//------------------------------//
// Already Distracted By Sidequests 
// Story: Manescape: Torment 
// by appendingfic 
//------------------------------//

The name Canterlot sounded majestic. At the name, you had briefly entertained thoughts of towering, glittering spires, white stone polished to shine like diamonds, and glorious riches showing the glory of a great city.

At least there are towers, you think, as Pinkie leads you out the front gate (apparently, visiting one of the graves makes a legitimate excuse to be in the Mortuary, even if you started out a corpse). The rest...is less impressive. You can't imagine how streets could be filthier without a deliberate effort. Trash, debris, and more unpleasant things are sprawled and pled throughout the street, leaving the people, most dressed in rags or worn clothing, to walk around or wade through it. The buildings are, to the last, falling apart, whether they were shaped of stone or wood. Even the light is dull and wan, forcing you to squint to see anything.

"Well, this is a fantastic sight," you drawl. "I'm thrilled you were able to show this to me."

Pinkie giggles. "Of course I wasn't excited to show you the Hive, silly. Look up."

By some instinct, you know that a horizon is supposed to curve downward, revealing a view of the sky. The view, therefore, of a sky full of crowded streets curving up into a titanic circle, jars something in you even as you marvel at the sight. "What in the world?"

"It's Canterlot, silly!" Pinkie giggles. "It's on the inside of a gigantic donut-"

"Torus," you correct automatically.

Pinkie doesn't notice, continuing on without interruption. "And it sits on top of a huuuuuuuuge mountain at the center of the planes, even though the Outlands are supposed to be infinite, making me wonder sometimes if it's not really in the center, just sort of in the center. Or not at all in the center, but that makes everything really confusing."

"It's impossible," you say flatly, and that catches Pinkie's attention. She slaps a hoof over your mouth.

"Don't let anyone hear you say that," she growls, sending suspicious glares in every direction. "Especially not the zebras."

"Why?" you demand. "And wait - zebras?"

Pinkie rolls her eyes. "In the planes, if enough people believe something, it comes true. So if enough people believe Canterlot is impossible...poof!" She emphasizes this by slamming her front hooves together.

"Poof?"

"Poof," Pinkie confirms with a sharp nod. "Anyway, the zebras are the Lady's special servants. They don't talk much, but they keep the place running. You don't want to mess with them, or you'll be in big trouble."

You nod absent-mindedly, uncertain exactly how things could get worse for you. In the corner of your eye, something catches your attention. An earth pony mare, pale blue with greying hair and wild eyes, gallops past you. In a few moments she gallops past the other way. People, ponies, and creatures alike stay clear of her as she passes, and none make eye contact.

“Who is that?”

Pinkie frowns as the mare passes. “I’m not sure, and I know everyone around here.”

You’re not certain what impulse sends you after her, but it takes a few moments to catch up. “Miss?”

She whirls, kicking wildly behind her. You barely avoid contact, and think you hear a snigger behind you. The mare, however, slumps once her kick misses. “Be quick,” she pleads.

“What?”

“I don’t care anymore,” she whispers. “Killing me would be a favor, anyway.”

“Kill you?” You want to feel shocked, but there is a flash of thought, or memory. You could crush her throat, bring an end to her suffering. It would be a mercy, wouldn’t it?

No. You shake your head to clear it of the thought. “I don’t think I want to do that.”

“Yeah, running around killing people is majorly evil; if it doesn’t drop you to the south side of the alignment grid, the Lady’ll send you straight to the moon!”

You’ve begun to realize the value in letting Pinkie’s words just wash over you, but the mention of a moon in a sky that’s just more cityscape gives you pause. “The...moon?”

Pinkie bounces barely an inch from your face, smiling widely. “Oh, yeah! No one knows where she really sends people, but everyone knows they’re stuck there FOREVER!”

The bale blue pony shivers. “Oh, no, nowhere’s forever. You find the right door and you’re somewhere else entirely. And the worst part is...a door can be anything. And anything can be a key!” You try to look at Pinkie for confirmation, but the blue mare draws close, eyes wild as she meets your gaze. “I found a door so long ago, and I thought this city was full of wonders. But I couldn’t find the door home. Every door I find goes somewhere terrible.” She shivers and draws back. “I daren’t step through another portal. Nowhere bounded on all four sides…”

She shivers and darts away before you can reply, leaving you staring after her galloping form.

“Jeez, some people just don’t know how to appreciate the wonders of the planes,” Pinkie says. “I love going through portals! You’ll be wandering along, singing a song or juggling, and bam! A whole new world!"

"Well, if you go frightening places, I suppose it would be more of a problem," you allow. You look after the mare, but she's run out of sight. You're not certain what help you could offer, besides putting her out of her misery. "Well, now what?"

Pinkie tips her head, absently reaching up to scratch an ear lime a dog. "Well, we're on an adventure. So it seems the best place to start is in a bar. There are always brave and loyal companions you find in a bar. Not to mention sidequests!"

"A...bar." Naturally, you don't really know much about this place, but you're skeptical of Pinkie's claim. Bars don't seem like they'd be much help in finding your memory. They'd be better for forgetting, you'd bet.

"I doubt it's even a real adventure if you don't start in a bar."

There's a tone in Pinkie's voice; you're certain she won't drop the subject until you head into a bar. So you offer a quick glance, and, luckily, catch sight of a sign. "There's a bar over here. The Gathering Dust-"

"No no no, that's a dumb place to go. It's full of Dustmen."

"But aren't you a-"

Pinkie begins to shove you forward past the Gathering Dust bar, ignoring your question as you slide through the crowds, who seem to be largely ignoring the spectacle you make, although you do catch sight of a unicorn mare, delicate and colored white, almost a pale purple, giving the two of you a stern look.

Pinkie pushes you past large  rows of thorn-tipped leaves clinging to the walls of the city, a horde of men, women, ponies, and other strange creatures barking and howling at the sky (such as it is), at last pausing outside a large domed building with a central chimney sending up dark, foul-smelling smoke. You glance at the sign, which bears the shape of a pony smeared in charcoal and-

"The Smouldering Corpse?" You're beginning to wonder if it was a mistake going along with this pony.

Pinkie snorts in amusement. "It's just a name, silly. Come on, let's go in!"

So reassured, you follow Pinkie it.

What dominates your attention on entering is a huge brazier glowing red-hot and setting off waves of heat that are, by the door and where most of the patrons are standing, a comfortable warmth, but are likely blazing near the brazier. Suspended over the brazier, however, is the form of a unicorn, scorched and blackened beyond recognition, and still, inexplicably, burning. Whatever flesh was there must be burned away, however, for the smell, though unpleasant, is not the roasting of meat, but something drier.

It turns your stomach, even as something in the scene tugs at your memory. You turn on Pinkie, though. "You said it was just a name!" you hiss.

"It is! She's not dead; I guess they thought Smouldering Corpse sounded better than Sort of Alive Person Who's On Fire." She offers you a guileless smile, and you don't know if it's better to think she's that naive, or just a good liar.

"Well..." You sigh, unwilling right now to argue. "I wish you'd warned me about this."

"But - oh! I'm sorry. Well, come on! Let's look for plot hooks!"

She bounces toward the bar. You, though, take a look around. There are weird, scaled creatures with bat wings laughing in the back, knots of humanoids, equines, and things indescribable. Nearby is something like the shade of a man standing next to a table. You wonder how he can eat. A yelp draws your gaze to the right, where a flash of rainbow alerts you to a pegasus, sky blue with a mane of many colors; her wings seem tipped with silver, and she wears a harness of worn metal. She appears to be hiding behind a humanoid dressed in a drab grey tunic, an unfortunate contrast that just makes her stand out more. You decide to talk to her first, trotting up to her, trying to look as unthreatening as possible.

"Hi! My name is..." It suddenly strikes you that you have no idea how to introduce yourself! "I..."

"Do I know you?" the pegasus said sharply in a rough, female voice. She gives you a narrow-eyed glare.

Shaken, you take a step away. "I guess not. i was just-"

"Then why are you talking to me?"

"Sorry." You flee the imperious pegasus, cheeks flooded with color, ignoring competing flares of thought, alternatively to kill the pegasus lest she become a threat or demand her obeissance. When you stop, you are standing near the strange, shade-like man, translucent and apparently engaged in watching the bar in its entirety.

"Not lucky with the ladies, are you?" he asks.

The flush returns in full force. "I wasn't - I just wanted to talk."

The man chuckles. "Well, no luck there, either. Terrible shame. She could use some friends."

"A charming pony like her?" The words sound harsh, but you suppose you have reason to feel bitter.

"Don't presume. The planes leave their mark on all of us. Even you, I see. Is there a story behind these scars?"

"Probably, but I don't know it." You offer the man a shrug.

He chuckles. "Very well. My name is Candrian."

"Um...Faust." You're proud of the fast thinking, even as you reach your hoof to shake. "So what are you doing here?"

"Learning about the people of the planes. I've already seen so much of the planes themselves, I thought I'd take a spell to people-watch."

"People have mentioned the planes to me before, but I'm still not clear what they mean."

Candrian's chest puffs out and he stands a little taller. "Then you've come to the right place. The planes are worlds, interlocking and forever entwined. There are planes to represent the four elements - earth, air, fire, and water, and planes of nothingness to bind them together. Outside of them is a ring of planes representing the great alignments - law and chaos, good and evil, and neutrality between all of them. I myself have come back from the plane of negation itself."

"Negation?"

"There is such a thing of life force, the energy of living things. But then there must also be an opposite. I see you arrived with a Dustman; their servants are animated by this opposite, rather than by life. It is poisonous to us, though. That's why I took this." He holds up a charm, which looks like nothing more than a disk of perfect darkness. "It protects me from the shadows."

An echo whispers through your mind, a worry at the mention of shadows. "I don't suppose there's a way I can convince you to part with that, is there?"

He tosses it toward you; you catch it with fumbling hooves. "Take it. I think I'm quite done with the Negative Energy Plane. Besides, it's nice having someone willing to listen to me prattle on about the planes and portals."

"Wait. Portals?" Pinkie and that poor woman had said something about portals.

The man gives you a kind smile. "Tricky things. Yes, portals. They are how I travel the planes. They are how most creatures do it. There are countless doorways between these worlds. Always they are bounded on all four sides, and always is there a key. But what those boundaries are, and what the key is, are infinite in variety." He winks. "I know more about identifying such portals than any living creature, barring the Lady herself."

"The Lady?"

"The Lady of Doors, the Princess of Canterlot. Doorways open and close at her command, and she rules this place. It's well enough; Canterlot is a powerful place, and she keeps the gods from interfering too much."

With that question answered, you're left to wonder about Candrian's claim to know more about portals than anyone else...

"If someone were lost, could you help them find a doorway back home?"

Candrian's expression shifts to one of thoughtfulness. "Possibly. Probably. It'd take a few jumps, but I'm almost certain I could."

"So if I brought someone here, you could get her home?"

"Oh, yes. It would be a marvelous challenge. A nice bit of philanthropy, too. It's good to do your part to stay out of the Blood War."

That...does not sound promising. "Blood War?"

"Among those of evil, there are those who pursue evil as a means to achieve their ends, a sort of lawful, regular evil, and those who pursue evil for the freedom it gives them to indulge in their darker whims. They do not get along. And, being evil, they have engaged in a war that has lasted for ages. The Blood War. Those who die in a state of sin or evil are drawn to it, so it's good to do one's part to keep out of it."

"I'll keep that in mind." Something about the mention of the Blood War chills you. You're not certain if it is merely the fear of an unending war between two types of evil, or some sense of unconscious familiarity...

You find Pinkie Pie near the rainbow-maned pegasus, being shouted at.

"And if you say one more word, I'll pop your empty little head off of your body and use it as a balloon!"

Pinkie opens her mouth to reply, and you slam your hoof over it. "So sorry about her, Miss. She's just trying to be friendly."

"Friendly, my flank," the pegasus mutters.

"We'll just leave you alone now," you say. You drag Pinkie out of danger, waiting until you're out of the bar to start talking. "You should have left her alone, Pinkie."

"But she's destined to help us on our quest!"

"I don't think she agrees, Pinkie. Besides, she was going to pop your head off."

"Pfft. Tht was all talk. So, any idea where we're going?"

"Back to find that mare. I think I found a way to help her."

Pinkie bounces after you. "Ooh! A sidequest. I love those. Do you think we'll get a great reward?"

"I'm not doing this for a reward," you protest. "She just looked so miserable - hey, Miss!" You cut off your words at the sight of the mare uneasily cantering around the wide square near the Mortuary. She pauses, looking back at you, and freezes. You think she might still be convinced you've come to kill her. "Miss," you say as you trot to her side. "I think I found a man who can help you. He's an expert on portals, and he thinks he can get you home."

"Home?" Her eyes, still wary, wild, widen at the word. "What do you...home?"

You nod eagerly. "He thinks he can do it. He works down this way; I can show you."

Uncertainly, the mare follows as you lead her, but at the door to the Smouldering Corpse, she stops, hooves rooted on the ground. "No. I won't go through another door. Not another portal. Not another world, sucking and bleeding..."

Pinkie rolls her eyes, but you step close. "Miss. No one's ever found a portal here. But I know you're scared. I...we can go together, if you're frightened."

"Together?" Her eyes water at the corners. She looks so lost, but hopeful at your words.

"If it's a portal to anywhere other than the Smouldering Corpse Bar, we'll deal with it together."

The mare took a deep breath and nodded. "Let's go."

And the two of you step through the doorway.