//------------------------------// // Chapter 5: Slipping Away to Happiness // Story: The Happiness and Peace of Mind Committee // by FlanChan //------------------------------// The Happiness and Peace of Mind Committee Chapter 5: Slipping Away to Happiness My name is Applejack. I’m an earth pony who is venturing on my own to The Path of Eternal Happiness for my little sister Apple Bloom. The reason why is a bit of a long story, so I’ll spare you the details and get right to the action. It was early in the morning, before sunrise, when I woke up and wrote a letter to my five friends—there were six, but one of them is no longer with us—informing them of my departure. I roused Apple Bloom from her slumber and instructed her to give it to them the next morning, then kissed her forehead and let her get back to sleep. I left home and slipped from corner to corner of the buildings around town, trying to melt in the shadows so as not to be spotted by any of the security androids buzzing around town. There usually weren’t very many around this early in the morning, but I could never be too sure. I racked my brain to remember the street that Aquamarine had said the manhole had been. There weren’t very many around the city, since the sewer system was pretty advanced and needed minimal maintenance, so it couldn’t be too hard to miss. I just didn’t want to be scampering down every road looking for it, since doing something like that would be a guaranteed capture. A few minutes later I was standing over the very manhole that Twilight and Aquamarine had discovered a few weeks before. I kneeled and placed my hoof over it. It was still a bit loose from when they had opened it, so I had no difficulty at moving it out of the way. I probably wouldn’t have had any problems either way, considering that I’m the strongest out of the group, but at least I wouldn’t have to put any unnecessary strain on my muscles. I descended into the murky depths of the sewer, or at least what appeared to be a sewer, and after a minute or two of climbing downward I hopped off of the ladder, landing on the cold tunnel floor. The sound reverberated off of the dank walls, and after taking a moment to compose myself I pushed forward. Soon enough I was in the library, which was bathed in a ghostly orange light that must never go out, since nobody had been down there in quite a while. The candles were probably enchanted to continuously keep burning, but not to catch fire to any of the ancient documents the room held. Before me lay my first challenge: identifying the paper that held the directions to The Path to Eternal Happiness, and then figuring out a way to read it, since Aquamarine had said that all of the documents in this library were in an ancient arcane language. I decided that the smartest thing to do would be to investigate the writing desk a few feet away, which had a couple papers laying on it along with a couple bottles of ink and some quills. It appeared to be the place that Aquamarine had been investigating the scrolls for any new information. My assumption that starting there was the best course of action was correct, as the words ‘The Path to Eternal Happiness’ was scrawled on an envelope, which was yellowed with age. A few foreign words that I didn’t understand were written under the title, but they couldn’t have been anything important. I turned the envelope over and noticed that the seal wasn’t broken. Why hadn’t Aquamarine looked inside? I didn’t have time to dwell on the small details. The problem I had with that tidbit, though, is that that meant that whatever lied inside remained untranslated. I sighed. Maybe this would be a lot harder than I thought. I tore open the envelope and unraveled the crumpled paper inside. To my surprise and great luck, the contents of the paper didn’t need translating at all. In fact, it was just some pictures. It wasn’t exactly a map; I wasn’t sure what it was. I sat down in the desk chair, and was both surprised and delighted to found out that it could sustain my weight without breaking. I held a candle closer to the page so I could make out the images better, but made sure not to let the flame lick at the edges of the document. Upon closer inspection, I realized that what I had taken for pictures were actually a writing form that was far past my comprehension. Under it were the same words repeated over and over again in countless different languages, so I assumed they were the translations of the archaic text into something more modern. One thing was for sure: whoever wrote it must have really wanted the one to find it to understand what was written. After a good bout of skimming I reached the English translation. Even then it didn’t seem to make that much sense. I read the words aloud to see if in doing so I could gather more meaning from them. “‘Hey, hey, have you heard about it, I wonder?’” I recited. “‘The paradise to the south, a city of hopes.’” I stopped. Were my eyes playing tricks on me? I could’ve sworn I saw some words etch into the page that weren’t there before. I repeated the line and could make out a word or two. The Forbidden Rites, they read. Through all eternity… There was something else, but I couldn’t quite catch it in time. I was taken aback. I almost considered going back. But I couldn’t now, not after how far I was. “‘Wishes come true in that place.’” I stopped again, a few more unsettling images flashing before my eyes. I started to sweat, then took a nervous gulp. There was only one more line. “‘I’ve found a way to go there!’” In a matter of seconds, my vision swirled and reduced to static. This couldn’t be right! What was going on? I couldn’t get control of my body, so there was nothing I could do but fall to the floor with a thud. However, I never felt nor heard the impact, and soon I was completely taken over by the static. Nooses and X’s flashed by my vision, and I wasn’t sure if I was really there or if it was all just a dream. I was just a consciousness floating around through a void with no body. I felt like I was falling, but I also felt stationary. It was as if I was in the balance between life and death. The moments I was in such a state grew infinite, and it felt like an eternity before I was back in my own body. My senses still hadn’t returned completely, but I could hear someone talking through my hazy mind. “Yes, thank you! Hello everyone!” a lady cheered, a roaring crowd greeting her presence. “I will be your host today!” My eyes flew open, hoping that they wouldn’t confirm the worst. I’ve been caught, right when I felt so close to helping Apple Bloom. I hope Emerald’s punishment is quick… But the picture that swimmed to my vision was not that of any place I knew. It seemed like a dark void, with television screens displaying nothing but static swirling around the room. Though I heard a crowd, I couldn’t see one, so we might as well have been alone. That brings me to the mare standing before me. She had hair and complexion that closely resembled Emerald’s. They both sported long teal hair, except that whereas Emerald had her’s tied in twintails, the mare before me had hers all down, except for some sort of bow tied loosely, so it hung down and gave her a larger presence. Even though they seemed so similar, their outfits were wildly different. The pony before me was wearing a black dress with gold trimmings, and her hoop skirt was cut out down the front to reveal the wires underneath. I detached collar encircled her neck, and everything about her outfit screamed witchcraft. She held a golden speaker in her hoof, and a decorative sword in the other. At least, I hoped it was just for decoration… I tried to push myself up, but when I looked down I noticed that my front hooves were held together with golden handcuffs. I instead used just my back legs to get myself standing. When I was back on all fours, the mare turned to me. “I know it’s sudden, but allow me the pleasure of granting your wish!” She beamed. “Wait, hold on!” I interrupted. “You don’t seem like the type to explain things, but how did I get here?” “What a silly question! You know perfectly well how you got here!” She grinned and prepared to continue her usual speech. She would be hopeless to try and get an explanation from, so I didn’t bother argue with her any further. “Can I at the very least know your name, then?” I shouted. She turned to me with a gleam in her eye, trying not to show how peeved she was that I kept stopping her. Nonetheless, she smiled wide and answered. “My name is Siren! That’s all you need to know!” she replied. “I know, it’s strange isn’t it? Voodoo is clearly Hindu, and yet I have a name based on Greek mythology! Haha, isn’t that just something?” Even though she had said that I didn’t need to know more, she still seemed content with rattling on about her name after the fact. Our little conversation over, she readdressed the invisible audience. “Everyone! You’ve been waiting, haven’t you?” I couldn’t imagine that this kind of thing happened often, so ‘waiting’ seemed to me a bit of an understatement. “The Original Sin Game, let’s give it a whirl!” The static screens briefly flashed a logo of some sort. Heavenly Prison and Time Prison, Heart Pounding Game! What was this, a game show? I shot her a look, and she continued innocently. “The rules are simple! Every single word in the right sequence, recite them flawlessly if you will!” I started to sweat. Even if the words weren’t difficult, my nerves would probably get the better of me and I would slip up. Why was I even doing what she was telling me? Something in the back of my mind told me just to go along with it. I didn’t know where I was, so it probably was best to follow her instructions, lest I get trapped in this weird limbo state forever. “Are you ready? Is your resolve ready? If you mess up… well, you understand right?” She talked non stop, bombarding me with a rapidfire of words. This was all going too fast! She was hardly taking time to breathe. Was this Siren girl even real? She had an otherworldly quality to her. Nonetheless, I swallowed nervously and nodded. She got up closer to me, her face only a foot away from mine, and her voice gained a sort of demonic undertone. Her very figure seemed to become static as she spoke, her image jittering a little. “They’re secret words after all,” she droned forebodingly, her knew voice giving the words an even more supernatural feel. As though she was sending subliminal messages into my brain, before my mind’s eye flashed not the most settling phrases. God of crossroads. Blood-colored wine of sacrifice. Voodoo goddess. My skin crawled unnervingly. “You really…” That wished for tranquility. “Really…” Death. AMeN. A punishment called eternal life. “Really don’t want to mess this up.” Ritual. Zombie. Punishment. Absolutely no mistakes. She took a step back and her mental assault paused for the time being. It wasn’t pleasant feeling like someone is invading your mind and placing such unsettling things inside of it, so I was more than glad that it was over. However, I knew that the hardest part of my task was just on the horizon. The static screens swirling around the room were finally put to good use, as they displayed the ancient words that I would be reciting. I had no idea what sort of language they were in, but what I was saying wouldn’t matter as long as I could keep Apple Bloom safe. That was the biggest thing on my mind the whole time. “Regubaru kuriyan. Zandasuatibon. Regatoruaruban. Zandoraimouru,” she chanted, her tone robotic. Suddenly the spotlight that I hadn’t even noticed was there turned to me, and in a panic I realized that I had to repeat her words. “Regubaru kuriyan. Zandasuatibon. Regatoruaruban. Zandoraimouru,” I recited, concentrating all of my willpower to recall exactly how they were pronounced. “Confess to all of your sins,” Siren droned in the same voice. If I had to guess, I would have inferred that she had been taken over by some sort of voodoo spirit at this point. I clenched my fists and hoped this ritual wouldn’t do the same to me. “I haven’t committed any!” I replied, breaking out in a cold sweat. She seemed to be satisfied with my answer, because she continued. “As Lady Marie Laveau, one of the greatest practitioners of voodoo, commands, you must come up with one single answer!” With great surprise, I realized that now was the moment this whole preamble had been leading up to. I repeated the lines of magic words to the best of my ability, keeping my pronunciation as precise as possible. “Regubaru kuriyan. Zandasuatibon. Regatoruaruban. Zandoraimouru. Regubaru kuriyan. Zandasuatibon. Regatoruaruban. Zandoraimouru. Regubaru kuriyan. Zandasuatibon. Regatoruaruban. Zandoraimouru…” The screens also counted how many times I had chanted the lines of text, but I had little idea how many times was necessary before the ritual was complete. Sometimes ‘Boost!’ would come up, and I’d have to recite everything faster and faster. Would it eventually get so fast that I would have no choice but to slip up? Was this ritual even humanly possible? As the number of times I had spoken droned on and on, my thoughts started to wander, and then I’d have to snap back to reality before I carelessly messed something up. Then again, could I even call this reality? I wasn’t sure if this was just a dream, or if I had really been teleported by some sort of supernatural means to this unknown location. After about five minutes of repeating the same line over and over, Siren started to invade my mind again with disturbing words, but I had no choice but to ignore them and press forward. Why was she even doing this? Was it part of the ritual, or was she just tormenting me? So many questions swam in my head, but I knew that when tampering with this sort of magic, it was better to leave those questions unanswered. “Regubaru kuriyan. Zandasuatibon. Regatoruaruban. Zandoraimouru.” Zombie. Punishment. “Regubaru kuriyan. Zandasuatibon. Regatoruaruban. Zandoraimouru.” Absolute love and submission. “Regubaru kuriyan. Zandasuatibon. Regatoruaruban. Zandoraimouru.” Divinity of love, Erzulie. “Regubaru kuriyan. Zandasuatibon. Regatoruaruban. Zandoraimouru.” Pleasure. Bondage. Mind-blowing power. “Regubaru kuriyan. Zandasuatibon. Regatoruaruban. Zandoraimouru.” Kind-hearted. Extreme jealousy. “Regubaru kuriyan. Zandasuatibon. Regatoruaruban. Zandoraimouru.” A treacherous love ritual cannot be forgiven. “Regubaru kuriyan. Zandasuatibon. Regatoruaruban. Zandoraimouru.” A chaos of Black and White. The end of resistance. What is being waited for, an untimely death. “Regubaru kuriyan. Zandasuatibon. Regatoruaruban. Zandoraimouru.” The Path to Eternal Happiness… I found it. The assault of visuals increased as I went on, but finally the reciting counter hit one thousand and I was ordered to stop. I collapsed to the ground in a huff. The ritual was finally over, and nothing had went wrong! I was so relieved, I just wanted to go to sleep I was so exhausted. Siren wasn’t quite done with me yet, though. “Well you’re certainly different, aren’t you?” she asked light heartedly. I would have shot her a stern look, but I knew that she probably had the power to curse me if she wanted to. “What do you mean?” I replied instead. “Why, almost everyone who’s ever come here has wished for immortality! But no, you just wanted to protect your little sister. How sweet!” She laughed and waved her hoof a little in her hysterics. “Is that what all of that stuff about zombies and eternal life was about?” I asked, my voice quivering a little. If her interpretation of eternal life was making someone a zombie, then what had I just done…? “Mhmm!” “How did you know what my wish was, though? I never said that I had wanted none of Apple Bloom’s loved ones to fall under that curse for as long as she lives…” “Ah, I’d love to stay and chat, but I should send you back before your consciousness completely tears from your body. Wouldn’t want all your efforts to go to waste, would we? Ta-ta!” Before I could object, I was again plummeted into limbo, with similar images as before. Bloodstains filled my vision, but the process of getting back into my body seemed to take a lot less time than getting out of it. I snapped back to the real world, and found myself not in the library as I had been, but instead tucked into my bed. I wrote it off as the black magic, too tired to question it further. According to my clock, it was already evening. Was I really there that long? Finding no reason to get up, I decided to fall back asleep for the night. Tomorrow I would confront my friends, and they would understand. I was prepared for an onslaught of questions, but they would see things from my point of view eventually. I sighed and closed my eyes, falling into a dreamless sleep.