//------------------------------// // Hell at her Hooves // Story: For Want of a Dawn // by Ciroton //------------------------------// The sound of flapping wings drowned out the oppressive silence as the two mares trudged through the thicket of the ethereal forest. In a way, it was therapeutic for her to hear the familiar sound so close to her; to know that she had a friend who still earnestly cared about her. But... it also reminded her of something far more sinister and recent, something that still haunted her waking thoughts if she let them dawdle from what needed to be done. "Let's see how she likes the Brazen Bull," cackled the phantom voice of a griffon, followed by her own pained screams of wreathing agony, turned into the snorts and grunts of a bull by the complex series of pipes. It was almost enough to make her stomach turn over... almost. As much as she wanted to deny herself, as much as it would hurt to do so, she could not ignore the fact that, in those hours of merciless torture, a piece of her had died. Was that why she did not care anymore about anything other than killing Eos and freeing Equestria? Even if, stars forbid, she had to kill in order to get there? "Twilight?" Rainbow Dash addressed with some trepidation. Now that was strange: her being anything but cocky and headstrong. "Are... are you sure that you're okay? I mean... you're sweating a lot and... well, I would be too if I had to relive what you did and I..." Earlier, the chromatic Pegasus had been begging to hear details about what had happened. Twilight foolishly concluded that it would be a good way to pass the time, but found herself crying not long after starting. "I just..." she started again, trying to hold back another torrent. "I shouldn't be here, Dash. I should be sobbing in a ball like an inconsolable foal. Why... why is it that I keep going, despite knowing things are only going to get worse? Sometimes... I feel like I'm just being pulled along by some intangible force, you know?" She kept her silence, unsure if speaking would really help her traumatized friend. In fact, she had wondered the same thing to herself many times while trying to help the poor, lost souls trapped with her. Many of them did not deserve such a fate, and she had a hard time believing the creators would condemn their children to this torture. Maybe things were not as they seemed? "Well..." she started slowly, despite her earlier conviction. "I am not a smart pony, Twilight. Never have, never will be." That line really surprised the purple pony, though she did not show it. "But you gotta trust me when I say you're not going to get over this overnight. It's not some weird force pulling your strings: it's you knowing that something has to be done, and you're just the mare to do it." Twilight merely vocalised her acknowledgement with a slight hum. After which, the pair resumed their quiet trek towards a specific mountain in the never-ending peaks and valleys of the forest. 'Just keep moving' was becoming a common, quiet theme to her as every other fibre of her being screamed at her in protest. How long could she just keep going before she finally succumbed and got in line for the loony bin? Suddenly, the quiet rhythmic flapping of wings stopped, distracting the purple pony from her own self pity as a look of concern and horror filled her friend's magenta eyes. "Is... something wrong, Dash?" she asked out of reflex. The cyan Pegasus quickly put her hoof to her lips and shushed her. Before she could protest, an odd, angry buzzing sound filled the air and broke the silence and grew louder with every second. "Run," Rainbow whispered before bolting ahead. Daring not to fall behind, Twilight picked up the pace, wondering why, if they had to flee, the Pegasus simply did not fly. She panted, more out of shape than she would admit, but she managed to keep up if only for adrenaline pumping in her veins. Meanwhile, the buzzing grew louder still, closing in around them from all sides. Only when she was sure there would be no turns ahead did she chance a glance backwards in order to see their assailant. Insects, tiny and ravenous, flew behind them not more than a couple of pony lengths removed. They were yellow, with needled barbs and purple, glowing eyes. Their wings glimmered with magic, powering them through the air at a reasonable clip. In fact, they seemed to exude a magical aura. "What are those things!?" she cried out as she turned her attention forward. "Squamosa!" Dash panted ahead. "They feed off of magic. They'll go after Earth ponies and Pegasus ponies, but they love Unicorns because it's much easier for them to feed off of them!" Twilight knew well what they were when she spoke the name, but she had no idea that Rainbow knew so much about them. Then again, she probably had to deal with them before and was just relaying her experience. Of course, that did not help them very much... until she saw a dense patch of glowing wood just off to her right. "Into that thicket!" the lavender mare called out. "It's giving off a magical aura, so it should disorient them while we escape!" Not hearing any better ideas, the mare ahead turned sharply towards the spindly undergrowth of twisted and broken branches and roots. Perhaps sensing their plan, the Squamosa closed ranks and increased in speed. A couple of them managed to sink their pincers into Twilight before she bucked them off on a branch. The roots and branches were thick and rough, a couple producing barbs that would pierce into their skin as they ducked and weaved through. As per the plan, the insects quickly became overwhelmed by the ambient magic, only able to see the ethereal plain. They buzzed angrily and attacked the flora in spite, hoping to catch one of the ponies and reveal their location to the rest of the swarm. "I missed your plans, Twi," Rainbow whispered in gratitude after pulling themselves through the tangled mess. They stopped for a breather and watched the demonic insects scatter in a lost stupor. "Let's get out here, before they get wise." Sparing one last glance to her handiwork, the purple pony quietly galloped after her friend. Even if it were the Sorrel Hells, she could not deny having a friend eased the pain caused by this nightmare of a world; even if only slightly. ~*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*~ It was quite the shock, going from the eternal silence and dread of the gray forest to a world of colour and sound. Behind her, there was a sharp boundary outlining the hell they had left; as if cut by razor-sharp scissors and stitched together. So, each individual hell is not infinite, Twilight mused as she followed her feathered friend ahead. That means all of the Sorrel Hells are contained in a single dimension... or, the Hells could be a subsidiary to another dimension. But that doesn't make any sense! Comfortable in this line of thinking, she forged on in an effort to keep herself from mulling over and angst about the situation. Unfortunately, without any evidence, circumstantial or otherwise, she could not form a conclusion. However, a hypothesis was quickly beginning to form based on her initial findings. What if the Sorrel Hells are not a valid afterlife? I know it's absurd, but there is no way Rainbow deserves this. Genesis... loves ponies too much to allow such a fate. In her brief time before the creator of sun and ponykind, a plethora of different emotions washed over the unicorn. Included was wonderful warmth she had felt only a few times before: love. At least, that is what she imagined since the overwhelming sense of fear had drowned most of the other possible emotions out. Memories of cuddling with Celestia soon drifted into her mind, steeling her resolve a little more. Yeah, I remember Genesis feeling like that now. They had been walking for what felt like days, not stopping for a single break. Twilight wanted to protest, but quite frankly, she did not feel the need to stop either. Be it her golem nature, or the strange magics of the dimension itself, she did not feel the need for rest, food, drink, or anything else. She welcomed the steady pace for once, as it would resolve things sooner and allow less time for her mind to wander back to the dark place. Lack of rest did not make the journey any easier though. Demons and other monsters would occasionally crop up in their path and encourage another daring flight, or distracting battle. Most of the time, they were inconsequential little imps or smaller demons like the Squamosa from earlier. Thankfully, she had not seen anything as frightening or strong as a Bargheist since the cult temple. With no sun in the sky, at least none that they could see, the journey through the mountain range was hard to judge in terms of time. They could have been walking for only mere hours, or several days, as all concepts of time had melted away. Moreover, was there a discrepancy between time in the Hells and time back home in Equestria? Would she come home only to find it all in smouldering ash? Once more, the sound of flapping wings ceased as Dash landed on a rock at the base of a tall mountain. "Well, we're here..." she trailed off with some hesitation. "I've heard this place is usually very hot, but at the bottom it gets really, really cold and they call the cold spot the road to Edophious. Nothing goes in or out, or so they say. I've never been inside that mine myself, of course." "How could you hear anything from those introverted souls, Dash?" the unicorn asked critically. "Oh, well, not from THEM, but sometimes a pony from the outside would wander in and we would talk since we'd be both starved for contact from others." Twilight sighed and rolled her eyes a little bit, not sure she could trust such a flimsy source."Well, it's a better lead than nothing. Let's see if we can't sneak i-" Before she could finish her sentence, the ground beneath the two ponies began to rock and shake. The Pegasus took to the air instinctively, leaving her unicorn friend the only recourse of charging her horn in preparation for any beast that may come their way. However, no shadow formed from beyond the wood or above their heads from higher ground. The only option left to them was downright absurd. Why would an afterlife have a need for the tectonic movement required to create an earthquake? When the ground started to cave directly below her, the lavender mare was caught off guard and lost the charge in her horn as her front hooves sank into the quagmire of disturbed earth. However, as the ground soon reached her shoulders, panic began to set it over the possibility that it was a trap set by a demonic creature. "Rainbow, help!" she cried out in desperation, flailing her hind hooves desperately. The cyan mare was upon her in a heartbeat. However, before she could get a good hold on her, the ground suddenly caved and fell into a deep, dark pit. Ignoring the danger, she charged into the hole as fast as her newly restored wings would take her. Deeper and darker, faster and faster; lights whizzed past her sight during her desperate plummet. However, she was blinded to everything but the darkness and deaf to everything but her friends' screams of panic. She had to get closer; to go faster! The muscles in her sides burned from the strain placed on them, like her wings were alight with righteous flame. Until that moment, she had doubts that Twilight's spell had worked and that these wings were real. But now, pushed to their limit, she understood they were HERS! Twilight fell down the shaft at an alarming speed, the adrenaline in her veins making the fleeting seconds of her fall seem like hours. She could see her friend giving chase, rosy eyes hardened in determination, but they soon fell to the blackness all around. Wind whistled in her ears as the dirt fell all around her, mane whipping in the wind as if through a hurricane. Until that moment, she had no idea why Rarity would flail her hooves at her rescuers, but now she knew it was a panic reflex to falling: the body hoping to latch onto anything it could. And then, in the midst of the blackness, the sensation of falling stopped. Although the dirt that fell with her cushioned the blow to an extent, the mare still found herself winded when her back finally (and painfully) connected with something solid. Even if she wanted to, she could not find the mind to turn her head and look at her surroundings. Everything was cold and black all the same, so there was no incentive anyway. Until, that is, the face of the cyan Pegasus appeared of the darkness, just inches from her own. "T-twilight!" she cried, looking into her dulled lavender eyes... or rather eye. During the fall, the purple mare had fallen on what appeared to be a mining cart filled with rusted and bent pickaxes. Several of them were impaled into her back while one protruded though her face, poking out an eye. If she had not seen a sight like that before, she would have thrown up. "I'm... fine," the unicorn breathed gently. "Help me up?" Responding automatically, the chromatic mare pulled her friend out of the cart and back onto her hooves. Crimson streaks stained her sweat-slick coat from where the picks had embedded themselves. With a moan and a cast of her magic, they were slowly removed from her back to be sealed up momentarily in sparkling magic that was not her own. Rainbow had let her jaw drop, having known but never seen her regenerate with her golem magic. "Do you... have something I can cover this up with?" Twilight asked as she turned; her one eye socket still vacant. "It's going to take a while to come back." Rainbow's stomach felt as if she had done a corkscrew, barrel roll and loop-de-loop, all while after completing a Sonic Rainboom. She looked around desperately for something, anything to cover up the nauseating injury. "Never mind, I can do it myself," she waved a hoof dismissively. Her horn sparkled with magic, causing some of the dirt to lift off the ground and press together. In a flash of light, the mound of dirt turned into a cloth bandage before being wrapped over her head around the offending sight. "Woah," Dash breathed as she fell to her haunches. "I didn't know you could do stuff like that!" Twilight blushed and kicked a pebble with her front hoof, looking away from her friend. "Oh, it's no big deal. Princess Luna taught me a couple of matter conversion spells. It only works on small things, given my power level, but it does take quite a bit of magical strength so... thanks," she smiled awkwardly. Looking around, her eye slowly became adjusted to the darkness, seeing wooden braces and a tunnel that stretched seemingly forever in both directions. "At least we're inside." According to every book on the Sorrel Hells that she had read, the Mines of Pikalin were titanic in size and infinite in length and depth. Of course, they also said so about the Forest of Atoris, so it was unlikely to be true. What really scared her, however, was the fabled complexity. Mines back in Equestria were quite easy to get lost in, if the Diamond Dogs' lair was any benchmark. "Well, we're not going to be getting anywhere if we stand here!" Rainbow spoke to break the silence. "Let's get going!" Nodding her head, the unicorn allowed her friend the honour of picking an arbitrary direction. The fall had disoriented her, among other things, so her guess was good as any. Using her horn to cast a simple light spell, the two mares pressed into the dark, damp cave. Twilight's ears strained against the soft clopping of their hoofsteps, the ceiling too low for Dash to even try flying. If there was a demon, or damned pony in the tunnel with them, than she wanted to make sure that she knew THEY were coming first and not the other way around. However, the drama of their entrance soon became the only highlight to the dull, monochrome brown tunnels as they pressed forward. Occasionally, they would see a sign that would designate a tunnel, but with no information on the system used, it was pretty much gibberish to both of the ponies. In addition, no matter how hard she strained, Twilight could not pick up any noise from any direction, indicating that perhaps they had entered an abandoned portion of the mine? The lack of lighting seemed to confirm her suspicions, which was actually a boon to their efforts the more she thought about it. Had they entered a more active part of the mine, it was quite likely that they would have been seen and captured once more, or else destroyed right on the spot. Of course, she was not sure if a pony could die here or not, given all of the texts citing eternities of torment. Nonetheless, the recent fall into the bed of pickaxes reaffirmed her distaste for pain, even if she could not die from most kinds of physical injury. However, as the two came towards a bend in the tunnel, the darkness began to yield to a red glow of light. Stifling her magical light the two mares ventured closer, the smell of brimstone beginning to fill their nostrils as pained shouts echoed forward. Obviously, they had chosen the correct series of paths as they saw a massive, deep pit that seemed to claw into the very heart of the earth. A single massive pillar in the centre made sure the ceiling, not more than a couple of stories above, would not collapse onto the workers below. All around the outer edges of the pit were two sets of tracks, one for enchanted carts filled with treasure going up, and another for the empty carts going down. Twilight stepped lively across the tracks and over to the edge in order to get a proper view down. The ridge of the pit spiraled downward like the fluting on her horn, going in tighter circles until it came to the bottom, where a massive pit of lava absorbed the central pillar. In the lake, despite being miles below, the unicorn could almost make out the shapes of hundreds of ponies writhing in the molten rock. The smell of burning hair and melting hooves gave it away completely. "Ugh!" Rainbow moaned painfully. "That smell! I... I think I'm really going to be sick this time." The unicorn ignored the sound of her friend's pained retching as she tried to puzzle out the way down. The sides of the pit were patrolled by minotaurs and basilisks, whipping their pony slaves into shape if they were too slow. The snake demons, she could understand, but Minotaurs were not monsters, at least not as far as she could tell. "You okay, Rainbow?" she asked in concern. "Yeah... just... not used to it," she squeaked as she wiped some bile out of the corner of her mouth. Looking at her chromatic friend, something told the unicorn that stealth would not really work in their favour this time, no matter what they tried. The only thing was to just go for it, since they neither had the time nor path to sneak down. "Okay, here's the plan," she started with a deep breath. "There is no plan. Get down there, kick some butt, take a few names, and look for the way to Edophious. If it's as bad as everypony says, it will either be high security, or at least obvious where we are going." There was a look of surprise on her friend's face, and rightfully so as she had never, in her experience, seen the calm and calculating mare do anything reckless. Sure, there was the story about the Hydra at Froggy Bottom Bog, but she had her doubts. "Sounds like a plan to me!" she replied with the fires of challenge burning in her eyes. "With my GUTS and your AWESOME magic, we'll give those woolly bullies a run for their money!" In a flash, Rainbow Dash lived up to her name and bounded off of the cliff with her wings spread, leaving her signature rainbow contrail in her wake. She pointed herself down and took aim at the first non-pony she saw. The poor lug never saw it coming. Twilight could not help but smile at her cocky attitude as she charged straight into the jaws of death and blindsided a Minotaur in the head before swiftly continuing down. She focused magic into her horn and teleported down to the next ledge, ran past the unconscious beast and then down to the level after that. There was a thrill to charging in with reckless abandon: no one was expecting the surprise attack, and they could not thwart her plan because there was none! It was not until they were about halfway down the miles deep shaft that they started to meet some form of resistance in the taskmasters of the mine. While the previous guards had been lacking armour and only carried a mace, they were now coming across guards with whips and armour the closer they got to the active levels. Where Rainbow had once lead the charge, the two ponies were now side by side as wave after wave of guard came after them with ferocity neither of them had seen in any pony before. "Come up with any plans yet?" the chromatic Pegasus panted as they became encircled by the bipedal bulls. "Just one," Twilight replied as she charged up her horn. "Hold on!" Feeling her friend grip onto her tight, the lavender pony let loose a concussive spell that knocked the guards back, some falling over the cliff behind them. Rainbow took to the skies once again to help her friend's advance as guards charged up the ramp to try and stop the powerful magician. She barreled down towards them with her horn aglow, saving her teleports for emergencies, as they still took quite a lot out of her. However, as she did, she heard a loud thudding noise sound from the central pillar. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see some sort of cannon emerging from the inside. "Rainbow, watch it!" she cautioned as she blasted past the line. Sure enough, the cannon swiveled in its base and locked Rainbow Dash squarely in its sights. The sound of cannon fire filled the air as it let loose a volley, the Pegasus only spared because of her friend's sharp eyes. Unfortunately, she could not see a means to destroy it and several more were popping out from the pillar at the same time. "Oh, buck me," the Pegasus cursed. Chunks of rock rained all around her as she ran down the winding slope, dodging mine carts, cannon balls and demonic guards as she sprinted to the bottom of the shaft. All the while, she had to suppress the thought that nagged at her since they set out: what if there was no door down there at all? In fact, what if Sarish had been lying to her the whole time, if only to see her suffer? No! I can't let my thoughts wander. Not when I am so close, the mare scolded herself as she realized she had come more than three quarters of the way down the shaft. Predictably, the security had become more intense as the two mares struggled against the burly and increasingly resistant guards. With their numbers, plus their cannons firing once every few seconds, it was a miracle none of them were more seriously injured than Twilight with her missing eye. Five Minotaurs in golden armour blocked her path, the metal gleaming in the light of the lava from below. They carried large, jewel-encrusted battle axes that were easily twice Twilight's size. Rainbow was otherwise occupied with the streaming cannonballs to be of any real assistance to her. The armour and axes were enchanted with magic and made with traces of Mithril, rendering her attacks useless. If only Applejack had been with them, she would have known what to do. She dodged their attacks as best as she could, but their massive weapons and her lack of athleticism made for a bad combination. Twilight could only keep track of one at a time, and they were swinging in all directions. She did her best to dodge them, but it was not good enough. The crushing force and familiar feeling of cold steel cutting into her skin hit her in the side just behind her ribcage, the force of the blow knocking her over the side of the cliff. Blood streamed from her side as she was sent screaming through the air, down deeper towards the lava. I'm going to die, she thought as fear paralyzed her vocal cords. She thought she could hear her friend scream her name, but it was so distant and faded that it was hard to tell. Lava was one of the things that could kill a golem, and there was no way Rainbow could get to her in time. I'm so sorry, everypony. I failed you. She closed her eyes in resignation; not ready to go yet, but unable to see any way out of her free fall... until words long faded in her mind bubbled to the surface. Tears slipped from her good eye when she realized how stupid she had been for thinking something as simple as this could kill her. Eos... help me, please, she had time to think right before hitting the surface of the molten rock, splashing the burning material onto the helpless ponies inside. "TWILIGHT!!!" Rainbow Dash screamed when she saw the blow strike and her friend fall to her death. She had tried to fly down as fast as she could only to miss her by mere seconds. She pulled up from her dive as tears began to flood her eyes. Yes, she could regenerate, but not in that: she was gone. How could this have happened!? The chromatic Pegasus landed beside the pool of magma, ignoring the grunts and clamour of guards approaching her. She cried harder than she had in years, not for her own selfish reasons, but because for the second time in her life she had failed to save her friend. Not only just her friend, but she had failed Equestria! She was their only hope, and she had let her die! Rainbow looked into the pool of magma, her tears evaporating before they could hit the surface. Twilight Sparkle was de- A loud, thunderous clap filled the air of the mine, shaking the entire foundation to the core. Minotaur guard and pony alike shook in confusion and fear as rocks began to fall from above. The pool of magma began to ripple as if dozens of large pebbles were being thrown into a lake. The waves quickly grew higher and faster, spilling tortured ponies out onto the floor. Rainbow had to jump back in order to avoid being hit by the burning rock. Everyone looked to the magma with a mixture of fear and curiosity, the brightening surface beginning to bubble where her friend had fallen. Rainbow held her breath, silently hoping she was seeing what she thought she was seeing: that her magician friend still had one more ace in her tail! She would not be disappointed. An explosion of lava burst forth, sending a pillar of it high into the air. Before anyone had time to react, a strong, scarlet beam shot out of the stream of molten rock and split into several smaller beams that impacted each of the guards hard enough for them to hit the walls some fifty feet behind themselves, and leave impact craters. "Whoa!" Rainbow shouted out from the force of the attack, unable to see the ponies around her suddenly fall to their knees. "Hey, what are you guys doing!?" Rainbow shouted to the ponies. "Get out of here, while you still can! The guards will be back in force any min-" However, she cut herself short when she turned around and saw a sight that made her jaw drop. Standing upon the surface of the magma was an alicorn of a soft lavender coat. Her mane was speckled with stars at the tips before slowly descending into the colours of the sunset to end at the bright blue of day. "T-twilight!?" she gasped, thinking for a split second that Queen Eos had come to mock her. With a quick flap of her wings, the elegant pony soared across the rest of the pool and beside her friend before nodding to her. "Rainbow Dash is right!" the alicon spoke, her voice a little deeper and more authoritative than what the Pegasus just heard. "The hells are finite, so there might just be a way to leave them completely! Run, while you still have the chance. RUN!" With that, the ponies snapped to their hooves and stampeded past the goddess and over towards the spiral ramp. "Come on!" she urged the Pegasus, heading the opposite way as the others. "Wait," Dash urged, tugging on her wafting tail. "Are... are you really Twilight... or are you Queen Eos making me THINK you're Twilight?" The alicorn sighed and regarded her friend, knowing it would not be easy for her to be trusted now. "I'm Twilight, but Eos is also my name in this form. I am NOT, I repeat, NOT like the queen, Rainbow. I still want her dead, and we're going to have to go through with this stupid trek into Edophious in order to get out of here. I know it's hard, but you have to trust me." Looking into her amethyst eyes, the Pegasus could see no signs of deception. Even if her element was not Honesty, Twilight was her friend in whatever form, and she would never leave a friend hanging in their hour of need. "I trust you, Twilight," she spoke with conviction. "Good, because I can sense our destination," she added with a smile. Nodding her head, the Pegasus took flight beside her as she effortlessly blasted through even the golden armoured Minotaurs with ease, coming to the door. Unlike the rest of the mine, which was insufferably hot, the passage with the door was as cold as a winter night; chilling straight to the bone. The door was made of rusted iron and encased in a thin sheet of ice that seemed to almost glow blue. The walls flanking the door slowly went from tinted red of the hot magma not more than a few hundred feet away, and faded to white as they became rimed with ice as well. A glow of red magic surrounded the doors, startling the Pegasus until she notice the glow was coming from the alicorn beside her. The doors to the furthest hell slowly yielded to the goddess. ~*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*~ 'Out of the frying pan and into the fire' was a common phrase that had become ingrained into the Equestrian lexicon to mean 'to make a bad situation worse' or something of the like. If she could, she would track down the pony that had made the metaphor and show them the ice box could actually be much, much worse. In fact, she was starting to miss that giant lava pond since she was at least warm there. "Stars damn it, this place is cold!" she shouted into the blinding white winds. Rainbow Dash trotted behind her, snow up to her chest as they crossed the never-ending field of emptiness. She had to use her magic in order to maintain her friend was still with her and not either collapsed with exhaustion, or frozen in place. In fact, she had to break some ice buildup on her face a couple of times. The cyan Pegasus had tried flying by her friend's side, but after only a few minutes into their journey, she could feel her primary feathers begin to freeze in place. Rather than risk a crash-landing, she swallowed her pride and walked, or at least tried to. The snow on top of the ice was so deep; it reminded her of when she was a little filly visiting her cousin in Fillydelphia during Hearth's Warming. "Y-y-you c-c-can use s-s-stronger lang-g-guage than th-that, Twi!" she shivered as she struggled to keep step behind her newly grown friend. Her longer legs allowed her to move faster, and traveling in her wake, Rainbow did not have to contend with fresh powder. A stray breath of wind blew across her side, making her shiver even more. For a while, she thought dressing warmer would have fixed things, but not against this cold. It was almost as if it were chilling her soul rather than her body. "Do you know what Celestia DID to me whenever I cursed?" she spoke back; hoping conversation would keep them warm. "She would make me look up the exact definition in the dictionary, recite it before her and the ENTIRE court and then write a ten THOUSAND word essay on the etymology of said word and how it affected modern Equestrian society! Plus, I could not do any other assignments until the essay was finished!" "Wow. My parents just did the soap in the mouth thing. Actually, I became quite the con-a-sewer of soap when I was in adolescence. Pine Fresh was okay, but Marentol? BLECH!" "Connoisseur, Dash," the alicorn corrected. "Gesundheit," the Pegasus replied with a smirk. Twilight would go on to ponder the exchange a hundred times over the coming years, but no matter how far she looked, or how much she researched, she could never figure out how she had misinterpreted her correction for a sneeze. That is, unless she was joking, or had an auditory medical condition. "Moving on..." Twilight deflected, as she ploughed through the endless white expanse. Although she was still not one hundred percent certain about Eos or her intentions, she had to admit that her body felt powerful and swift. While Dash struggled behind her, with her wings frozen at her sides, she could still open hers and maybe even fly around, if she knew how. Before this was all over, she'd have to ask for some flying tips... or did it come naturally? That flap she did in the mines felt natural enough to her. "Twilight?" Rainbow asked from behind her. "So... I've been wondering... if you're a golem... and your parents aren't your parents... then who made you?" "Princess Celestia made me, at first, as a sacrifice to accept Princess Luna's soul at the cost of my own so she could kill Nightmare Moon without having to fear for her sister's safety." Rainbow followed in silence for a couple of minutes before she replied. "So... what did you do when you found out?" "They died in this world over it. Does that give you a clue?" "Oh," she added bluntly with an air of finality. Suddenly, the chill in the air became a little more pronounced to Twilight, making her shiver and ruffle her feathers instinctively. She still could not believe she had wings on her side and that they were hers! Oh, she had so many dreams as a filly about flying through the air and having a pair of feathery appendages to call her own. If she did not have to worry about Rainbow Dash, she would have flown to Edophious and already be inside... but she could not abandon her friend. "Whoa! What is that!?" Rainbow cried out as she saw a strange shape come out of the haze in front of them. Curious as well, Twilight diverted from her path and walked towards the strange shape in the middle of the flat, seemingly endless field. The closer they got, the more certain the lavender alicorn became. Within a few feet from it, she could not deny that it was a pony, frozen in place. She could not see his colours through the ice, but the stallion wore a pained, sorrowful expression on his face. Rainbow Dash seemed at a loss for words, looking at the frozen pony and then to her own wings as a new layer of ice had grown over them. Pegasus wings were notorious for their ice buildup, even if it did not damage their inner structure. Twilight gave the pony a look of calm resignation: he was alive, but even if she freed him, there was no guarantee he would get out of this hell. "Come on, Rainbow... there's nothing we can do," she spoke somberly. Reluctantly, the two mares turned away and continued en route to the castle. The only way they could navigate in the whiteout snow drifts was if Twilight focused on the strongest magical power source in the region, which she assumed was the castle. From there, it was a simple matter of walking straight to it. At least, in theory. The actual practical experience was far more difficult. The only saving grace of the whole ordeal was that at least this time she was not suffering on her own. She had a friend by her side and although she suffered too, at least together the pair of them could keep the other propped up. "So, uh... how about we play a game to keep us going? I'll say the name of a place and then you say another that starts with the last letter of the one I used. So, uh... Manehattan?" ~*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*~ It was amazing how sick of a colour a pony could get in such a short amount of time. White stretched as far as she could see, beyond the increasingly large black pulse coming from what she hoped was the castle. While white was supposed to represent purity, Twilight quickly came to regard it as a boring, lazy, good-for-nothing colour that only existed when none of the others were wanted or welcomed. Oh, and the snow was pretty bad too. Constantly blowing, whipping against her face and chilling her to the bone, the wind here had to be the biggest nuisance she had ever faced. Even worse than a Pinkie Pie rant, and that was saying something! Twilight did not dare think of what would be worse than her current situation because with her track record, it was very likely to get worse the moment she opened her trap. Apparently, the universe has a very sick sense of humour. Just as the thought crossed her mind, the blowing snow finally stopped and the visibility began to increase until, in a couple of body lengths worth of walking, she could see for miles. It was just far enough to see a large mound just at the horizon, reaching into the sky. If that was not the fortress, or castle, (she had forgotten what it was supposed to be by then) than the easy part of their journey was at a close. Unfortunately, the still wind did not mean the temperature would climb. In fact, call it the twisted side of her imagination, but the temperature seemed to drop the closer they got to it. "Are you doing okay, Rainbow?" She craned her neck to look backwards to check. The chromatic Pegasus' mane was practically frozen solid, and her wings useless ice cubes attached to her body. "Peachy," she replied, voice dripping with sarcasm. Focusing some magic into her horn, the ice covering her friends' body became covered in the red-purple glow. To her relief, the ice cracked and released Dash from its frozen claws. With a flick of her wings, she cast as much of the buildup off as she could and gave her wings a couple of test flaps before that cocky grin graced her face once more. "Thanks, Twi. I don't know what I'd do without you, sometimes." "You're quite welcome, Rainbow," she smiled in return. She wanted to come up with a witty quip about how she would fall to pieces without her around, but seeing her try to rally those depressed souls... it just took all the ammunition out of it. "Although, I would not fly around this place," she added when she saw her get ready for takeoff. "Huh? Why not?" "Because there is a spell at work here to heighten visibility. Whatever lives there probably wants to see any incoming threats well in advance so they have time to prepare a defence. I don't know about you, but I have had my fill of combat for a while." "Oh. Well, how are we supposed to get close then?" "Invisibility spell," she replied simply. Before Rainbow could say anything more, there was a bright flash around their bodies as the spell took effect. "Are you sure this thing is working? I don't feel any different." "It is: now, do you want to fly to the castle, or not?" Spreading her own lavender wings, she immediately got the Pegasus mare's attention. Not needing to be told twice, she immediately took to the sky, laughing. "Let's see how good those overgrown things are, Twi-lightweight," she goaded before speeding off in her typical impatience. I though you'd never ask, the lavender alicorn thought. With a single, mighty flap, she was airborne and with hardly a thought, she was moving forward towards Rainbow Dash. Hint: it's instinct for you, but Pegasi have to learn, spoke the voice of Eos in her mind. Thanking the mare for her advice, she willed her wings to fly her faster, towards her goal and the reckless Pegasus. Her mane whipped in the wind as her body sped forward, her hooves tucked into her body to lower her profile. The sense of lightness and thrill coursing through her body was addictive; more so than coffee or any other stimulant she had ever had before. She wanted more of this, to just fly endlessly for the rest of her days. If she were not in Hell, she would have sworn she was in Heaven, doing an aileron roll in her overwhelming jubilation! Of course, every good thing had to come to an end. Before she knew it, she had to stop or else run into Rainbow Dash, who paused outside of the... Well, it could be classified as a building. Many hundreds of dark crystals seemed to have risen from the snow and become tainted black, forming criss-cross patterns that sparkled like the inside of a geode. It was hard to discern an entrance, or even a window through the mess of razor sharp crystals. "Don't worry, Rainbow," Twilight spoke as she put a hoof on her shoulder. "If you can't find a way in, you can always MAKE one." With a single flap, she propelled herself forward towards the crystalline building with her cyan friend in tow. Although, she had to wonder how easy it would be to actually break into the fortress. She could sense none of the spells Canterlot Castle had on it in times of lockdown, so either the residents did not expect company, or they had a lot of hubris. Closing her eyes in concentration, the lavender mare focused her magic out into a continuous red streak of energy that sizzled against the blackened crystal. Although she had to go slowly, the magic moved in a wide circle to accommodate her new, rather generous dimensions. The edges of the laser's cut still burned a bright red, displaying the heat from the magical friction that took place. With a gentle tug of her magic, the plate-shaped piece of crystal slid away from the hole to allow them entry. However, the second the section was removed, a dark glow encircled the hole, pulling the crystal closed over the wound. Reacting quickly, Twilight pushed herself in, fitting only just barely as her flank scraped against the growing crystal, cutting into her just a tiny bit. Once she was through, Rainbow bolted into the hole in her wake while the healing crystal began to pick up speed. As soon as it shut, taking a tuft of rainbow tail with it, they were immediately plunged into deep, soul-crushing darkness. While the darkness would be adventitious to their goal, they could not see even their muzzles in front of their faces. So, Twilight charged up her horn to cast an illumination spell... only for it to fail. "Well, it would seem that this darkness isn't natural," she concluded. "What do you mean? Are you saying it's, like, magic, or something?" the filly with the rainbow mane asked. "Pretty much, Dash. Looks like I taught you a thing or two after all," Twilight teased with her tongue sticking out, knowing she could not see it. "I have a back up though; just don't look directly into it." With little more than a thought, her miniature sun collected on the base of her horn, lighting up the pitch-black crystal hallways. In the back of her mind, she wondered how anything at all could live in such a dark, cold place. Walking forward down the hall, she tried to split her focus three ways: one to keep the sun on, another to lock in on the location of those stupid shoes, and keeping her ears strained for any guards. However, the deep darkness and deathly silence pervaded all through their trek, putting the alicorn on edge. For a fortress, she had expected a lot more guard and a lot less silence. When the silence finally broke, however, she suddenly began to wish she was somewhere, anywhere else. "Do you hear something?" Rainbow whispered to her friend. "It sounds almost like... singing." Straining her ears, the melody soon became audible to the alicorn. She had only heard it once before, during her search for the gate to Hell in the first place. "Bargheists," she whispered as her eyes narrowed. It was only natural that she would have to come across them eventually, especially in the Sorrel Hells. "Just stay in the light, and they won't bother you." They continued slowly and as quietly as they could down the twisting halls and bends. The music would fade in and out of their hearing, unlike the underground cult building, where it would steadily increase. They probably had no idea they were there. Her mind a little more at ease, she focused a little less on the guards and more on their destination. She did not expect something like shoes to be a very powerful magical item unless activated, but it was really hard not to focus on the largest power source in the building. However, something inside her told her doing so would be a very, very bad idea. Suddenly, Twilight came to an unexpected halt during her musings. She was very lucky that nothing more serious had happened while she blanked out, but she made sure to check that Rainbow Dash was still by her side. Although a little confused about their sudden stop, she was all right. With that out of the way, the alicorn focused her attention on the room they had entered. They stood on the second floor of the tall room, Twilight having run into the balcony rail. Before them was a pair of massive doors made of the strongest steels she could imagine, glimmering in the glow of the black-tinted skylight overhead. Unlike many doors she had come across, this one was coated in an off-emerald green metal which would sparkle in blue as the light played across its surface. "Adamantite!" she whispered more to herself. Where Runite would harm a creature that used magic while in contact with it, and Mithril which would suppress magic, Adamantite would increase the power of the item it was attached to. "This must be that gateway Sarish mentioned that would take us back to Equestria!" Ancient runes carved into the stone frame confirmed this in her mind's eye, as several of them placed emphasis on teleportation across different dimensional planes. With a quick burst of magic from her horn, a stone in the middle of the room glowed emerald green for just a second. "What was that for?" Rainbow inquired. "It's a locator spell. I've come too far not to get those stupid Macguffin shoes, so we might as well get them for a backup plan. This way, we can find the way back and maybe teleport if we were in a hurry." "Great, but, uh... how are we going to find... what was it? Shoes of Rocinante?" "I can't remember," she spoke dismissively. "Well, it is not like this place is exactly massive, so we'd be better off checking all of the rooms we come across systematically. It's better than nothing." With that, the alicorn pulled herself over the side of the railing and gently glided down to the floor below, shivering as the deathly cold air blew in her face. For her part, Rainbow was doing her best to keep up the pace with her friend, but she had to admit that this was no cake walk. For one, they needed to rely on stealth, which she hated. As well, it was just so BUCKING COLD that she felt ready to drop dead. Her whole body chattered and it was becoming harder for her to think; all she wanted in the world was some warmth which, thankfully, that small sun of Twilight's provided. Upon her insistence, the two mares delved deep into the underbelly of Edophious, going from room to room in order to find those shoes. Rocinante! That was the name of the shoes... Huh. Dash was right the first time, Twilight mused to herself. She shook her head again in order to keep herself from going into another stupor: her mind needed to be with her and ready to spring into action at any given moment. Thankfully, as they progressed through the chambers and halls of the castle, they remained indifferent to the demons that dwelled in the darkness. The lavender alicorn welcomed the lack of intrusion as they descended another flight of stairs to the lowest level yet of the building. Bargheists sang and nickered around them in the deep, soul-freezing cold and darkness, but refused to come anywhere near. Or was it merely because they did not perceive them as either a threat, or lunch? Eventually, it became obvious to Twilight that the shoes were either the powerful magical energy she could feel slowly compressing her mind and soul, or at least close to it. With no other leads, they slowly made their way down the dark, bone-chilling passages of the blackened building. If it were not for the sun she conjured, she would be shivering herself out of her shoes. Rounding the next bend, the two mares found themselves before a puzzling sight: a wooden door pressed tight against the black crystal walls. It was made of a dark stained wood, perhaps mahogany or oak, and featured a spindly brass knob that sparkled in the light of her miniature sun. They exchanged a quizzical look with one another before the alicorn ventured forth and slowly, very slowly opened the out-of-place portal. Beyond was a sudden wall of warmth and music the likes of which she was not expecting. Delicate wood paneling surrounded the plush carpet under hoof as a fireplace roared to their left side behind a red velvet lounge chair. The soft crackling of the fire was only interrupted by the rhythmic growls of a creature somewhere within that made the hairs on her back stand on-edge and the tempered brass of a jazz ensemble from a phonograph in the corner. Stepping into the room, dozens of shelves of books presented themselves to the studious mare containing unknown volumes of potentially powerful, yet dark and heinous spells. Towards the back, there was a spacious four-poster bed with covers and drapes of deepest black, the inside speckled with the stars of the night sky. But that immediately fled her mind when she saw them, perched on a bedside table. It was a set of shoes like the gilded and onyx ones on her hooves, except they were made of the same black crystal material that made up the fortress. Sensing no barrier up around them, she gingerly stepped into the alcove that contained the bed and gingerly picked them up in her magical hold. Seeing no other shoes or items of clothing around, the mare carefully began to tiptoe back to the door where her chromatic friend stood guard. A snorting grunt from the high velvet chair stirred her curiosity. "Twilight! What are you doing!?" Rainbow hissed at her. However, she just had to take a look, if only because this would be her only opportunity. It was a Bargheist the likes of which she had never seen before. While the muzzle was distinctly canine in appearance, the hair on the beast seemed to waft off of it like a plume of blackened flames. It was asleep as far as she could tell with a book in its lap as drool poured from the toothy maw. A couple of light taps to the cheek yielded no interesting reactions, however, so she resumed her slow walk to the door on the tip of her hooves. "You're a real idiot, you know that?" the Pegasus scolded as the door gently shut behind the large purple alicorn. "Did you at least get the bucking things?" "Yeah, I did," she replied, levitating the black crystal shoes in front of her face. Without wasting any time, the two mares set off back towards the door that would lead to their freedom from the layer of Hell. However, on the way up, a feeling deep inside her told Twilight that something was amiss, as none of the demons hidden behind any of the dark corners stirred or sang like they used to. In fact, the building was completely silent and empty... as if they knew they had stolen something from it. "Well, that went smoother than I thought it would," Twilight smirked as victory seemed assured. However, as they opened the door leading to their exit, their jaws dropped at the sight. Dozens, no, hundreds of Bargheists stood before them and the door, their glowing emerald pits of eyes staring back, as if expecting them. Black ooze dripped from their mouths as they snickered, not put off by Twilight's sun in the least bit. "Oh pony plop." "Look. The. Little. Ponies. Thought. They. Could. Get. Away," breathed one of the creatures closest to them in that horrible, slow and deliberate voice. All the others joined in breathy laughs, punctuated by single syllables instead of anything coming close to a normal creature. Twilight tried throwing her sun into the middle of the room to make them disperse, but they looked at it with contempt. "The. Light. Has. No. Effect. Here," one of them sneered. "When. He. Finds. Out. You. Are. Going. To. PAY!" "WHO STOLE MY SHOES!" cried out a deep and terrible rumble somewhere below with anger so fierce that the crystal skylight above quaked with their conviction. "Twilight!" Rainbow Dash cried. "Run for that gate and I will try to fend them off!" Seeing the look of doubt in her eyes, the chromatic Pegasus continued. "I know it's not the best thing, but we don't have time to argue. Now GO!" With a forceful shove to her flank, she was off in a blur of rainbow, smacking herself into a random demon. They all seemed taken aback by the sudden charge, allowing the purple alicorn to gallop forth towards the large doors with little resistance, at first. Halfway to the door, a swirling figure of black appeared. It was the Bargheist she saw in the room with the shoes, eyes aflame in green indignation as he stared down the two ponies who had dared to intrude on his domain. "YOU!?" he cried out, in anger and surprise. "YOU SHALL NOT ESCAPE!" Twilight skid to a stop as her eyes became locked with his, a thousand painful memories flashing before her eyes in an instant. Just as her brain cried out for her to look away, a blue blur slammed into the demon, sending him flying out of the way. "Run for it, Twilight!" Rainbow shouted after tumbling with the monster some way. Dazed upon the floor, the demon did not move which left the others confused without their leader. "No! You're coming with me!" the alicorn replied as she wrenched open the doors with all the magic she could spare, nearly knocking them off of their hinges. "I'm dead, Twilight! I... I want to, but I can't. Besides, I can do some good here, which is more than what I can say if I went back. Now go home and say 'hi' to Pinkie Pie for me!" Tears started to form in her rosy eyes, spilling onto her cyan cheeks. "Go! Before I have to buck you right in the face!" Still, the alicorn hesitated to leave her friend, the door's swirling purple void flickering into existence. "GO!" she cried in anger as the black demon started to regain his footing. "GO!!!" Before she could contest further, her world became a sea of blue as something hard slammed into her face at great speed. She almost let go of the shoes in her telekinetic hold as she was sent flying by the sheer force of the attack. Twilight tried to call out to her, to get her to follow, but before she knew it her world became purple, thoughts immediately turning towards her home. Now, more than any time in her life, she wished her friend could have been a little less stubborn... but that would not really be her style, now would it? Goodbye, Rainbow Dash.