Sorry for the delay. Writer's block is a bitch. I had to rewrite a few sections multiple times to get what I wanted. Anyway, enjoy!

Demons

/dē-mən/ noun

Demons, otherwise known as a daemons in an older Equish dialect, are a race of red skinned bipedal winged creatures which lives in the Tartarus Wilds. Not much is known about them as the Wilds are too far away from the entrance to Tartarus for any expedition to be feasible or even wise. There have been various sightings of them over the centuries, but there has been no interaction between a pony and a demon.

Luna was sweating as she teleported and flew through the vast dream realm, her eyes peeled, searching with a desperation that bordered on terror. The news had come in at sunset: ponies had once again taken hostile action against a human, only this time it was the human known as Chancellor Gregory. Not only that, but as it turned out, there were four other victims. The Element of Generosity Rarity, one of the ponies who had cast the spell, young Spike and Gregory’s drake companion had also been caught in the banishment ritual and were now in Tartarus thanks to those cursed Hades Teardrops. The moment she had heard this, Luna had dispatched a team of her most trusted guards to the old Section 31 vault deep in the caves beneath Canterlot where the artifacts were stored, only to learn that the gems that were supposedly the Teardrops were, in fact, fakes. Judging from the dust around them, they’d been replaced long ago, possibly even at the moment Section 31 was shut down or even before that.

As for her investigation into whoever had sent the spies to Griffonstone, whoever had been responsible knew how to cover their tracks. Sellswords and mercenaries weren’t unheard of in the Equestria of a thousand years ago, but with the rise of the supposed harmony in the kingdom, the need for mercenaries dwindled. Now the only time they were hired were as private guards for anypony traveling in more dangerous parts of the country or even outside the nation. She’d had some former S.M.I.L.E. agents recalled to active duty for the investigation.

As Luna flew through the vast dreamscape, the dreams changed. She had only traveled to this portion of the dreamscape a few times. She had reached the part of the dreamscape where the griffons normally resided. Unlike pony dreams, the viewing orbs that gave brief glimpses into the dreams weren’t orbs at all. Instead, they were in the shape of a truncated icosahedron.

As she flew through the many griffon dreams, she heard a wailing cry of somegriffon in distress. Altering course, she made her way to a gray dream where one look told her all she needed to know. There was a young griffoness sitting in a field, rain pouring down. She was looking up at a statue which depicted a human form, his hands spread in a gesture of peace. The young gray feathered griffoness was looking up, tears in her eyes, as the rain poured over her. Despite the rain, she was covered in blood that didn’t seem to wash away from her, especially on her claws and beak. Behind the griffoness, Luna almost gagged when she saw a large number of pony bodies, torn apart and bleeding. As she leaned in closer, Luna could hear the sound of sobbing as the griffoness said, “I didn’t mean to…I didn’t mean to…Gregory…please come back…I didn’t mean to…I didn’t mean to…”

“You did mean to,” a cacophony of voices said. Luna turned and saw all the pony corpses standing and looking with blank emotionless expressions. Expressions that quickly began to turn accusatory as they pointed towards her. “You murdered us.”

The griffoness turned and faced them, a mixture of fear and rage in her expression. “You murdered the man that I love! You banished Gregory to Tartarus! What else…could I do…?” The griffoness’ anger vanished, and a look of guilt appeared in her eyes. “I…I didn’t mean to…”

“What about me?” a voice said from the crowd of ponies. A unicorn mare of a light purple hue with a wavy dark purple mane and tail, each with a light aquamarine stripe down the center, stepped forward. Her eyes were pure white and blood seeped from a sharp gash on her forehead. “Did you mean to kill me?”

“N-No! I didn’t mean-!”

“We were friends,” the unicorn said as she began leading the other ponies towards the griffoness. “Why did you kill me?”

“I-It was a mistake! I just-!”

“What was a mistake? Killing me? Or being my friend?”

“I-I didn’t mean to!”

Despite her current mission, Luna felt the need to help this particular griffoness out. Entering her dream was unusual, to say the least. It was the first time she’d entered a griffon’s dream, and the transition from the dream realm to dream was strange and unlike any dream crossing she’d ever experienced. It was like she was forcing her way through a wall, but the more she pushed, the less solid the wall became until finally, she was inside the dream.

The moment she was in, she was assaulted by the smell. Luna had been in her fair share of battles, and the smell of blood, feces and mud was all too familiar to her. How this griffoness knew the smells normally associated with battle worried Luna to no end. However, she had a mission. She raised her horn and it glowed. The rain vanished, as did the bloodstained ground and the zombie ponies, and most importantly the smell. The griffoness was standing on a pool of perfectly reflected water, the sky above now a deep nighttime blue. She looked around, confused, then when she saw the approaching alicorn, she stiffened. “You…I know you. You’re Luna.” She grit her teeth in anger, an anger which radiated from her like heat from a powerful oven.

Luna nodded. “I am indeed,” she said solemnly.

“Invader…invader! Get the fuck out of my dream!” the griffoness hissed angrily.

The vast wave of fury emanating from the griffoness his Luna like a magical shield, sending the alicorn Princess back. Luna was surprised by the amount of power in that anger, but she held her ground. “My apologies for interrupting your dream,” Luna said, “but everycreature deserves a peaceful night’s sleep.”

“Does everycreature deserve to have their minds fucked with by somepony who holds the power of night in her dainty little hooves?!” the griffoness sneered at her. “And if you’re supposed to monitor dreams, then where in Tartarus were you when my parents died three years ago!? Those nightmares lasted for weeks!”

Luna’s ears flattened. She wasn’t entirely sure how to answer this young griffoness. On the one hoof, being a Dream Warden alone was a big job when it was just pony dreams she was watching over. Now, though? She had seriously considered not only expanding her territory, but taking on a student of her own in order to teach her the secrets of what it meant to be a Dream Warden. She’d heard about a talented unicorn named Moondancer from young Twilight once. When this crisis was over, she might look into asking the young mare if she wished to become Luna’s student.

On the other hoof, however, griffons, dragons and other predatory species seemed to have more resilient minds when it came to nightmares. Ponies were more susceptible to their psyche’s being damaged by serious nightmares. Still, she knew that was no excuse for not trying to help. “I am sorry for your loss,” Luna finally said.

This only served to infuriate the griffoness further and the landscape began to turn red. Heat began to rise from the ground and cracks formed, revealing bright orange light coming from underneath. “If you’re really sorry, bring my lover back! Bring him back from Tartarus where you ponies banished him! BRING GREGORY BACK TO ME!” Immediately afterwards, the heat vanished, and the griffoness collapsed, covering her head with her claws. The anger was gone and the cracks were now cool but still there. She was sobbing now, whispering the words “I didn’t mean to” over and over.

Luna didn’t approach. Instead, she sat on her haunches. Silence passed. She wasn’t sure how to deal with this level of anger mixed with guilt. However, she knew that she had to at least try. No excuses. Just talking. “I…my sister and I will do everything we can to bring Chancellor Graystone back from Tartarus. The ponies who sent him there will be dealt with severely.” The griffoness looked up at Luna with tear stained eyes. She tried saying something, but couldn’t. When the griffoness closed her mouth, Luna continued. “We will make this right.”

The griffoness turned her mournful and bloodshot eyes towards Luna. “How? How…?”

Luna had no answer. And she hated herself all the more because of it.

As the first vestiges of consciousness began to return to him, Gregory Graystone stirred. His first impression of consciousness was that he felt warm. Very warm, in fact. The next impression was that he was not in his comfortable bed in Griffonstone. Slowly, he opened his eyes and found himself looking up at the mauve colored ceiling above him. Miles above his head. He quickly remembered the events of the past day. The nor’wester. The collapse of the branch onto the Ponytown District. Tartarus.

Right…he was in Tartarus with a handful of others.

He groaned and sat up, only to feel suddenly dizzy. He also realized that his clothes were somewhat drenched in sweat. Taking deep breaths, he lowered himself back onto makeshift pillow that he, Lady Serenity and Rarity had been sleeping on the previous night. He closed his eyes and tried to focus on breathing normally, which had helped whenever he was dizzy before. After a while, he opened his eyes and slowly sat up once more. Looking around, he saw that the others were still asleep.

Wiping the sweat from his brow, he stood and walked over to his bag. He grabbed the bottle and opened it, finding that there were small pieces of ice still inside. He took one out carefully and placed it on his forehead, letting its cool temperature soothe him. Soon he was feeling more or less back to normal. Probably just the new environment, he thought.

Since he didn’t have a clock, he wasn’t sure how long any of them had slept. He knew that for him, he’d slept rather poorly, waking up once with the feeling that they were being watched, but after a half hour of nothing, he went back to sleep. He’d woken a few more times during whatever passed for night in this underground realm, but only for a few minutes before heading back to sleep.

He walked over to Daenerys and put his hand on her side, rubbing her gently. She stirred and opened one eye. “Morning, sleepyhead,” he said with a smile as she raised her head and yawned. “You sleep well?” She waggled her head side to side, as if to indicate that her sleep was so-so. “Yeah, same here,” he chuckled. He reached up and touched her cheek. “Mmm, your scales feel nice and cool this morning,” he observed as he rubbed her cheek affectionately, letting her scales further comfort him. He heard her rumbling as she nuzzled him ever so gently.

As he leaned against her, he tried to think of what to do next. They had reached the bottom of the circular mountain range where that underground meteor or whatever it had been had crashed just yesterday, and hopefully Daenerys would be able to fly them over it in very little time. He wondered what they would find there. Perhaps some abandoned ruins of some kind? If that was the case, they’d have lost a day in a futile search. Maybe a doorway that would lead out of Tartarus? That’d be too easy. Or maybe nothing at all. But then again, that object that looked like a meteor falling didn’t seem random.

He turned around and felt one of Daenerys’ wings wrapping around him. Just like her scales, her wings were cool to the touch. Daenerys made a satisfied rumbling sound and Gregory smiled a bit at that. However, he soon went back to thinking about a plan. The destruction at the Ponytown District might have been his first leadership trial, but the circumstances he found himself in would be an even bigger one. He’d automatically stepped up when nobody else had said anything, but then again, he realized that none of the others were good for the job. Lady Serenity was a criminal, so she was out. Rarity had been acting like a stuck up and butthurt bitch, but it seemed she was starting to come to her senses. Still, even if she was, he doubted she would be capable of leading even in the best of circumstances. Spike was still a child, after all, and with no other alternative, he’d just stepped up immediately. Almost instinctively.

Gregory felt a surge of new warmth flowing from his heart and all through him, and he felt Daenerys tighten her grip around him at the same time. Looking up at her, he met her purple eyed gaze with a smile. He reached out and cupped her cheek. “We’ll be alright,” he said, hoping that his words would become the truth.

“Mmm…what time is it,” a voice said from beneath the other one of Daenerys’s extended wings. Spike poked his head out of one end of the wing. He looked a bit tired as he yawned, then scratched his cheek.

“I don’t know,” Gregory replied as Spike crawled out from under the wing and began to brush off his clothes. “I don’t have a watch here. It’s back at my house.” Daenerys released him and he arched his back, letting it crack.

“Oh…” Spike stretched and yawned again. His stomach began to growl at that moment. He put his claws on his stomach, looking embarrassed. “Ah, sorry.”

“There are plenty of gems around,” Gregory said. “Go get something to tide you over. And collect as much as you can. Who knows if there will be any more around beyond that mountain range? It’ll also extend our food supply a little longer.”

“What I wouldn’t give for some fish,” Spike sighed. “Still, it’s a good idea.” With that, he began gathering gems that were scattered around the campsite.

Rarity was the next one to wake up. She blearily looked around, her mane an absolute mess. She looked at Gregory and nodded at him before shakily standing up. “…Morning…” she managed to get out.

“Good morning,” Gregory replied. “You look tired.”

“I look like shit, and you know it,” she replied as she shook dust off of her body. “Pardon my Prench.”

“I wasn’t aware the word shit was Prench,” Gregory replied. “I’m pretty sure the correct term is merde.”

Rarity looked at Gregory with astonishment. “How’d you know?”

“Where I’m from, we have an identical language called French,” Gregory replied as he began digging around in his bag for some breakfast. “It’s known as the language of love.”

“It’s the same here,” Rarity replied as she began to attempt to adjust her bedhead. At that moment, her stomach began to rumble. She held it with a blush. “Ah…sorry.”

“We don’t have much for breakfast,” Gregory said, “and some of what I have ponies can’t eat, like the little bits of meat I have with me. I hope you’re alright with some simple cuisine.”

Rarity nodded. “Just as long as it gives me the energy I need,” she said, “I wouldn’t care if I had to eat a field of mushrooms. Not after yesterday.”

As he handed her one of the remaining energy bars, Lady Serenity began stirring as well. She sat up after a few seconds, looking around, then at Gregory. She lowered her eyes and didn’t say anything. He walked up and handed her another opened energy bar. “Eat. You need your strength,” he said.

She looked at the bar, then slowly shook her head. “I’m not really hungry.”

“You need to eat,” he insisted, almost shoving the bar into her mouth. “We might not have much food, but we need the energy.”

Lady Serenity looked at the bar once more, sighed, and lifted it with her magic. She nibbled at it while Gregory grabbed his metal bottle. “After we eat, we can have some water,” he said. “We’re all gonna need a little. I don’t know about dragons or ponies but humans can’t go for long without water. At most, four days. We can’t afford to waste anything. After we’re done eating, we’re going back up on Daenerys. Think you’ve got enough energy in you to fly up there, girl?”

Daenerys walked off a little ways, spread her wings, and launched herself into the air. Only for her to make it a few meters into the air before landing a bit harder than usual. As Gregory rushed over towards her to make sure she was okay, Rarity said, “I take it that means we’re not okay?”

Gregory didn’t reply at first. Instead, he looked deep into Daenerys’ eyes. She was giving him an apologetic look as she clawed at the ground. He nodded. “You’re too tired after yesterday’s flight, aren’t you?” A nod. “I understand. Do you think you have enough strength to climb?” An uncertain look, followed closely by a determined look. She stood up straighter. He smiled. “Just let us know when you get too tired, okay? Now go ahead and get something to eat.” As she grabbed some nearby gems to eat, Gregory turned to Rarity. “We won’t be flying today, so we’ll be hiking.”

Rarity and Spike both nodded, the latter looking up with some sympathy at the drake. He walked over to her and put his claw on her side. Rarity, who was sitting in what could only be described as a ponyloaf as she ate her bar, didn’t look too happy at the notion of walking, but to her credit didn’t say anything. He then looked over at Lady Serenity, and saw that she was simply staring at the ground now, the bar sitting next to her. Gregory noticed this and decided that while they were getting ready for the day, now was as good a time as any for him to get some answers. He walked up and sat in front of her, looking at her with a stern countenance. “Miss Serenity, while I have you here, I’m going to need some answers. First of all, who and what are you exactly? You’re obviously not some random Equestrian citizen.”

This caught the attention of everyone else around the two. Rarity and Spike, who were both now sitting around the gemstones they’d used in lieu of a fire the night before, both looked over. Even Daenerys tilted her head slightly towards the two. Lady Serenity suddenly looked a bit uncomfortable. “I…you’re right, I’m not. My…companions and I…we were once a part of an organization in Equestria that the citizens didn’t and still doesn’t know about. Two organizations, actually. The first was called Section 31, a small organization which guarded dangerous magical artifacts and kept them out of the hooves of the public. The next was the Secret Monster Intelligence League of Equestria, or S.M.I.L.E., which was created to protect Equestria from monsters. Both organizations are gone now, but my companions and I were given generous severance packages, enough to live out our days without needing to work again.”

Section 31? What is this, fucking Star Trek? “But you didn’t want to stop working, did you?” Gregory asked, keeping his incredulity out of his tone.

She shook her head. “No…I found work at a host and hostess club in Manehattan’s Red Light District. It seemed to be the best fit for my…proclivities.”

“Proclivities? Such as?” Gregory asked, raising an eyebrow.

She turned to him. “I have an abnormally high libido, Chancellor. I’ve seduced dozens of stallions and mares since I was a teenager. Many of them were even married. I’m not a good pony.”

Rarity looked stunned and slightly repulsed by this, but said nothing as Gregory leveled his gaze at Lady Serenity. “Keep going,” he said, gesturing for her to continue

She took a deep breath and did so, “I…I was okay with my job at first, but it was…missing something. It was missing a sense of danger that I thrived on. Seducing a married stallion or mare wasn’t enough for me. That was when Dusky contacted me.”

“Dusky?”

“Dusky Heart, the stallion you saw,” she clarified. “He’d found some work that was not only better paying, but was more up our alley. I met up with him and Jade Seed and we formed our little band. We’re called Crimson Dawn, a mercenary group. We didn’t need the money, but we all needed the action and thrill of adventure.”

“You’re thrill seekers. Adrenaline junkies.” Gregory said, feeling a rush of anger passing through him. “Seriously? You took on a spying mission because you couldn’t fuck your way to an adrenaline high?! What, a good gangbang wasn’t enough for you?! The so-called thrill of breaking up a marriage wasn’t enough?!”

“Mr. Graystone! Please! Not in front of Spike!” Rarity hissed.

“No, I’m with the Chancellor on this one,” Spike said, glaring with narrowed eyes at Lady as he scratched his right cheek. “She’s a real bitch.”

Lady winced at this, but didn’t look away. “I won’t make any excuse for my actions, and I know an apology is out of the question-”

“An apology is the least of your concerns,” Gregory said with gritted teeth. “Because of you, not only does it look like Equestria has attacked another sovereign nation at a time of peace, but you have committed high treason against your own nation!” He pointed harshly towards Rarity. “Your actions have left Equestria defenseless against its enemies! She’s an Element of Harmony, for God’s sake! Their first, last, and sometimes only line of defense!”

“Don’t bring me into this, please,” Rarity said with a soft voice.

Lady looked back at Gregory; her face full of regret. “You think I don’t know what I’ve done?!” she shouted with tears in her eyes. “I’ve let my libido think for me ever since I was a teenager! I’m a slave to my damn vagina!” She seemed to deflate and she looked down at the ground. “Just leave me here…I deserve to die…”

Gregory reached up and pulled her to face him. “You don’t get that luxury,” he growled, “and you don’t get the luxury of blaming your body for your actions! You’re a grown mare, and you’re gonna start acting like it until we reach Griffonia! I’m not letting you kill yourself, either. That’s the easy way out. You need proper punishment. And since you took action against Griffonia, you’ll be facing Griffonian justice!” He pointed to the bar in front of her. “Now eat!” With that, he stood and left the stunned unicorn as he headed to Daenerys. He leaned against the large drake and ate some of the jerky sticks he had left over from Earth.

Their breakfast was quiet. Nobody spoke a single word as they ate. Not that the breakfast lasted long. After they all received some of their remaining water, enough to quench their thirst, Gregory walked up to Daenerys. “Are you ready to go, Dany?” When she nodded, he smiled, then turned to everyone else. “Hopefully this flight won’t be as long. Miss Serenity, you’re flying with me today. Spike, Miss Belle, are you two alright with Daenerys carrying you?”

“I was fine yesterday,” Spike said. “It was pretty warm and comfortable.”

When Rarity heard this, she looked back at Gregory and nodded. “If Spike says that it’s alright, then I’ll be okay too.”

“Good. Let’s get ready,” Gregory said as he put his spare clothes away in Daenerys’ saddlebags. After everyone took care of other personal business, i.e., relieving themselves elsewhere, Gregory looked at all of his companions. “Okay, everyone,” he said, arms crossed, “Daenerys is too tired from yesterday’s flight to carry us this time, so we’ll be walking up the mountain. We’ll probably reach the top before the end of the day, if the day and night cycles of these glowing crystals are similar to those on Gaia. Spike, I might be able to carry you on my back if you need-” but before he could say anything further, Daenerys stepped forward and leaned down, gesturing towards Spike. “Or…Dany can carry you. You’re the lightest out of all of us and the youngest.”

“I can walk just fine,” Spike said stubbornly, his own arms crossed.

“I’m sure you can,” Gregory said, “and if you want to walk, I won’t stop you, but if you get tired, Dany or I can carry you on our backs.”

“Don’t forget me,” Rarity said, raising a hoof. “I’d be more than willing to carry you on my back, Spike.”

“Um…alright,” he said.

“If there’s nothing else, let’s begin,” Gregory said, turning and facing the mountain. “Put one foot in front of the other…” he sang to himself as he took the first step up the mountain…

Nobody said anything during the first few hours of the ascent. Gregory did have to remove some more of his clothes until he was wearing just his pants and a light gray t-shirt because soon he was sweating up a storm.

To his credit, Spike actually stuck it out for a few hours before he finally decided that he was too tired to walk anymore. Daenerys was all too willing to carry Spike, so Gregory strapped him into the saddle as they climbed.

No one spoke much, but Gregory did talk to Spike for a while. Apparently, the young dragon had read an older book that gave some context to Tartarus. He learned that Tartarus was apparently created by the main goddess of the world, Eurynome, as a place where the evilest of creatures were to be imprisoned. Apparently, in the earliest stages of creation, Eurynome banished a race of demigod-like creatures called the Titans to one of the Fire Pits common to the underworld for attempting to take control of the world for themselves. However, she was too late to stop the Titans from stopping the motions of the sun and moon in the sky. While the only currently known entrance to Tartarus was one known to the ponies, the book said that there had been, at one point, other entrances to the underground that had apparently been lost to time. This gave Gregory hope that somewhere there might be an exit that would take them back to the surface.

He also learned about a race of creatures known as demons. According to what Spike had read, they were a race of bipedal creatures who lived in a place called the Tartarus Wilds. Spike recalled seeing what a demon could look like when he told of his first encounter with the she-demon version of Sunset Shimmer, but as for other encounters, Spike couldn’t recall reading much.

The only other thing he remembered reading about Tartarus was that it was hypothesized that the underground realm spread out all around the world, miles and miles underneath the surface.

As they continued their long and arduous climb, Gregory looked around at the mountain slopes. It was empty of any vegetation, at least to his untrained eye. However, as they continued to move further up, he started to see some small orange and red moss patches nestled in crevices. Lady was able to determine that the moss was edible, taking a bite before Gregory could stop her. Even so, Gregory told them not to eat any more. When he spotted a crimson red tree sticking up towards the glowing crystals on the ceiling, he moved to intercept it. He found that the tree was coniferous in nature, tall and strong, and aside from the red pine needles instead of green, it resembled a tall Douglas Fir tree. It was there that he found a nice and sturdy fallen branch which he could use as a walking stick. Rarity even used her magic to prune it and peel the bark from it save for a patch of bark that made for a good grip.

As they continued to climb, he noted that the air didn’t seem to thin out like it would have on the surface. He began to speculate that Tartarus, being underground, likely had a much more uniform atmosphere thanks to the ceiling. However, where it got its oxygen remained to be seen. Perhaps there were other openings elsewhere aside from the entrance he’d seen in the show. Perhaps there were more oxygen producing plants somewhere else. There might even be an underground ocean with undersea life that produced oxygen like they did on Earth.

It didn’t take them long to start to reach the top. Despite the uniformity of the air, Gregory could see that everyone, including Daenerys, were starting to struggle. The only exception was Spike, who had somehow fallen asleep in the saddle. He walked over to her and put his hand on her side. “You okay, Dany?” he asked softly. Daenerys looked down at him, leaned in, gave him a small smile and even a small affectionate lick. He smirked and pet her scales before heading back to the front of their little line.

When they began reaching the top, Gregory looked to his left and spotted a large flat patch of the mountain only about a dozen or so meters from the top. He turned and began heading towards it. From behind him, he heard Rarity calling up, “Where are you going?”

“We’re almost there, but we need a break,” Gregory called back, pointing to the flat patch of land. “It’s probably long past lunchtime, so let’s take some time to rest.”

“Okay!” Rarity called back.

When they made it to the patch of earth, Rarity, Lady and Daenerys all laid down, closing their eyes. He sat and leaned against a large rock, facing back the way they’d come. At the height they were at now, the curve of the ground below him seemed more prominent, which reinforced his hunch that they were beneath the surface of the world. As before, the horizon also seemed closer than it would have been on Gaia or even on Earth. Something that surprised him, however, was the fact that near said horizon he saw a couple of flashes coming from what looked like actual storm clouds. The soft rumbling that came later only seemed to confirm that hunch. The colors of the land were fairly uniform with the crystals above illuminating everything.

After about ten or so minutes of resting, Gregory stood and cleared his throat. “Okay, everyone, I’m gonna break out some food for us. After that, I want you all to stay here because I’m going to go to the top and see what there might be to see on the other side. Dany, could you protect them?”

As the drake nodded, Rarity replied, sounding a bit insulted, “I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself.”

“If your actions against the changelings at Cadance’s wedding are any indication, I believe you,” Gregory said, locking eyes with the marshmallow colored unicorn, “but this is for my own peace of mind. Besides, we’re in Tartarus. A place we know little about. For all we know, there are monsters ten times as deadly as the ones on Gaia lurking somewhere. We’ve been very lucky so far, but caution never hurt.”

Rarity paused at those words, apparently thinking. She looked up at Daenerys after a while, then nodded her head towards the drake. “I am in your capable claws.”

Daenerys snorted at her, blowing a smoke ring in her direction which caused the unicorn to cough. Gregory couldn’t help himself. He laughed at the display as he passed out a half bar to Rarity and Lady. Spike soon joined in, and eventually Rarity did as well as soon as she had finished coughing. As before, only Lady did nothing. When everyone was calm again, Gregory said, “I’ll be right back.”

Turning, he began the short hike up the mountainside. Despite only being about a dozen or so meters from the top, it took him a little longer than he expected due to the steepness of the incline. However, he eventually reached the summit of the mountain they had landed on and looked down.

To his dismay, all he could see was some thick dark blue mist that seemed to reach up to the summits of the circular mountain range. Not only that, but he did confirm that there was some sort of shield in place right at the summit. He pushed at it, prodded it with his stick, and even considered shooting at it with his Peacemaker before he decided against it since he didn’t have many bullets.

As he looked around, he spotted something hovering in the air to the right of where he was. He couldn’t exactly see what it was, but from where he stood it looked like a gold dot just hanging in the air. He could see that it wasn’t too far from where he was, but nevertheless, as he headed towards it, he kept on looking back so he didn’t lose track of the others.

After about ten minutes of carefully walking along the slope, he reached the spot right beneath the golden dot. Despite being closer, he couldn’t see any more details than before.

“Damn it, I wish I had my phone or binoculars,” he sighed. “It’s not like I can say something like skulblakas ven like that Eragon movie and zoom my sight in…”

He crossed his arms and stared at it with a frown. A part of him told him that it wasn’t important to worry about what it was that he was staring at, but there was another growing part of him that somehow couldn’t let this go. Something was telling him that the golden dot was important. Daenerys was probably still too tired for even a quick flight, and he wasn’t sure if the unicorns were able to reach it with their magic.

Suddenly, his view of the object changed. It was brief, but it felt like his eyes had, in fact, zoomed in onto the object. In that instant, he saw that the object was a gold coated horn, much like the horns used by the Norse. It had a gold chain that was stretched across it. The moment he saw the ruby red runes that were carved into the side, he knew exactly what he was looking at. He’d seen it once before, after all.

“The Gjallarhorn…” he gasped as his eyesight returned to normal.

As he stared up at the dot, he saw a bright golden flash emanate from it, only for it to disappear. He was too stunned to notice the extra weight on his shoulder at first, but when he blinked, it broke the spell. He looked down and saw, to his astonishment, that the handheld horn was now slung around his shoulder thanks to the golden chain. Slowly, he reached out to touch it. “How…how the hell did you get over here?” he asked with confusion.

He looked it over carefully. In the light of day, or whatever constituted day in this underground area, the golden sheen that covered the horn was clean, without any blemish. Not even his fingers left any prints. The red writing also reacted similarly, no marks being left on it when he ran his fingers over it. As before, he felt like his hands were coming into contact with something that had static electricity emanating from it.

As he turned the horn around to peer inside, he caught a glint of metal, only the metal wasn’t a part of the horn. His motion seemed to dislodge whatever was in the horn, and a gray object fell out onto the ground. It moved down the slope a little bit before it was stopped by a nearby large protrusion.

Gregory slowly walked down, knelt and picked up the object. It was a large and ancient looking key hanging around a silver chain. Like the Gjallarhorn, it felt like it was emanating some kind of power, but its appearance was much plainer than the horn. The bow was an oval shape and the shaft was simple, but the bit and key wards were both unusually shaped. The bit looked like an outline of teeth with the outermost bits on either side longer and thicker than the inner bits. The star wards looked like two outstretched draconic wings. At the end of the pin, a curved point moved up from the bit instead of downwards.

He was interrupted by a familiar draconic roar. Startled, he quickly hung the key around his neck and ran back to the others. As he approached, he saw that Daenerys was now standing up, wings spread and facing the way they had come. Lady and Rarity were standing and looking in the same direction that Daenerys was looking. Gregory stole a brief glance in the same direction, but couldn’t see anything.

When he reached the others, he shouted, “What’s going on!? What’s coming?!”

Lady looked up at him, wide eyed. “You can’t see them!?” she shouted. “They’re coming up closer!” She pointed towards the same direction that Daenerys was looking.

“Who? Who’s coming closer?!” Gregory demanded.

“Demons!”

Gregory looked back more closely, trying to see whatever Lady was seeing. At first, he saw nothing. Then suddenly, the landscape gained more clarity than before. He would have been fascinated by it had he not seen, approaching at a worrying speed, twenty or so humanoid creatures. Humanoid creatures with wings. Batlike wings. Humanoid creatures with batlike wings that appeared to be armed with what looked like swords and spears. Humanoid creatures that were approaching fast.

Gregory grabbed his pistol and brought it out, checking to see that it was fully loaded. When he was satisfied, he held it up in a defensive position. “Form a defense perimeter!”

Lady reacted first, standing to Gregory’s right, horn lit and ready. Rarity ran up to Gregory’s left while Daenerys stepped forward, wings spread. She roared a challenge at the approaching humanoid creatures. Out of the corner of his eye, Gregory could see that his drake’s eyes were glowing a brighter purple than they ever had before. Spike, who was now out of the saddle seat, rushed up to Rarity’s side, almost protectively. He snorted, and a burst of smoke came out of his nose.

As he watched the creatures flying closer, he ran through the scenarios in his head. If these were demons, they would know Tartarus better than anyone here. And if they were demons, they had been living in Tartarus for who knew how many centuries. Besides that, Daenerys was still in no position to fly alone, much less carry them out of danger. He knew that the shield that surrounded the mountain range would take too long to go around even if they had Daenerys’ help.

As beads of sweat formed on his brow, he finally made a decision. He walked up and put a hand on Daenerys’ side. She was still a bit cool, but thanks to the exertion of climbing she seemed to be warmer than she had been. “Dany, ease up,” he said. “We’re not going anywhere.”

Lady looked over at him incredulously. “Are you insane?! Those are demons! Denizens of Tartarus! They’ll kill us! Can’t this thing breathe fire?! Attack them!”

“Not unless they attack first!” Gregory shouted back, “That’s what you ponies did to me and to Jason, and I won’t make that mistake here!”

Lady’s eyes widened and she got a guilty look in her eyes. A look which slowly morphed into resignation. “No, you’re right…but I’m not letting my guard down.”

“I wouldn’t expect you to,” Gregory replied, “but you just need to maintain yourself. If they attack first, let loose. Until then, hold your fire.”

The next few minutes were tense as the demons approached. When they reached the natural platform, many of them began circling above them while three began a controlled descent towards them. They landed on the slope above them, forcing the group to turn and face upward at the winged creatures. The one in front, who Gregory assumed was the leader, took a step forward, its gloved hands gripping the spear. It was made of some sort of black wood and the spear itself was made of a dark gray metal. The demonic looking creature also had some type of sword at its side as well. It was wearing a pair of goggles and was dressed in warm looking clothes that did indeed resemble Tartarus style camouflage. Gregory’s grip on his pistol only tightened as the being approached. It surveyed the group, seeming to almost stare at the ponies with disdain.

When it looked up at Gregory, however, it paused. Quickly, it flipped the spear and stuck it into the ground. A muffled male voice spoke from the cloth surrounding the creature’s mouth. “Are you a human?”

Gregory raised an eyebrow. Not only had this demon spoken in perfect English, but there was a slight southern drawl to it. Alarm bells began going off in his head as the grip on his pistol tightened. He knew better than to respond with anything like ‘So what if I am?’ because despite the pistol in his hand, he could only get off six shots at best before they would be on him. He forced himself to relax, stood up straighter and replied, “I’m a human, yes.”

The demon paused for a bit, then looked back at the other two demons behind him. Slowly, he turned back and began to remove his mask and gloves. Gregory gripped his pistol warily as the being’s face became visible.

To say that Gregory was stunned to see a human-like face would have been an understatement. There were several differences of course, such as the dark crimson skin, the pointed ears, the batlike wings, the short but black ram-like horns, the forked tail, the more clawlike hands and the red slitted eyes, but other than that, this demon or whatever it, or he, was, it was clear that this creature was the closest thing to a human he’d ever seen in Equestria. He cleared his throat as he stared at the strange demonic looking humanoid in front of him. “What do you want from us?” he asked in as calm a voice as he could muster.

The demon (Gregory didn’t know what else to call this newcomer and the others surrounding them) took one step forward, but at that gesture, Daenerys stepped forward, emitting a low growl of warning at the male demon. He stopped, then took a step back. “Sorry for startlin’ your drake here, mister,” he said, “but it’s our job to keep watch over this area. Lots of nasty little and big critters out here, you know?”

“To be honest, no, I don’t know,” Gregory replied. “We only just arrived in Tartarus yesterday.”

“Is that right?” the demon asked. “And how’d you get out here so fast? The closest exit is way too far away for even a drake to fly in a day.”

“That…is a long story,” Gregory replied, glancing down at Lady who looked away. He looked back up at the demon, “and one I don’t feel comfortable telling to someone I just met who comes at me armed.”

The demon actually looked a bit abashed at that. “Well, I hope you can forgive us for bein’ careful,” he said. “Tartarus ain’t exactly what you might call a friendly place. We can’t be too careful. But we don’t wanna fight you. Especially since you have that.” He then pointed to the pistol at Gregory’s side. Then he turned to the other two demons behind him. “Relax, y’all. And come down! They ain’t enemies yet!”

The demons who had been hovering above them now began to land. Once down, they began to remove their own masks. As they did so, Gregory took in their own appearances. He saw younger faces, but all with the same general features. Black hair, red slitted eyes, clawlike hands, wings, tail, horns and more. In a way, it reminded Gregory somewhat of how Sunset Shimmer appeared at the end of the first Equestria Girls movie, just like Spike had mentioned earlier. As the other demons drank in his features, he looked at them a bit more closely. He saw that, while they all had similar general features, there was enough variety in their faces, height and appearance that they could be distinguished, much like how it would be for humans. There were males and females among them and while most looked rather young and fit, there were a few older and scarred looking demons among them. And all were looking at Gregory with wide eyed astonishment.

Confused, Gregory turned to the first demon. “What’s going on?”

“Ah, sorry ‘bout them,” the first demon said, “it’s just that you’re the first human they’ve seen in a very long time. The first pure human, anyway.”

Gregory furled his eyebrows. “I’ve got a feeling that there’s a long story behind that, as well.”

“It is,” the demon said, “but we can tell y’all about it later.” The demon then looked down at Rarity, Lady and Spike. “Are them ponies and that young dragon your traveling companions?” he asked, looking suspiciously at the ponies. The other demons looked tense as well.

“They are, and they’re under my protection,” Gregory said.

When the demon heard this, he seemed to relax and held up a hand towards the others, who also relaxed a bit more. He then looked at Daenerys. “And this is your drake?”

“Yes.”

The demon nodded. “She’s a gorgeous young drake.”

“Thank you,” Gregory said, not taking his eyes off of the demon.

The demon turned back and looked at Gregory. “Can I look at her up close? I promise I won’t hurt her none.”

“First, I want to know who you are and why you were following us,” Gregory said, eyes focused on the demon in front of him.

“I’m sorry, where are my manners?” the demon said apologetically. “Howdy. It’s nice to meetcha. My name’s Floyd Johnson, and I’m a sergeant in the Tartarus Rangers.”

“I’m Gregory Graystone, Griffonian Chancellor,” Gregory replied, initially confused as to why this demon had a human-like name until he remembered that a few other creatures in Equestria had names that were human-like, like Steven Magnet. Clearing his throat, he gestured to the others. “These are my companions. Miss Rarity, Element of Generosity, Lady Serenity, Spike the dragon and my friend and drake Daenerys.”

Floyd nodded his head politely at everyone, albeit a bit more strained towards the ponies, something Gregory didn’t miss. He then looked back at Gregory. “It’s good to meet you all. Now, I hope you’ll pardon my askin’, but what happened to you?” Floyd asked. “How did y’all get into Tartarus from the surface? I’m guessin’ you’re from the surface.”

“We are,” Gregory replied, “and like I said earlier, it’s a long story.”

“Ah yeah, I get it,” Floyd said. “You’re just lucky you haven’t run into anythin’ dangerous so far.”

“Yeah, guess we have been lucky so far,” he replied.

Floyd nodded. “You can tell us your story later,” Floyd said. “First things first: we need to get you back to where we’ll all be safe. It’s nearly crystalset, and you don’t want to be out after dark.”

Gregory wasn’t too sure if he could trust these demons, but at the moment he saw no choice. They outnumbered the five by almost three to one, and Daenerys was too tired to fly still. He looked at Floyd. “No offense meant, Mr. Johnson, but how do I know you and the others here aren’t leading us into some sort of trap? I don’t know anything about Tartarus.”

“And for all you know, we could be some nasty cannibals, right?” Floyd finished. “I suppose I can’t blame you for being so suspicious, but if we wanted you dead, we would have come up lookin’ like this.”

As Gregory watched, he started to see Floyd become semi-transparent. Even his clothes seemed to become see-through. Soon, Floyd was almost completely invisible. Not entirely so, since Gregory could see a faint outline, but enough that if they had been cloaked like this, nobody would have been able to see them. As Floyd began to reappear, Gregory raised an eyebrow. “Impressive ability,” he said, “but it doesn’t really assuage my concerns.”

“I understand, Mr. Graystone,” Floyd said, “but if you can’t trust me, then perhaps you can trust your drake?”

“Why her?” Gregory asked.

“Let her smell me,” Floyd said.

That gave Gregory pause. “Um, what?”

“Let her get my scent,” Floyd clarified. “She should recognize what I smell like.”

“How so?” Gregory asked. “It’s not like there are beings like you up on the surface.”

“Our ancestors once lived up on the surface,” Floyd explained, “but they ended up here over a thousand years ago. We were good friends with the drakes. Please, let yours smell my scent. If you can’t trust me, then trust her.”

Lady was next to Gregory in a heartbeat. “Don’t listen to them,” she said with a frown as she glared at Floyd. “Demons aren’t to be trusted.”

Gregory then saw a change come over Floyd’s face along with those surrounding them. He looked insulted as she bared her teeth at Lady Serenity. Gregory saw that the canines were slightly more pronounced than his own, almost like those of a vampire. “We ain’t demons, pony,” he almost snarled. “That’s what y’all call us up there, but we ain’t the servants of Lucifer.”

Gregory, trying to head off a confrontation before it started, stepped up and moved between the two ponies/young dragon and Rosa. “Calm down, everyone. You’re only gonna make things worse,” he said to his companions before he turned to Floyd. Choosing his next words carefully, he added, “Please forgive them. You do have an uncanny resemblance to mythical depictions of demons from where I’m originally from. Red skin, wings, horns, stuff like that.”

Floyd took a deep breath, then held up his hands to the others. He then looked at Gregory. “Sorry ‘bout that. We don’t take kindly to bein’ called demons. I know we look like ‘em, but we ain’t demons.”

“I’m sorry for our assumption,” Gregory replied. “What do you call yourselves, then? Just so we don’t accidentally offend anyone?”

Floyd smiled. “We ain’t gonna get offended by ignorance, Mr. Graystone, don’t worry about that. But to answer your question, we’re novans.”

“Novans, huh…?” Gregory said. “Where’d you get that name?”

“Our old homeland on the surface,” Floyd explained.

The pieces began falling into place. Gregory’s eyes widened as he remembered the story that Dragon Lord Ember had told him about the first humans on Gaia. “Nova America,” he said softly. “Are you telling me that your ancestors were once human?”

Floyd nodded. “Yes, we were. Until we were separated from the dragons. But that’s a story for ‘round the campfire later. We need to get somewhere safe.”

“Safe where?” Gregory asked.

Floyd was about to answer, when an animalistic screeching sound was heard from behind them. Everyone looked towards the source of the sound. What Gregory saw made shivers go down his spine.

On the horizon, he saw a large flock of birds approaching their direction. They were too far away to pick out any detail, but they looked like they were fast approaching. Floyd’s wings rustled a bit. “Tartaran eagles,” he growled. Turning to Gregory and the others, he said, “We need to get to the McIntyre Cave immediately!”

“What are Tartaran Eagles?” Gregory asked.

“I’ll explain later,” Floyd said, “but right now we need to get everyone here somewhere safe. Those eagles are larger than your drake here and they’re wicked strong.”

“Can Daenerys travel through the caves?” Gregory asked.

Floyd nodded. “It’ll be a tight squeeze, but she’ll fit.”

Gregory turned to Daenerys. “You good to walk for a bit more?” he asked worriedly. She stood and looked down at him. Gregory could have sworn she was smiling a little bit despite being tired. Gregory smiled despite himself, walked up and put his hand on her front leg. “Just hang on for a little while longer, okay? We’ll hopefully be safe soon.” He turned to Floyd. “Well, guess the choice has been taken from us. After you.”

Floyd nodded and looked at the other novans around him. “Isaac, you and your team stay on the ground to guard us. George, you and your team fly.”

Half of the novans spread their wings and took to the skies, swords and spears in hand. As Floyd began leading them down the mountain towards wherever these McIntyre Cave was, Rarity moved closer to Gregory. “Are you sure we can trust these creatures? I’ve heard stories about demons-er, novans, I mean. And they’re far from pleasant.”

“The same type of stories you heard from Twilight about humans?” Gregory snapped at her.

“I…right,” Rarity said, ears flattened and her face morose.

Feeling guilty, he sighed. “Sorry…that came out wrong.”

“But it’s the truth,” Rarity said. “All I’ve heard about these novans I learned from myth and legends. I’ve learned nothing.”

“Instincts are very hard to unlearn,” Gregory said as they continued walking down towards what looked like an entrance to a rather large cave. The loud screeching of the eagles brought his mind back to the present. “We can talk about it later! Right now, we’ve got to move! You, Lady and Spike get to the cave as fast as you can! Carry Spike on your back if you have to!”

“And what about you?” Lady asked as Rarity knelt low enough for Spike to climb onto her back.

“I’ll be right behind you!” Gregory said, hoping that he hadn’t just jinxed himself. “I’m not leaving Daenerys. Now go!”

Whinnying, Lady and Rarity began galloping towards the cave entrance, being guarded by two nearby novans. Floyd and three other novans stayed behind to stand protectively around Daenerys and Gregory. As they ran as fast as they could towards the cave, Gregory looked up at his drake. “Are you still strong enough to breathe fire if we need to?” Daenerys, not taking her eyes off of the cave, inhaled sharply then opened her mouth. A large burst of flame came from her mouth before she stopped, looked down at Gregory and grinned. Gregory grinned back. “If they get close and start to attack, let ‘em have it!”

Fortunately, luck seemed to be on their side as they reached the caverns before the eagles arrived. Gregory and Floyd were the last to enter. Curiosity got the better of Gregory as he looked out to see these Tartaran eagles. He only caught a small glimpse of them, but it was enough for him to immediately recognize them. He’d seen one in the show, after all.

Tartaran eagles were just another name for rocs, the same creature that had chased the show’s version of Spike when he was going through his molt.

“Come on, we gotta git movin’,” Floyd said as he grabbed Gregory’s arm and pulled him deeper into the cave that was lit with torches made of glowing crystals. Once they were safely in the cave, Floyd pulled a large stone door shut, leaving them in the dimly lit cavern. And it was just in time, too. Gregory could hear loud ear-splitting screeches from outside and loud scratching as one of the rocs attempted to get into the cave. Floyd slammed his fist against the door and shouted, “Git along there! Shoo! Shoo!” Then he opened his mouth and mage a loud screeching noise of his own. It was loud enough that Gregory, Rarity and Lady all had to cover their ears. Oddly enough, Spike and Daenerys didn’t seem to affected.

When he stopped, Gregory removed his hands from his ears, only to hear nothing but silence from behind the door. Floyd turned and grinned at him. “Just a little trick we picked up to get rid of ‘em. Now c’mon. Let’s get you into the city.”

“What city?” Gregory asked.

Floyd chuckled. “You’ll see. I promise you’ll love it.” So saying, he turned and walked past the others, leading them into the cave system.

As they continued deeper into the cave, Gregory noted that it was barely big enough for Daenerys to walk through, but he walked close in front of her, leaning against her as they walked. She nuzzled him affectionately as they continued walking down.

At one point during their journey, he was approached by an admittedly attractive demon woman. She was wearing the same type of clothing as the others. She introduced herself as Rosa Browning, a medic in the Tartarus Rangers. It was then that Gregory finally discovered what Floyd had meant by the scent remark. Daenerys had been initially reluctant to let Rosa approach, but after the medic let the drake sniff her hand, Daenerys’ behavior around the novans changed completely. She was welcoming and even looked a little excited.

Rosa had a stronger southern accent than Floyd, and she was interested to learn more about Gregory and other humans. However, he gently but firmly rebuffed her advances. He did promise, however, that when he was feeling up to it, he’d be glad to talk more with her later.

While they walked, the novan Rangers gave some of their own water supply to them, letting them better quench their thirst. Since the two ponies were vegetarian, most of the bits of food the novans had weren’t palatable to them, so Gregory gave Rarity and Lady each two full bars while a couple novans gave them small bits of hard tack bread. To Gregory, Spike and Daenerys, the novans gave some type of jerky and small sips of soup. That began to help revive everyone, including Daenerys, who looked more awake than before.

By the time he saw a light coming from the end of the tunnel, his shirt was almost drenched in sweat because of the exertion. He drank some of the last of his own water, which was still cold, and poured some into his hand to splash into his face. It cooled him for a bit as they reached the bright entrance. The moment they stepped through, Gregory was temporarily blinded by the sudden onslaught of light that seemed to be brighter than the outside had been. As his eyes adjusted, he could hear Rarity from nearby gasping as she said, “Sweet Celestia…what is that?” She sounded like she was in awe.

“How is it floating like that?” Spike asked.

“That’s what I’d like to know,” Lady said.

Finally, Gregory’s eyes adjusted, and as his vision cleared, he found himself standing in a small clearing with a cobblestone road that led out of the cave. On either side of the road, he saw grass. Actual honest to God green grass. He walked out and saw that the road led to a set of stairs which in turn led down to a massive stone bridge that crossed over a massive circular depression in the earth. He saw a few waterfalls falling into the depression

And there, hovering above the depression and connected by a number of massive bridges, Gregory saw a floating island.

The island itself was circular, with a very light slope that lead up to the center of the island, where a large building that looked like a castle was located. Surrounding the castle itself was a circular lake that acted a lot like a moat. There were two larger concentric circles of water around two other circles of land, and beyond that was a verdant and green paradisical landscape dotted with small forests, grassy plains, hills, valleys, small streams, large ponds and lakes, and farmland. Within the concentric circles of land, Gregory could see more buildings that seemed to be several stories high. There were four large roads that lead into the inner city, making the island look like a compass. The roads were connected to the four bridges connected to the slopes of the mountains surrounding the island and the chasm below. On the slopes of the mountains, which on this side seemed to have more vegetation, Gregory saw a number of other buildings, most looking like houses. There were a few waterfalls that fell down into the chasm from the few rivers that led to the edge of the island, which for the most part was protected by a large white wall save for the gates that led in and the rivers that poured out into waterfalls.

When he registered the fact that the light falling on the city seemed to be almost like sunlight, he turned and looked up into the sky, only to see a large blue expanse of sky. And nearing one side of the mountain range, a large yellow sun was almost about to move beyond the mountain range. He was speechless as he looked over at Floyd. He tried to say something, but the words stuck in his throat. “Wh-what…?”

Floyd grinned, then gestured to the island. “Welcome, everyone! Welcome to Atlantis!”

Atlantis

/ət-ˈlan-təs/ noun

Atlantis is a mythical island first mentioned by the ancient pony historian Verity. According to most myths about it, Atlantis is said to be an island oasis located somewhere hidden away from the world. The Atlanteans who lived there were said to possess special magical abilities as well as advanced technological abilities for their time. The island apparently sank due to some unknown disaster.