- >You watch as the land beneath your feet turns dark
- >The suns once yellow glare turns orange, fading beyond the horizon
- >A faint wind passes through the land, kicking sand from the desert
- >Night was approaching fast
- >In the distance you spot a large obsidian rock sticking up from the sand
- >Trudging through the sand you make your way to the stone
- >Carved horizontally are light blue runes
- >Nothing legible
- >You produce a leather bound notepad and begin copying the runes onto the paper
- >In exact order and detail
- >Finishing the last stroke you close the book and put it back again
- >Something bright catches the right of your eye
- >You turn around to see the whole pillar of stone glowing bright blue
- >From the top down the runes fill with a purple color
- >you shield your eyes as the light intensified
- >Slowly it fades back into nothingness
- >When you look again, standing before you was a purple unicorn
- >She or he, was only 3 feet tall, as high as your waist
- >You both stare at each other in awe before it speaks
- >"S-stay back!"
- >There was no mistake from the pitch, it was a she
- >You notice her horn had a purple light at the end of it
- "whoa, take it easy."
- >You put up your hands in a harmless gesture
- >She doesn't seem to understand what you're saying or doing
- >"I said stay back!"
- >The two of you stand there in the shadow of the obelisk, neither moving
- >She couldn't understand your language without a translator
- >Too bad you didn't have an extra one on you
- >Out of the corner of your eye you notice the sun had set
- >And something like a sandstorm was racing towards the both of you
- >But with no wind, there couldn't be a sandstorm here
- >Unless that was a...
- >The unicorn notices where your looking and turns to look that way too
- >From the light on her horn you can see a dune crawler jump from the sand
- >In one motion you grab the unicorn from the waist and vault to the right
- >The crawler misses your foot by an inch
- >You let her out of your grasp and unholster your weapon
- >A six shot .44 revolver
- >The crawler Burroughs underground and looks like it was turning around
- >It jumped again, higher this time
- >You unload all six shots into it's mouth before rolling away
- >The unicorn dodges out of the way of the crawler as it burroughs once more
- >You fish around your pockets for more bullets as the crawler nears the surface again
- >That unicorns horn began glowing brighter this time
- >When the crawler jumped it was suspended in midair
- >That unicorns doing
- >You unload another six shots into the crawler, this time aimed specifically for the eye
- >Each bullet protrudes a horrific shriek from the beast
- >It withers and squirms for a few more minutes as you reload
- >Blood drips from its gaping mouth
- >You put two more bullets into the beasts eye before it stops moving
- >The unicorn drops the beast once it's stopped moving and you hosted your gun
- >"um, good work."
- >You nod and reach up to take off your translator
- >It's really just a magical amulet that reinterperates languages
- >You hold out the necklace to her and gesture around your neck
- >She floats the necklace around her own neck and secures it with magic
- "Alright, nod if you can understand me."
- >She does nod, though she tries to say something to you
- >It's utter gibberish to your ears
- "Can't understand you without that necklace."
- >I can assure you though I'm a friend.
- "If you could provide light, we could get to the nearest town within an hour."
- >She looks like she wants to say something but doesn't and instead conjures a floating ball of light
- >For the next hour the two of you traverse the red desert at night
- >Along the way the two of you spot all kinds of creatures of the night
- >She seems to take a real interest in each of them
- >Soon the lights of the city find envelop the both of you
- >Sandstone and wooden buildings line the streets
- >Hookers of all kinds of species line the streets and shady looking people hide in ever ally
- >You just keep pushing her along until you come to a shop called 'magical armament'
- >Inside there were all kinds of clothings
- >Metal, cloth, leather, anything you could want
- >The salesmen at the end of the counter says something to you
- >You go over and tell him you need a translator necklace otherwise you couldn't understand him
- >He looks at you strangely before producing another necklace
- >A red jewel attached to a silver chain
- >You place the necklace around your neck and hear the locks snap
- >"Does the translator work?"
- "Yes thank you, how much do I owe you?"
- >He waves his hand at you
- >"I could never charge a man for something so essential."
- >You thank him And exit the shop with your unicorn companion
- "Alright, now that I can understand you, what's your name?"
- >She looks up to you
- >"My name is Twilight Sparkle, thank you for your help earlier mister.."
- "Anon. Anon EE Mous."
- >"Well, thank you Anon."
- >You take a corner and enter a hotel building
- >Inside you ask the receptionist for one of the top floors
- >It's a long walk to get up there, but most top floors of a hotel are better than the bottom floors
- >You explain this to Twilight on the way up
- >When in the room you silently close the door behind the both of you
- "Alright, what're you doing here Twilight?"
- >She looks over at you questioningly
- >"Huh? What do you mean?"
- >You sigh and sit down on one of the wood chairs
- "You're in Tartarus, the jail of all jails. Only the most ruthless and vile people get sent here.
- You don't fit that description at all, so how did you get here?"
- >She takes a moment before speaking, probably wondering if she should tell you
- >Her story is about her land, called Equestria, being in dire need of help
- >She and her five friends wield the most powerful artifacts of the world but they seem to have gone missing
- >Turns out someone tossed them into Tartarus and in order to save the world she came here alone to retrieve them
- >"And I don't have much time, I have to get back within 24 hours."
- "How?"
- >She gives you a confused look
- >"what do you mean how?"
- "How are you getting out of Tartarus? If there was a way out, someone here would have found a way."
- >She smiles at you and protrudes a white gem
- >"Princess Celestial gave me this gem so I would have a way to return. If I used it on a-."
- >You stop her midsentance
- "Shh."
- >Faintly there's the breathing of the both of you
- >In an instant you've bolted from your seat and slammed the door to the room open
- "Who's there!?"
- >Down the stairs you hear footsteps flying, making a fast retreat
- >Tch, somebody heard that
- >"Who was that?"
- >Twilight walks up behind you
- "A thief."
- >You mutter this quietly
- >This city was known for having the most thieves in all of Tartarus
- >Sleeping in the sandy desert wansn't something you had wanted to do tonight
- >But staying here probably wouldn't be a good idea either
- >Twilight watches as you take out some more supplies from your bag
- >Watercan, packages of food, some boxes
- >You get the tent supplies out from the bottom of your bag and repack so it's closer to the top instead
- "We're leaving."
- >You sling the bag onto your back and look out the door
- >"Why are we leaving?"
- "Is everybody from your world a nice person?"
- >She nods
- >"Everypony is kind and fair and gets along. Why?"
- "That's not how it works anywhere else. People here are anything but nice.
- Actually I shouldn't say that, not all of them are evil, just the majority."
- >You take Twilight and lead her out the fire exit, down the stairs
- >Two people are talking at the front of the hotel
- >It wouldn't hurt to be safe, you both go down another ally and take the sidestreet out of the city
- >Along the way you tell Twilight not to use that light magic in the desert this time
- >One, it would attract people from the city and it would be better to not get robbed
- >Second, those dune crawlers were attracted to light, especially at night
- >In the distance you can see the city lights, small as a candlelight
- >You find a small sandstone alcove and setup camp there for the night
- >Twilight really didn't like the idea of sleeping in general, since she only had so much time to be here
- >But you tell her it would only be a few hours and then the two of you could get moving
- "Besides, you don't even know where to look for your elements of harmony. Or do you?"
- >She shakes her head
- >"I don't know where they are, but I could probably find them with magic."
- "Well, not now. Wait until the sun comes up, it should only be a few hours."
- >She was probably looking at you strangely but fuck if you could see in this kind of light
- >"What do you mean a few hours? It just turned dark an hour ago."
- "You forget where you are right now. Night and day only last a few hours in Tartarus, especially in this desert.
- We'll be traveling in an hour or so. But I'm tired as all hell."
- >You ask if she wanted to sleep before starting this journey of hell
- >She said no so you unroll your one sleeping mat and let the dreams cloud your eyes
- >Light bright colors enveloped your vision
- >You looked down to see a gun in your hands, an M16 to be exact
- >Not this dream
- >There was no stopping what you did, you shot and killed anything in your path
- >Everything fell to your weapon
- >Beside you was your friend, her name was 7
- >Neither of you had real names, those were taken long ago
- >In the distance you spot a glint of light
- >A snipers scope
- >Your reaction was quick, three bursts in that direction
- >The glint stops, but something else doesn't
- >Barely you notice something else glint in the light
- >It kept growing in side, like a bullet
- >You turn to 7 and tell her to duck
- >She turns to you but doesnt duck quick enough
- >From the side of her head erupts bits of bone, brain matter, and blood
- >Her eyes go wide, then empty as she hits the floor
- >As if all enemy fire stopped at that moment you kneal down next to your dead friends body
- "Seven!"
- >You bolt upright and look around
- >Everything has changed
- >You're not back there anymore, now you're in a cave
- >Twilight is standing next to you, with her hooves on your chest
- >Slowly you wipe your eyes and stand up
- >"Are you alright Anon?"
- >You nod at her
- "Yeah, just a bad dream is all."
- >She looks concerned at you
- >"Was it about someone important to you? You kept saying 'Seven' in your sleep."
- >You shake your head as you repack your sleeping bag
- "Just a memory is all. Don't worry about it, do you know where we have to go?"
- >She doesn't seem to want to change the subject but reluctantly her horn glows and she points a direction
- >"That way."
- >You check your compass
- >North-East
- >Nothing was in that direction for a few hundred miles
- >That was good, or it could be bad
- >Hopefully it was closer than you were thinking
- "Alright, lets head out then."
- >You exit the alcove with Twilight in tow
- >Both of you begin a long journy through the sea of sand
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Redemption Chapter 1 - Dawn of a Crisis
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