//------------------------------// // Malbolge // Story: Living Flame // by Random Gamer //------------------------------// After they crossed the bridge, they saw a stony staircase, leading down into the lava lake. How is that even possibe? She saw rocks emerge and sink into the lava but this was just ridiculous. "Fancy stairs, huh?" he said. "They're not actually endless, just very long... like, forty thousand steps or so." Forty thousand? How on Equestria was she supposed to reach the end? "Forty thousand?!" she uttered and looked down. "How am I supposed to traverse all of them?" Her anger was at place mostly because forty thousand is, well, a lot. "Oh, darn it, did I say forty thousand?" he replied. "There's just forty of them. Really." At this point, she started having doubts about her friend's alliance. Perhaps he was just a liar or a very bad trickster, taking the chance with quite possibly the one and only mortal to ever set hoove in Hell. Maybe he was both and this Malbolge was just another of his tricks. "Okay..." she said nervously and tried to step on the first step. However, before she could touch it, the demon once again grabbed her using his magic, creating a reddish aura around her. "Are you completely out of your mortal mind ?!" he shouted. "Archdemons built this stuff! You can't just lay your hoove on it!" She sighed and he let her go. With an annoyed expression, she sat on the stony bridge and waited for his explanation. "You see," he lectured her, speaking in a very slow manner. "you first have to shout your name down the stairs and then, you go down. Sloooooowly." Twilight though hell would freeze over before he finished speaking. Why do ponies in kindergarden have the habit of speaking that way? Fillies maybe aren't as smart as adults but they aren't outright stupid and can perfectly understand what you're saying. "Twilight Sparkle." she said and started walking down, going a bit slower than she usually did at her library. The demon quickly shouted "Dante" and followed her, going at a faster pace to catch up with her. He hoped the two of them won't get into trouble since the library rarely allowed regular demons to enter, let alone mortals. "You know, you could have waited for me" he said her after they reached the opening at the very end. Twilight looked at him with a smile and walked into the library. She stared, mouth agape, at all the bookcases and the black-covered books it contained. Even though it was poorly lit, it was still enough for avid reader like her in case she wanted to read any of them. "Whoa..." she said, almost crying from such a wonderful sight. "this is... unbelievable." "Well, not everyone's very happy to see Malbolge." he followed her. "You see, not every demon likes to see the place where his actions are being... ehm... written." "Written?" she turned to him. "What do you mean?" "There is a certain list of rules called the Commandment that a demon must obey." he lectured her. "If he breaks them, they get written down and the said demon is punished. Thanks to you, I broke four of these rules." His neutral expression changed to that of angst. If that was true, Twilight inadvertly got him in big trouble. "I... I didn't mean to cause any problems." she said in an attempt to stop him from worrying. "I was just trying to find the book of the demon I had accidentally released." Why did he help her anyway? Any other regular demon would most certainly watch her drown in lava and burn. "If you're lucky, the Master Librarian might have some info on him or her." he said and spectral glasses appeared on his face. "If you're not, you'll have spend a little over one eternity searching through all of those books since none of them are labeled." One eternity? Since when are eternities numbered? As far as numbers went, eternity always meant infinity in terms of longevity. How did demons measure it? "The Master Librarian?" she asked. "Who's that?" An scared expression appeared on Dante's face and Twilight didn't understand why. "L-look behind you." Twilight turned around and saw a pony levitate on his hind legs, covered in torn, dark grey hooded robes with nothing but darkness visible underneath. Certainly a figure you would see in the most frightening of nightmares. "Ehm... you're the Master Librarian?" she asked. The pony nodded and Twilight turned to Dante, who was still staring as if seeing a ghost. Apart from no apparant face, what was so scary about him? Twilight couldn't understand that even for demons, there were still things they were afraid of. "Oh come on, he's not THAT scary." she said happily."He doesn't even speak." "Twilight, you shouldn't be saying that." said Dante. "You really shouldn't be saying that." Little did she know that the Master Librarian heard her remarks. "Why?" she asked, confused. Why shouldn't she be saying that? "It's not like he's going to-" Twilight stopped talking as something grabbed her from both sides. Whatever it was, it was strong and turned her away from Dante back to the Master Librarian. "You dared to walk into my library and now you mock me and my authority, mortal?" he asked.. "By saying you're not afraid?" Twilight tried to escape from whatever was holding her, but with every struggle, it got stronger and moments later she could barely move. She sighed, as her only plan of escape failed. "No." she uttered, still fighting against the magic that was holding her. "I am not afraid, especially not of you." The librarian walked up to her and put down his hood, revealing almost-pitch black skin, dark red eyes and fangs protruding from his mouth. He also had two goat horns, which were red at the tip and gradually darkened as they reached his skin. Around his neck was a metallic collar with various sharp spikes. "Last mistake, mortal." he said. Dante, whom she expected to help her, was just hiding behind a bookshelf and watcing in fear. Twiligth felt a breeze of cold and her whole body was starting to go numb. It kept getting stronger and even though she tried to use her magic to escape or atleast counter it, it didn't work. It felt as if every happy memory from her life, the warmth, was being drained from her, leaving behind nothing but traumas and nightmares. All the happy moments from her life started rolling before her eyes and she felt the cold taking her over. She tried screaming but it was almost as if her vocal cords were torn out. All that she could say was a very quiet "help" reminescent of something Fluttershy would have said. But that didn't work either and mere moments later, she was stripped of all her memories and left broken, devoid of all happiness. She took a look at her hoove as she was starting to faint and noticed it turning gray and quickly advancing. A single teardrop fell from her face and then, she was no more. Bound by the librarian's magic, powerless and corrupted, she was now at the mercy of him and his rules as a demon. Using the same magic he used on her, he grabbed Dante and brought him to Twilight. "What... What have you done?!" said Dante, horrified by the librarian's actions. "She didn't do anything!" The librarian let out a demonic laugh. "But neither did you." he turned to him. "Now, you will carry out rule one as any other demon would." The librarian presented him a sacrificial dagger with intricate markings and a black pentagram appeared for a split second underneath Twilight's corpse. "No." rebelled Dante and shook his head. "I'm not going to do it." The librarian tossed the dagger aside, shocked and disgusted by his answer. "What?!" he said. "What has this filthy Equestrian done to you?" While it wasn't uncommon for a demon to break a rule or two once in a while, this was outrageous. This was the sixth rule broken - not carrying out the order of a higher ranking demon. "She opened my eyes." he answered. "Something you or any other demon would wouldn't have done. All she had to say was please." And now, the rules broken stopped at number seven - doubting the philosophy of the demons. "If you won't do it," uttered the librarain and conjured a sword similiar to the sacrificial dagger. "I will." "I won't let you." replied Dante and conjured a fireball. "I should have ended you long ago!" shouted the librarian, charging into the battle and fighting for the fate of Twilight Sparkle.