Tartarus is a horrid place, until something new comes along.
Wrath, Greed, Lust, Sloth, Gluttony, Envy, Pride, the Seven Deadly Sins in the seven layers of Hell. Demons eat each other as their previously ordered system falls apart.
Corruption, Insanity, Lust, Greed, Destruction, Betrayal, Pain, the rules of Tartarus. Demons eat each other as the ponies throw more and more into their land. But there is hope.
I rub my eyes as I wake up from the sharp and rocky ground. I quickly reach to my side, and feel around for my stuff. I look at the area and see it gone. I stand from my position, my horned red form intimidating the others surrounding me, “Who the hell took my stuff!?”
I glare at a little Greed Demon as he tries to run away, holding my bag. A lesser demon such as myself, but a Greed one. Greed is worthless when there is nothing to go around. I quickly sprint after him, my goat hooves striking the ground in quick succession. My well muscled figure nothing huge among other Wrath’s, but definitely intimidating against a Greed.
It’s short form tries to slip through the rocks dotting the landscape, hopping over the lakes of fire. I chase it, stomping the rocks down and bounding over the lakes. It takes a look back at me, the gold coin eyes in its head shining, before running even faster. I tackle it to the ground, and hold up a powerful fist, “Give me back my shit and I might not kill you!”
The Greed only holds it closer, “Never!”
I smile, forked tounge slipping through the spaces in my teeth, and I prepare my four arms to go to town. I start to bring them down, and beat the Greed into the dirt. Now, it’s just for the fun, demons can’t die anymore. But it is fun to hear the sound of fist against face as I teach the Greed a lesson.
At least it was, until I feel a spiked boot kick me off of him. I’m sent flying into a bolder, and falling to the ground. I stand up, and see two angels standing there as the Greed escapes. Their shining brightness hurting my red eyes. One of them walks up, and punches me in the face, “Maybe it’s time you learn a lesson, creature.”
I smile up at the fuckers, “Oh boy, time for some more racist, holy lights! Seriously, why don’t you just look at the Sixties?”
My remarks are knocked out of me by a kick to the gut, “Shut up, you thing. Learn your place.”
I look back at the angel, “Oh, come on now. Hit me! You won’t break me! Hit me!”
I take a punch to the side of the head, “I could break you without breaking a sweat.”
I lunge forward at him, “Then do it! I mange to win in hundred of bar fights, I can win against you! I have put so many assholes in their place, and I get sent to Hell for it! So hit me! Just another asshole for me to beat!”
My brave words are proven wrong as a single punch sends me flying into the bolder again, “You betrayed your kind when you came to this place.”
I laugh, “I came here!? Oh, that’s wonderful! No, no, if not for that bitch called a wife and her goat head I would be up there! I should be one of you! I was a victim!”
The holy boot meets my face, “Your kind don’t deserve any pity.”
I brace for more to happen, but then I hear the crack of a whip, “What do you think you’re doing!?”
The angels turn around, allowing me to see my savior, “Giving this creature some justice, Wrath.”
He whips the angel directly in the face, killing it, “That is my demon! You, other one, get out of here now! This is my land, and I don’t want you cunts killing my demons!”
The other angel flies off, and he walks closer to me. I look up, and almost jump in shock, “Lord Bahl!?”
The Lord of Wrath himself offers a hand to me, “Get up, we need to get moving.”
I slowly take his hand, and he pulls me up. He starts to bound across the land, and I follow beside him, “What the hell are you doing with a lesser demon like me?!”
He looks over, his eyes speaking of rage unknown, “I remember you, Wavok, this isn’t the first time I saved you from an angel! Surrounded by five of them during the Battle of Limbo!”
We rush into his personal castle, and he slams the gates closed behind us, “I do admit, I was screwed. But why am I here?”
He starts to shove things in front of the gates, “You may just be a lesser demon right now, but you have potential. Potential enough that you will take my position. And you will take it for good reason.” He looks over as he pushes the things, “Add onto that the fact that I hate these angels. Ever since the Rapture and the slaying of our Lucifer they seem only to exist and make things harder. Hell has fallen into chaos without Satan leading us, and we no longer have an army to save ourselves from the genocide from the angels. Hear it now, they’re coming for me.”
I hear the flaps of wings outside, “And what can I do for you, Lord Bahl?”
He hands me his cat-o-nine-tails, a whip with nine whips, “Take these, the Whips of Bahl. I have power enough to give you that potential, and a way to save us.”
I take the whip, and his hand grasps mine, glowing blood red.
His mouth opens with the same blood red color glowing out, “Tartarus, in a universe outside God’s jurisdiction! Placed into a situation like us, but with plenty of opportunity! I send my demon there! May the Great Lake of Fire ensure his arrival! With glorious Satan’s will, he goes!”
I feel the demonic power rush around me, and I look at Bahl, “For glorious Wrath!”
I fade away, able to hear only a few words whispered as I leave, “Help me.”
—(Equestria)—
Princess Celestia sits in her throne room, with the other three princess surrounding her. Another bother has come up, another to be sent to Tartarus. All the better really, Tartarus is seemingly endless. They all believe that there is naught but cages in Tartarus for the creatures to wait. All except Celestia.
And it is only her in this room who can feel the shock of demonic energy from far underground. A type of demon energy far more angry than any felt before.
Celestia just takes a sip of her tea, sure that it was nothing.
Far away, a grey alicorn shivers at the demonic energy that he senses as he flies to Ponyville. Momentarily worried, before assuring that his friend in Tartarus would take care of anything evil.
I feel my form coalesce elsewhere. I look around for a second, seeing the same color scheme as Hell. Then, I look down, and realize I’m falling into a pit of fire. Fuck.
I land in the scalding hot lake, more correctly, I land on the lake. Luckily I’m not burning away, Bahl would be mad about that. Not to say this doesn’t hurt, this hurts a lot. So, I rush my hooves over the lake, jumping up from it to the actual ground.
I sit there for a second, rubbing my hoof. Just because I’ve face greater pain for longer doesn’t mean that didn’t hurt. Not as hot as back in Hell, but still plenty hot. But, apparently someone didn’t like me walking on their lake.
I look up, and see what seems to be a greater Greed demon. A bloated form with many legs and arms. Not that different looking from a lesser Gluttony, but more dangerous. This one in particular, very angry at me, “You dare walk on my lake!? You better have some bits!”
I pick myself up, and meet the Greed eye to eye, “I did not dare walk on your lake, I decided to. Made sure to wipe my hooves on it as I passed. Come on, what are you going to get from me?”
He holds out a bag, “Look, your a new demon, so I’ll give you mercy. I haven’t seen one of your kind before around here. So, about... one hundred bits, or servitude under me.”
I laugh out loud, “You’re serious!”
It holds out the bag more, “Don’t deny me, or my town will come and kill you!”
I rip the bag out of his hand, and throw it into the lake of fire, “That’s what I think of your offer! Fuck you, fuck your money, and get the fuck out of my face!”
It looks at the bag as it melts, “You just destroyed my bits. My money.”
I flick them in the forehead, “Yeah! And what are you going to do!?”
It screams out with rage, and lunges towards me.
I dodge out of the way, the attack sloppy, “Oh, you’re going to fight me!? Don’t make me laugh! Oh wait, I already am! Ha-ha-ha, motherfucker!”
I didn’t expect it to use magic, so imagine my suprise when I’m sent flying by a red beam. My head crushes a rock into bits when I’m sent flying into it, the blow leaving me momentarily stunned.
I recover, and look up, only to see the Greed already there. It starts to punch at me with all it’s might. Surprisingly effective, and painful. It continues to wail on me, and it almost knocks me unconscious. That’s until I realize I’m about to be beaten by a Greed! What the fucks wrong with me! No, no, he’s getting fucked now, not me!
I use my four arms to push it away. I use the time it’s in the air to stand, and grab Bahl’s whips, my whips now. I crack them out to the side, the noise booming around me. I feel some power hidden inside, but not something I can acces yet.
I watch the Greed get up, and rush toward me again. This time he has a knife, and looks ready to use it. Then I raise my arm, and send the nine whips flying out. The whips catch the Greed right in the face, knocking it off it’s feet, and sending it rolling. A scream comes from the demon as it writhes in pain, before standing up again.
I can plainly see the scars and gashes left in its face as it rushes towards me again. Really original thinker, this Greed. I send the whip out again, watching as it dodged to the side. Perfect. I curve the ends to come back, on the other side. They catch the Greed by the back of the neck, and carry him over to me. I reev up my fist, and punch as soon as he’s in range. The momentum of the whip caging him, and the force of my fist sending him onto his back.
I quickly take advantage of the moment, and jump onto his back. I wrap the whips around it’s throat, and pull back. The sharp spines dig into its skin, and my four arms pulling along with pushing his head down makes it start to choke. The force eventually cuts his head off, as I pull my whip up. I pick up the Greed’s head, and throw it into the lake of fire like the bag of money.
I start to loot the body, and find many differnt bags full of gold coins. I also find a sheet of paper on there, and read it out loud, “Mayor Thazzor of Thazzville. What a fucking arrogant prick. Maybe that would be a good place to start.”
I stand up from the corpse, and smile as I remember an old quote, “That’s a whole lot of damage!” Yes, I liked Phil Swift, everybody did back in ‘18. Now, I know that might take away from the whole ‘cool demon’ thing, but c’mon. Who didn’t like Phil Swift?
I hold out my hand toward the corpse, and enjoy the sensation of absorbing a new soul. Quite a powerful one as well, not enough to elevate me to a Greater, but still powerful.
It’s then that I hear some shuffling from behind a rock. I quietly move over, and peak my head over the rock. I see what seems to be this places verson of a Succubus. Still bipedal, but differnt in a way I can’t quite identify. They are cowering from my horned visage, “Please don’t hurt me.”
Perfect time for more, quotes, “To show the power of Wavok, I sawed that asshole in half!”
Turns out it wasn’t a perfect time, as my gruff voice scares the woman more, “Please, I don’t want to die!”
I turn off my inner idiot for a second, “Don’t worry, I won’t harm you. In fact, I believe you could help me.”
She looks up, “Huh?”
I show her the paper, “That prick was a mayor of someplace, but he’s dead now. So, I was wondering if some helpful demon could help me find my new town.”
She looks right back at me, “What makes you think I would show you? So you can just be another tyrant?’
I laugh, “No, not at all! I know that the only functional empire is a happy empire. And I ain’t an asshole, so I think I could help the people out.”
She looks around, “Why should I trust you?”
I smile, “You aren’t dead yet. If I were an asshole tyrant, you would be for refusing an order. But I don’t want to kill you, dear, no. I only want to kill God, Angles, Christ, and all who might stand in between them and justice. To do that, I need demons who are ready to fight and die for a good cause. For that, I need happy demons. For that, I need a demon to sho me the way.”
She hesitates for a moment, before standing up. A bit modest looking for a Succubus, actually having more that one garment. She nods, and lightly smiles, “Well, come on Wavok. I really hope you rename the town.”
I nod as we start to run across the landscape, “I’ll make sure to.”
We both rush up to the village, right through the opened gates. I stop as I dig my hooves into the ground, and skid to a halt. I look around at the state of the place.
Wooden walls. Ramshackle houses, hard roads, squatters. The most ghetto-ass place I’ve seen. To top it all off, an opulent and stone town hall, with stage included. I turn to the Succubus that lead me here, “Can you gather everyone?”
She crosses her arms, slightly distracting me with the perks of being a Succubus, “And why should I do that?”
I look back up to her face, “I can give you a position in government.”
She smiles, “Okay then!” And she flies off to the houses.
I walk my way to the stage, and climb onto it. This things made of high quality wood, mahogany or some shit like that. I’m a man, I don’t pay attention to wood. I walk behind a podium, and stare out as the demons come out of their houses.
I see the majority of them are either Imp, or lesser demon of some type. There are a few things that look like fucked up minotuars, but there are very few of that type. The rest are a mix of Incubus and Succubus, with a single Goblin thrown in.
There are only about a hundred of them. They stand there, impatience exuding from every pore.
I look out over the crowd, “Demons, I have slain the Greed who has ruled over you!”
I hear one of them mutter, “Oh great, another tyrant.”
I smile, “You shall find I’m quite the generous demon!” I take out one of the bags full of gold, and throw it into the crowd, demons diving to catch it. I point out over the crowd, “This is my place now, and things are to change! Look over the land! All shall be ours, through conquest or whatever! We shall flourish as we throw off our old chains! Today, we are New Hell! And we shall lead the New Empire of Hell from the wonder that this town is to become! Tartarus has been lost to chaos and conflict! We are to unite it together, and find a new age of prosperity!”
My speech managed to get some demons motivated, and they applaud. One of the minotuar demons shouts out over the noise, “What even are you!?”
I wait for the applause to die down, before I speak, “I am your leader, that’s what I am. I have traveled far to reach this place, and I shall complete what I set out to do! I am Wavok of Wrath, Chosen by Bahl! I carry the will of the Great Deceiver on my voice as he lies dead! I am the killer of Thazzor, and the freer of his demons! I am your greatest hope, and I ask for you to follow me. Follow within my cloven footsteps as I walk within those of Satan’s. We build up, we make allies, we improve. Then, we march against the Lords! Whoever the fuck they are, they should watch out! Cause I’ve got some whips, and their cooperation or death is required! They shall either bow, or they will face the Great Lake of Fire!”
The applause is louder this time, the demons clapping and whistleing.
I jump off of the stage, and go up to the treasure room, “I have set you free! Greed is no more! We work together, we make our town better! The demons shall be freed, and money shall be spent! For New Hell, and for my demons!” I take my whips, and hit the wall of the building. The building’s wall breaks down, and money comes out like water. Golden coins, at least a thousand of them.
The wave reaches my demons, and they cheer as the money hits.
I stand on top of the pile, looking over my demons, “This money is used for the good of us all! First, we build good living spaces! Then we get food! And then, our conquest of Tartarus shall begin! And I shall lead you all to an age of prosperity and unity never before seen in history! And you shall all be the ones to begin it! You are the ones who carry it! And you are the ones who shall benefit!”
They all cheer out one last time, and I smile at the praise.
I might not be Pride, but I do like being complemented.
I sit in my new office, listening to the sounds of construction outside. New Hell has picked up rebuilding in stride, almost every demon has their own individual lodgings and it’s onky been two days! The Succubus, her name being Blue Diamond, is doing a excellent job with administrative work, so much so that I am sitting here doing nothing. And it is so fucking boring!
I stand up, and walk outside. As I push open the door to the town hall, I end up nailing a demon in the face. I help the incubus up, and he points to the gate, “Situation for you, Sir!”
I nod, and walk over to the wall. Slightly reinforced with metal, but still pretty weak. I walk through the gates, and see a collection of one hundred more demons standing there. These ones have mechanisms on their back that summon differnt materials before hitting the demons in the head with them. I walk up to what seems to the leader, “Who are you, why are you here?”
A plank of wood hits the demons before he speaks, “I am the Pain Demon named Pin. Me and my followers are a group of special Pain’s who decide to inflict it on ourselves rather than others. We are seeking asylum within a town, and we found you. Will you accept us?”
I nod, “Sure, why not? As long as you don’t betray me, if you do than you shall feel pain greater than anything you’ve ever felt before. Welcome, Pin, to New Hell! Now, I need you to get working on these houses. You shall build your house and others home, and help our construction efforts.”
I put my feet up on my desk, a cigar burning in the corner of my mouth. I have two of my hands behind my head, and another two flipping through a book. An entire new dimension means a lot of new books. However, it seems all the books in Tartarus are absolute gibberish talking about some type of magic. I don’t understand anything but the theory. It’s obvious that magic is more present and easily accessible in this world than back on Earth. Only the higher demons and angels had magic imbued within their weapons.
However, the magic described here is distinctly different. Able to just be bended by anyone, but also weaker. It seems frightening, but also not that much. The magic here is nothing compared to the magic used by any of the Lords. Like the magic within Bahl’s Whips, or even Verhella‘s twin swords. And from what the book says, the highest feats of magic are not even comparable. The ability to raise the Sun? Worthless, can’t be used in battle, can’t even move the Sun outside it’s normal path. No, it is nothing compared to the words of Lord Satan. His very words can make storms strong enough to tear apart the land, infernos that burn bright as the Great Lake of Fire. With a single sentence, he can change the fates against people, cause endless night, and create earthquakes strong enough to tear the land asunder. I only wish I’d have been able to hear one of his spells.
I’m knocked out of my daydreaming by Blue slamming open my door, “We’re under attack!”
I instantly stand from my spot, my goat hooves striking the ground with force, “Then let us go see what these fuckers want.”
I stride out of my town hall, and see demons running to set up defenses. Two hundred demons of different kinds, helping their friends to their homes, and grabbing their gear. I can see one of the Pain demons reach his hand up as the machine on his back produces a crooked bronze sword, which he grabs. All of the strange Minotaur demons, apparently called Minolka, grab heavy iron armor and shields, serving as a spear wall should this come to blows. Imps float about in the air, snapping their fingers and creating tiny little balls of flame, ready to throw. One Incubus wears leather armor, and carries a bronze axe. The Succubi all equip themselves with bows and arrows. The single goblin, who is an alchemist, wears a loose cloak with vials wrapped around him, and a sharp iron dagger in his hands.
I walk up our wall, now coated in bronze and stone. Succubi stand ready on the wall, bows notched, and imps float around them, hands full of fire.
I look over the battlefield, and see about a hundred demons. Mostly goblins with dull knives and little to no armor. But the one in the front is different. It is pitch black, with only two glowing dots for eyes. The only color on him is the coat of mail he wears, but even that can barely be seen. His smile carries cold with it, and his eyes speak of a deep need. A greater demon, just like Thazzor, but of Corruption. He sees me, and immediately starts laughing, “There you are!”
I don’t listen to his words, “I am Wavok of Wrath, leave before I shove my boot up your ass!”
The demon smiles, “I am Gothce of Corruption!” He loses his smile instantly, “You aren’t from around here. Your corruption is darker, yet not there as much as everyone else. You disgust me with your presence. Come and face me, alone, and we shall spare the others from our fight. If I win, I get the town, if you win, then I free the goblins from my control, and they will probably join you.”
I slowly let the nine whips wind themselves out of my hands, and jump off the wall in front of him. The whips rise into the air behind me, before falling to the ground with a crack. I hold out my hand, and wrap the whips around it. I smile, “A fight? Could always use some entertainment. What better entertainment is there than killing a dumb motherfucker?”
He draws a nice iron sword from a sheathe in his armor, and he points it towards me, “To the death. En garde!”
He lunges forward with a stab, and I move to the side. I allow his sword to go right past me, and his head to go right in front of me. I crack one of my knuckles, before slamming the side of his head with a fist. He is knocked over by the blow. I look at my fist with new appreciation, “Guess his soul improved me. Guess the chances just got worse, fucker.”
Gothce might be a greater demon, but he is of Corruption. I am from Wrath, and thus am designed to fight. Just like with Thazzor, the reason I’m winning is because their demon type isn’t made to fight like a Wrath.
He rolls over on the ground, and rises with his sword pointed at me once more. I decide to flick out my hand, and send the whips flying. He tries to parry them with his blade, but only ends up getting his arm wrapped up with the whips.
Sharp barbs bite into his skin, making red blood stain his black visage. I pull back with all my strength, and he is sent flying towards me. I ready up one of my lower arms as he gets closer. I let loose a devastating punch as the momentum gets him closer. Right to his balls.
I can hear something definitely pop as he screams with a voice sounding like it’s right out a soprano’s mouth. He collapses on the ground, somehow landing on his knees.
I flip behind him, and wrap all four of my hands around his head. I slowly twist, and pull up, like taking a cap off a water bottle. He screams in pain, until his screams suddenly stop with a crack. I pull his decapitated head off of his body, and throw it on the ground. I raise my hoof up, and stomp on it, smashing it into pieces. Meanwhile, his body’s neck spurts blood like a geyser, and it falls over onto the ground. Just another stain of blood on Tartarus’s floor.
I hold out my hand, and sigh in satisfaction as I feel his soul be absorbed into me. His power is great, and I can feel power rush through me after I’m done.
The goblin army all lose the blackness in their eyes, and start to look around confused.
I jump over the walls of our town, and find Blue with the other Succubi, “Offer help to the goblins.” I smile as I twirl Gothce’s sword in my hand, “I have a trophy to hang. To always remind people not to be stupid motherfuckers, or rude cunts.”
I stand on the same stage, looking out the crowd of near four hundred demons. I hold up my fist, “Friends! Demons of New Hell! The time has come for us to start our quest reunite Tartarus! Soon, we shall march against the greater demons of other towns, and work our way up to the Lords themselves! Together, we shall move into a new age!” The crowd lets out a deafening cheer, and I continue on, “And after Tartarus, we shall visit the world above as well! My demons, they will either give us our freedom from Tartarus willingly, or they shall be forced to do so!”
The crowd cheers more, until one of the Minolka shout over the crowd, “And how’er we to do this with only only three hundred battle ready demons?!”
I smile, and draw a bronze sword from it’s scabbard as Blue carries it over to me. I look the Minolka in the eye, “Because we will not use these archaic and weak bronze or iron weapons.” I reach deep in myself, and summon up some power from the soul of Gothce. I combine the magic with some magic from my Wrath spirit, and the sword is consumed in purple-ish dark flames. I let the light of the fires surrounding the town hit the sword as the fire fades away. What is in my hands is no longer a dull, bent sword of Bronze. Now, it is a sharp, straight, blood red blade of Mehell. I twirl it around one of my arms, and throw it behind me, and catch it with a lower arm. I slash it forward, making sure the demons can hear the blade slashing through the air. I hold it up in front of my face, and smile, “We will use Mehell! Bronze is like a butterknife compared to the sword of Mehell! It can cut through iron and bronze like nothing’s even there to begin with!” I twist around, and throw the sword like a bullet headed right for the town’s wall. It goes right through the wall, only stopping when the hilt got stuck. I quickly flick out my whips to wrap around the hilt, and pull it back to me over the heads of the audience. It comes flying back, and I catch it in the arm opposite of the one holding my whips.
I allow the audience to look at the smooth hole in the wall, before taking an exaggerated bow of showmanship. I turn around and start to walk back to the town hall. I throw the blade behind me, and hear it slam into the detractor’s shield. I can feel the audience’s silence as the Minolka probably stares at the blade that’s an inch from his eyes, “Prepare yourself instead of trying to make me look foolish.” I walk through the door to the town hall. I see Blue waiting patiently at her desk, “So, Blue, what Lord should we take first?”
She shrugs, “It’s really a choice between Insanity and Betrayal. The other ones are much more powerful than them. Lord Tirek and Destruction is something we will not be able to face for a long time. Ifer and the Cult of Pain are only just under Tirek. The Succubi and Incubi of Lust are likely to accept our rule, if we have enough demons behind us. Corrugat And Corruption are low in number, but high in power. Pos and Greed are weaker, but still plenty powerful. Insanity and Chaogat in general are powerful soldiers, but they prefer to allow their leader to fight rather than them. Stapus is very likely to challenge you in a one on one fight, and after you defeat him the Betrayal demons will follow you, and they have the courtesy of not betraying their leader.”
I smile, “Then Stapus had better watch out. Next week, we march to take the lands of Betrayal.”
She tilts her head, “You think you can just take on a Demon Lord alone?”
I nod, “Don’t worry, I have a plan he’ll never see coming. I’ll outdo him in his own game. Make sure every demon has a bow and arrow when we march.”
Her face shifts from confusion into understanding, “So, your going to just betray his trust in his challenge?”
I saunter through the town of Arkala, my army of three hundred demons behind me. The fifty Succubi within all carry bows, with arrows made from Mehell. Betrayal demons sit on the sides of the roads, staring at us with dejected gazes from within their cloaks. Buildings are all collapsed and left in ruins, a reminder of the used to be prosperous city. I turn to Blue as she walks next to me, “So, what’s the story of this place?”
She sighs as she looks around her, “Arkala used to be a prosperous trading city. Then came the Great Collapse. Celestia forced a pony leader to take charge, and enforced her anti male laws. The town endured for a while, until the last of the Great Empire collapsed, and they had no demons to trade with. One male trader led a group to kill the pony. They murdered the mare in her sleep, and took over. With that act, Stapus and the demons with him became the first demons of Betrayal. He took over the town, but couldn’t do anything. He, and every other demon in Tartarus, suffered from the Curse of Bipedalism layed upon us by Celestia. Cut to one thousand years later, and he still can’t do anything. It’s the same story all around Tartarus, everywhere collapsed after the deposition of Pony Satan and the Curse of Bipedalism.”
I nod as we reach the small castle in the middle of the town. The gate is left wide open, the guards that are supposed to guard it are long gone. We manage to march into the castle with ease. We continue through the stifling silence within the castle, kicking up long left behind dust. The only sound that echos all around is the stamp of boots and the shifting of metal, as we arrive to a huge door. I turn to face my army, “Alright, Succubi, follow after me!”
I kick open the door to the throne room, and the fifty Succubi follow behind me. I move in, and march up to a throne, within which a demon sits. He wears a cloak that covers every piece of his skin, and a purple glow resonates from inside. I can see his cloak move to look at me, and hear a sniffing noise, “Hmm, you seem... familiar. That smell about you, it reminds me of before the Collapse. Ah, yes, I remember now! You have the same scent as Abaleb!”
I recoil in shock from the mention of Lord Abaleb’s name, “How do you know that name!?”
He smiles, “So I was correct! Oh boy, this is the first time I’ll be able to slay an extraterrestrial.”
I steel myself, “I don’t care if you know Envy’s name. I am here to combat you, motherfucker!”
He stands from his throne, “A one-on-one challenge? From a measly lesser demon? Very well, prepare to die.”
The fight begins instantly, as he seemingly disappears from place. He appears right next to me, where he punches me to the side. He whips out some knives, and slashes me in the back of the knee as I stumble. This causes me to fall, and end up kneeling.
He appears in front of me, not paying attention to the Succubi preparing their arrows behind him. He smugly smiles down at me, “What line of thought must have led you down the path as to where you could dare challenge me? It would seem the path has betrayed you.” He notices the small smile on my face, “And you still smile? You utter-“ He is interrupted as an arrow finds itself imbedded into his spine. His face slowly turns to recognition as another arrow enters his knee.
I get up from the ground as he is shot full of arrows, making him look like a porcupine. His thin cloak does nothing to stop the barrage from cutting into him. He collapses onto his own knees, unknowingly forcing arrows all the way through his legs with this action. I stand tall in front of him, “You actually believed I wouldn’t do this? Your a stupid cunt then, more than I thought.”
I unwrap the whips, and he stares at them. He watches me slowly unravel them, and simply says one thing, “You betrayed the terms of agreement. How clever.”
I bring the whips around, smacking him in the head. With all the force put into it, his head is sent flying, the hood of his cloak traveling with it. I hold out my upper left arm, and absorb the Demon Lord’s soul into me. I can feel my power grow exponentially, as I am sent flying into the higher tier of Greater Demons. I feel my body stretch into being five feet tall, much taller than any demons present. My arms erupt in new muscles, and my entire body turns more red. My teeth change to become sharper, and my horns grow more. They almost have a curl in them, but aren’t long enough yet.
I turn to face my army, “Now, I have become Lord of Betrayal. Gather all demons within this worn down city, we’re going to bring them back to New Hell.”
I can barely see a medium sized building in the distance as we cover ground. Our army now carries with it fifty new demons who flow within the shadows, knives poised to stab. I am a bit confused by the small size of the place we’re going to, “What even is this place?”
Blue speaks as we continue our march, “It once was the Great Archive of Tartarus. All knowledge that ever entered Tartarus eventually found itself recorded within one of the millions of books within. Then, Collapse happens, and the personal student of Celestia was put in charge of the library. Her name was Sunset Shimmer, and demons say she hoarded the books of the Archive to herself, leaving the fifty librarians with nothing to do. Those librarian’s hunger for knowledge was beyond anything to ever exist. If you had knowledge, and a librarian wanted it, you would regret stopping them from getting it. So, when Shimmer decided to withhold knowledge, she met with a very quick end. They found an old, forbidden spell, and used it upon her. It is said Shimmer disappeared and never really died, but no one knows for certain. It was because of this that the librarians became the first Insanity demons as they digested the new source of information from Equestria. They had no Lord until fate just chose Chaogat to ascend.”
We walk closer to the Archive, only to have an insanity demon open up the gates for us. Like any Insanity demon, it has long and tattered red robes covering most of its body. What isn’t covered by the robes is covered by leather wraps, and their face is completely covered by a golden mask. It nods as we approach, “Welcome, visitors!”
Then, the body erupts with green fire, and a green glow is left behind as it now looks at us again, “Visitors? No, not just visitors. No, no, I can recognize something on you. Your soul, your voice, it reminds us of our old friend. Oh! Oh, it all makes sense now! You’re the one Lantrrit told us about!”
I walk very much ahead of the rest of my army, and right up to the demon, “You’d better tell me why a demon like youself know of Pride’s name.”
It doesn’t flinch, only giving off what could be considered a smile with it’s fire, “Oh, he was a friend, very good friend! He thought us many things, many things indeed. He was a Scribe! He was here as his other friend spent time under Pony Satan’s tutelage. We had many, many different conversations as we shared our knowledge with each other! The spells he gave us were numerous, along with all the lore of his world. Terratus sounded like such a wonderland of knowledge. Oh, but you’re probably wondering why he would tell us of you! Oh, who are we skipping to all this lore without introducing ourself?” It steps back, and starts to walk into the library, “Come on in, we can serve you some coffee!”
I reluctantly follow after as the body seems to lose the green fire from it, but it continues onward. I follow it into a kitchen area, Blue following beside me as the army waits outside. I see an identical clone working in the kitchen, mumbling to itself as it sorted through ingredients, “Where is that quill? I think it’s in the ‘q’ section. What about the treaty he wrote for us? No, no, no, that’s not it. Gonna have to read this one later, there’s the thing!”
I stare at the demon as it serves three cups of coffee, “What the fuck is wrong with you?”
The response comes from behind me, as the demon I followed in speaks, “Oh, don’t mind us, we just had to find something.”
It is followed up by the demon that now sits at the table, “Give us a few seconds more, we’re gearing up.”
Another identical demon rushes into the room, this one with the green flames and carrying a piece of parchment. It hands it over to the one sitting at the table, “Sorry for the wait.”
The green flames are also passed over to the demon sitting at the table, and the other two go jogging off. It continues what the previous one was saying with no pause in between, “These were a pain to find. Come, sit, have a drink.” It picks up the drink, and pours it on the mask, somehow absorbing it, “Now, introductions are in order. Wavok, Blue Diamond- yes wr can read your souls, thus knowing your name- our name is Chaogat.”
I don’t sit down, “Would you mind explaining to me what the fuck is going on!?”
The fires light up in mirth, “Oh, our apologies, you must be confused. We are Chaogat, for we are a hive mind. It was an Art our old friend tought us, how to merge minds. We combined minds, but not body or soul, a previously unseen feat. He also told us you would be coming when your world needed help, and if we helped willingly we could see Terratus. So, we brought this treaty he wrapped up for us before he left. Our signature is already upon it, and with it we pledge to help you.”
It unravels the paper, and I can see it written in very neat writing that it will make Chaogat become my vassal, and help me. I look up at it, “You think I will just sign this?”
It nods, “We will pledge our fealty to you as our lord.” The other fourty nine demons come into the room at once, each carrying a magic staff and a curved blade. One walks up to the demon that is speaking, and hands it it’s own blade and staff. It stands up, and all fifty demons light up in green flames, “We are ready to use our knowledge.”
I look at the paper once more, make sure there is no fine print, and sign my name down upon it.
All of the demons start to laugh at once, joining into a harmonic chorus, “Pos had better watch out, for all the Greed in the world cannot stop us! Let us march, Wavok, and we shall bring ruin and mayhem upon your enemies!”
Small little lesser demons of Greed rush about in the town in the distance. Larger greater demons carry with them gold encrusted blades, purely decorative and not meant for combat. I can hear one of the Chaogats sigh with it’s multiple voices as it looks upon the town, “Oh, how Kilead has fallen. We remember it’s golden days under Lord Pony Satan. The best smiths in the entirety of Tartarus, if not all of Equis. Masters in their art, until Celestia decided to replace their leader with her Captain of the Guard. These artists were forced to quell their creativity and instead make only the spears and armor for her armies. Pos convinced many higher demons to sneak away weapons when the Captain wasn’t watching. They took all they could, gold, silver, bronze, even a few ingots and weapons of iron. When they had enough to equip every demon, they rose against the Captain and slaughtered him. They became the first demons of Greed, and took over. Unfortunately the Curse screwed everything up like it did for all of our demonic brethren and sisters. We think one of us had a cousin that became a Greed demon.” It stops as it feels a glare in its direction, and it’s mask rotates to face Blue, “Is something the matter?”
She crosses her arms and huffs, unintentionally giving a show to the demons watching, “You did what I was supposed to do.”
Chaogat simply turns its head, “Then we’ll not do the exposition again.” It sees the Greed demons start to march towards us, “Oh boy! Is it time for us to flex our powers?”
I turn to face the one closest to me, “Do you think you can take out that army alone?”
They all laugh in mirth at the same time, “Think so? Our dear lord, we know so. A measly three hundred demons of Greed? Hardly even a fraction of what we could kill. But we also think this is just an advance force sent because they think they can easily crush us. However, if we could crush this army with ease, the rest will easily surrender.”
I turn to face the demon army again, “If you think you can do so, than try.”
All of them around me start to walk forward, gathering into a huge mass of fifty identical demons, all glowing with a green fire. Laughter hits us like a wave from the demons ten feet in front of us, as the chorus of voices swirl into Chaogat’s easily recognizable tone made of multiple voices. They all seem to move around their body, and throw what seem to be throwing knives into the air. They all float in a green aura above the mass as each demon throws ten of them into the air each. The laughter turns into recognizable language, “Allow us to show you a trick he showed us!”
Soon, a storm of five hundred knives floats above the demons, each burning with green fire. One of the demons in the middle float into the air as all the others lose the green flame around them. It burns brightly around Chaogat as he laughs maniacally and points at the now slowing army, “Kill! Kill them all! Show them the brilliance of our power!”
The knives all listen as they go flying toward the enemy army. They have only a few seconds to act as the knives impact against the front row of their army. Demons fall to the ground as knives dig into their bodies. Chaogat seems to be leading the knives like an orchestra, ordering them to go right, left, or into the nearest demon.
The attack leaves at least half of the army dead, and I can feel a smile coming off Chaogat’s green flames, “Now that we’re through with the introduction, it’s on to the main course!”
One of the demons gets a green fire on him, and he marches in front of the rest, holding his staff up in the air. The one floating starts to wave his staff in a circle around his head, casting up winds around him. These two simultaneously move, the one on the ground slamming his staff on the ground, and the one in the air directing his staff and the wind generated at the enemy.
The result is disastrous. The ground itself rises to crush demons underneath it, and ravines open in the landscape for unfortunate demons to fall into. Those lucky enough to survive are all slaughtered as a giant tornado runs through them. It picks up demons and their fallen equipment, creating a maelstrom of bronze and gold that slices the demons pulled into it without mercy. All except one demon there, who miraculously survives the attacks. He is much, much more bloated then every other demon out there, and he is covered in knives and pieces of flying metal.
I start to walk out toward a demon I recognize as Pos. Chaogat stops his attacks as I get closer, and golden weapons hit the ground around me. I can see Pos look up at me, and cough up a knife, “So, you chose me. I knew you were coming. I could feel them slipping away from Lordship. Stapus, Chaogat, Luvaca. All gone.”
I stop in front of him, “Luvaca? Can’t say I remember killing her.”
He coughs, “Oh, I know it wasn’t you. No, Luvaca was Tirek’s kill. I knew that in the race between you two, one of you would get here eventually. I’m so glad it was you.” He falls flat on his stomach, only managing to summon up enough strength to hold out his hand, with a mass within it, “All the demons that just died... their souls belonged to me. Take them... take mine! Tirek must be stopped from his path of revenge against Equestria! You must win... you must... we all rely upon it. She was right... Ininiara...”
I sigh as yet another name comes up, “And yet another one of you know the name of one of the Lords. How the fuck do you know Ininiara? And why doesn’t it surprise me Greed would trust Greed.”
He can barely speak anymore as he starts to pass from his wounds, “We could do so much... kill-hunt-steal. She... told me... of Wavok.” He lifts his head up one last time, his horribly bloated head leaking green ooze and blood. His eyes meet mine, “You must win... my... Anti...ch...” He doesn’t get to say the final part of his final word, as his head hits the ground, finally succumbed to his wounds. I hold my hand out to absorb his soul as he passes.
With the souls of hundreds of lesser demons and greater demons absorbed into me at once, along with another Lord’s soul, I can feel myself ascend once more. My body grows to be six feet tall, towering over even Chaogat. I feel strength run through me as my muscles grow to the size of heads. My horns grow completely curved, ready to impale anything in my way. My teeth become as sharp as blades, ready to chomp anyone unfortunate enough to get in the way. I feel my whips unfurl themselves and I look down at them. I can feel the power within them finally open itself up to me. The fire and brimstone of Bahl’s whips finally connecting to me, allowing me their power. Although it seems like something is still trapped within, hidden away from me.
I turn to face Chaogat in my new Lord form. I feel the loss that Pos talked about, “Chaogat, we need to get to Corrugat as quick as we can! That fucker Tirek is trying to get ahead of us!”
They all nod, “Well then, allow us to use our powers a bit more, we can rip open a portal for you.”
We arrive right outside the city of Malaise, all four hundred demons appearing out of thin air. The sounds of battle reach my ears instantly. My eyes catch up as I look down upon the city below us. We stand on a hill, giving me ample sight of the scenario below. Demons of Destruction, whom look like Wrath demons but less muscular, fight alongside demons of Pain, who are lanky and have pieces of metal protruding from their skin. They fight against a combined army of Corruption and Lust. Succubi and Incubi fighting alongside shades that look like replicas of Gothce. Even with the combined army, it is clear to see that the warriors of Destruction outnumber them. I can hear Chaogat suck in air quickly, “Ohhhh. We forgot to calculate the temporal shifts.”
I turn to face them, “What do you mean?”
They shrug, “Well, a good morning I guess would be proper. It’s, uh, it’s been a day since we opened the portal. Ifer is dead, and he must have moved on to the last Lord.”
I glare right into their mask, “You mean to tell me you allowed them a day to breathe!?” I quickly calm myself, and turn to face the rest of the army, “Demons, help fight against Destruction! Help the demons of Lust and Corruption fight against this army!” I turn to face Chaogat again, “And you had better watch who you hit with your attacks.”
One of them let’s out a little laugh, “You want us to fight the army and not help against Tirek?”
I shake my head, “I am a Demon Lord, not just a collection of greater demons. I can take care of it myself.”
They lose the laughter quickly, “We don’t appreciate the implications of ‘just’ there.”
I turn to face the fighting armies, “Yeah, well I don’t like getting fucked over by an insane collection of minds. Guess both of us are pissed now, aren’t we?” I shake my head, “Just fuck off and kill those Destruction fuckers, I gotta go kill Tirek.”
I don’t allow him any time to respond as I rush down the hill. I run right into the mass of fighting demons, but they all instinctively let me through to the castle. They have no time to question why they should move over, so they just do it. It allows me to make it to the castle within a minute.
I kick open the doors to the throne room, and stumble upon Tirek killing Corrugat. He has him floating in the air, opening his mouth wide open. Both of their bodies are covered in heavy injures, but it seems Corrugat fell first. However, I remember the power within the whips.
I whip them out, and when the are swung, a beam of brimstone flies from each whip, combining into one to instantly turn Corrugat to dust. I hold out another arm as he fully dies by my hand, and absorb the soul from my kill.
I can see the centaur huff in rage, and turn to face me. He glares at me, “You! You would dare to steal my kill and absorb his magic instead of me!? You, the fool, Wavok! Bahl was a fool to believe his little prophecy. He had the audacity to claim that some demon would unite all of Tartarus and make peace with the surface!” He laughs, “What a fool he was. There can be no peace with the surface. Not with Ordirus. Only Destruction and war. Once I unite Tartarus by slaying you, we shall show them the pain they subjected us to for all these centuries! We will torture Celestia until she realizes what it feels like to have your body ripped away and replaced with a monstrous bipedal form! We will find those Elements and burn them with fire ever so how and so slowly so they may know the heat of this cursed realm! Ordirus shall be slain and we will force his damned ponies under our rule! And I will not have you stand in the way! To Equestria with what Bahl said! With what Lucifer fed to Pony Satan!”
I flick the whips out once more, striking him in the chest with beams of brimstone. The beams of fire carrying the heat of the Great Lake of Fire, literally hotter than Hell. I stomp by foot down, causing the entire room to shake, “You shall not speak of Lord Satan in such a way!”
I wrap the whips back up, and rush towards Tirek. For all his talk, he is still heavily injured.
I jump up into the air, twirling around and sending my whips cascading towards him. All nine sharp whips ready to dig into his flesh and melt it away. He raises his arms up, and crosses the two silver bands on them over each other.
We’re about to collide with our attack and defense, but we are interrupted. Both of us are sent flying through the air by an amber shockwave. I fly into a stone wall before falling to the ground roughly. Tirek gets thrown on the floor and slides all the way to the wall, leaving a nice path of blood.
The shockwave almost seems to speak to us. It attacks all my senses and screams in my ear, ”And this fucking cunt thinks he can just kill me!?”
Tirek pulls himself up as best as he can, and coughs up a glob of blood, “Harmony? No... that can’t be right. The prophecy can’t be true...”
I pull myself up to stand, and also cough a bit from the rough collision, “What the fuck was that?”
Tirek simply shakes his head from where he kneels, “No...”
Then, just as suddenly, we are met with yet another shockwave of energy. This white field of force shoves me roughly against the wall I just got up from.
This one isn’t a shout, it isn’t a challenge like the last one. This is quiet. It whispers to us, ”The probably... has changed.”
I slam against the wall, but land on my feet this time. It would seem the shockwave sent a sword to sit right next to Tirek. He picks the sword up, “But... if Ordirus is dead... no. The war, so much death... so much pain. Bahl was correct.” He turns the blade in his arms, the blade now facing him. He brings it into his chest with such swiftness, and drags it down through his body.
I can only sit and watch (and absorb his soul) as this Demon Lord decides to take his own life.
I walk up the ramp to the exit of Tartarus. I can feel the air turn from melting to nicely cool. The fifty Chaogats walk behind me, with only one of them walking next to me. Blue has been left to get every demon under control, and start up the economy once again. I see Chaogat wipe the brow of his mask, “It’s been ages since we’ve been this cool. Tartarus made us feel like we were submerged in fire every second of the day.”
I look over to him, currently covered in fire. I sigh, “You ever think that’s because you are actually covered with fire?”
He looks down, and sees the green flames licking around him, “Oh, you thought this was actually fire? No, of course not. Otherwise our robes would be constantly burned.”
I let my curiosity take control of me for once, “Then why the fuck does that green fire exist?”
He manages to communicate a smile with the fire, “Oh, who would we be if we repressed the representation of our minds? We simply allow them to express themselves however they want.”
I cough a tiny bit in the fresher air, away from all the smoke from the fires, “You’d think they’d put airholes in or something.” I get rid of the fit, and look at the gate as we approach it, “So, what if Pony Satan is there?”
Chaogat shakes his mask, “No need to worry about that, we would’ve detected his presence a long time ago if he was at the gates. No, last time we felt him was a week ago in his office.”
I laugh a tiny bit, “He has an office?”
Chaogat points over to a rock that has two chairs and a desk on it, “Depends on your definition of office.” He takes out his staff, and waves it in the direction of the desks, “It’s Celestia we need to worry about, for she is powerful. However, we do believe that you could take her. Never been a demon with the power of every Lord before. Weren’t even Lords before Celestia came, just regular ponies that did wrong and repented.”
I smirk, “And what about all of you? What’d you do wrong?”
The fire once again conveys a grimace, “We seemed knowledge in a world where knowledge can be made illegal. One of us trained with crystal magic under a King named Sombra, crystal magic is apparently a knowledge great enough to warrant Tartarus. One of us dared to become an apprentice under the Storm King. We had the audacity to learn changeling magic under Chrysalis. The gall to be an apprentice to Nightmare Moon. The bravery to dare to learn from Ordirus. The guts to know chaos magic from Discord. All of them are apparently offenses great enough for Tartarus. Glad we arrived here anyway, else we wouldn’t have learned the magic of Terratus.” He reaches out and grabs a glass of whiskey he levitated over from the desk. He douses himself in it, “Interesting flavor. Tastes like that shockwave. Wait... oh... that’s concerning now that we think about it.”
I face him as he stops in his tracks, “What do you mean?”
He throws the glass back into Tartarus, “Nothing, we simply are worried about what might be beyond the gates.”
I turn to face the gates, and see a lock on the gate. I hold it within my hands, crumpling it up before throwing it to the side. I open the gates, only to be met with three black dog heads, all of which are growling right in my face.
I can hear the flames around Chaogat switch, before it runs up next to me. He holds his hand right in front of one of the dog’s heads, “Hey, hey, Cerberus, it’s us. Remember us? How we trained with Pony Satan? How we saw you back when you were a pup?”
Cerberus takes a sniff of his hand, before licking up the entire body of Chaogat. Cerberus moves to the side, allowing us through the gates.
We move through quickly, and move into a dark cave, with bright light at the end. Chaogat laughs as he rushes towards the light with all one hundred legs, “Haha! We can see the sun once more after a millennia!”
I rush after him, similarly excited to get to the surface. Earth wasn’t exactly that different from Hell when we turned it into our battlefield in Armageddon. To be able to finally breath air without the fires of war or torture in a century would be wonderful. To think it’s 2140, and the last time I breathed fresh air was 2049.
We both stop right outside the cave, and take a deep breath of the forest we find ourself surrounded by. I stretch my limbs out, “Well, you wonder how our endurance might improve without all that smoke?” I lower myself into a runners position, and see a path right ahead of us, “Whoever reaches the end of the forest wins!”
I take off down the path, and can hear fourty nine demons chase after me. I turn around to see fourty nine Chaogats carrying a single one who lays on top of the mass, eating from some grapes he found.
We rush all the way through the forest in less than five minutes. The forest is very big, but our speed carries us through it in a blur. I smile as I turn to the side, and dig my heels into the dirt. I can see the Chaogat’s all jump into the air. They spin around, holding themselves in a chain and they throw the one at the end like a dart.
Dirt flies up in front of me as I slide into the open land. As soon as the dirt all settles down, I can see the Chaogat that was thrown flying into the distance. It seems like he is heading right for a mountain at the speed of a jet. That is, until he opens a portal and ends up eating shit as he creates a trench in the ground with his head. I smile as he picks himself up, and spits a flower back up. He takes out his staff, and waves it around, “Well, that was fun, but we really should hide the other versions of us.”
They all minimize, and rush into Chaogat’s open pocket.
He smiles as he sees a cottage right nest to us, with a yellow creature outside of it, “Well, why don’t we ask for directions?”
I shake my head, “A castle shouldn’t be that hard to find.”
He doesn’t listen, and walks right up behind the pony, “Excuse us, miss?”
The pony jumps in a tiny bit of shock, before seeming to disappear and reappear behind Chaogat. Before he could even comprehend that she moved, her hoof was wrapped around his neck. The next five seconds are very awkward as Chaogat’s flames communicate his shock, before the yellow pony lets go and backs up, “Oh, I’m sorry, you snuck up on me. I wasn’t expecting visitors.” She coughs pretty roughly as one of her legs almost give out, “Can I, uh, help you?”
Chaogat is still filled with shock, “We didn’t know ponies could move so fast...” He then recovers, “Uh, yes, you can help us. Where can we find the nearest ruler of these lands?”
She smiles, “Oh, well, Princess Twilight and Prince Chem are in the palace. You see the giant crystal tree, it’s that. Do you... want me to lead you there?”
He shakes his head, “No, we can find our way there. Thank you, miss.”
She nods, “Fluttershy.”
He nods right back, “Chaogat.”
She turns back to her work on her garden, and we walk down the path leading to the giant crystal tree.
We eventually make it to a town filled with ponies of all sorts of ridiculous colors and shapes. We both easily tower over them, and my intimidating form stops any from approaching. Still, a few do wave and smile.
We walk through a protest, and Chaogat gets curious. He speaks to one pony holding up a sign, “What’s happening here?”
The male turns to face him, “Oh, there’s a mare that won’t hire any stallions. We’re boycotting the business and suing. This discrimination may have flown a month ago, but no longer.”
Chaogat nods, “Well then, continue on.”
We walk through the protest, and start to near the center of the town. We approach the giant crystal tree, and walk up the steps to it’s door. I knock, almost denting the crystal. The door opens, and a small purple and green reptile in strange glasses looks up to us, “Hello there.”
Chaogat sends out a smile in his flames, “Yes, very much a hello. We are here to see the Princess or Prince.”
He shakes his head, “Sorry, can’t. Twilight is off at Canterlot and Chem isn’t accepting visitors with the state he’s in. I could schedule an appointment for later this week if you want.”
I step forward, “Let me rephrase what he said. We will see the royal, even if we have to force our way in. It’s a risk of war or peace here, we can’t delay.”
The reptile takes out a clipboard, “Wait, no need to force your way in. He actually said that if anyone came who was ‘tall, red, and had four arms’ to let them in.” He looks up at me, “You seem to fit that description. Follow me.”
I step in after the reptile, and Chaogat follows in after me, “Thank you, it must be exhausting to be an apprentice under royalty.”
The reptile laughs, “Yeah, it really is. Name’s Spike. And believe me, you don’t want to know how exhausting it can be.”
Chaogat lets out a single laugh, “Oh, believe us, young Spike, we know. It is, after all, the position we currently find ourselves in.”
Spike suddenly stops, and turns around to look at the both of us, “Wait, you mean you aren’t the leader? You’re the muscle and he’s the leader?”
He nods, “As counterintuitive as our appearances might be, that is true. Although we wouldn’t say ‘muscle’ just ‘assistant ready to kill’ or ARTK for short.”
He shakes his head and turns around, motioning to a door, “Well, he’s right through there.”
I walk up to the door, and fling it open. The room is simple, with six thrones around a single table the projects a map. A pony sits on one of the thrones, facing right towards us as we enter.
His fur is grey, offset by bright blue hair tossed in every direction with a horn rising through it. His body is covered by purple, wizard looking robes. On his neck is a golden necklace with an amber jewel shaped like a whiskey bottle in the center. His eye looks right at us, blue with an amber glow behind it. His other eye is covered by a metal device. It has a blue bar in the middle with a white orb passing from side to side within it. It casts a blue glow on everything ahead of it.
He lifts a whiskey bottle to his lips, taking a deep drink, before slamming it back down. A smile reaches his face as he looks at the both of us, “Hello there, fuckers.”
