This is a bad end, leading on from the previous chapter.

Flames rippled around Courage and Corignis, and they slammed into the ground hard in Tartarus. Courage was struck with deja vu, and shook her head a few times to try to shove out the feeling that they were just going to do the same thing again.

"We are bound to her, now." Corignis nuzzled the side of Courage's snout, working her cheek against her sister's. "But not bound like we are with Learned. She linked us to her line, and made us go free." A brief pang of sadness welled in Corignis at the thought that she and Courage could have been the Queens of Lust, but she had set her hooves on whatever path Courage chose, and that was to not be a queen.

"I can feel it. Even now she feeds us strength." Courage's eyes swept around the familiar landscape, and beheld all the same things as her premonition. "It is exactly the same. The pillars, the cages, even the empty one that should have Discord in it; he really likes tea, you know?"

"Could all these premonitions and stuff just be Discord?" Corignis gestured to the empty cage. "It really seems like the kind of stuff he is known for." Her vision was caught by a shape in the distance approaching quickly, and something about it just seemed to scream for her to bow her head. "Is that—?"

"The Lord of the Pit." Courage's eyes narrowed. "Don't provoke him, but if he does attack…" She closed her eyes and took a deep breath to steady herself. "… don't hold back. If we are forced to fight him, and become lords here, so be it."

Corignis arched her wing back and brought it forward, rolling Mistress' head along the worked stone path until the newcomer lifted one scaled leg and stopped it. He looked down at the head, then up.

"You have come at last, my little pawn." The Lord of the Pit smiled widely, showing off a healthy set of sharp teeth. "But you aren't just a pawn. You betrayed the lamia. You out-thought the guards. You out-fought the very master of Violence. You embraced Heresy. You…" the demon grinned wide, "… fucked your way through the Styx. You overcame Avarice. You starved your hunger. And you loved Lust." He lifted one flame-wing and gestured around. "What are you going to do in Tartarus—in Limbo?"

"Well, we could fight. Corignis is very good with her balefire," Courage's words were accompanied by Corignis lighting her mane and tail, flaring them bright with the white-blue fire that burned everything, "and I have become more than adept at using the worst parts of the Pit to my advantage. But I have seen the future, a fight between us is advantagious to neither of us."

"Visions of an oracle now? That is something I didn't foresee. Bravo on surprising me." The Lord of the Pit ruffled his wings and gave his long tail a swish. "So what do you propose? You want out, and so do I."

"You want to leave? But you are the ruler here!" Courage felt confusion set in. "Why would you want to leave? This is your domain!" She waved a hoof to encompass all of the Pit.

"It is boring. I have murdered murderers. I have raped rapists. I have cheated cheats and even out-eaten gluttons. I want more, I want Equestria, and you are the key to getting it for me." The Lord of the Pit stepped forward and spread his wings wide. "Will you help me, Courage?"

"W-W-What's in it for me?" Courage had to fight not to take a step back. Her eyes flicked to the kirin's horns, and she remembered how devastating they had been.

"In it for you?" The Lord of the Pit tilted his head up and a peal of demonic laughter rang from his throat. "You delight me in ways that I haven't known before, and that is why I do not lash your hide and fit you both to a dray." Taking a deep breath, he drew in the scent of the two mares. "You owe me a boon."

Courage's eyes widened, and she felt her mouth go dry. "I… I…"

"You don't, do you?" Corignis looked at her stricken sister and paled. "W-What did he do for you C-Courage? The boon cannot outweigh the debt."

"I gave her the greatest gift." The Lord of the Pit gave a flourish, gesturing one wing at Courage. "I gave Courage her life. I protected her in the depths of the Pit before she could properly stand on her own hooves. If it weren't for me, I am sure she would be dead!"

"No!" Courage stomped a hoof, and saw her sudden defiance mirrored in Corignis. "You helped me, but if you had not I would not be dead: I don't owe my life to you!" The chill hunger rose within her unbidden, and despite being full, she lusted to feast upon the Lord of the Pit.

"And how would you prove that? Taking the word from a half-demon is far from the smartest thing I could do." The Lord of the Pit smiled widely, showing off his fangs. "Or do you deny that lying and—"

"Courage would not lie about that, and if you have seen any of her journey you would know that." Corignis had the absolute displeasure of having the kirin turn to face her. She glared into the slit, red eyes of the Lord of the Pit and snarled.

"Corignis el Threpin…" The Lord of the Pit trailed off, raising an eyebrow. "You have shared parts of your name far too freely, Corignis el Threpin." Each mention of nearly half of Corignis' name made the demoness wince.

"You… you don't know enough of it to be useful, or you would use it!" Corignis had never given the last part of her name to anyone except Courage and Alphias, and she was sure neither of them would betray her.

"ark Turas del…" The Lord of the Pit reached a hoof up to his head, pantomiming trying to remember the last part of Corignis' name. "Oh, this part always slips my mind. Very well," he turned to Courage, "your boon to me is simple, what is the rest of this demoness' name?"

Courage's eyes flared wide, the request wasn't impacting her own life, but she hated the thought of putting her sister at the kirin's mercy—she knew he had none. "No."

"Now there is a word I don't hear every millennium. You owe me, Courage. You owe me for being here. What about if I send you back to Treachery? Send you back to the very beginning so you can become the plaything of the lamia?" The Lord of the Pit ignited his horns with power, slowly weaving a targeted banishment spell.

"Stop!" Corignis glared at the kirin. "Leave her alone. Courage, make my name count for something, trade it to him." Her shoulders slumped, and she looked at Courage with no smile on her lips. "Secure your release and tell him my name."

With the Lord of the Pit having already summoned his magic, Courage wouldn't be able to deploy hers fast enough to counter it. Closing her eyes, she leaned closer to Corignis and spread one wing around her sister. "You send either of us, and you send us both. Who knows, we might set up shop in Lust this time through, and then you couldn't use me to get out. So you won't banish us."

His bluff called, the Lord of the Pit ground his teeth together. "You are growing more irritating than useful. I think I might just send you there anyway. You claim you have visions of the future, yet you didn't foresee what I am about to do." Smiling widely, the kirin changed his magic from banishing to binding. "Corignis el Threpin ark Turas del, give me your name and you have my word that Courage will be free of this place if I am at all able to see her so."

"Don't you dare, Cor." Courage glared at Corignis. "We do this together or—"

"Fife." Corignis lowered her head, a smile growing on her lips. "My last name is Fife. Now take—"

"Good," the kirin yanked his spell, casting it like a lariat around Corignis' neck, "pet." Corignis fell towards him, dragged down and to her knees before the demon that held her name over her. "You will be joining us, of course."

"Corignis!" Courage shook her head and let steely resolve fill her. She looked at the kirin with malice and hatred in her eyes. "If you wish to survive long enough to keep that promise, you will give her to me."

"Give me all your name, and I will." The Lord of the Pit smiled divinely on Courage. "Fit yourself with a harness of my choosing and I will let you control the fate of my latest plaything." With a tug of Corignis' new leash, the kirin yanked her to the ground. "No fire, put that away, Corignis el Threpin ark Turas del Fife."

With her name invoked, Corignis was the kirin's slave. "Yes, master." She released her anger and let the fire fade from her.

"I'll help you escape." Courage couldn't take her eyes from her proud sister. "I will do it for ownership of Corignis."

"Willing? Now that changes everything. Come on then, join your power to mine. Only the Lord of the Pit can open the gates, but it takes a creature with a soul to actually leave." The kirin reached out with his magic, swirling it in the air before Courage.

In her dream, Courage had seen how powerful he was, and although she had drained him this was very different. "Corignis first. Give her to me." She held out a wing for the lariat.

"Your word you will go through with this?" The Lord of the Pit waited for Courage to nod before passing her the leash to her sister.

Courage looked down the length of the spell-in-solid-form that bound Corignis. "Stand up, sister." She gave a gentle tug on the leash. "You know my name, Corignis, now let me tell you your new one."

Staring mutely at Courage, Corignis regained her hooves. Shaking her wings, she stood still as Courage leaned in and pressed her mouth to Corignis' ear.

"Corignis Flameborn Threpin ti Fin." Courage whispered the words, sealing the surrounding air with a spell to stop them being overheard. "I love your, Cor. Don't ever do this again. If something threatens your freedom, fight it."

Corignis felt the words take on power, life and energy. She couldn't have easily changed her name as a demon, doing so took thousands of years, but her owner did it in a second. "I just wanted to see you free, Courage." Flame rippled up her tail and mane then it found the lariat.

"Your are bound to no being, Corignis." Courage watched as the balefire ate the lariat, consuming it in dancing white flames. "You kept your side of the bargain. Now I will keep mine." She turned to the kirin as she spoke, and called her own magic again. Raising her power, Courage started to feed it into the spiral-spell that the Lord of the Pit had begun.

"Perfect." The spell wrapped around both the kirin and Courage, pulling them closer and closer as it grew. "For this to work, you must endure one final change."

Courage arched her spine and screamed as the Lord of the Pit's fiery wings spread and reached around her. Where they touched, burning heat seared her and left marks of burnt flesh. She couldn't get away from the pain the wings inflicted; wherever she turned they were there. Courage's legs burned, her wings burned, her body and tail burned, but when the wings came in for her face, she closed her eyes and surged with anger. Intense pain lanced through her face, and Courage screamed her anger at the kirin.

"Courage! Courage!" Corignis stared at her berserk sister, not able to get close to her for fear she would lash out. Turning on the Lord of the Pit, Corignis glared at him. "Why did you do this? She was helping you!"

"I need a mate, not a slave or servant." The kirin gestured to Courage. "Her fate is no longer that of a succubus. I bound the flames with what parts of her name I know and her magic. I fueled them myself and sank my essence into the power. She still has her soul, but Courage is now so much more!"

The words of her "enemy" drew Courage's ire, and she spun to lash out. As she did, the burnt flesh of her face—that covered even her eyes—cracked and fell away; revealing scales underneath. "I'll kill you!" She drew on her magic, and was nearly blown away with the rush of energy.

A torrent of power unlike any he had witnessed before rushed at the Lord of the Pit, and he stood his ground before it—welcomed it. The power reached him, and washed around his body like air around a wing. He laughed and spread his wings out into the energy. "YES! YES!"

Courage froze at the exultant cries. "What did you do to me?!" She looked at her body, watched as more burned flesh flaked away. Her legs bore intricate scales of red/pink, while her belly was decorated with pure white. She still had fur, but it was sparser than before, and the red scales under it were clearly visible. An intense sensation of loss filled her, as she realized that she had forsaken nearly all resemblance to a pony.

"I have killed an uncountable number of creatures with that magic." The Lord of the Pit strode around Courage, inspecting his work. "Over half died simply trying to give me enough power to work the spell. More still burned up at the touch of my flames; some were consumed utterly, others managed to scream for weeks before dying." His eyes landed on her long, slender tail. The appendage sported a tufted tip of red fur at the tip, but was otherwise scaled and hairless. "One kirin could not smash their way out of here, but two could."

Clamping her odd new tail down as tightly as she could, Courage turned to look at Corignis. "Cor, is this as bad as it seems?" Her sister nodded slowly back to her. "Well buck." A leathery wing wrapped around her back gingerly.

When Corignis realized Courage's flame-wings were not going to burn her, she squeezed her sister tightly. "I will always be with you, silly pony. Even if you turned into a monster like White, or a beast like in Violence." She leaned against the solid kirin body Courage now sported. "And I love the horns."

Courage blinked. "Horns? Plural?" Corignis nodded to her. "Okay, buck this for a joke. Let's get this done and get out of here." She didn't pull away from Corignis as she looked at the Lord of the Pit. "Let's do it."

Four horns lit with power, as the Lord of the Pit and Courage Fire channeled their fell powers. Both kirin targeted their magic towards the distant gate. The Lord of the Pit opened the portal with ease, but it was a one-way barrier still. He watched the vibrant, burning power of Courage lance into the seal, and leaned into her magic with his own. "I will not leave you wanting for power to do this. You are the only creature that can tear that—" He stopped talking as Courage's magic did its job.

"It is open. All the way open." Corignis drew her wing back from Courage's back, and stared. "It… it is really open. You can leave, Courage. We can leave!" She looked back to see both kirin marching forward, so she fell in at Courage's side.

"There is one more thing." The Lord of the Pit advanced with them towards the gate, and as they neared it the problem became apparent; Cerberus was not snoozing, was not derelict. The Guardian of Tartarus glared at the three demons with all three sets of eyes. "I have waited for this moment for a long time…"

Courage's eyes widened as they landed in Tartarus. Her heart rate sped up as if she were sprinting, and she turned to Corignis. "This… this won't work. Well, it will, but not how we want it." She shook her head, casting off the last vestiges of the vision; watched helplessly as Cerberus ripped Corignis apart.

"Will you learn?" The words were soft, carried away with the last scraps of the dream, and Courage barely even caught them at all.

Author's Notes:

Not the end, just what might have been if Courage gave a little ground to the Lord of the Pit, and joined his cause.

~~~~~+++++~~~~~

So I do this "Ask x" thing, x can be any pony within the story. You can ask them anything and I they will definitely hopefully reply. Keep the questions appropriate to the age-rating of the stories and of course, I they will answer the best question(s) in the author notes of the next chapter. The more votes a comment has the more likely I will get it to the right pony to answer, try and keep it to one answer per post! I They will pick one question per chapter. (note, the commissioner will answer questions in the comments, since this is their OC)

~~~~~+++++~~~~~

Support me on atreon

Join me on Discord. Please use your FimFic name as an alias. Warning, said chat may contain NSFW material and should be considered adult in nature.

Awesome ponies who are already helping to keep me in keyboards and rum:
A.P.O.N.I.
Boulder
Canary in the Coal Mine
Daremo
Dio-Drogynous
Ian
Javarod
Jeffh4
Mary Rowland
Mephia
Nils
Sirion123

And special thanks to the following, for careful eyes and friendly words:
Cross Lament
Jeffh4
Vutava