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

Corignis looked at Courage, and swore she had seen the look before. "Seriously, another one?"

Still panting, Courage nodded. "Yeah…"

"So what happened this time? I take it from your expression it wasn't good?" Corignis started weaving defensive spells around them, not liking the idea that their plan wasn't going to work.

"We talked, he… he gave you an ultimatum. You gave him your name to save me, and I had to join him to protect you, and you still died in the end. Don't give him your name, Cor, he knows all but the last word of it." Courage took in the shocked look on Corignis' face. "I don't care what happens; if I have to spend all my life and the rest of my ponyhood in here, don't tell him your name."

"I wouldn't—" Corignis stopped when she saw the look on Courage's face. "Okay… I probably would. I want you to get out." She leaned against Courage and nuzzled her cheek.

"It's not worth it, Cor. Once you give up your name there is no going back. So promise me you won't." Courage spread her wing over Corignis' back.

"Very touching." The Lord of the Pit smiled at the pair. "But now you are going to help me escape. You see—"

"You can open the gates of Tartarus, but the only way for you to get through is with my help." Courage held out a wing and ticked items off her fingers one by one. "You know most of my name. You know all but Corignis' last name. You can make powerful whips with your horns. You can even turn another creature into a kirin like yourself, but so far you have been unsuccessful."

The kirin stared at Courage for a moment. "How did you know that?" His eyes narrowed, and the Lord of the Pit suddenly realized the mare might be useful in other ways.

Courage smiled, for the first time in all their encounters she had the upper hoof. "You need me, but I don't need you. I would love to escape this hole with all my heart, but I have started to realize that it isn't the end of eternity if I don't." Corignis beside her gave a little gasp when she got squeezed by Courage's wing. "So what will you offer me to assist you?"

Adept at using his formidable magic to rip his way out of problems, the Lord of the Pit started to cast a simple spell, a fast spell, and one that would kill a target dead. His target was Courage, and he snapped the spell off with impossible speed.

Jerking her wing back from Corignis, Courage could barely see the spell forming before she had to throw her own magic at it. "What are—" Her words were choked off when the second spell the kirin was casting, using its second horn, hit her squarely. Tight pain coiled around her throat, and Courage suddenly screamed and threw herself away from the Lord of the Pit.

"Courage, no!" Corignis launched herself at the kirin, and spoke words under her breath.

"She. Belongs. To me!" The Lord of the Pit spat the words out, and sliced at Corignis with his wings. When Corignis danced back from him, he knew he had her beaten. "You cannot fight me alone. Give up, give me that last part of your name, and take your place at your sister's side."

"I'm not alone." Corignis smiled, but a touch of worry filled her at Courage's fate. A flick of her eye revealed her sister fighting the infernal collar, struggling against the device that literally put the wearer's mind at the mercy of the summoner.

"She does not count anymore. She is mine." The kirin started two more spells, one was another collar, the other a copy of the death spell. "You can have one of these, your choice." She froze, however, when the magic around his horns—that was holding the spells at the ready—snuffed out. He only knew of one creature with magic powerful enough to snuff his own out. His eyes narrowed as the name bubbled up from the depths of his memory. "Learned." The tone of his voice spoke volumes for his dislike at using the pseudonym.

"Remove that collar from my mate, My Lord." Alphias stood behind the kirin, flanking it with Corignis. But he didn't hold too much hope that the Lord of the Pit would take the easy way out. "He Who Has No Name. Twice Foul. Incinerator of Legions. Lord of the Pit—"

"We made a deal, Learned." The Lord of the Pit didn't look behind him; he knew what his General would be planning. "I won't use your name, and you won't use mine. It was a deal sealed on our very life-force. Speak my name and die."

"He has a name, you know." Alphias walked around, keeping the kirin always before him. Reaching Courage's side, he reached a hoof down to stroke her mane. "My Lord, let her go or I tell Corignis your name, and damn the consequences."

Corignis just stared at the interplay between the two arch-demons. She shook her head in shock. "No… don't do that. I don't need that to beat him, we just have to fight together!" Her senses suddenly flared, feeling the collar around Courage's throat reaching out, questing towards its summoner, so it could bind Courage to him. She charged.

"Silly…" Alphias' hope to settle this, and go down in flames himself, faded as Corignis charged. Reaching out with his magic, he sliced first the questing tendril the collar was sending towards the kirin, followed by a counterspell for the the death bolt that was already zipping towards Corignis. "… mare."

The magic duel was secondary to Corignis. She slammed into the Lord of the Pit's side and knocked him over. "Let her go!" Fire rolled down her body, pouring over her form and down towards the kirin. "Let her go or I burn you!"

Alphias was doing everything he could just to counter the kirin's spells. Each time he shut one deadly or mind-warping effect down, another lanced at either him or at Corignis. So intent on dealing with the magic was he, that he didn't notice the collar around Courage's throat seem to flare with power.

"Finally." The Lord of the Pit lifted his ominous voice up. "Courage Fire, by your name and my collar, come to my side and defend me." The mare's name came to his thoughts easily, now that the collar had built the bond. Even removing the device now would not completely relinquish his control over her.

Courage stared at the kirin, the compulsion of her name and the bond causing her to climb to her hooves and rattle off a spell.

Corignis squealed as tentacles erupted from the ground around her, grabbing her legs and wings. She poured her fire over them, but it washed off the spell harmlessly. "Courage, what are—" A tentacle stuffed itself into Corignis' mouth, shoving deep into her throat. The pull of the dark tentacles tugged her down, dragging her to her belly.

"Learned, stop that now or I will have her kill you." The Lord of the Pit smiled as Courage sauntered to him. Reaching out one burning wing, he stroked her mane. "Good pet. If my general tries to stop me from claiming your twin there, destroy him." Stepping to the bound succubus, the kirin admired the artful way the tentacles restrained, plugged, and distracted the mare. "Pet, you can feel them?"

"Yes, Master." Courage hated saying the words, but there was no other way she could even dream of talking down to her master. She shook her head a little, the words coming forth unbidden from the depths of her mind. "M-Master…?"

"Speak up, pet. You can tell me what the problem is." The Lord of the Pit started another of the binding spells, ripping another of the collars into existence around Corignis' neck.

"Master," each time Courage said it, the word came easier, "will I always feel like this? I… I don't think I should be helping you."

"Does it feel wrong?" When the kirin asked, Courage shook her head. "Do you want me to take the collar off?" He was deeply satisfied at the look of terror in Courage's eyes, as she shook her head. "Then come here and greet your sister. You are both mine Courage Fire and Corignis el Threpin ark Turas del Fife."

The voice speaking her name pulled Corignis' attention away from the tentacles. She rolled her eyes to look up at her Master. Trying to nod, beg, whimper, or just groan was impossible, but it didn't stop her from aching to please her Master.

Courage looked adoringly at her Master, then over to Alphias. "Master, what about our husband?" She smiled sheepishly at Alphias, and was puzzled by the defeated look in his eyes.

"Your 'husband' has realized his mistake now. Learned, you brought them to me, so I am not completely displeased in you, but next time I will kill you if you raise a hoof against me." The kirin grinned, and before Alphias could reply he added, "And I will kill Corignis too.""

"Damn you." Alphias hated the situation, but he advanced on the kirin, and bowed to him. "What will you have of me, My Lord?" He looked between the two mares, his two mares, and his anger at the Lord of the Pit increased.

"Oh wipe that look off your face, Learned. I can smell your foals in them, and I intend them to birth them. In fact, I think it would be a fine pedigree to continue. Both mares are yours for their breeding seasons." He stepped to the edge of the path of stone, and looked at a lamia in the nearest cage. "Corignis el Threpin ark Turas del Fife, my pet, come with me."

Corignis felt the tentacles release her body, and like a puppy she spread her wings and got a shaky run, launching herself after her Master. Landing near him on the stone pillar, beside the prison cage; she trotted up beside the kirin. Nuzzling against his side, licking along his throat, she got a thrill of happiness when he shivered pleasurably.

"Burn his prison cell, Corignis." The Lord of the Pit stared at a lamia in a cage nearby. The long snakepony having been noticed at last. "You broke free, Sethrillin, the alicorn sisters themselves brought you back and locked you in here."

Sethrillin, the scourge of the Griffon Lands of Equus, stared fixedly at the succubus pouring balefire onto his cage. "My Lord, you wish to know the secret? Once this cage is empty, I will tell you." He hissed and slithered back from the flames.

"That is acceptable, Sethrillin." The Lord of the Pit smiled a big, toothy grin as more of the cage caught fire and burned. "Good girl, Corignis. I am actually thankful I didn't kill you." It was as close to admitting that he might be have been wrong as the kirin ever came.

"Thank you, Master." Corignis stepped back from the cage, just as the remaining bars of the big door fell towards her. "Is there anything more I can do for you now?" It felt so good to Corignis, to beg for more tasks from her Master.

"Return to your sister and Learned. Tell my General that the time has come to march. Tell him to call the armies." The Lord of the Pit looked at the huge lamia. "Sethrillin, you are free to join us, but first you will tell me how you escaped."

"It was simple. A mortal family. They know my name, and every year they perform a ritual to summon me." Sethrillin flicked his tongue a few times. "They are devoted, and summon me to Equestria without bindings or reservations. I reward them of course, and if it weren't for that cage I would have been back there again."

"Exactly what I thought, then." The kirin turned and spread his wings. Leaping into the air, he expanded the flame-appendages wide and flapped them to regain the path. "Courage Fire, you will be everything I need."

Courage nuzzled against Alphias' jaw, rubbing her cheeks and purring in her throat. "What's wrong? This is just what we wanted, wasn't it? To be serving our wonderful Master together, and be bound closer than ever. You should let him put a collar on you, too!" She licked the stallion's lips and kissed him.

Slamming to the ground and leaving burn marks from her balefire, Corignis shook her wings and trotted over to the pair. "Alphias, our Master said for you to make ready to march," as she said the words, Corignis watched Alphias' face register shock, "and to call the armies."

"Then his plans are already in motion." Alphias almost slumped in place. At each side, a mare was nuzzling and kissing him; it wasn't how he wanted this, not by half, but all things considered, the outcome wasn't terrible. He took a step forward and gestured triumphantly, assuming a grand pose. "Come, my mares. We call on the Host of Equus' Destruction!"

Deep inside Courage, past the bulk of her mind—that was deliriously happy she was going to get to carry out her Master's orders—the last part of her soul struggled, gasping for its existence. "You need to see all of this through, my little pony. This continues until you understand what you need to do." The words were unheard by the rest of her, the parts that now adored the collar around her throat. But that part of Courage Fire that was still free gazed out of her own eyes, and watched as the end of the world was engineered.

Author's Notes:

Lord of the Pit: I, for one, welcome our new Demonic Overlords. Tell us, Dread One, what are your plans for Equestria and soon, all of planet Equus?

"Fire, pain, control." The kirin lashed his tail, and his eyes brightened with each word. "I will fuck anything I wish. I will kill all that I want dead. And I will own it all, ALL OF IT!"

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Not the end, not even an end... yet. Next week Pt2 will arrive, and we will see what the unified forces of the Pit, led by its lord, can do.

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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)

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