[Choking's Entry]
I think I'm getting involved in something real bad but I don't think I can get out anyway.
The dream made me want to help Void from more reasons than just revenge.
[End Entry]
We wake up standing at the mouth of a cave. The surroundings are blurry and I guess I'm dreaming.
"Oh shit!" curses Void and I can't believe I hear that from him.
"What's going on? Where are we?" I ask.
He ignores me.
"This is bad," he keeps staring at the cave.
Grabbing his head, I look deeply into his golden eyes to make him focus.
What. Is. This. Are you really here or are you a dream as well?"
That works and he looks at me.
"This is a different dimension, I am real, you are real and the owner is waiting for us inside this cave."
"You know who he is?"
"I have been here before."
"Can we get out?"
"No chance."
"Then I suppose we're going inside."
Void sighs deeply.
"I guess. Let us go but whatever happens stay close to me."
"Okay."
"I seriously mean it."
"Okay okay," I repeat, having no idea what could have made him so worried.
He takes a deep breath to bolster his courage and steps inside the cave, revealing that the cave entrace isn't just dark but a sheet of inky blackness which ripples as he passes through and I follow.
"Well that's unsettling," I comment on piles of pony bones scattered all around.
Focusing on the surroundings makes my eyes water and the dream dimension forces my attention elsewhere. The only clear things are the bleached skeletons and Void...
...who looks completely different. Now he looks how I imagined him when he told me about himself last evening. Over twice my height, majestic, wearing a color scheme of shades of black and spreading his massive blackfire wings. I wonder what cutie mark would an alicorn of death have but there is nothing on his rump. A chill runs up my spine and I begin shaking involuntarily, the presence of eternal emptiness so close to me is overwhelming. He looks at me and his glowing golden eyes full of unbridled power almost make my legs fail me but his deep voice is still the same and the blackfire wing which pats my back is softer than anything I've felt before.
"Come on, if we keep her waiting too long she might decide that we need a reminder."
"She?"
"This is a dimension Scream created when she wanted a place of peace and quiet."
"Uh huh," I mumble and the bones around us make me think about the price of breaking the peace and quiet of this place.
"Interior decorating was never her thing. I remember couples arguing forever about the color and shape of their kitchen curtains but when we happened to stumble on that problem neither one actually cared enough to buy them at all."
I don't have the time to comment on the connection between those two as we enter a big cavern filled with even more bones.
"Those are just decorations," I try to reassure myself.
I am horribly wrong.
A pony and an alicorn are standing in the middle of the cavern on a round, red carpet, locked in a slow, passionate kiss. As seconds drag on, the pony's skin begins turning to ash and slowly trailing away in a nonexistent wind leaving only his skeleton behind and when the act is over the alicorn pulls out her incredibly long tongue out of what used to be a living creature. I can't help thinking about how a final kiss from the alicorn of lust must have felt and even the second of attention makes my body hot.
Despite everything around me, I lock on Scream. She is a magnificent sight with her golden coat and gleaming, creamy platinum mane following the physics of dripping quicksilver, green eyes with slit irises and black streaks decorating her coat to make a pattern of armorplates I remember so well from my friend.
"She's a changeling?" I ask Void.
"No and stop staring," he hisses at me.
A laid back, seductive, velvety voice contradicts Void's answer.
"Stare as much as you like, I'll make sure you enjoy every second of it."
My body temperature rises few more degrees instantly and I hungrily obey Scream's proposal. Feasting on every curve of the alicorn's body I notice that even with ponies normally not wearing clothes she seems more naked than others. I want to hear more of that intrusive voice resonate in my head, I want to bury my face between her hind legs and enjoy whatever I'm graciously given. I want to feel the long tongue explore the darkest depths of my own body.
Drooling, I take a step towards my golden goddess who looks hungrier than me.
A blackfire wing wraps around me and frees me from the trance of desire.
"Please stop that. I need her alive and retaining more than two brain cells," says Void and tilts his head.
"You're no fun," retorts Scream in a fake disappointment.
"Why did you summon us here?"
"My favorite pet somehow gets out from Tartarus and you expect me to ignore it?"
"Let me rephrase that then. How did you find me? I managed to hide from both Celestia and Luna."
"You were never good at stopping me from getting what I wanted. Remember the first time I took you from behind? You didn't want it then but soon you begged for-"
"Too much information, too much information," quickly interrupts Void, his black coat lacking the ability to cover his blushing. It takes me a while to understand but my subsequent giggling provokes a stormy gaze from Void and a wide smile from Scream.
"Alright. I've felt your presence since my spell bound your soul to the unicorn guard and I kinda wanted to see you again."
"Well I am here. So what now?"
Scream's amused expression disappears as she hears the coldness in Void's voice.
"Why are you so distant all of a sudden?" she asks.
"Well I know it has been a while so you might have forgotten but I spent ages in that cold place."
"I know about your family reunions but why are you pissed at me?"
"Yea fun all the way, you could never take things seriously. Was your helping Celestia send me to Tartarus also one of the little jokes you so liked to play on your 'favorite pet'?"
Uh oh. I notice the slow evolution of Scream's expression and the irresistible desire to be anywhere else than at Void's side loses only to the memory of what happened when I tried to leave him just a while ago.
"YOU UNGRATEFUL WRETCH! Celestia wanted to kill you for what you did to her dear pony project. Who do you think was the one to make her change her mind and persuade her to lock you up."
"THEN WHY DID YOU HELP HER IN THE FIRST PLACE?"
"YOU WERE KILLING EVERYTHING. Is it so hard to understand? With Magnus and Chronos gone, there was nopony else powerful enough to stop you aside from me."
Void is just standing there after the outburst with tearing eyes, shaking. The alicorn has lost all his majesty in one swoop.
"Then... why did it take so long? Why did nopony even visit me? Why didn't YOU come?" he asks in a broken, weak voice.
To my surprise, the anger is all gone from Scream's voice and only pain remains.
"You think I didn't try? I BEGGED Celestia, I taught Luna to use her dream abilities, I taught Celestia most of the magic she knows and she still didn't allow it. I wanted you back more than anything but with Cerberus in the way it was impossible even for me and when I finally realized she was just using me I came back here."
"I am sorry. I did not know-" begins Void.
"Then you should have just shut up and been happy I covered your escape from Luna or did you really think that without any power you managed to do it yourself?"
"I-"
I nudge Void to the side. He might be wise and powerful but I'm the one who is known more for the quantity of her relationships rather than quality.
"Unless you continue 'am really sorry and will never do something this stupid ever again' we're going to die. Trust me," I whisper to him.
"I think I know her a bit better than you and I have seen thousands of years of pony relationships."
"And I have been through dozens of breakups so if you want to see another thousand years then you'll do what I said."
As Void ponders the situation I close my eyes in existential dread.
"-am really sorry and will never do something this stupid ever again," he finally says.
I breathe out but our little tangent isn't lost on Scream.
"Come here, girl."
My apprehensive glance at Void just makes him shrug.
"We are still alive so I doubt she is going to devour your soul unless you ask for it."
Afraid of losing control like last time, I begin walking hesitantly towards Scream. Her presence is still strong but not completely maddening this time. When I get close a sweet smell assails my nostrils and her green eyes make my mind go blank once again. Then the golden beauty hugs me and my shaking immediately stops, washed away by her heat. Memories of home, the calming voice of my mother and the time when I believed my life was going in the right direction fill my head and I end up with only one left... the night when my desire to meet prince Blueblood caused me to lose a pony who always listened when I needed it. I begin crying uncontrollably into Scream's coat. Void's words gave me the logical interpretation of things but all they did was just locking the pain away.
"I can bring him back," says Scream softly.
"Really?"
"I can do anything here. You can stay and spend the rest of your life together in a place I make for you."
True or not, it is tempting. Then I look at Void standing in the back and watching us, worried. He is in the world where most forces consider him an enemy and he is without any means of defending himself right now. Without my help he will end up locked away again and after watching him and Scream go at one another I'm not going to leave sompeony hanging for my own benefit... not again.
"Thanks for the offer but no. I don't want to live in a dream while somepony I know needs my help."
Scream smiles and raises an eyebrow.
"You think you can help the alicorn of death face others of his kind and worse things in any way?"
"If it weren't for me the almighty avatar of demise would have had no dinner tonight and slept on a heap of rocks somewhere instead of being hugged by a catch like me."
In trying to be smart I forget their relationship for a second but jealousy isn't a trait that would survive ages of switching partners. Scream points at Void with a commanding expression and follows her words by continuing the gesture.
"You. Here. Now."
Without a word, Void shuffles carefully towards us.
"Wow you're more whipped than Blaze was."
Void's angry retort is drowned in a burst of laughter from Scream.
"I've had enough time to teach my pet few tricks, isn't it right, love?"
In his new form, Void is massive even compared to Scream but his 'Yes, mistress' sounds like something rooted so deeply in his head that it's immediately apparent who the dominant one is. And Scream knows that full well.
"So what's your plan now, Voidie?" Scream asks.
The time to fight for one's dignity is over now.
"I want to get my body and powers back. Is there chance of you helping? I know you are the best at magic and the only expert on dimensional travel."
"You can stay here with me and your body."
"No. I still have some unfinished business with Celestia and I owe this girl her revenge against the ones who killed her coltfriend."
"He wasn't my-" I try to get a word in. It's just a reflex though.
"Yes yes we get it," comes from both alicorns.
Scream ponders our chances for a while.
"The revenge thing sounds fun and I can help with that but travelling to Tartarus is out of my reach with Celestia controlling the Cerberus. BUT... there are things happening which might make your access possible, also more dangerous that it would otherwise be."
I am the first to react.
"You can get Blueblood and Rising Thunder?"
"I sensed you are afraid of the prince when you came close and I'm offering you a chance at humiliating him. This is a dream realm where I can cause undue nighttime excitement for others so if you want prince Blueblood to be found night after night covered in white goo unable to walk properly thanks to swollen balls the size of watermelons then just say the word. Your earthpony sargeant buddy is somepony you can deal with yourself if you try hard enough. It might make me cross horns with Luna but what I wouldn't do for Voidie's friends."
"Thanks."
Void steps in impatiently.
"What were you saying about access to Tartarus?"
"There is one unicorn who can help you."
"Who?"
"Twilight Sparkle."
"I believe she has recently been 'promoted' by Celestia."
"Not that one. There is a second one who appeared during Nightmare Night and summoned you. If my guess is correct then if you persuade her to take you home with her, there might be a chance of getting into Tartarus from the other side where Celestia doesn't control Cerberus."
"What makes you think she will be willing to help us?"
"It's up to you to make her one way or the other."
"Thank you."
"Just come back here when you're done. I have my long rubber glove ready."
I start coughing violently at Void's nervous response.
"I will start stretching immediately."
My coughing turns to open laughter.
"And you can join or watch, girl. Whatever floats your boat," Scream winks at me.
Void's horrified but thoughtful expression becomes blurry as I slowly fade away and understand our audience is over.