//------------------------------//
// Chapter 3: Into the Portal 
// Story: The Long Forgotten Ancestors of Pinkamena Diane Pie. 
// by Krasniye 
//------------------------------//

	Chapter 3

Dee spiraled downward helplessly. The winds of the portal formed into a tornado that swallowed everything joyful and happy in Dee’s mind. The tornado seemed to have a mind of its own; it read Dee’s thoughts and surveyed her fears. The young filly began to see visions of the foulest nature that seemed as if they were designed specifically for her. She saw a young mare that looked friendly on one side of her face, and like a demon on the other side. The mare scoffed at her and spat obscene, and caustic language at the terrified little filly. 
“Mommy!?” Dee screamed. 
The mare disappeared as suddenly as she had appeared. Dee closed her eyes as the misty remains of her ethereal mother filled her eyes and lungs causing them to become inflamed with unbearable pain. She felt a warm heat around her after the pain subsided. The heat grew in intensity until she opened her eyes and beheld the Horror that lay before her. She was lying in bed and her room was burning around her, destroying everything she loved. She saw images of her friends and her beloved princess Celestia smoldering in the intense heat. She tried to escape through the door but it wouldn’t budge because it was jammed. She began to panic as the flames grew closer. She glanced back and saw something out of the corner of her eye. She looked again, and glimpsed the same half monster, half mare as before who now stood in her room wearing a fire-pony suit and a breath mask; the flames and smoke made her look like a demonic reaper here to claim her soul. At the sight of her perverted and evil mother, she gave into despair and huddled in front of the door as her arsonist mother inched closer. She wailed hysterically as her mother attempted to push her into the white hot flames that surrounded them. Dee fell into the fire and began to scream expecting to smell her hide being incinerated, and the agony that followed. She noticed that the flames that licked at her body were not burning her at all, they were actually comforting her. She regained herself, 
“How can this be possible!?” Dee wiped away the tears that ran down her face with a hoof. 
“I must be dreaming, I must be!”
Dee awoke splayed across the ground, and completely disconcerted. Her eyes fluttered while she tried to gain her bearings. She raised her head to look around at her surroundings. She was lying in the center of a huge grassy field. She slowly got to her hooves, shaking her head violently. A stallion from a nearby shop galloped towards Dee. 
“What in the hay are you doing, out in the open, you fool? Don’t you know it dangerous for your kind here?” Dee looked at him with dreary eyes, trying to decipher what he was saying; his words sounded like meaningless and angry babbling. The stallion kept up his verbal assault while Dee’s eyes began to flutter again. She grew dizzy and fell to the ground out cold.
***
In a dark castle lost in the dark mountains of Prancilvania, two black stallions dragged a terrified and scrawny looking unicorn through the cold and drafty hallways. The unicorn tried to bolt several times, this however was meant with a heavy blow from one of the quick stallions. 
“You try and run again, we’ll make you wish you were sent to the torture chambers; they are a lot nicer down there than we are, they actually stop after a while.” The two black armor clad stallions broke into a fit of dark laughter that echoed through the shadowy halls. The Unicorn, not wanting to find out what they meant, obeyed them until they reached their destination, the throne room. A guard in a long crimson cape stood near the massive iron door that led into the throne room. The guard looked up at the unicorn and frowned, 
“you came to the wrong place, kid.” He said in a gravelly voice. 
“Looks like this will be the end of the line for you my little unicorn friend.” With that the guard swung open the mighty doors ushering them into the cavernous throne room. Anypony who had any sense of morals or decency, would have found the throne room utterly disturbing, and disgusting. The Unicorn observed the unpleasant stained glass windows that lined the side walls; each depicting a pony dying in some gruesome or humiliating way. The unicorn gulped as fear began to grip him again. The chandeliers high above in the rafters glow red instead of the natural orange, so they gave off an eerie glow. The decorations were a wide range of objects from sharp looking weapons and armor to cruel and painful looking torture implements. As they strolled onward the little unicorn looked up at the throne and the pony that sat upon it. It was a mare fairly young actually, with a shimmering silver coat and a multicolored mane. She looked like she was asleep, for she was lying on her side with her eyes closed. Strangely she had no guards surrounding her. The stallions approached the stairway that lead up to the throne, and dragged their prisoner with them. They knelt on their front legs and bowed their head to the mare. 
“My lord!” one of them said in a booming voice. 
“We have another one of the impure vermin!” The mare opened her eyes, she looked like she had just been through Hell. 
“Oh it’s you Charcoal; oh how I hate it when you interrupt my meditation, you idiot!” The stallion stepped back in fear. 
“I meant no disrespect lord Buzzsaw, I was only following your orders!” Buzzsaw rolled her eyes in annoyance. 
“Well next time come in when I’m not sleeping or meditating, am I clear?!” The stallion bowed his head to the floor, while the other stallion chuckled in his hoof. Buzzsaw turned her attention to the still shuddering unicorn, whose eyes were now swollen by his tears. 
“Take her to the dungeons, you know the drill.” Buzzsaw turned away and went back to meditating as the unicorn was dragged kicking and screaming out of the throne room and down into the dungeon. She silenced her thoughts about the unicorn and the guards interruption, and let her mind run blank. She heard laughing coming from the innermost part of her, the part where the torn remains of her soul lie in pieces. The cold laugh flowed into a taunting whisper.  Buzzsaw shivered as the voice inside her tormented her, slowly tearing at her soul. The voice took the form of a handsome looking stallion with a silver mane and two cutting burning coal eyes. Sweat dripped down her face, as the stallion’s voice whispered, “I will haunt you  forever, until you enter into dark gates of the hopeless abyss.”
***
Dee awoke and felt the warmth of blankets surrounding her body. Her head throbbed with pain as she tried to recall what all had transpired. Exhausted by the effort she gave up and relaxed. Dee stared up at the ceiling and then around the room. The room was dark but still cozy with a small fireplace built into the wooden wall. She noticed a window that was by her bed side. It was dark outside with the moon waning and giving off little light. She saw the dark outline of a mountain range in the distance. The mountains were surrounded by ominous clouds that shot claw-like bolts of white lightning every which way across the sky. The reply from the thunder shook the window pane. In a flash of light Dee swore that she could make out the outline of a castle hanging off of the side of the largest mountain in the range. The castle looked as if it were holding onto the mountain for dear life. Dee heard the door on the far side of the room creak open. She saw a pair of blue eyes out of the corner of her eye. She turned to see a middle-aged stallion standing next to her bed. He was tall with a green coat, and a blonde mane, and two worn and serious looking eyes. Dee stared up frightened at the stallion. 
“You took quite a fall lass.” Dee was surprised at the kind tone he used; she had expected the worst. Dee looked at the stallion with a puzzled look printed on her face. 
“Oh my, wherever are my manners; my name is Buck Testa.” The stallion bowed respectfully. 
“You lass are lucky to have fell nearby my shop because your type is not welcome in this land, because of those P.W.N.Y thugs; I just happen to be part of the underground railroad.” Dee was stunned the portal HAD actually sent her to the past! PWNY, Buzzsaw, and Prancilvania; she had made it. Dee remembered her mission and leaped out of bed sending the covers to the floor. 
“Easy there lass!” Buck Testa caught Dee as she was struck by another migraine, and grew dizzy. 
“I..I have a miss…sion to…to. Dee said barely conscious the pain beginning to take her. Buck layed her back in her bed and fetched the covers from the floor beneath her and laid them gently over her. “You must rest! The fall you took gave quite the lump on your head.” The stallion sat down in a wooden rocker next to Dee’s bed. 
“What was your name again lass?” inquired the big stallion as he poured Dee a cool glass of water. 
“My name is Dee Enea” Dee answered weakly. 
“Well it is my pleasure to make your acquaintance, miss Dee Enea.” Buck said warmly. Dee managed a smile as she started to float the glass of water to her lips with her magic. Buck’s eyes grew wide with terror. 
“STOP THAT RIGHT NOW!” Dee dropped the water all over herself. Dee annoyed said in a raised voice, 
“What’s wrong? I’m taking a drink!” The stallion ignoring her angry tone lowered his voice, 
“Their leader can sense magic when somepony uses it, so we may have some company very soon!” Dee’s eyes grew equally wide. There was a knock on the door in the next room that made the two ponies jump. Angry voices from the other side could be heard through the windows in Dee’s room. Buck pulled Dee off of the bed quickly and pushed a button that was hidden underneath a lamp. The bed moved to the side revealing a secret passageway underneath the bed. Buck motioned hurriedly to the dark stairway in the floor. Dee didn’t hesitate and moved quickly down the spiral staircase. Dee looked back to see if Buck was behind her, no one was there, only the darkness that surrounded her. She looked up to see the bed slide back over the secret passage. Dee looked away still shaking with fear and adrenaline. She galloped down the stairs fighting of the terrible aching in her head. She felt like she had been running for hours when she finally stopped to rest. She huffed trying to catch her breath, 
“How far down does this go?!” She kept on walking and what seemed like an eternity later she finally caught sight of the landing. At the bottom of the stairs there was a single torch that flickered in its metal mounting on the wall. The torch illuminated the entrance to a pitch black, and uninviting tunnel. A cool breeze blew through the tunnel and whipped at her mane. For the first time since she had arrived here she felt a little bit of hope. If there was a breeze, that meant that this tunnel must lead outside! She took the torch from its stand and gripped it between her teeth. She turned back to the tunnel which was now illuminated by the orange flame of the torch. She strode through the small stone entrance of the tunnel.
The tunnel, like the spiral staircase seemed to go on forever. Only the tunnel proved far more unpleasant a journey than the staircase. The cold breeze seemed to chill Dee clear down to the bone. There seemed to be moans that were carried by the wind as well. Dee couldn’t decide if it was because of the wind whistling through tunnel…or something else. The moans seemed to become more defined and louder the further along she got. She began to shiver even more violently. She saw a light in the distance, a crimson light. She cantered towards the light and nearly ran into a metal grate that blocked the way. Dee pushed at the grate with a hoof. The grate fell forward easily and fell to the floor on the other side with a loud clang. The loud noise started Dee, who was trying her best to be stealthy. She no longer need the torch, so she left it back in the tunnel. She stepped into the crimson light. She emerged into a large, and perfectly square stone room that was cluttered with a potpourri of random junk. It appeared to be some sort of garbage dump. The crimson light came from a hole in the ceiling; there were no other fixture or anything of the sort on the walls or ceiling. Dee heard the moaning sounds again coming from a small grate on the opposite side of the room. She maneuvered through the piles of refuse trying her best to not move anything and make a racket. She reached the grate and moved a small sofa and a bucket of quills out of the way to get a clear shot at the grate. Dee pulled at a metal handle on the grate with little success; the grate wouldn’t budge. Suddenly the filly jumped at a loud rumbling sound that came from the walls that flanked her. The walls began to move slowly toward the center, taking the trash with it. Dee began to panic as the walls began to close in faster and faster causing all sorts of unwanted junk to fall and fly in every direction. Dee kicked at the grate furiously with her rear hoofs sweating as she felt death breathing down her neck. Dee looked back at the grate to survey the damage; it was severely indented but still intact. Dee had one last hope. The little filly galloped back about 10 feet or so and focused on the bent grate. She gulped and charged at the grate at full speed. She pushed the grate with all her might combined with the momentum of her charge. She burst through the grate and slammed into the wall on the other side of it. Dee slid down to the floor of the room and passed out from the impact.