After many more hours (and much more stupid shit), Prick had recovered and went back to explaining things to me as we walked through the base.

"So where exactly are we?" I asked. "Why's there a replica of Celestia's throne room?" Prick chuckled. "And stop bucking chuckling; it doesn't make you sound refined or impressive, it's just annoying." Prick blinked in surprise.

"Y-You figured out that I was trying to sound more refined?" He counter-asked, sounding genuinely shocked. I hate everything.

"You know what? Forget it. Just answer my question."

"But you asked multiple." I began grinding my teeth.

"I know."

"But shouldn't you have said the plural?"

"Y'wanna feel what it's like to break a leg?"

"I... Not particularly, but I don't see how that-"

"Then just answer my questions."

"A-Alright then..." He cleared his throat and returned to his usual demeanour. "We are in the Tartarian Victory, a fortress previously used by an entity by the name of Pluto." I sighed in an attempt to calm down.

"Lemme get this straight; we're in Tartarus, which was named in ancient Fleece 'cause of religion and myths and shit, which used to be ruled by Pluto, the Grooman name for the god of the underworld?"

"I see why you're confused, but it's very simple. In ancient Fleek times, Princess Celestia appointed a guy called Hades to watch over Tartarus. When the Groomans took over their culture through conquest, they renamed their gods. Hades, the guy, liked the name Pluto better, so he started calling himself that. Then, when-"

"You know what? I just decided I don't care."

"O-Okay... We are residing in this fortress because-"

"What did I just say?"

"O-Oh..." There was an awkward silence filled only by the sound of us walking. "We, uh," Prick cleared his throat again, "we had very much hoped you would join us. As such, we have prepared a, ah, gift for you."

"A gift? What is it; a dressing gown?" Prick began to chuckle, but stopped after he noticed my expression.

"Follow me."

"I've been following you for twenty bucking minutes, why would I suddenly stop?"

"I..." He sighed. "Nevermind."

Eventually, we reached a room that resembled the inside of a tiny warehouse. It was too dark to see anything other than an odd shape that vaguely resembled a Pony. Except that they're not moving and don't have a mane or tail... Prick pressed his paw to a rune on the wall and orbs on the walls lit up with light. ...What the buck is that?

"Ms. Overcast Vesper," Prick said dramatically, "I present to you; The Violet Firestorm."

"...And this is what?" I asked after a minute of silence. "Modern art?"

"Modern? Ha! Hardly. This, my dear Ovey-"

"Never call me that."

"-Is the future! Our future!"

"Fantastic, that's exactly the information I asked for. I understand completely and have no further questions. The universe is at peace from the exact precision you answered me with. I will never understand anything else as well as I understand this."

"...Are you being sarcastic?" I rubbed my temples to try to stop the inevitable aneurysm.

"Just... Just explain..."

"Why are you whisper-?"

"JUS' EXPLAIN!"

"O-Okay! It's super armour! I had it modeled to fit you exactly while you were unconscious!" Wait...

"How long was I unconscious 'til I woke up earlier? And why's my magic disabled?"

"You were out for about a week or so, it's kinda hard to tell down here..." Dammit.

"And my magic?"

"We disabled it for the unlikely case that you wouldn't join us." I took a deep breath.

"You modeled armour for me, a Pony, before you knew whether I'd join you, a bunch of Diamond Dogs-"

"Actually we like to call ourselves Devil Do-"

"-EVEN THOUGH I' WOUL' BE COMPLE'ELY USELESS TO YA?!" Prick whimpered. My blood felt like fire from sheer anger.

"I-I-I, um..."

"Give me back my magic. Right now."

"W-Well, y-you see, the thing i-is, I, um..." I glared into his eyes hard enough to scorch his soul. Prick gulped. "I can't..." My thirst for murder was getting hard to suppress. "B-But the armour has magic boosting capabilities! If you get i-inside, it should jump-start your magic!" I took another deep breath before managing to get words past my grinding teeth.

"Tell me more abou' the armour. Now."

"O-Okay! Okay!" Prick rushed over to the armour. "The main body frame boosts your magical abilities to about five times their usual amount and provides life support, a proximity detector, heat detection, night vision and a load of other things! It even has its own fuel source so it doesn't drain your magic!" He pointed to one of the purple parts. "The only thing it doesn't provide is decent protection! That's what these plates are for! There aren't many on here now, b-but they're easily detachable so you could add more if you wish!" My anger faded as he explained. Woah...

"You said you had it modeled after me. Who made this? Why isn't armour like this commonplace?"

"H-He calls himself the Creator! He needed a good fuel source so we offered him magically rotten demon flesh! The same thing that made me like this! He got it to work, but it used all of our samples! He offered to make suits for the rest of us as long as we keep sending him a regular supply of demon flesh! We haven't found any yet, but we're sure to find some soon!" Shit, gotta stop these morons before they get more of these...!

"Alright, how do I put it on?" Prick pulled a scroll out of his cloak and gave it to me.

"You have to cast a summoning spell. It's the same spell to get out of it too." What part of 'I don't have magic' does this idiot not understand?! I sighed. Oh well, I still have a tiny amount of active magic. If I use a Support Circle I might have just enough to cast this.

I quickly memorized the spell on the scroll before summoning a Support Circle and boosting myself. Sure enough, I had just the amount of magic I needed to cast the summoning spell. I closed my eyes, cast the spell and... Nothing happened? I opened my eyes and- Woah!

It was like my senses had been blasted with a steroid spell. I could hear every beat of Prick's heart, smell the slight bits of rust in the corners of the room, see every shade and colour the room had sharper than ever, feel every bump in the ground under my hooves and taste the inside of my mouth like I never had before! I couldn't even feel the armour against my coat, let alone feel its weight. I tried to take a step forward only to be propelled across the room. It... It made me stronger too?! I... I need to try using magic! Buck, even a basic illumination spell would- But before I even finished thinking it, my vision changed to- Night vision! I don't even have to use magic to see in the dark now! This armour... It's...

Author's Notes:

The most fiendish of villains!

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