//------------------------------// // Alive... But not quite // Story: Beyond Tartarus // by Zoetic Zebra //------------------------------// Twilight Sparkle heard a crash. A deep crunching noise that filled her ears with painful ringing. Sound of metal and fire breaking apart and forming together. Noises of a collassal machine jumping its own tracks. It was tied with screams of the other train passengers. But to her surprise, she didn't hear anything else. After those painful moments it was silent. Not even the sounds of a crackling engine or painful moans. She stood still for a moment, ears twitching. Absolutely nothing. Her heart began to beat like a drum. Where was this? She realized that she had fallen to the ground, and slowly began to stand. Her muscles ached in disagreement. She winced as light pierced her tired eyes. Her panic grew when she looked around her. There was no train or concrete. Not even the rock tunnel that had surely caused the smashing. There was nothing. Just open darkness and closing light. She blinked rapidly, attempting to break this illusion. checkered shapes and patterns whisked in front of her, then disappeared as soon as Twilight focused upon them. A deep fear weighed her down. The fear of the unknown. She wanted to scream, but feared what would happen. "Don't try to will this away. It's all that's left of you." Her body froze. The voice had come from nowhere. It's speech was like chimes on a windy day, yet somehow was terrifying. There was a feint echo surrounding the terrified unicorn. She felt her legs shake as it spoke again. "This isn't natural for you, is it? I'll have to make it more... Relatable." The unexplainable shadows melted away as the scene unfolded into a wooden room, bare with the exception of a table. She felt her body relax slightly, though she didn't know why. Her hoof stroked the table, which now held a shallow bowl of water. She glanced inside it and winced. The dancing lights now filled the liquid. There was something about those lights that made Twilight uneasy.mit was if they reminded her of something she didn't have. "What... What is it?" She croaked, her head looking around for some sort of explanation. Nothing but dark oak walls and the table. " That is you, your personality," It answered calmly. "All gathered into one piece." The lavender pony nodded silently, as if such a notion was ordinary. "I guess I'm dead then." She mumbled, though she didn't really think about what that meant. For the curious student had been subdued to a shell- after all, her personality was in a bowl. All she felt was her own fear and confusion. "You were one of the few to survive, actually. The rest of them weren't as lucky." She heard a small chuckle. "Quite the group of souls." Thoughts came flooding back to her. The soulless mind tried to remember the rest of that train ride, but nothing came to her head. Just lots of noise. She was trying to remember when she realized something terrible. The rest of them weren't as lucky. Had she traveled alone? Was she even traveling? Who had been on that ride? " Where are my friends?!" The sentence was hard to contemplate, due to the fact that she couldn't even remember her own name, let alone who her friends were. Almost every memory had left her, aside from the last few seconds she had lived. She could feel the tension as the voice hesitated. "They joined the rest of them." It whispered, regret filling the air. Her heartbeat rammed in the mares empty chest. She stared into the swirling bowl of contrasts, trying to find why this bothered her so. Her "friends" we're still tied to her somehow, yet she couldn't recall why. Panic filled her as she turned away from the table. The unicorn trotted in place, trying to calm her broken nerves. There was an answer, a solution. SOMETHING had to be done about this aching conflict, yet she didn't know why it bothered her so. Her hooves rested upon the smooth oak floor. Her thoughts stopped as a small thought came to her. "Take me instead." Her voice was small yet determined. " You that's not-" "DRAG ME TO TARTARUS OR ANYWHERE WORSE. JUST SPARE THEM." Her voiced faded into a cascade of sobbing. She fell against the ground, letting herself cry. She still didn't understand why, though. "You don't deserve to die, Twilight." There was the slightest emotion in its voice. "And you don't deserve hell's suffering." The unicorn continued sobbing. "Please let me do this." Twilight stroked the cold wooden floor, regaining small bits of memory. it was like little gems had floated from the bowl into her head. She lifted her head as little thoughts struck her- thoughts about her friends. Thoughts of hot cocoa on winter nights. Thoughts of playing with their pets. Thoughts of parties and races and laughing and games and so manywonderful things that she had done with them. She had to save them. Hers hollow tears were replaced with determination. "Okay. I'll do it." The soft voice spoke suddenly and made twilight flinch. Her ears perked slightly. "You don't deserve this death, but I can give you... Another place." "I'll do anything... Just spare the others." She shakily stood up, preparing for what would happen next. The unicorn put her hoof to her heart, whispering the names of her friends. " I'll do anything for Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy." she felt a soft light wash over her, her soul being released from the limbo. Twilight Sparkle, hero of Equestria, had died.