1 - Tirek and His New Friend
Deep into Tartarus where Cerberus sat guard, a tall pink bodied, goat legged creature walked up to the large platform which held the weak, skinny looking Tirek. Tirek looked up at the large beast, quite confused as to what it was and why it looked so similar to his own race. Standing weakly, he looked up at the towering beast.
"Who are you, and why do you come here?" Tirek asked, his voice tired and parched. The only response he got was a loud, bull-like cry. He rubbed his eyes and then saw something quite peculiar. The beast's chest was branded, just the two words 'Eat Me'. Glancing around, he hoped that this wasn't just a trick or an illusion. With nothing to lose and no nearby threats, Tirek opened his mouth and began to absorb the beast's energy. Suddenly, visions of another world entered his mind, and words and beasts he had never seen or heard of were now images in his mind. He sensed what this beast wanted. Destruction and revenge. Tirek smiled as his muscle mass, size and power tripled. "Yes... Yes! YES! The ponies will surely fall before this newfound power! I need to strike with haste without any indication of my return. Once I have enough power, I can open a portal to this world, this 'Hell' that I have seen. Victory will be mine! Ahahahahahahaha!"
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One week later
"Spike.. I can't believe that Canterlot has completely fallen already. We can't fight him while he still has Pinkie, Rainbow, and Applejack locked away. We simply can't win this time." Twilight said sadly, letting a letter she'd just read fall to the ground.
Spike kicked the map table hard. "If only I was a normal size dragon, then maybe we could at least defend our castle. Twilight, don't give up, we can't give up yet. I'm sure Rarity and Fluttershy will find some kind of spellbook or artifact that can help."
Twilight stood from her throne, trying to force a smile. "Why don't I try and help them look? Might speed up the process?"
With a smile from Spike, she led the way to the library. Fluttershy and Rarity were looking through different spellbooks when the two entered. They looked quite exhaused, almost as much as Twilight looked, but at least they slept. Twilight couldn't sleep while she knew Canterlot was in trouble. She had been awake for four days now, and was showing definite signs of sleep loss.
"Find anything, girls?" she asked.
Rarity knocked the book off her desk. "No, we haven't found a single useful thing, Twilight. If Tirek really does have an army, then we're going to need one to fight back. After the last encounter with Tirek, how do you expect any pony here to fight something like him? We're cut off from the Crystal Empire so we can't use the safety of the Crystal Heart to protect us. We- We're all going to die-ie-ie-ie-ie!!!!" she cried.
Fluttershy was about to say something, but started to cry too, hiding under her desk. Twilight frowned. "We've never lost so bad before. I don't know what to do against this."
Spike jumped onto the desk, looking at a book he pulled out of a pile on the ground. "Technically, we've never lost, Twilight."
He was only met with a very cold glare from Twilight.
"I know, that doesn't help us at all. But, this book might have something. It's a summoning spell. 'When demons come knocking, summon the Doom Slayer with these words'. See?" Spike pointed at the page.
Baffled, all three ponies nearly sprinted over to gaze onto the paper. Twilight smiled wide. "Spike! How did you find this!? This is exactly what we needed!"
Spike hopped down and started to clear some space on the floor, that had been littered with books and scrolls. "Well, that's an advertisement for a comic book that got cancelled. Made by the same ponies as Power Ponies, so I figured it might actually be a spell. There's gotta be a reason it was cancelled, right? Maybe it would be too dangerous if it is a real spell? What do we have to lose? Might as well try it."
Twilight groaned. "A comic book? Alright, I guess we can try it. If it doesn't do anything, you're cleaning up this whole library by yourself. Then maybe the rest of us can take a nap."
Spike smiled, setting up candles and drawing some weird symbol on the ground. Or what he thought was weird symbols until he realized that it was just some letters in a pattern surrounded by a circle.
"'U' 'A' 'C'? That doesn't spell anything Spike." Fluttershy noted.
"I don't know what it means, it's just part of the spell. Are you ready Twilight?" Spike asked, going to turn off the lights.
Twilight nodded, looking at the advertisement. "As ready as I can be. Here goes, 'Levels are hard, the monsters tougher, but you and your buddy can rock 'n roll together. Demons will scar, and weapons get better, but you and your buddy can slay them forever.'"
The mare lit her horn and the circle began to glow an eerie green. Suddenly a sickening, brown monster appeared in a green flash and roared at them, scaring them all half to death, with Fluttershy peeing herself as she sprinted to hide in the bathroom. The beast stood there, looking around when suddenly another flash appeared and ripped the beast in half, leaving a green armored man in it's place. He held a somewhat small silver weapon in his hand as he glanced down at the mangled imp he stood on. He chuckled and wiped his boots off on the edge of the desk.
Twilight nervously stepped forward. "Are you the Doom Slayer? We need your help, sir."
The green armored man just turned to stare at her, the head tilting a little, quite confused at what was before him. He just grunted and set his pistol down onto the desk and crouched down to investigate whatever was left of the little summoning circle.
Rarity glanced at Twilight then back at the Doom marine. "I beg your pardon, but we would really appreciate your help. We can pay you, if you'd like." She batted her eyes at him, in any attempt to get his help. He was male, wasn't he? Surely her charm would help the situation.
Doomguy only shrugged, picking up his pistol and putting it into a holster at his side.
Fluttershy returned from the bathroom and smiled. "Twilight! I saw him in a dream! He can help us, Luna showed me!"
Confused, Twilight turned to her. "What! You had a dream with Luna in it!? Is she alive?"
"I don't know, but what I do know, is that Luna told me that only he can save us from Tirek's army. He can't talk, but I can tell you what he's feeling. Doom Marine is what he's called in his homeworld and he knows how to beat the things that Tirek summoned. I think he knows why he's here too, and is looking for the monsters." Fluttershy pointed out as the oddly watched him sidestep along the wall at the other end of the library making grunts every so many feet.
Twilight watched him confusedly for a few moments before turning to Fluttershy again. "Well, in that case, we need to go to Canterlot. We're going to have to go with him though. I'll let you two pack what you need, while I take a short nap. Spike can keep an eye on him until we leave."
Rarity sighed, "I knew we'd have to go to that dreadful place. I'll pack your bag for you Twilight, since you need the most sleep. I'll be back in the morning."
Twilight nodded. "Well, it hasn't been a normal day for a week, but I'll be ready when ever you two are."
And with that, the two departed as Twilight went to bed, leaving Spike to look after the Doom Marine. Hopefully for Spike, he won't punch too many walls while the others prepare...