//------------------------------// // Back to "Tartarus" – Infiltrating the World Prison // Story: My Little Pirates: Set Adrift - Sanji in Equestria // by River Road //------------------------------// It was already getting late when Celestia landed at the foot of the mountain range that enclosed Equestria at the eastern side. She stopped to fold her white wings to her side and then slowly paced towards the entrance of the canyon that presented the only way to get past the mountains. “Impressive,” a voice said from just behind her head. “So this is what keeps people out of Equestria.” “Indeed,” Celestia replied, still looking ahead. “The whole island is protected by steep cliffs from the seaside, leaving no place for ships to anchor. Behind those cliffs lie other obstacles that separate the country from the sea. On the eastern coast these mountains keep ponies inside and pirates away. I have sealed of a few of the ways around them and now this is the only open way out of Equestria.” The conversation was interrupted by a creature charging at Celestia at top speed. It was a huge black dog, more than twice as tall as the alicorn, with three bulldog heads. It skidded to a halt right in front of her and panted happily. “Oh, you got a cerberus here?” the voice spoke up again. “And it looks right, too. The last one I’ve seen was just stitched together and had a fox head.” The Princess raised an eyebrow. “I can assure you that this one is genuine.” She looked up to the edge of the canyon walls. “They live in these mountains. I have trained this one to watch this canyon. He doesn’t really make a good guardian, but he still manages to scare of any ponies that might come here.” One of the cerberus’ heads turned around and dropped a yellow rubber ball with a light blue line around its equator at her hooves. “Hmm… I didn’t give him this ball. I wonder where he got it.” She lifted the ball with her magic and tossed it ahead for the cerberus to fetch as she continued her way through the canyon. “The legends say that Cerberus guards the gate to Tartarus and in a way they’re right. Tartarus is a fitting name for the world out there.” They came to another crossroad and the Princess took a left turn. “It’s not much further now, so this will probably be our last chance to talk. The passage to Impel Down won’t take more than an hour or two, so we’ll stay on deck. “This invisibility spell is certainly convenient,” the voice replied. “Invisibility was always a goal of me. I had already given up on it, actually.” “Just make sure not to let go of me or I won’t be able to keep the spell going,” Celestia explained. “Once we reach the prison they will most likely suppress my magic with seastone, which is why we gave you that necklace. The gem it holds was enchanted with the same spell by Luna and should last for another few minutes. That is the last we can do for you, I’m afraid. After that you’ll be on your own.” “That’s alright. Luffy and I will probably try to find our nakama as soon as possible, so I don’t know when we will see you again. I promise that we’ll visit your island someday, though.” Celestia frowned. “You caused enough trouble by yourself. I don’t know if I want more pirates coming to Equestria.” They passed another corner and were greeted by the sound of waves and the sight of a small bay, hidden away from the actual ocean. A medium-sized battleship of the Marine lay at anchor not far from the shore. Celestia could hear the shouting of orders from the ship as they noticed her and the ponies on deck immediately began to launch a rowing boat to pick her up. She didn’t give them the chance, though and spread her wings to fly the short distance. As she crossed the water she realized something about the last thing Sanji had said. The pirate hadn’t just hoped that he might rescue his captain. He didn’t even seem to acknowledge the possibility that they might not leave the prison again. Before she could pursue this thought further she landed on the ship and was greeted by one of the ponies, a pegasus with white fur and an auburn mane. He was wearing a cap with the symbol of the Marine that covered most of his mane and a short version of the jacket most high-ranking Marines seemed to wear wherever they went. It was short enough that Celestia could see his cutie mark, a broken sword with a thick layer of rust. “Welcome aboard, Princess,” he said. “I’m Marine Captain Shu. If you’re ready, we’ll leave for Marineford immediately.” “We’re not heading for Marineford yet,” Celestia replied. “I’d like to make a short visit at the Impel Down first.” “I’m sorry Princess, but we have orders to get you to Marineford before–“ “I know what your orders are, captain.” The Princess put her whole authority into her words. “I have been declared a Warlord, even if it is only temporary. I have the right to make that decision as long as we stay on schedule, and while I’m not happy with the situation I’m going to make use of my rights. It lies on the way and I promise you that it won’t take long.” “Very well then.” the captain raised an eyebrow. “It might interest you that you’re not the only Warlord who decided to visit that prison before the war starts. Fire-fist Ace seems to be quite popular this close to his death.” Celestia snorted. “I have no interest in that pirate. The person I want to see is the former Warlord Jinbe. He is the reason I have to participate in this war. I want him to know that his country is not the only one to suffer from his selfish actions.” The warden of Impel Down waited for them at the entrance of the prison. He was pegasus with a black mane, two long horns sticking out on either side of it. His fur coat was of a poisonous-looking deep violet and his cutie mark showed a skull in a slightly darker and possibly even more dangerous- looking violet. The strangest thing, though, were his wings which – unlike his fur – were of a leathery black. “Welcome to Impel Down, Warlord Celestia,” he said. “Since you are expected at Marineford as soon as possible I was asked to keep the formalities to a minimum. We will take you to see the prisoner Jinbe as soon as we have conducted the standard security check on you.” “Just as well, I didn’t want to stay here longer than necessary, anyway,” Celestia said in a condescending voice. “I take it the prison is secure, at least?” she added. “We did have an intruder a while ago,” the warden replied. “I have seen to it personally and he won’t cause any more trouble. We’re still looking for an escaped prisoner, but I can assure you that you have nothing to be worried about.” “Really? That’s good.” Celestia didn’t say anything more and she could feel that Sanji had tensed up as well. A light pink unicorn mare led Celestia to the examination room for visitors. The foremost part of her blonde mane was particularly long and covered her right eye. The other eye wasn’t visible, either, since she was wearing shades with light violet glasses. As soon as they had entered the room Celestia felt a weight drop off of her back when Sanji deserted his position on her back, careful to avoid any sounds. “I will make this as quick as possible,” the unicorn said. She looked Celestia over and announced, “I suppose a body check won’t be necessary. I will, however, have to put this seastone ring on your horn.” She approached the Princess with a metal ring in her mouth. Celestia lowered her head and the unicorn used her hooves to pull it over the tip of Celestia’s horn. The moment it made contact with her horn Celestia felt her magic being interrupted by it. Her flowing pink mane died down and reverted into normal hair and even her connection with the sun was cut. It was no pleasant experience. To her it felt as if she had just lost more than just one of her senses. The unicorn led her through the other door of the room. A moment later the warden joined them from another room. “I apologize,” he said flatly. “It’s that poison soup I ate earlier.” Making it through the first level of the prison had been easier than expected. The spell in the necklace had lasted longer than the Princess had made it sound like, and by the time it wore off and he became visible again, Sanji had already found something resembling a well that led him further down. Now he was flying over a red landscape looking for another well or some other way downwards. The ground below him was covered in a red kind of grass and trees with red leaves stood spread out in this level. Sanji noticed that quite a lot of the plants were of another color, more brown than red and that it looked suspiciously like they were covered with old blood stains. The more he concentrated on the color, the more was he convinced that it really was blood on the leaves and the blades of grass. He also noticed the abnormally blue color of Poison Joke sticking out from the red grass, probably as an additional way of torture. Sanji was glad that he could avoid all those things using his wings. The flying practice with Rainbow Dash came in really handy now. It wasn’t long before he spotted another well that could lead him to the next level of the prison. It might have involved a lot of luck, but so far traversing this prison had been a breeze. Whatever trouble Luffy had gotten himself into, at this pace Sanji would find him in no time. Maybe even quick enough that they could still get to Luffy’s brother in time. Sanji dropped himself down the well and landed on the stone floor of the next level. Everything here looked just the same as it did on Level one. It didn’t look like there were any traps, either. Sanji had seen one of the creatures that guarded the prisoners back on Level one, maybe this level had other guards like that. Sanji turned around when he heard a buzzing sound behind him. A tiny yellow ball of fluff was hovering in front of him. It had insect wings and a pair of large, black and friendly eyes and didn’t look the least bit intimidating. He stared at the creature and the creature stared back at him. Then it opened its mouth. “Do you hear that?” “What are you on about now?” “Sounds like somepony is running this way.” “Somepony, eh? It’s probably one of those four guys from earlier who tried to escape. I’m surprised one of them survived this long. Get away from that door, the beasts are going to notice you!” “Wait, I think he’s coming this way… Yeah, he’s–“ Crk. “Did you hear that?” Crk. Crack. “Uh-oh” Sanji didn’t care where he was going, right now he only wanted to get away from those creepy bugs, five of which were chasing after him now. They had small, round bodies, colorful fur not unlike his own, tiny insect wings, and somehow they were still gaining on him! He raced around another corner and four of the bugs went after him. The fifth one was too fast and flew almost straight ahead into the wall, which meant it bit a good chunk of stone out of the wall before it resumed the chase, catching up to its friends far too quickly. Sanji jumped and turned around to kick at least one of the bugs away with his hind legs. Instead, the bug in question just opened his mouth to encompass the two legs in a black void while flying. Sanji could beat his wings only just in time to pull himself away before the bug closed its maw. Apparently this approach wouldn’t work. Another one of the bugs was now quite literally on his tail and opening its mouth to make take its first bite of pegasus. In a moment Sanji would be short a tail and from that point on it wouldn’t be much longer until he was missing more important parts. He needed a plan, and fast. Crack. Rocks fell. Coming completely out of nowhere, Sanji had no time to react. All he could do was keep running and hope for the best. Strangely enough that was exactly what happened. When the rumbling of falling rocks stopped Sanji realized that he didn’t have as much as a scrape. Looking behind him he also realized that none of the bugs were visible anymore, which was enough to make him come to a halt. Instead of the bugs, five rocks of different sizes were lying on the floor of the hallway. Sanji stepped closer to inspect the unexplained rocks that seemed to have saved him. Crick. Crack. Sanji looked to his right, where the sound had come from. A noticeable crack formed an almost rectangular shape around one of the cell gates. I was just making its way the last few inches back to the floor. Silence followed. Then, with a creak that slowly grew louder, the gate tipped over outwards and crashed to the ground sending a cloud of dust in the air. As the dust settled Sanji could see a pony standing in the newly formed exit, staring at him. It was a young earth pony stallion, as far as Sanji could tell. His fur coat was a deep blue and his mane and tail were dark grey. A line of white fur circled the stallion’s left eye. “Aheh… Sorry,” the stallion said with a sheepish grin. Behind him an old pegasus stared at his cellmate and the steel gates that had fallen to the door with a slack-jawed expression on his face. The blue earth pony walked out of the former cell and up to Sanji. “My name is Clutterstep –” he extended a hoof at him. “– and I have no idea why I’m here.”