//------------------------------// // PiT 11: Thoughtlessness // Story: Ponies in Tartarus // by ff0000 //------------------------------// “So, Sir Spike, what do you think?” Princess Terranea looked down. The baby dragon was sitting on the step leading up to the massive golden throne. He was surrounded by all sorts of gems, sparkling in many different colors. Wrapped within his tail was a long topaz. Being dead hadn’t stop his appetite at all. “About the ponies?” He tilted his head. “Do they know me or something? I’ve never seen them before.” “The next part is important. Please keep watching, Sir Spike.” “Y-yeah, okay.” He didn’t sound very enthusiastic though. Spike almost wanted to avert his eyes from all of the ordeals shown on the viewing pool. Something about the six ponies captured his attention though. There was a sense of familiarity about them. Try as he might, Spike couldn’t remember who they were or what they meant to him. A cloaked pony slowly walked across the massive administration chamber. Not a sound occurred when his hoofs struck against the marble tiled floor. All of the guards that weren’t too busy watching what was going on with the Equestrian ponies backed away from the cloaked pony’s chilly presence. The pony stopped in front of the throne. When he bowed, his cloak swept across the ground, revealing a mark of a whirlpool on his hind quarters. Glowing yellow eyes peered up from under the shadow of the hood. “Yyyou called, Ppprincess Persssephone?” His voice was like a low, lamenting wind. “Welcome, Reaper Fog Lace. I have something to discuss with you,” Princess Terranea said. Twilight and the others walked down a long, dreary tunnel. Compared to the magnificence of the previous areas, this place looked very subdued. Rusty old chandeliers hung from chains that criss crossed through the ceiling. Water dripping down bat the flames away, but they could not put out the fire. They were a group of all ponies again. Cerberus, being the guardian of Tartarus, had to remain behind. Fluttershy promised to come back and play soon. “This air, it’s absolutely terrible for my mane,” Rarity complained as she sadly tried to style her mane. Warm churning waters made the claustrophobically small tunnel muggy and humid. It was the kind of humidity found during summer nights, the kind that clung to fur in a sticky mess. Rarity was desperately trying to keep the fine curls in her mane and tail from collapsing into a tangled, damp mess. Her high pitched whines echoed through the tunnel. “All this humidity is making me sweat. Do you know how horrible that is?” The other ponies ignored her protests. Getting worked up over it was only going to make them hotter. “What is the next river?” Twilight asked. “Uh.” Ferry Merry tilted her head to the left, then to the right. She looked up thoughtfully. “I don’t know. Why can’t I think of it right now? Let’s see, River of Pain, River of Fire, River of Wailing, uh, this one, and finally, River of Hate. Nope, can’t think of it.” “How about the guardian?” “The guardian is a mare, I think.” A look of intense concentration crawled over the filly’s face. After another moment, she relaxed. “I got nothing, dame, sorry.” “Hold up, squirt,” Rainbow Dash said. The rainbow pegasus was hovering a bit of the ground, drifting lazily along. Her wing strokes looked to be in good form, though was still not as fast as normal. “Are you telling me you have no idea what the next river is or who’s guarding it?” “I guess I am. What of it?” Rainbow scratched her head. “Nothing. It just seems weird.” “I agree it’s off, but we aren’t stopping,” Twilight said. Continuing forward, they found that the tunnel had brightened up. Strange floating lights, of various colors, lazily shifted around the area. They were able to pass through the hanging chains without disturbing them at all. Even with the added light, the murky blue river was still as impenetrable as ever. “What are these little fellas?” Applejack asked. She tried to touch one, but her hoof went right through it. “I know this!” Ferry yelled. The other ponies all recoiled in surprise. “Sorry. I mean, those lights are the lost souls, wandering the rivers of Lot D forever. They leave a trail of misery wherever they go, bringing coldness to the area.” “Eep,” Fluttershy gasped. She had started backing away from the lights, only to run into a stalagmite. She let out a ear piercing yelp. “Oh, Fluttershy, they’re lost in the sense that they have no purpose or direction. I mean we know where they are, we just have no place to put them.” Ferry Merry tilted her head again with eyes open wide. “I think. I know they’re completely harmless though.” Twilight tilted her head back, watching one of the lost souls go over her. The tip of her horn raked through the body of light. “Looks that way,” she noted. “So come on, Fluttershy.” “Yes, of course,” the cowering pegasus said. She still moved very carefully, getting out of the way from any lost souls in her path. Up ahead, the walkways diverged from the river. While the river continued forward, the path they needed to take went upwards. In front of them were narrow stairs, carved out from rocks and chipped from old age. Standing in daze, right next to the stairs the ponies were going to take was somepony else, an under pony mare with a blank look about her. Before anypony else could do something, Pinkie Pie had already bounced over. “Hi there. Are you a lost soul too?” “Am I?” the murky green under pony asked. Her mane and tail fell in strips, similar to seaweed. Half of her face was covered by mane. “I don’t know.” “Did you hit your head or something?” “I don’t know. Who are you?” The cheery pony grabbed the other’s hoof and shook it energetically. “My name is Pinkie Pie. What’s your name?” “I don’t know,” the pony said again. She looked around at the group of colorful ponies all around. She then reached out and stroked Pinkie on the face. “Hey! Dinner first, bucko.” The green pony smiled and her voice grew softer, more sensuous. “You ponies are solid. I have not touched anything solid thing that’s not rock and bones in such a long time.” “Who is this?” Rainbow Dash asked. Ferry Merry shrugged. “I have no idea.” “Well, if you have to call me something, call me Love.” The green underpony winked at the rainbow pegasus. “Or call me anything you like.” “Er, I’ll stick with Love.” Rainbow Dash backed away a few steps. “Won’t you stay with me? I’ve been so lonely,” Love said. Her eyes were wide and quivering slightly. When she blinked, a dull pink eyeshadow could be seen. Rarity raised a hoof. “Oh, you poor dear. And look at how downtrodden you look. We need some curlers and powder here, stat.” She shook her head in frustration. “Ooh, but I didn’t bring anything.” “And we need a party. STAT!” Pinkie Pie yelled. She was leaning on a cannon, that had somehow appeared when no one was looking. Her hoof struck repeatedly against a flintstone, but the sparks wouldn’t light the wick due to the damp air. “Stat, I said!” “Wait!” Twilight’s yell echoed around the tunnel. Everypony turned to look at her. Rarity paused in the middle of detangling Love’s mane. “Ahem. Sorry Love. We really don’t have time for this. We’re in a hurry to save our friend.” “Friend?” Love tilted her head. A provocative grin was on her sly face. “Is she also a cute pony like yourselves?” “He is a dragon,” Twilight said pointedly. She continued, ignoring Love’s dejection. “We don’t have time to do makeovers and parties right now.” Pinkie’s balloons, that had also just appeared, suddenly deflated with a whistling noise. The colorful pieces of rubber landed on the ground in pathetic little lumps. “So, no party?” Pinkie asked in a tiny whisper. Love hung her head so low, her mane soaked into the wet ground. “Awww. A party sounds really fun. I can’t remember the last time I had fun.” Rarity let out a nervous chuckle. “Your mane, dear. Your mane.” The sight of mane haphazardly touching the grimy ground made the posh unicorn clench her teeth. While comforting the under pony, she swept the strip-like mane onto her hoof, lifting it off the ground. Twilight let out an exasperated sigh. “Look, I’m really sorry. This is really important, and I don’t want any delays.” Seeing her party loving friend’s devastation, she added, “We’ll come back here later to throw a party. It will be a celebration for saving Spike. It just wouldn’t be a party if one of our friends were in trouble after all.” “Really?” Love said. “You ponies are so nice.” She rubbed up against Twilight. Her tail playfully batted at the unicorn’s tail. With a forced polite smile, Twilight moved away. “Yes!” Pinkie Pie hopped into the air, her legs trembling excitedly. “It will be the best party ever. Because Spike deserves it. No way we can have a party without Spike, because he’s important to all of us. Now that I think about it, if Spike isn’t safe, we can’t enjoy ourselves. “It will be so good to have him back. And we’ll invite our new friends, Ferry Merry and Love. We’ll have lots of games like pin-the-tail-on-the-pony, apple bobbing, and lots and lots of other stuff. And of course there will be delicious food. Aaaah.” A stream of drool leaked out of Pinkie’s mouth. She sucked it back in. “It will be the best party ever, with balloons, hundreds of balloons.” “Party!” Ferry Merry cheered as she hopped into the air, little hooves wiggling. Love let out a soft giggle, with hoof over her mouth. “That sounds fantastic. Though you’ll probably forget about me. I’m not anypony important to you.” “No way. If you want to come, of course I’ll remember to invite you!” Pinkie proclaimed with front legs spread open in a grand pose. Love took that to mean a hug and went in for one. “Okay, no need for dinner first,” Pinkie said as she squeezed the other pony tight, their cheeks pressed up against each other. Once Love was on all four legs again, she turned towards Twilight, the more stern looking one out of the bunch. “It’s scary up ahead though, are you sure you want to go?” “What’s up ahead?” Twilight asked. Love shook her head solemnly. “I have no idea.” She placed both forehooves on the unicorn’s shoulder. “I have been up the stairs a few times before, and I saw only fog. It was so thick I couldn’t even see where I was going. And weird, but lovely, music filled the area too.” Everypony else took a nervous gulp. Twilight placed a hoof on top of Love’s. “Thank you for the warning. We are definitely going to get through though. And we’ll definitely return for a party, right Pinkie?” “Right!” the hyper pink pony chirped. “Good luck.” Love blew them a kiss. “Don’t get lost.” “Yeah, okayletsgetoutofhere.” Rainbow Dash flew up the stairs, making sure to swerve around the lost under pony in a streak of rainbow. Everypony else was a bit more polite. Applejack and Fluttershy walked by without making any eye contact. If no eye contact happened, then there would be no invasion of personal space. Fortunately, Love was distracted at the time by Pinkie Pie making random faces. The pink pony showed excellent skill in cheek puffing, eyes spinning in opposite directions, and the surprising malleability of her face. “She’s not a baby, Pinkie,” Rarity pointed out. Love looked quite amused though, and clapped her hoof on the ground. She even went in for some Pinkie face molding of her own. The party loving pony’s face was really good at holding a shape. “Come on,” Twilight called out from the base of the stairs. “See you later,” Pinkie said as her face snapped back to normal. She dashed off in a puff of smoke. “Later, cuties,” Love said with a cool wave of the hoof. The stairs up were narrow and uneven, both in step height and straightness. It looked to be an old passageway, one barely used. Flecks of rock broke off as the ponies walked. As they continued onward and upward, visibility started to decrease. A grey fog rolled in the small stairwell. Upon exiting the stairs, Twilight moved just enough to let the others out, but remained near the entrance. She gasped as her hoof landed on a diamond patterned metal grate. It was small enough that stepping through would be impossible. Being able to see down below was unnerving however. When Love said there was a thick fog in the area, she wasn’t kidding. Twilight could barely see twenty hoofs in any direction. It was a mysteryjust how big the area was. The stone walls retreated directly away from Twilight on either side, and appeared to go far into into the fog. Sounds of running water could be heard far below. Though the river wasn’t visible, the fog could be seen rolling along, following the currents. Just as Love had said, musical notes drifted through the air. It was oddly festive for such a gloomy place with brass horns and strumming strings being featured prominently. The melody seemed to be coming from all sides. “Ugh, the humidity up here is even worse,” Rarity whined in a high pitched voice.. “Nothing we can do about that,” Applejack wanted to call the prim looking unicorn by her name. Somehow, it slipped her mind at the moment, so she said, “Sugarcube. We just have to keep moving on,” Applejack said. “I know that. I’m not stopping.” Rarity looked affronted at the very thought. “We have, uh, we have very some very important business or some such. Still, I’m going to need a long spa treatment after all of this. Care to join me?” “Going to the spa isn’t my thing,” Applejack said. The others all turned to look at her, which she responded to with a shrug. Twilight started walking forward again. Without looking back, she said, “We can discuss our plans later. For now, let’s keep on moving forward. Everyone stick together. We don’t want to get lost in here.” “Which way do we go?” Fluttershy asked. “I have no idea,” Rainbow Dash muttered. Frustrated flapping of her wings didn’t do much to clear the fog. Even when a narrow pass was made, the fog cascaded back into the convenient empty space. The area was just too enclosed to get any good air circulation. Sticking close together, the ponies walked forward. Ferry Merry was quiet and remained close to Fluttershy. This place was strange and new to her, a river she had never been to before. Her mind worked furiously, trying to figure out why she had no knowledge of this place at all. Being a river guide, she certainly would have passed by here already. It didn’t take long for everypony to start feeling the strain of being in this strange river. Their nose twitched, their breathing was shallow and they began wobbling in their steps. A dull, glazed over look washed over the ponies. Their fur was covered by a sheen of sweat and water vapor. Slowly, the pace of their walking fell out of sync. Everypony started to drift in different directions without meaning to. The grate on the ground seemed to blur as they continued on, slowly separating from one another. Love was standing back at the entrance to river walkway. She let out a sad sigh while staring into the fog filled area. The sound of hoofsteps made her turn towards the noise. Moving towards her was a skeletal stallion, wearing black clothes lined with colorful embroidery. Even without eyes, the feeling of being watched emanated out from the empty sockets. “The intruders have entered the fog of the River of Forgetfulness. If they continue breathing it in...,” the skeletal pony said in a smooth voice. Somehow, he could talk without any of the important speaking organs. “Guardian Lace.” Snapping out of her trance, the dark green under pony, whose real identity turned out to be Lace, said, “Yes.” Her mane and tail were in a wavy organized mess. It looked like seaweed had sprouted from her head and butt. Half her face was covered by the long mane. Patterns of silky, golden yellow sheets shown through her mane and tail. On her flank was the picture of three dark red half hearts, none of which matched up to one another. Lace looked out towards the fog with a frown on her soft face. They were going to invite her to a party too, but it looked like that wasn’t going to happen. Maybe she could invite them to one.