“Crap!” Luffy yelled. Behind him, a pack of Blugori grunted and threw their axes at Luffy’s group. Luffy jumped up and dodged one of the weapons. Another raced forward but stopped in midair, its handle encased in a light blue shimmer that quickly fade. Trixie exhaled the breath she’d been holding and darted away from the Blugori.
A third ax found its way over to Buggy and sliced him in two. He snorted and quickly reassembled himself. “Damn it! Why do they keep hitting me?”
The group rounded the corner and came face to face with another pack of Blugori. Buggy frowned and backed up a few paces. “Aw crap. I really didn’t want to fight. Straw Hat! Back me up!”
“I can’t!” Luffy slammed a hoof to the ground in defiance. “I promised not to cause a commotion!”
“You’re an even bigger idiot than the clown!” Trixie huffed. She lit up her horn, lowered her body, and braced herself for battle.
“Fine!” Luffy pouted. He jumped into the air and extended all his hooves back. “Gum-gum stampede!”
Luffy’s hooves went flying at the Blugori, striking them before they had time to raise their hands or axes in defense. Those that got struck in the head staggered around in a stupor while those hit in the body only gave small grunts.
Nearby, Buggy and Trixie were fighting off a single Blugori that was wildly hacking at them with its ax. It crashed down on Trixie, sending up a cloud of dust and fragmented stone. The Blugori sent the cloud away with a slash of its ax. There was only a deep gash mark in the ground where it had struck. It scratched its head and looked around for its prey.
“Over here!” Trixie called out, drawing the Blugori’s attention to its left. She smirked at the beast. “Guess it only takes an illusion spell to deal with you.”
“Why don’t you actually try damaging it?” Buggy sent out his limbs, leaving his torso to float in mid-air. His limbs wrapped around, connected to each other, and constrained the Blugori. “Gyahaha! Got you! Chop-chop rope! Now...”
The Blugori flailed against his restraints. It couldn’t move its arms, but its legs kicked to no avail. The kicking grew more violent when the Blugori lifted off the ground and into the air. It snarled when it was flipped upside-down.
“Aerial Tailspin Big Top!” Buggy gave the Blugori a maniacal grin as it went crashing to the ground. The impact sent dust and stone everywhere and buried the Blugori’s head in the floor. Buggy trotted over and rested a hoof atop the unmoving beast. “That’s what you get, you stupi—”
Buggy was cut into multiple pieces by the Blugori’s ax. The Blugori jumped out of the hole its impact had made and continued cutting Buggy to pieces. When it saw that its cuts were doing nothing, it twisted around and swung its ax at Trixie instead. Trixie yelped and lit up her horn as the ax came crashing down.
The ax stopped inches from Trixie’s horn. The Blugori stood motionless above her for a few moments before it toppled over on its side. Trixie lowered her eyes from where the Blugori had been looming over her and to Luffy, who had appeared between her and the beast.
Luffy wiggled his hoof around. “Geez, these guys have hard skin.”
Buggy and Trixie’s eyes went away from the single Blugori and over to the pack that had been pursuing them. All of them were crumpled and piled up on the ground. At the same time, both Buggy and Trixie shouted, “He took them all out?”
“Can you just show me the way down?” Luffy sighed.
“Are you crazy?” Buggy rushed up and stared at Luffy with a frenzied look. “No one wants to go down! Don’t you know that every level gets worse and worse? Besides, the exit is up!”
“Oh, I’ll go there after I rescue Ace,” Luffy bluntly replied.
“Eh?” Buggy shouted, sending his face popping out again. “You want to save Ace?”
Luffy tilted his head at Buggy. “Wait, how do you know Ace?”
“We shared a few drinks a while back.” Buggy jabbed a hoof at Luffy. “I’ll have you know, your brother is much less of a jerk than you! Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m getting the hell out of here!”
Buggy turned around and headed to a corridor that wasn’t filled with unconscious Blugori. Trixie trotted after him. “Wait! Trixie wishes to leave this place as well!”
“Find it on your own!” Buggy snorted. “It’s your fault the guards found us anyway!”
“Please! Trixie did nothing wrong!” Trixie fell to her knees and grabbed Buggy’s legs. A few tears speckled her face. “Trixie only wanted to escape that vile dog! Instead, Trixie wound up on the other side of that gate and those rude ponies sent me here! Trixie at least deserves a trial!”
Luffy ignored Trixie and Buggy’s argument and pulled out the vivre card and held it on his hoof. It slid over to the left, so Luffy took a step in that direction. “Okay, Ace is th—”
“Luffy!” Pinkie’s voice rang out all around the prison. It had lost its bubbly tone and gained a dark dissonance that sent a shiver down Luffy’s spine. “You broke your Pinkie Promise!”
“Huh?” Luffy yelled, twisting in every direction trying to find Pinkie. “Hey, where are you?”
“I’m right here!” Pinkie shouted again, this time her voice was a bit more directed. Luffy swiveled his ears around and looked down at his leg. The trinket that was attached to it was no longer deep purple but was instead neon pink. It glimmered with a malevolent light and a few sparks shot out. “You’re in big trouble! Nopony breaks a Pinkie Promise!”
Buggy broke off from his argument with Trixie and jabbed a hoof at the shouting trinket. “What the hell is that?”
Trixie slowly trotted over to Luffy with wide eyes and a gaping mouth. “A seeing stone! How in Equestria did a pony like you get a seeing stone?”
“Oh.” Luffy held up his hoof so that Trixie and Buggy could get a better view. “So it’s like a den-den mushi?”
“I don’t care what it’s like!” Pinkie shouted. “When I find you, I’m gonna...”
The stone went black for an instant and then returned to the deep purple it’d been when Luffy had first gotten it. Luna’s voice came out of the stone. “My apologies Straw Hat. It took me a bit to get the stones working again and I was just showing everypony here how to use them when Pinkamina suddenly started screaming like a mad pony. I hope she did not inconvenience you.”
“Oh my stars!” Trixie yelped. “That’s Princess Luna!” She grabbed Buggy by the shoulders and shook him back and forth. “Who is he and how does he know the Princess?”
“How should I know?” Buggy yelled back while he was being shaken. “He’s a no-good rookie! And what’s all this about a Princess and a stone?”
Trixie stopped shaking Buggy and unceremoniously dropped him to the ground. “You fool, anypony with a brain knows Princess Luna. The stone is a different matter. They are rare and ancient things, capable of scrying across great distances. I’ve read that they’re crystallized dragon flame, but nopony really knows since one hasn’t been seen for at least eight hundred years.”
Buggy’s eyes lit up at the mention of rare. “So what you’re saying is that Straw Hat has gotten himself a valuable piece of treasure.”
Trixie’s eyes focused on the stone and misted over. “Quite valuable... with that I could get the amulet and...” A sly grin crept up Trixie’s face. “He wants to go down, right?”
“Yeah.” Buggy gave a dismissive glance at Luffy. “I knew he was stupid, but not that stupid. I’ve already faced Level Four and it probably only gets worse from there. Every level of this place is some kind of horrible torture. Count yourself lucky you only wound up on Level One.”
“Well,” Trixie replied, “I think we should help our friend down. I’m sure he’d be willing to repay us.”
Buggy scratched his chin with a hoof and grinned at Trixie. “You may be annoying, but I like what you’re saying. I’ll even be nice and split the loot with you eighty-twenty.”
“Seventy-thirty,” Trixie objected.
“Sixty-forty!” Buggy shot back. “I’m not going any lower!”
“Fine!” Trixie grunted back.
They both glared at each other for a moment before turning over in Luffy’s direction.
I’ll just ditch you and get all the loot later anyway, Buggy thought, trying his best to hide his grin.
Trixie will just ditch you and get all the bits later anyway, Trixie thought at the same time, trying to hide her grin as well.
“Fine,” Luffy sighed at the stone, which had gone pink again. “I’m sorry I broke my promise, but it was Buggy’s fault too.”
“I don’t want any excuses,” Pinkie huffed. “You’re gonna have a lot of making up to do when you get back. Plus, you better get ready to be pranked.”
The stone shifted colors again, back to it’s original deep purple. “I’m glad that matter is resolved,” Luna said. “At least Pinkamina’s outburst proved the stones are in working order. Henceforth, we shall accompany you until you and your brother are free of that hideous place.”
“Got it.” Luffy lowered his hoof. He blinked when he saw that Buggy and Trixie were at his side, they eyes focused only on the stone.
“Hey Straw Hat.” Buggy slid his arm around Luffy’s back. “I’ve been thinking, Ace really was a nice guy and it’d be a shame to see him executed. Why don’t I show you the way down?”
“Really?” Luffy smiled.
“Yeah, after all, what are friends fo—”
A blast of blue aura whizzed between Buggy and Luffy, shearing off a bit of Buggy’s mane. Buggy, Luffy, and Trixie’s attention went over to where the blast had come from and locked eyes with two unicorn guards. One of them raised a hoof and shouted, “There they are!”
“Run!” Trixie screamed before darting off in a direction opposite of the guards.
“Straw Hat!” Buggy’s torso sprang up into the air. His hooves stayed planted on the ground, chasing after the rest of his body. “Put those on your back and follow me!”
Luffy nipped into the hooves and chucked them onto his back. He chased after Buggy, who’d darted ahead over to Trixie.
“Stop panicking and listen to me!” Buggy yelled.
“Trixie is trying!” Trixie glanced back and saw that both guards and Blugori were filling the hall behind them. Her breath caught and she turned around, too scared to look back again.
“Just follow my lead and the treasure will be ours!” An ax flew forward and decapitated Buggy. “Why is it always the head?”
“So how are we getting down?” Luffy asked, having caught up with Buggy and Trixie.
“I’ll show you as soon as you give me that treasure,” Buggy replied, not even bothering to hide his wicked grin.
“Can’t this wait until after we get Ace?” Luffy tried to jiggle the stone loose from his leg, but the trinket didn’t budge. “It’s hard to get this thing off while I’m running!”
“Who care? Just give me that tre—Gwho!” Buggy slammed into a wall he hadn’t noticed with his attention on Luffy. He’d hit it with enough force to shake the stones it was made of a little and a few were cracked. A bit of blood dripped from the spot on Buggy’s head where he’d hit the wall.
“You know, if the way down was this way, we probably could have found the door. Oh well.” Luffy jumped straight at Buggy.
“Straw Hat! N—” Buggy was cut off by Luffy headbutting him straight in the gut. The wall collapsed on itself, revealing a room filled with guards, den-den mushis, and screens. Luffy, with Buggy as a charging ram, ran past them all. Despite having the wind knocked out of him, Buggy was able to glance around the room. “Wait! Stop Straw Hat!”
Luffy didn’t hear Buggy and kept charging forward. He rammed Buggy into another wall, which crumbled as well. Luffy found himself running on air and then falling. Beyond the wall was a great drop and below that lied a dark red collection of trees. “Huh? A forest in a prison?”
“I told you to stop running!” Buggy complained. He jabbed a leg out at the forest while continuing to fall. “This is the true Level One of Impel Down, Forest Hell! The trees and grass are made of glass and spikes that cut prisoners to ribbons. Their blood makes the place go red.”
“So why don’t they just call it blood hell then?” Luffy asked.
Buggy scowled and shivered midflight. “There are crimson plants that cut, but there’s also blue plants that curse. I can’t get cut here, but the other plants made my nose huge! Poisonous spiders and other nasty creatures roam the forest, chasing down any prisoner thrown in here!”
“Wow, it really does sound like hell.” A scream ran out to Luffy’s left. A pony covered in wounds was running through the deathtrap. His head scraped against the sharp foliage due to it being located below his chest; there was only a stump at his neck. Both his head and stump were covered in blue dots. Luffy turned his attention away from the prisoner and over to the rapidly approaching ground. “Uh, Buggy, what are we gonna do about the ground?”
“Hmm...” Buggy glanced down. Below, he spotted a set of hooves that had been sliced to pieces but weren’t bleeding. “My hooves are already on the ground. Grab my neck and I’ll show you the way down. It’s actually real easy to get to!”
Luffy did as Buggy said and clasped his neck. Buggy zoomed up inches from the ground while his hooves followed. Buggy’s eyes stayed on the ground, searching for any blue splotches in the sea of red. He spotted one and moved his disconnected hooves around the cursed plants. He continued to make a straight beeline through the forest.
Back at the guard station, Trixie peered at the room from behind the broken remains of the first wall Luffy had broken. The guards were scrambling around the room and a few of them looked out into the forest. Trixie’s sight was focused on the walls, which were littered with screens, snails, and pieces of paper. Where’s a darn fire escape map?
“You!” came a guard’s voice from behind Trixie. She spun around and was met with a collection of guards racing to her, half of them with their horns glowing.
Trixie sped away from the guards and barreled into the guard station. Her breath turned ragged and fresh sweat poured down her face. A glow formed around her horn and over her sides. “Come on! Come on! Like I practiced! Like I practiced!”
Trixie closed her eyes and jumped over the guards. She plummeted like a stone down into the forest. “Oh Celestia! This is it! I just wanted to be famous!”
Trixie saw the blood covered trees and screamed. The blades below got closer and closer and one was positions to stab her straight in the face. The stab never came and instead Trixie was left staring straight at the blade’s sharp point. Trixie floated frozen in the air while water dripped off her. “I... Trixie did it! Trixie made wings!”
Trixie twisted her head back with a grin. Her smile turned into a frown and her cheeks reddened. “Oh you’ve got to be kidding me.”
Trixie grunted and her wings gave a stronger flap than the smaller ones they’d been using to keep Trixie aloft. Trixie fluttered forward and gave a loud sickly belch. “Ugh, hopefully Trixie will not have to endure this for long.”
Trixie belched with each flap, but she managed to fly within sight of Buggy and Luffy. “Hey! Wait!”
“Huh?” Buggy flipped his head back and saw Trixie and her odd wings. He burst out laughing. “Gyhahaha! Hey Straw Hat, take a look at that!”
Luffy twisted his head in Trixie’s direction and laughed too. “Shishishi! That is pretty funny!”
“Trixie can hear you!” Trixie shouted back.
“Whatever.” Buggy waved a limb at Trixie and then focused his eyes down again. “We’re close.”
Ahead loomed a black hole in the Cursed Forest. Around the hole was circle of stones. Buggy descended to the ground and reconnected his to his hooves at the stones. “This is it.”
“Cool.” Luffy got off Buggy’s back and onto the stones. He walked over to the hole and looked down. “Wow, it’s really deep.”
“Yep.” Buggy kicked a piece of cracked stone into the hole. The black swallowed it up. “Any prisoner can go down there to escape the forest, but only an even greater torture awaits them. Anyway...” Buggy extended a hoof out to Luffy. “That deal?”
“Oh yeah.” Luffy put a hoof on the stone and slid it down his leg. He held it up, dangling from the leg it was attached to. “Here ya go!”
“Gyahaha! Sweet!” Buggy snatched the treasure away and held it up high.
“See ya!” Luffy jumped into the hole and disappeared into the darkness.
Trixie fluttered over to Buggy and stared at the stone with gleaming eyes and a wide grin. “Oh this is a good day! We escape and we get treasure!”
“Yes...” Buggy scratched his chin with a free hoof. “We’ll escape.”
Trixie leaned forward and pushed her muzzle up to Buggy’s. Her eyes were now icy cold and pricked up the hair on Buggy’s neck. “You had better not be hoping to betray Trixie. Trixie has a great dislike for those that make fools of her.”
Buggy snorted in her face. “You must dislike a lot of people th—”
An ax swung out from the forest and once more cleaved Buggy’s head from his body. He glared over in the direction the ax had come from and was met with a Blugori with a hand grasped around a tree. It didn’t seem to mind the piercing needles the tree was comprised off and simply stared at Buggy’s floating head.
“Stupid Blugori!” Buggy shouted. “Axes don’t work on... me.”
Buggy’s sentence trailed off when he felt something tug on him. He turned his head around and watched his body tumble into the hole. Buggy’s head careened after his body. “The treasure!”
Buggy’s scream faded with the rest of him. Trixie floated over to the hole and looked down. She frowned and shrugged her shoulders. “Trixie would have wanted the treasure too, but escape is fine as well.”
Instead of an ax, a magic blast erupted out of the trees and caught Trixie’s wings. The wings disintegrated into dust instantly. Trixie blankly stared at the spot where the wings had been sticking out. She then looked down and screamed before plummeting into the darkness.
~~~
Roars, caws, croaks, and screams filled the air. Shadows prowled the corridors, baring white and red fangs that glistened under torchlight. Cells were carved into the sides of the corridors with bars made of steel. Every single bar was dented with numerous bite marks.
Inside one of the cells, a yellow-green pony raised his head. His mane was an oily black that slicked down his head, save for a small part of it held up by numerous strings to form a style that resembled a three. An unlit candle adorned his flank. “The beasts sound hungry. Maybe they’ll all eat us today.”