragons are legendary beings to ponies, seeing so many at once is a once in a lifetime experience for them. They are quite awestruck of your presence.
Not to mention it boosts your ego a little bit, that’s a side bonus.
The great doors open as you advance; you make your way through the archway and step inside.
Once all of you are inside, the doors quickly close behind you, the noise of the crowd vanishes. You look around and what you see always impresses you.
Say what you want about ponies, but they are quite the architects. The palace is huge, for a pony. Its walls stretch immensely around you, with large chandeliers hanging just above your horns. The floors are patterned in black and white squares and the walls a smoothly carved, all while covered in the charming marble shine. Pillars adorn the great hall as support, with beautiful cravings wrapped around them. It’s not your style of palace, you much prefer your mountain home, but that’s your dragoness talking.
And you still are impressed with the level of craftsmanship this place exudes.
The whole room is filled with aristocrats made up of mostly ponies, but there are large amounts of griffons, diamond dogs, and some buffalo. All their conversations were put on hold as you came in. they were all looking at the two of you and your group.
“Announcing the arrival of King Garmaddon and Queen Arthrena, lord and lady of the dragons!” a guard calls out. The whole crowd claps their hooves, paws, and claws for you. Even stuffy aristocrats show you respect, probably out of your position, not personality. Oh well, no one’s perfect.
Along red carpet stretches from the doorway to the end of the hall, and at the end is a giant staircase. It’s lined on each side with gold handrails, and completely covered with a beautiful velvet coat. It travels up about halfway to split off to the right and left staircases. A lone figure stands atop the staircase, you recognize her imminently.
Eos, goddess of the griffons. She is a striking creature, her beak is a heavenly silver, her feathers are pure white that end is a warm gold. Her head is adorned with a large crest of feathers, bent to look like a crown. It is a sign of her strength and dominance as a griffon; you always thought it looked a little silly. Her feathers reach down to the bottom of her neck. The rest of her body is a light tan pelt, with two yellow talon forelegs, and ending in strong hind legs, with a long steady tail holding stiff at her backside.
Her wings are at her sides, they are powerful yet beautiful limbs.They are covered in pale sliver feathers, showing her clam demeanor. But Eos is always a wildcard; you never know what could set her off. She seams calm, for now at least.
But you notice something, she is looking at you. Not at your company or at you and Arthrena, but you. Her bright amethyst eyes are boring into yours. Not angrily, just intently. She is a griffon alright, through and through. You can tell that a conversation is inevitable, but it always was anyway. You turn to Arthrena.
“We seam to be expected, darling.” You say. Arthrena smiles.
“Let’s not keep the poor girl waiting.” She says. You look back to your escorts.
“Do what you please.” You say. The red dragon nods.
“Yes, my lord.” He says. He and the other dragons disperse to interact amongst the nobles, they are after all diplomats.
You and Arthrena advance to the staircase, nobles’ part out of your way as you reach it. You advance up the staircase, the soft feeling of the carpet brushes up against your feet. The two of you reach the top of the staircase and tower over Eos.
“Hello, Eos.” You say friendlily. She looks up at you, un-intimidated by your height.
“Greetings, Garmaddon.” She says sternly. Always the soldier.
Eos looks at Arthrena. You notice her eyes squint a little as she eyes up your wife.
“Arthrena.” She says flatly.
You sigh a little from her attitude. Eos and her griffon citizens are proud warriors, masters of aerial combat. What they lack in magic they make up for in tenacity and their warrior ways. Their empire stretches across the northern part of the planet, cold weather breeding cold hearts. They’re practically bred for combat; they make up the finest aerial fighting-force in all of Equis. Without their help, the world would have been lost to the demonic hordes. Eos, like her creations, is always stern, cold, and by the book. But when someone puts her pride in question, all bets are off. The bowels of Tartarus have no fury such as the scorn of Eos. Yet, for her militaristic personality, one thing stands out. It has been a long kept and little known secret that Eos has been, and apparently still is, in love with you.
It has not been the only time a member of one species has been smitten by another, but it is certainly not a popular view to release publicly. But you are not revolted by it, she has a fair reason.
Unlike you and many other gods, Eos was put on this earth without a significant other to form a relationship with. As such the loneliness has caused her to be embittered to most people, especially Aurora and Morpheus. However for some reason she had grown an attachment to you throughout the centuries; even though you have a partner of your own.
You remember the time she revealed you of her feelings, long ago. She told you bluntly, as griffon-like as she possibly could. You remember being quite surprised by her revelation. Of all the things you expected from her, never the desire of your affection of all things. But as you contemplated her words, you realized that she had these feelings long before she told you. You’ve been keeping a good eye on her whenever you two meet, all those times noticing her body language and subtle mannerisms suddenly made sense. And the truth could be plainly seen in your eyes. You also remember how well she took the fact that you didn’t share her feelings. You remember her telling you that she respected your union with Arthrena, and would never seek to sabotage it. But she also said that if things were different, she would be most happy for your hand. She also said that she would appreciate the fact that this was revealed to no one, a sentiment you did share with her.
Ever since then things were a little awkward during diplomacy.
You can’t blame Eos for her feelings though, you even feel sorry that she has no one to spend time with personally. You encouraged her to find love amongst her people the last time you saw her. You had hoped that she’d taken your advice. But yet as she stands before you, you can still detect that want for a relationship with you, and a well guarded jealousy for Arthrena.
“Glad you could make it.” she says. She looks back at you.
“Of course, this is a very important event.” You say.
“First time any of us gods gave birth to children. Of course we had to be here.” Arthrena says. Eos’s eyes shift back to her. For a moment she is silent. Then a smile spreads across her beak.
“History in the making.” She chuckles. You can tell that she is faking it. An awkward silence descends upon the three of you.
“Shall we head on?” you say. Eos nods and the three of your begin to ascend up the stairs to the left.
The stairs take you into a long hallway. The entire roof is covered with glass. The sun casts a bright light over your forms as you walk.
The hallway leads to a large chamber, the grand throne room.
It is much like the room you were in, but on a slightly smaller scale. Up above on both sides of the room are two great balconies for onlookers. The carpet leads down the hall, up a few stairs, to two large golden thrones, both equally in size and majesty, sitting in front of a large window overlooking the entire city. They are empty, but two figures are standing nearby. You recognize these two as your fellow gods.
There was Grumdag, God of the Canii. A proud hound, his coat is a fine sleek black shade of fur. His ears stand erect and tall, listening for anything. His hearing prowess is the stuff of legend. His entire form is nothing but pure muscle and strong bones, not a hint of weakness. His claws are razor sharp; you’ve seen them cut through diamond without a scratch. He rules over his many packs underground, his kind are the diggers and keepers of the earth. He is the pinnacle of his race, strong, vigilant, and holding conviction sturdy as the stone they live in.
And there was Spiritwind, the High Chief of the Buffalo. He towers over Grumdag, who is about half his size. He is a tall mound of strength, covered by a thick black coat. His black horns are gleaming in the sunlight cast from the nearby windows. He always wears a large headdress wherever he goes, to show his authority as chief. His headdress is covered with bright red feathers today; you recognize this as a sign of celebration. His domain is the great plains of the south, a beautiful terrain that stretches for days across the southern peninsula. His tribes traverse annually across the plains in the Great Stampede. A spectacle, if you ever saw one.
They are both engaging in conversation with each other. You can tell one of them mentioned something funny, because they began to laugh; with Grumdag laughing loudly with gusto, and Spiritwind chuckling subtlety in his deep voice.
Suddenly, Grumdag’s ear twitches. He stops laughing at looks up to see you approaching.
“Ah, Garmaddon! Lady Arthrena! Glad you could make it!” he shouts in his boisterous baritone voice.
“Grumdag you old flea bag you, it’s been too long!” you say. Grumdag chuckles and walks toward the three of you. You meet in the center of the hall.
“Too long indeed, I was beginning to think your age had finally caught up to you old friend.” He says. He looks to Eos.
“Eos, always a pleasure.” He says respectfully. Eos nods in greetings. Eos never says much during these kinds of events, celebrations were never her forte. You see Spiritwind approach the group.
“Háu Garmaddon, Arthrena, and Eos.” He welcomes in his voice, to you it always sounds like rolling thunder through the skies whenever Spiritwind speaks.
“A pleasure, Spiritwind.” Arthrena says.
“You always were the last to the party, Spirit. Now I know I’m getting old.” You and the group share a chortle. “How are you two today?”
“Alive and kicking Gar. Ole’ Spirit here was just telling me one of the funniest buffalo jokes I have ever heard.” Grumdag said.
“The worst part is that it was all true.” Spiritwind said, a little chuckle escaped his lips after saying those words. Grumdag laughed again.
“How are the dragon’s doing? Have you forged any particularly large gems that you don’t mind trading with us Gar ole buddy?” Grumdag asked.
Grumdag has always had a particular interest in the acquisition of gems, his whole race always have a never ending hunger for these minerals. Most call it greed, they call it… affinity. The rarer it is, the better it is. Unfortunately or fortunately depending on what side you’re looking from, Canii cannot create gems. Only dragons can. Thus, trade between the Canii and the Dragons is always abundant, leaving you with riches and Grumdag with precious gems.
“I have recently had a giant sapphire forged by my sea serpents last week.” Arthrena said.
A familiar spark lit up in Grumdag’s eye at the mention of sapphire, his greed was obviously tickled.
“Sapphire, oh, how big?” he asks licking his lips.
“Bigger than Spiritwind,” Arthrena says, Spiritwind laughs, while Grumdag begins wagging his tail. “Forged during a hurricane, you can hear the thunder within it if you listen very close.” Arthrena continued, Grumdag began to pant happily, for a god, he was not one for manners, but hey, what can you do.
“I’m sure we’ll be able to discuss trade for it, after the celebration.” You say, indicating for Grumdag to get a hold of himself. He shakes his head and coughs boisterously.
“Oh uh, of course, after the celebration.” He mutters. You all share a laugh. Grumdag continues, “So Spirit, what do the prophecies say about today?” he questions. You all look toward the bison lord.
Spiritwind was a very peculiar god, of all the gods; he possessed a power that was very unique to him and him alone.
The power of foresight.
By reading the stars he is able to predict the future. While Morpheus may control their patterns, only Spiritwind can read them properly, and tell their secrets. Many a mortal have traveled far and wide to receive the wisdom of Spiritwind, and they would… for the price of a well cooked meal.
Spiritwind breathed deeply and looked up.
“I could see the stars predicting this day; they have blessed us. The birth of the princesses is a sign of good fortune for the kingdoms in the years to come.” He said.
You nod your head in understanding.
“However, it is also a sign of changes to come. We are not living in the world that we knew millennia ago. The stars are moving in directions even I cannot fully predict. But I have deduced this: There will be a great upheaval. Perhaps good, perhaps bad, but rest assured, it will be great.” He says.
Great upheaval? The princesses will start a great change. What kind of change? The death of Morpehus and Aurora? This is what you have been worrying about since this whole thing started-!
“If this event will be great, then it shall be of great joy then.” Grumdag says, interrupting your thoughts. The other gods nod in agreement, with you being the last.
“But that will be in due time, let us be merry, for now is a time of celebration! We are here to honor Morpheus and Aurora, and their two lovely daughters!” he says. The other gods nod in agreement once again, but you don’t
“Oh don’t be so dismissive dear Grumdag.” A sultry voice says.
A collective chill suddenly falls over the group. You look up to see a slender frame appear above you.
She is a strange creature, a combination of many animals that inhabit this world. She always did look wrong in your eyes.
Her body was that of a long green serpent that stretched down to a tail. Her right leg looked to be of a red dragon, something that you did not approve. While her left leg was a cloven foot of a bison. Her right arm was the sliver claw of a griffon, while her left arm was the claw of a canii. Her head was topped with the horn of a goat and of a bovine.
However her head was different. It was the head of a beautiful grey pony, with a white fluffy collection of hair atop her head. Her eyes were cat like, the left eye red, the right eye blue. She was a beautiful mishmash of beasts, and she was very mischievous. She was Eris, the mother of the draconequuses.
“Hello Eris… nice to see you again…” Grumdag spoke bitterly. Not you or any of the gods trusted Eris, not since she was placed on Equis with the lot of you. Her entire race is supernatural tricksters, always playing around and bothering in the affairs of other races. They live on their own island, the Island of Illusion, a very appropriate title. No race can get to it but the draconequuses; it is surrounded by a magical fog maintained by Eris. It added to the level of mistrust amongst the gods. The last any of you worked with her was when you fought the demons… they were desperate times.
The last time you’d seen her was about seven thousand years ago. You’d hoped it be longer. It’s not that you hate her, it’s just she rubs you the wrong way whenever you see her. You had been so caught up with the princesses that you forgot all about the fact that you would be seeing Eris again.
“How long have you been here Eris?” you ask cautiously. The figure laughs as if you told her a joke. She slithers through the air towards your face.
“Oh, long enough, I prefer to keep my presence here away from the public eye.” She says in her smooth voice. She travels down past your face and wraps herself around your neck, rubbing her slender frame against your scales.
It sends shivers down your spine.
“But never from you Garmaddon.” She coos.
Another thing about Eris, she flirts with everything that moves. Probably because she can reproduce with any species, given she is an amalgamation of most of them. But especially you, unlike Eos, who has genuine affection for you; you only see pure lust behind those multicolored eyes. It makes your stomach turn.
As Eris slides down your neck, you can see Arthrena’s face gain a look of disapproval, while the other gods tense up, especially Eos.
Eris slides off your frame and floats her way above the circle once again.
“You certainly have a knack for entrances.” Spiritwind said without any hint of humor.
“I pride myself on style,” Eris says, she then summons a lounge chair behind her and sits in it. “But back to the subject, your prophecy has me intrigued. I have been waiting for a change to come around; all this normality has become sooooo boring. But an upheaval you say, how exciting! It’s perfect for a little chaos…” she begins to chuckle gleefully.
Eris also likes to talk… a lot.
“There’ll be no chaos while were around Eris, so don’t go around getting ideas.” Grumdag sternly says.
“Oh, but of course, your all the champions of good. But Spiritwind said a great upheaval, which could possibly mean a… change of leadership?” she says.
“Is that a threat?” Eos says, speaking her first words since arriving to the throne room.
“No, just an idea; and as we all know idea’s can stick around.” Eris says. She looks at you on her final words. Can she read thoughts? No, no, that’s impossible.
“But don’t mind me, it’s all bout them two little pony stickers who brought us all here in the first place. I’ll just sit here, sipping my strawberry martini.” She says. She snaps her fingers and a party glass filled with the red beverage appears in her hand. She pulls out a silly straw out of no ware, sticks it in and begins sipping. An awkward silence follows. She waves her hand in a carry on motion for us to continue our conversation.
“So… um, right. Well anyway!” Grumdag starts up, regaining his merry spirits, “What stories have you to tell old Grumdag? It’s been a couple of years since I’ve last seen most of you, so when…”
Grumdag’s voice fades away. You have too much to think about. Eris’s words ring in your head, ‘Idea’s can stick around.’ How very true.
As said, the birth of the princesses is a sign of change. But what kind of change? Good, bad, you don’t know. All that Spiritwind could say is that it would be big. This worries you, maybe this is why you were worried before, and could this change lead Equis into an age where you and your fellow gods are no longer needed? If Morpheus and Aurora think so, then why shouldn’t you just go ahead and die?
Stop it, you’re frightening yourself. But still, it begs the question.
Are the mortals of Equis ready to face a world without their gods?
This thought troubles you deeply.
Your face must be showing your worry, because Eos has noticed you and is looking at you with concern. You look back at her and smile, she smiles back, but you can both tell that there is more to this event than what it seams.
You summon all your dark powers. It takes great effort; you haven’t summoned your aspect in a thousand years. You feel yourself slipping away from your normal body and being remade into a new form. Eventually, you magic does its job and you open your ethereal eyes to the world.
Dreadrock Mountain sits behind you, as well as you body beneath it. You smile gleefully and turn around to face the north, the last image of the ponies you can remember were seeing them fleeing to the north. Perhaps that’s where their civilization has survived.
You propel yourself through the air at supersonic speeds, racing past the barren rocks. Quickly the land becomes more green and lively as you speed through the land. The clouds soon part away to reveal a sun at high noon, shining above you. Another constant reminder of your failure.
Suddenly you notice you are flying over a lake. As you continue your course, you look down. You see a literal shadow of your formal self. A black cloud of darkness with a red outline zooming through the air, only a pair of slitted, angry-looking red eyes show a hint of your true form. It’s not the same as before, but it’ll do for now. The reflection suddenly cuts back to land as the lake ends. You look back up continuing on.
As you look around you notice some pegasi in the distance, flying in the same direction. You must be nearing a settlement of some kind. You quickly change a part of your aspect to insure that you remain invisible to the eye.
Then you see it, civilization. You quickly speed into a small town located in a forest area.
You float around a bit and examine the town. It is bustling with trade and commerce as many ponies have set up shop outside and are selling their assorted products.
It appears to be a marketplace. You think as you fly around.
You examine the buildings and the architecture; it appears that the ponies have yet to advance from cobble and cottages. Pathetic, in just a few years your species would have advanced into a new technological age of wonder.
That is, if you were still around.
No matter, those thoughts leave your mind as something new catches your attention.
Out of your incorporeal ear you can hear someone yelling. Faintly but surely you can hear someone shouting. Angrily.
You turn to see the noise coming from some building in the distance. You fly towards the sound getting louder and louder. You can feel the anger getting more potent as you get closer.
You come upon a cottage just outside of the town. You can see two heads arguing through the window. You descend upon the household and enter through the walls. The warm wave of hatred rushes through your smoky body as you do so. You find a young pink mare yelling at a green-coated stallion. She has a pearl necklace on her flank, and the male has a book and a quill on his.
The mare appears to be the one in control, as the male is simply looking down in shame, holding a tacky-looking vase in his front hooves.
You focus on what the mare is saying.
“You didn’t give back the vase!? I told you, I didn’t want it!” she screams at the male. She then goes silent, waiting for him to respond. The male looks up for a moment and thanks of what he wants to say.
“Pearl… I just wanted to make you happy for once-“
“This doesn’t make me happy! And now we can’t give it back because you forgot the receipt, Open Book!” she interrupted him angrily. “And now were stuck with a vase that I never even wanted!” she yelled and began to continue her tirade against the stallion identified as Open Book.
Yes you can feel the anger, it is quite potent, but hidden. Not the mare, no. She’s merely having a rant, letting out a deluded pathetic smell of irritation, something she probably does a lot. No, the true meal is within the colt she’s yelling at.
You look at this pitiable stallion as he lowers his head as this mare continues to yell at him. You narrow your eyes and enter the mind of this weak willed colt.
Apparently this nagging creature is his wife, and she’s mad about a vase he bought to please her, because it didn’t have the proper pattern. Also it appears this colt was always bullied by someone in his life, by schoolmates, his abusive parents, and now his nagging wife of two years.
All he wanted was to settle down with someone he loved, someone he cared for. But he was forced into this marriage by his parents in a businesses merger with the mare’s parents. She didn’t even want children. Now that’s just cruel.
But you can feel the rage within this young colt, and anger waiting to be released, a viper waiting to strike. You could sense it building. You can see his face twitching with anger. It’s beginning to grow. He’s had these moments before, but he never acted upon them, not yet.
Yes, it’s so potent, so ready, he just needs a little push.
You lean down to the stallion’s ear and whisper the key word; the one word that will bring him release from his torment.
“Kill.” You whisper
That was all it took, for suddenly, in a swift motion. Open Book raised the vase over his head, which was the last thing that the mare formally known as Pearl saw, right before he smashed it over the young pony’s head. She fell to the ground with a satisfying crash, but that was not enough, not for the two years the stallion had to deal with her nagging, yelling, and complaining. She needs to suffer more.
He got down over her unconscious head and began stabbing into it with the jagged edges of what was left of the vase. Each time, the vase shards sunk in with a bloody shlunk. You watch as the crimson spreads across the wooden floor, carrying the stallion’s hatred within its currents. You quickly absorb the primal rage for yourself.
Ahhhhh… it’s been too long since you’ve had a meal. You feel it, your presence growing stronger. You feel your form become a little more corporal as you digest the primal emotions from this young buck.
After a minute or two of his outburst, Open Book put the vase down and stared in shock of what he just did. He stares at his blood-soaked hooves and placed them over his mouth and began to shake.
You lean down next to the stallion and utter another word.
“Hide.”
The colt stops shaking and looks at the carcass he’s left in his wake. Better clean up the mess before someone get’s the wrong idea. It wasn’t his fault after all.
He gets up and walks toward the kitchen, looking for a mop.
You quickly flew out of the cottage and flew back into town. If your aspect had a face it would be smiling.
Your work was done.
You had gained from what little knowledge of that pea-brain’s mind of a local library in the town. Perhaps that is where you can find the answers you seek.
You fly through the town until you reach a big stone structure in the center of the town; you float in and find rows of books, all old and worn from usage. You float around the seemingly endless shelves until you find a young mare sitting in the middle of the library.
Her fur is the color of peaches, her mane is green. She is reading a small book, giggling to herself.
You float down behind her and look over her shoulder. It appears to be a comedy… a romantic comedy. You sneer at her taste as you enter her body.
Possession can be difficult if you’re dealing with a strong willed being, not surprisingly, that is a quality that this librarian lacks.
You force your way into her mind and search, for everything; every little detail of history past your imprisonment. It appears that the librarian has read all the books in the library. Good, that solves the problem of searching the library. You find the place where her memories of history lie. You peer in.
What you find is… interesting.
Apparently, this is a growing community called Trottingham, within the pony country known as Equestria.
Equestria… really?
Sigh… anyway,
It appears that after they fled, the ponies didn’t have the princesses to guide them for the first couple of years. Each subset of the species formed their own small kingdoms. They constantly quarreled with each other.
Well that’s what you get with no strong leader to take control of a situation.
Apparently their hatred for each other grew to a point where a group of winter spirits known as Windigos was able to feed of the ponies’ hatred and cause a great blizzard storm.
Why are you not surprised?
However, when all hope was lost, a group of ponies formed together and managed to destroy the evil spirits and bring unity to the pony tribes. Through the magic of… friendship?
…There are no words…
Anyway the ponies then founded the nation of Equestria. And soon after the princesses where found and were established as the rightful rulers of the realm.
However soon after that period, a rogue draconequus named Discord took over the kingdom and ushered in a reign of terror…
Wait a draconequus? But… you killed them… you killed them all! You were sure of it!
Eris’s last laugh apparently.
Wait… Eris…
No, NO! You will not think about what she did!
Anyway. The princesses quickly found the elements of harmony and used it against the spirit. They turned him into stone, effectively ending his reign before it could properly start.
Hrmph. You would feel a sense of pride at knowing your imprisonment was greater than his. But, such thoughts are petty and beneath you.
It also appears that another nation was formed further north, by a bunch of ponies who somehow became gifted in the creation of crystals.
They were just recently taken over by a tyrant who used dark magic to usurp the throne from the former empress.
Interesting, someone using a dark magic not related to your own? What could it be?
However, the tyrant was stricken down after the princesses used the elements once again to cast him into an icy prison.
Are they really too sensitive to kill their enemies? This habit will truly destroy them.
But the evil king was able to place a curse upon his entire empire, teleporting it to his own black dimension before the diarchs could liberate the populace.
Interesting.
You admire this creature’s cunning. But anyway.
It also appears that the buffalo’s territory has been greatly reduced due to changeling encroachment.
You stop.
Changelings, oh how you loath those parasites, you remember when they were first encountered.
And their demonic creator.
Wait, you’re loosing your train of thought! Back to history.
And the griffons have migrated to the northern mountains and have become a xenophobic military dictatorship.
Oh, Eos, if only things were different…
And the Canii have retreated into the earth. There are no current reports on their activities. However all attempts by ponies to explore forgotten underground territories have resulted in mysterious disappearances.
Very well then, but you must know the most important information.
There is no information on the whereabouts of dragons for they are the most reclusive species known to ponies.
On one hand you’re disappointed by the lack of information, but on the other hand you're thankful that they haven’t allied with Celestia and Luna in your absence.
They are still your children after all.
In other news, it has now been a year since the events of the “crystal empire’s” curse and a celebration is coming in a few months. The birthday of Princesses Celestia and Luna-
Alright you’ve had enough.
You leave the mind of this mare and float out of the library. Leaving behind a twitching corpse for the villagers to find.
You float above the whole town and look to the north once again.
You gathered from the mare that the capital of this nation is further north. So you speed away, leaving the small town with two dead mares and a new serial killer to deal with.
It’s good to be back.
The city is huge.
The cobble streets are packed with ponies, carts, and marketplaces, all under the afternoon sun. Suddenly Trotingham doesn’t look so packed to you.
You fly around the streets of the city; the buildings are much more advanced then that little lumber town down south. Here was where the ponies had left off.
And yet it will never recapture the glory that they once had.
You chuckle.
This great city seams to by lying under a great mountain, it almost looks to be stabbing the sun as it sets behind it.
The streets become more calm and quiet as the ponies become sparser. But of course there are some nighttime things that come out as well. Restaurants, clubs, and plays open up in the artistic streets.
However, the great plagues of city life also come about as well.
Something to occupy the law enforcement’s time.
A gang of criminals beating an innocent who can’t pay their debt, a dozen or so brothels opening for business, and a serial killer dumping a body in the nearby sewer.
You sigh with disappointment; such is the tradition of giving your mortal subjects free will. They’ll abuse it like the children they are.
You’ll have to do something about that won’t you?
You float toward the royal palace. It is a tall grand, cobblestone castle, with a large collection of towers reaching toward the twilight sky.
You fly past the lot of them, looking for the one who holds the mare you hate.
Then you see it. A small modest tower with a blazing sun on its tip.
There.
You fly over to the balcony and look in. There she is.
She is sitting at a desk, going over some bills and reports you assume. A fresh candle sits next to her desk, her eyes are focused on the documents, and her face shows the expression that one would make reading a book. Sublime calmness.
How it angers you.
How she, should deserve rulership over you! Her and her weak willed sister, you should’ve killed them when they were young and weak. Before they grew up, before your betrayal… before entering that cave…
Wait, what’s that.
She looks up, she looks around, as if she heard something.
No!
She senses you.
Before she can look outside, you are gone. You fly away from her tower.
She mused have sensed your anger, alas it is like a beacon to an immortal. Just like that young stallion was to you.
Speaking of beacons, you can sense a new magic.
You fly towards this magic, it feels cool and sublime, the opposite of the warm potent rage you’re used to sensing. You fly to the tallest tower of the castle, where a crescent moon stands at its peak. You fly around to find the source, ah yes, the other one.
Luna walks out toward the balcony and faces the east. Her astral mane floats in the calm summer wind. However her face is one of sadness.
You watch her look towards Celestia’s tower and sigh. Then her horn lights up as she looks toward the east.
You watch as the full moon rises from the horizon. Its pale glow shines upon the countryside, bathing it in a stunning white.
It’s quite beautiful, you’re actually amazed. The white… it reminds you of… of.
No, another time.
This is what’s truly important.
For even has Luna raises this beautiful sight for the kingdom, she looks sad. Her head lowers in a sigh as she sits down.
Then you feel it, that aching sensation.
No… it can’t be.
A longing within her, an absence, a hole.
No, this would be too good!
A longing for attention, a longing for appreciation, a longing for… love.
But something is deeper, something very small, but noticeable. It is a new feeling, one that you are all too familiar with. But within this creature, is now your biggest opportunity.
Envy.
But not just that: Envy, for her sister.
Somewhere, far away, deep within a blackened mountain, a smile spreads across the ancient dragon’s lips. It grows into a wide toothy grin until the joy could not be contained.
Laughter, a deep booming laughter, filled with evil and malice. The whole mountain shakes, the charred land around it rumbles with power. The laughter grows louder and louder. The land splits apart as the mirth of the demon dragon continues.
Most beings think of Tartarus as a fiery hell, a black pit full of lava and brimstone and the worst tortures imaginable to mortal minds. Where there were nonstop screams of pain and unending pleas of mercy left unanswered. A place where demons flocked about, torturing the souls of the damned for all of eternity.
They are wrong.
Tartarus is much worse than that.
It is a cold desolate chasm, full of nothing but brimstone rocks and ash. It is not a place for the souls of evil mortals to go to. It is a prison built to contain the horrors of the demon horde. You know this well, you helped build the damn place.
Most mortals believe in such tales to strike fear in the hearts of those who would choose to live a vile life. It is a well used lie, keeping most mortals from killing and raping each other in the streets, but alas they are wrong, as usual.
When a mortal sprit dies, it does not go to a “heaven” or a “hell”. It becomes a new part of the cosmos and then… well not even the gods know what happens to a mortal’s soul. All that you could gather is that they simply… move on.
In Tartarus, nothing moves on, nothing changes, and nothing escapes.
The eternal prison is not a fiery hell where demons could wander about freely. That would defeat the purpose of it being a prison. Demons do not suffer in fire, torture, and pain, they revel in it. No, Tartarus is meant to be the ultimate opposite to their “pleasures”.
It is empty, cold, and unchanging. There is no chaos, no anarchy, no pain. There is only a single order, cold and simple.
No one can leave.
The demons sit here in everlasting boredom, unable to do anything but wait until the end of time. A rather fitting torture for them.
As you pass through the bleak cavern, you remember how cold this place actually was. Even as your aspect, you could feel your ethereal scales prickle in the chilly landscape. It was a depressing cold. Not the kind of harsh cruel overwhelming cold one feels in the frozen mountain of the north. No. It is more as an absence of heat, a draining of all warmth, of all life, of all hope. It truly was a prison.
It had not been easy slipping past Cerberus, that infernal hound could smell even the most subtle magic. However, a simple conjuration of a large steak gave you enough time to slip through. Sprits know the last time that beast had a meal, so hunger clouded judgment in this case.
It would seam three heads are not better than one. You chuckle to yourself as you float through the rocky wasteland.
You search along the large elevated pedestals and see old weakened demons chained to posts. Their once powerful and horrid forms were now dried husks of what they once were. They glance with their frail hate-filled eyes in your direction and watch you pass. They say nothing; only stare with curiosity and detestation.
You pay them no mind; you were here to see one being and one being alone.
Ah, there he is.
Standing, barley, atop a pedestal in the center of the chasm stood the once mighty Tirek, the Demon Centaur. He was a small shell of his former glory. A dulled red centaur, with aging hair, and the blackest eyes you have ever seen. One of his hooves is chained to a small post, it almost seams unnecessary, it would take less than a feather to cause him to collapse. But you approach cautiously.
He senses your presence instantly, his eyes narrow to slits. You carefully float to stop at a secure distance from him. He may seam weak, but he is a demon, and one of the craftiest of them all, so it is better safe than sorry in this case.
“Well, well, well.” He croaks out in a gravely voice.
“Garmaddon the Destroyer, in the flesh.” He continues.
“Not exactly.” You chuckle as you fully form.
“Come to revel over your victory? It’s been centuries since those days Garmaddon, it’s time to get over yourself.” He says.
“I did not come to gloat.” You say.
“Oh yes, that’s right, your stuck in your own little prison. Ironic don’t you think?”
“Quite.”
“Well at least we agree on something.” He snickers.
“I came to strike a deal with you.” you say.
“Of course you did. Why else would you be here?”
“Do not toy with me, filth. You are in no position to deny my offer.”
“Or what Garmaddon, the fallen god? Are you gonna kill me? O believe me, I would love to embrace death, anything better than this boring wasteland.” He grumbles.
A coy smile spreads across your lips.
“Oh now why would you do that, Tirek, I thought you were never one to give up. Never would I have expected to see you give up… especially after what your brother did to you.” you smoothly say.
Any amount of humor left within Tirek died. His blood red face grew to a nasty snarl as he lunged against his chain.
“Do not mention that filthy traitor to me! He is no brother of mine, nor will he ever will be again!” he growls.
You laugh in his attempt to threaten you. You continue.
“Ah there’s the Tirek I remember, vengeful and malicious. I remember that look in your eyes as the pony sisters cast you into this foul place. Their first real deed as princesses as I remember.”
Tirek growls in resentment.
“By the way, Morpheus and Aurora are dead. I killed them.” you say as you straighten yourself with pride.
“I heard.” He says.
This raises an eyebrow.
“How?” you ask.
“I have my sources.” He coyly replies.
You harrumph; this brings up an interesting question. How long has he been able to be aware of current affairs? Does he know… everything that transpired since his imprisonment? Never mind, that question is not what you came here to ask.
“I also know of your imprisonment… and of your escape. It would seam as if you have just learned about the current state of affairs. Disgusting isn’t it? I knew you’d come down here soon enough. It was just a matter of time before you’d ask for our help.” He says as he waves his arms out to his fellow comrades, who have taken interest to our conversation in hushed study.
“Then you know what I want.” You say.
“Of course.” He replies.
“But they don’t,” you begin. You turn to face the demons and address them.
“I offer you this: freedom. In a matter of time I will free myself from my imprisonment, and I will return to free your from yours. In exchange, you will offer your servitude as the burning legion to be my soldiers for my army. Should you accept, you will ravage Equis as you see fit. What say you?”
The demons pause and consider you offer… for about ten seconds. Then, they burst into a roar of approval. You smile confidently and turn back to Tirek.
“And you will lead this army for Me.” you say. Tirek raises white eyebrow.
“Me? I thought you would go to the former leader of our dammed legion.” He says.
A shudder runs through your black hide. You shake your head. Not in your most desperate hour would you ever turn to him for help. Not after your last battle…
“No, I would never ask him for help. I sectioned his prison away from yours for a reason, Tirek. Besides, it’s time for your elevation to the place you have truly desired for millennia, and the new master of the burning legion. If you accept my offer Tirek, you would be given a great source a magic to return to the glory that you once possessed.” You say. Tirek may be powerful, but he isn't a god. You need someone who you can control leading your army.
The centaur strokes his pale beard for a moment.
“Why should I trust you?” he asks.
“You can’t.” you replay. “However, we seek the same goal, the destruction of Equis. The same goal you once possessed centuries ago. Help me burn it to the ground and I’ll let you and your demons leave once it is finished. I know you all have been savoring to return to traveling the cosmos, in search of your next meal.” You say.
A low growl emanates from Tirek.
“Very well, we have a deal. When can we expect you to… return?” he asks.
“In due time.” You reply as you begin to dissipate and return to your original body. Of course Tirek will scheme to betray you in some way, but you'll be ready when the time comes. Not even the burning legion could defeat you at the height of your power.
Suddenly a sinister smile slithers across Tirek’s aged face.
“I wonder what dear Arthrena would think of you now.” He utters just before you disappear.
You jolt back into your body with a roar. You want to unleash your breath across the cone ceiling of your prison, melt the chains keeping you within this infernal mountain. Just so you could fly back to Tartarus and whip that smug grin of his face. He just had to get in the last laugh before you made your exit. But you will not return, not for a while, possibly even centuries, not until you were free and powerful again.
As the green pool cools the anger within. You think back to Arthrena.
No, no, stop it! She is gone and she is never coming back.
And yet… you remember…
It was a black night, the moon had just arisen, but you couldn’t tell. The night sky was hidden behind black storm clouds. It was the month of the invasion. In the distance you could see the giant black leviathans return to space. You had won this day, but the demons would be back, ready to strike again.
Your battle had cost many lives to secure; it was thanks to the reinforcements sent from the griffons that won this day. You watch as the horrific battleships retreat into the blackness, and you hear thunder in the distance. It was going to rain tonight, just as well. The blood soaked fields needed to be washed.
“Your hurt.” You hear from a soothing voice.
You turn to see Arthrena, cut and scarred from the battle, but still as beautiful as ever, look at your wounds with worry.
“It’s nothing, love.” you say as you spread a wing to embrace her. She nuzzles up under your shoulder and leans on you. You can feel her breath against your scales. You can feel her heart beat with yours. It seamed as if you were truly one being, you combined wills gathered to strengthen your moral fiber for what was to come. You knew that this was just the beginning of the war, and it worried you.
Ever since the beginning you and the other deities ruled together in peace and harmony. But now this demonic horde from the blackness of space had arrived, ready to claim your world with the horrors of war. Nothing could have prepared you for the sheer evil they brought in just a few weeks.
But now you must remain strong. This is your first real victory, and your troops will use this as motivation to fight for the next victory. But even so, how many lives will this war claim before everything is said and done? You could only shudder at the estimations.
“Everything is alright now.” Arthrena whispers. “Everything is okay.” She says. You say nothing.
Nothing will be okay, not for a very long time. Perhaps not ever. But for now, you must hold moments like these close. Because you won’t have much of these moments for long.
You close your eyes and feel the rain being to pour. And you feel it begin to wash the blood away from your scars, and collect with Arthrena’s blood into a puddle. Until it distils into nothingness.
