>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