Reaper rapped his sword against Grey Thorn’s cage: “Told you I’d be back, G.T., and I brought visitors.”
Grey Thorn cracked open a single eye and glared at Reaper before glancing at Luna: “I will not speak to you, or the counterfeit Nightmare-Who-Was.”
Luna bristled: “I assure you, villain, that I am very much the genuine article!”
“No, you have none of the dark majesty she possesses; you have her form but not her aura, not her bearing. Begone!”
“The object of your obsession is no longer a part of this world--she remained behind on another world to forge a new destiny.”
“More’s the pity then, that the milquetoast didn’t stay behind and allow the glorious, dark spirit to grace this world untainted by your dross!”
Luna’s eyes flashed dangerously: “How dare you, you deranged murderer! If not for you I would not have suffered through--”
Reaper stepped between the two: “That’s enough, Luna--he’s just trying to get you riled-up. There’s no point to either of us being here, to be honest.”
He turned to Twilight: “Let’s see if he wants to shit all over you, too, thus removing any chance he has to lessen his solitude, even for just a bit.”
Grey Thorn tipped his head to one side: “‘Lessen my solitude.’ What do you mean by that?”
Twilight stepped forward: “There are some questions I would like to ask you, and the longer you feel like talking, the longer I can be convinced to hang around this terrible place.”
“Ah, our young, newly-entitled Princess of Friendship: what a pointless office. Still, I have heard tales of your prowess and seen first-hoof that you are not an entirely hopeless spellcaster.”
Twilight raised an eyebrow as Luna and Reaper took a step back: “Thanks--I guess?”
Grey Thorn closed his eyes again: “So, what would we discuss, once your bootless chaperones have left us, not to return?”
Luna furrowed her brow: “I do not like this. I oppose Twilight being here alone.”
Twilight opened her mouth to protest; Luna raised a hoof: “And not for the reason you think, Twilight. I would not trust anypony, myself included, to traverse this realm without a partner. You have seen how disorienting it is.”
Reaper nodded: “I agree. You’re going to need to line up a companion? Wingpony? Pick the term you like best. Who do you know whom you would trust to accompany you down here?”
Twilight chewed her lip: “I’ll have to think about that for a bit. I don’t think I want to subject anypony else to this!”
Luna draped a wing over the young Princess’ shoulder: “I understand your reluctance to put another in harm’s way, but the risks are too great to anypony here save Reaper.”
Reaper glanced over toward Grey Thorn: “Yeah, and I’ve been declared pony non gratis, unsurprisingly.”
Twilight sighed: “OK, I’ll figure something out…”
Luna shook her head: “We will figure something out--the three of us. And we shall ask my sister as well; I suspect she will have some good advice for you.”
Grey Thorn opened his eyes and sneered: “Oh, yes, by all means ask Celestia, that font of wisdom! Or perhaps you should just skip ahead and ask whomever she’s fobbed-off her responsibilities to now!”
Luna’s jaw clenched and her nostrils flared, and Reaper again stepped in front of the cage: “Alright, that’s enough of that! We found out what we needed to, so let’s head back up to Canterlot.”
He turned to Twilight: “Lay down another rune, here, and I’ll accompany you next time to ensure you can hit your various marks.”
Twilight nodded and stepped to the middle of the antechamber, blinking and squinting, averting her eyes from the Pit. She tipped her head down and inscribed a rune into the floor as Grey Thorn looked on with intense interest.
She stood up and turned to face her companions: “There--that should do it, I think.”
Reaper looked over his shoulder at Grey Thorn: “She’ll be back later, warlock, and the longer you cooperate, the longer you can stave off your crushing, eternal loneliness in the presence of Oblivion.”
Grey Thorn narrowed his eyes and stared at Twilight as the alicorns teleported away in a pair of flashes, and Reaper faded out of view.
Celestia walked into her solarium and sat down at the head of the table. Luna poured her a cup of tea while Twilight sipped a goblet of cider and flipped through a few pages of her notes.
Celestia nodded to her sister and placed the teacup and saucer to her left: “Thank you. So what did you three find out? Will Grey Thorn help?”
Luna shrugged: “Apparently not if Reaper or I are in attendance.”
“So he’ll talk to Twilight?”
Twilight swallowed and closed her notebook: “Yes, but I’m going to need a companion to go down there with me. It’s too risky for anypony other than Reaper to go alone.”
Celestia nodded: “Do you have any thoughts as to who might accompany you?”
“Well, Reaper seems to think unicorns would be most likely to resist the disorientation, and I’m inclined to agree. Unfortunately, the two I’d call who have enough power are either given to, umm, unstable decision-making, or aren’t in our world right now.”
She took another drink of cider: “I suppose I could ask Shining…”
Celestia shook her head: “No--I won’t allow the risk to him, especially given Cadance and the baby. We need somepony unattached in case the worst happens.”
She tapped her chin a few times, then turned to her attendant, and retrieved a quill and piece of parchment. She jotted down a note and placed it back on its tray: “Please deliver this to General Caracole at once.”
The lemon-yellow unicorn bowed slightly and turned to leave the room: “Right away, Princess!”
Reaper and the alicorns watched Celestia’s aide-de-camp trot briskly through the open door. Reaper turned back toward Celestia: “Who’d you have in mind?”
“Lieutenant Steel has has the type of experience that I think would make him well-suited for this mission.”
Twilight furrowed her brow: “Yeah, he might do. He’s not involved with anypony, and he’s been through some pretty intense, pretty weird stuff.”
Celestia nodded: “So what is it you’re hoping to accomplish? I’m still concerned that this puts you at great risk.”
Reaper pressed his hooves together beneath his chin: “Twilight knows more about the Void than any living pony, but nopony really knows how it functions, if it can be opened without losing containment, or if there’s any way to send or receive information from inside it.”
Twilight sighed: “My knowledge mostly extends to how to resist and contain it. It was almost like confronting a wild beast. I could sense an inner space--it’s how I knew Zecora hadn’t just been reduced to a smear, but was intact and resisting. She was clearly existing in some kind of bounded area.”
Celestia took another sip of tea and swirled the lees before looking at Reaper and Luna: “So if Twilight’s trying to get information out of Grey Thorn--and I want to get back to that in a minute--what will you two be doing?”
Reaper glanced at Luna then back to Celestia: “I’m less affected by the Void’s field, and have penetrated it once before. With Luna’s assistance I may be able to probe the Void and see if I can glean anything from its interior. We may be able to feed Twilight some leading questions.”
“Leading questions?”
Luna nodded: “We do not believe Grey Thorn will be entirely forthcoming, and it would be helpful if we could independently check some of the information he gives Twilight, and help guide her interrogations.”
“That’s an interesting word choice. Is he likely to help at all if he thinks he’s being interrogated?”
Luna lifted her wine cup and paused: “I suspect not. It will be incumbent on Twilight to keep things as conversational as possible.”
Celestia chewed her lip: “And more to the point, what’s his incentive to talk? I mean, there’s not really anything we can give him, correct?”
Reaper smiled: “Companionship. Company. Somepony to talk to. It’s unrelentingly awful down there, confronted with the specter of Oblivion right off your shoulder at all times, and your only solace, if you can call it that, is your own thoughts, memories, regrets and guilt.”
Twilight nodded: “I think he’ll talk to me. He hasn’t really had anypony to confide in or brag to or ask questions of in centuries.”
Reaper raised an eyebrow: “Just don’t get too ‘study-buddy’ with him. He’s clearly not to be trusted, and will likely be looking for revenge if he can figure an angle.”
Celestia agreed: “You have a generous spirit, Twilight, and a natural desire to help and, well, rehabilitate for lack of a better word.”
Luna shook her head: “Not this time--there is nothing left in him to recover. You must treat Grey Thorn as what he is: corrupt and evil.”
Reaper glanced back and forth between the Sisters with a furrowed brow, then turned to Twilight: “OK, ladies--I think Twilight gets it. Besides, she’ll have a wingpony tagging along to help keep her grounded. Speaking of…”
Noble Steel appeared behind Celestia’s seat in a bluish flash: “You wished to see me, Princess? The General just received your note, and I came as quickly as I could!”
Celestia stood, smiled and pointed at padded bench next to Twilight: “No apologies needed, Lieutenant! Thank you for coming so promptly; please take a seat.”
Noble walked around the table, eyeing Reaper nervously, and sat down next to Twilight: “What can I do for you?”
Twilight sat down her cider cup and faced Noble: “I’m going to attempt to get information from Grey Thorn, which will involve going down into Tartarus. We would like you to accompany me.”
Noble’s eyes flicked around the table: “I’ll be glad to help in any way I can, of course, but wh-why me? Wouldn’t it make more sense to take Princess Luna or--” He pointed tentatively at Reaper: “Him?”
Reaper smiled: “No go, my young Lancer--Grey Thorn’s made it abundantly clear he wants nothing to do with either of us. Twilight’s our only access point, here, and she’s going to need a wingpony.”
Celestia nodded: “Of course, you must decide if you want to do this--nopony will force you. This will likely be a very stressful and upsetting assignment.”
The unicorn shrugged: “It’s not like I haven’t already been through one of those!”
Luna turned to Noble: “Thus my sister’s suggestion you be included on this mission--you have already been hardened to the horrors that can attend the supernatural.”
Noble raised an eyebrow: “Well, I’m not quite sure I’m hardened, but I will do my best to aid the Princess in any way I can.”
Celestia smiled: “That’s all we can ask, Lieutenant!”
“Will I have to interact with him? What sort of environment is he in?”
Twilight sighed: “I suppose we’d better take you downstairs and show you around.”
“Now?”
Reaper stood: “No time like the present, Lieutenant. Every hour we delay is another hour closer to the end for Zecora.”
Luna nodded: “If it is not already too late.”
Twilight pushed back from the table and shook her head: “We can’t think like that. Follow me, Noble--we’ll teleport to Tartarus together, and Reaper can guide us down to the bottom. I should be able to track through the final two levels after one more walkthrough.”
Noble stepped next to Twilight and they disappeared with a ‘pop’ in a pale magenta flash. Reaper turned to Luna: “I’ll get them situated and meet you down in the Creation Chamber in a bit. We need to figure out how or even if we can glean any information from the Void.”
Luna stood and bowed slightly to Celestia: “Would you please join me for a bit, sister? I would like to talk with you briefly.”
Celestia rose from her bench: “Certainly! I’ll join you in a moment.”
Luna teleported away as Celestia turned to Reaper: “I’m really worried that Twilight may not be ready for this. I know that her time with Luna has helped, but has it been enough?”
Reaper shrugged and pulled his cloak close: “Only one way to really know, Princess. She’s a smart kid.”
Celestia furrowed her brow as Reaper faded away: “It’s not her brain I’m worried about…”
Twilight and Noble appeared with a burst of light in Tartarus’ courtyard, just beneath the archway leading to its lower level. Twilight looked around and noticed her companion’s wide eyes: “I guess you’ve never been down here, right?”
He shook his head slowly: “No--why would I?”
“Good point. I’ve done so many crazy things and been so many strange places over the last, almost three years, that I sometimes forget how unique that is.”
She looked back toward Cerberus’ enclosure: “You’ve had your share of eerie experiences too, though.”
“You mean the mission into the chasm beneath the castle’s foundations? Sure, but that can’t hold a candle to all you’ve been through!”
Twilight glanced over her shoulder as Reaper phased-in, just inside the archway: “It doesn’t have to hold a candle, Lieutenant. It just has to take the edge off what you’re about to experience. I’m barely prepared!”
Noble nodded with a smile: “I understand, but please call me Noble, Princess!”
Twilight returned the smile: “As long as you call me Twilight!”
They turned and joined Reaper as he began to walk into the darkness, looking for the descending shaft. He stopped and pointed his sword at the floor, then hovered over the opening.
Twilight drifted out over the shaft, then tipped her head at peered at Noble: “Hmm. You can’t phase, and you can’t fly. Can you make a good bubble?”
A shimmering reddish bubble formed around the grey unicorn: “Now what?”
Twilight reached out a band of magic and pulled the pale red bubble to her side, keeping it slightly above her as the three dropped slowly to the base of the shaft, settling gently on the floor. Noble’s bubble dissolved as the three ponies stepped out into the dark, hazy level.
Noble shuddered and laid his ears down: “A-are we close?”
Twilight shook her head: “Not really, but I laid down a series of return runes earlier that will allow us to teleport across huge areas of this level and the two below it.”
“Two?!”
Reaper nodded: “You two can teleport across this level to its exit, then rest for a minute. It’s a long way, and I assume it’s fatiguing. I’ll be waiting.”
He faded away as Noble looked around him, eyes wide: “Are-are the levels below this like this one?”
Twilight shrugged: “Sort of. I thought the next one down was the worst thing ever. Then…”
“Then what?”
Twilight closed her eyes: “You’ll see. Follow me.”
Reaper sat before the wall blocking access to the final level, eyes closed, cloak pulled around his shoulders. Twenty minutes later Twilight and Noble appeared out of the gloom.
Twilight stepped next to Reaper, opened her saddlebag and lifted out a flask. She levitated it over to Noble as Reaper raised an eyebrow.
“A little rough, I take it?”
Noble trembled as he unsteadily uncorked the flask and pressed the neck to his lips for a long drink. He swallowed heavily and passed the uncorked flask back to Twilight.
“W--well, umm, at least this time I didn’t shit myself…”
Reaper stood and grinned: “The first time the Princess here encountered undiluted death she left a big puddle behind, so don’t feel too bad, kid.”
Twilight rolled her eyes: “Hey--that was a long time ago!”
“You know, it really wasn’t.”
Twilight furrowed her brow: “No, I guess it really wasn’t. It just feels like a lifetime ago.”
Reaper smiled sympathetically: “In many ways, it was a lifetime ago, Twilight. It’s been a rough few months for all of us.”
She sighed heavily: “And it’s not done yet. How do we get Noble through this wall?”
“We’re going to have to teach him to phase. If you and I both stay in contact with him as we go through the wall, we should be able to give him the feel for it. Then you can teach him the unicorn technicalities.”
Twilight nodded: “OK, step up to this wall, Noble. Reaper and I will touch you and then we all pass through. It feels pretty weird, and as we go through don’t become separated. It’s very disorienting on the other side.”
Reaper touched his horn to Noble’s left temple as Twilight leaned against his right, and all three shuffled, head-first, into and through the jet-black surface.
They emerged seconds later and solidified; Noble wobbled, and leaned against Twilight, eyes squeezed shut, for support for a moment: “S-sorry, Prin--Twilight! I’ve just never felt anything like that. I couldn’t tell where I ended and you and the wall began.”
Twilight nodded: “I’ll help you master it. Reaper doesn’t use magic for this, but there is a unicorn equivalent.”
“Sure, I’m looking forward to--oh…”
Noble opened his eyes and suddenly dropped to his knees, staring blankly at the floor in front of him: “I--I--what? Where are we?”
Reaper took a deep breath: “Welcome to the lowest level of Tartarus; you can’t get any closer to the Pit without actually falling in. Twilight put it best: it’s disorienting. Even I have to watch my step.”
Twilight leaned down and held out a hoof: “Come on Noble, get up. I’ll help you forward a few steps--we can teleport once your head clears a little.”
Noble staggered to his feet, breathing heavily as Twilight draped a wing over his shoulder, her purple feathers brushing against his cobalt-blue mane: “OK, are you ready to jump? It’s not that far this time.”
He bit his lip and focused on Twilight’s mane: “Y-yes...let’s go before I lose my nerve!”
Reaper grinned as he phased-out: “That’s the spirit!”
Twilight and Noble appeared a few seconds later in the antechamber containing Grey Thorn’s cell. Twilight stumbled forward and sat down heavily on her haunches: “Wow! Things do move around down here, don’t they?”
Reaper nodded: “Yes, even with your return runes, you’re going to have to watch out for the pull of the Pit.”
Noble shuddered and turned around in a circle in a vain attempt to avoid seeing the Pit: “It-it’s everywhere! How can anypony stand to be here?”
Twilight squinted and walked unsurely toward Grey Thorn: “They can’t--that’s the point of this place.”
Reaper nodded: “Punishment is supposed to be unpleasant, and this place has that in spades!”
Noble shielded the left side of his face with a hoof and wobbled forward to join Twilight: “Is this him?”
Twilight nodded, tipping her horn toward Grey Thorn’s shade: “That’s him; he’s why we’re down here.”
Reaper glanced between Twilight and Grey Thorn, and chewed the inside of his mouth: “Alright, I’ll leave you to it. I’ll come back down in a bit to check in and see how you’re doing. Please don’t overdo it--you have a wingpony now who’s not exactly acclimated to this sort of thing, yet.”
“I won’t. I don’t think I can stand too much time down here yet! I just want to break the ice.”
Reaper stared at Grey Thorn for a moment, then faded away, leaving Twilight and Noble Steel facing the shimmering shade, his eyes closed, leaned up against his cage.
A thin smile flickered across his ghostly lips: “So, how long has your friend been missing?”