It had been a full week since the visit with the princess. Still, Twilight just sat in her bed, getting worse every day. She didn’t eat, nor show any emotion in her eyes, other than sorrow.
Twilight suddenly gasped, sounding just like her old self, full of vigor and enthusiasm. “I got it!” she flew off of her bed immediately, flying downstairs into the library, pulling many books off of their shelves and getting some that already had fallen. Flipping through the pages of many works at once, she finally found it in Foreign Religions 101: How Other Species Worship. The section was titled
"The Star in the Ring."
Her eyes flew down the page seeking the information she sought, then hungrily devoured everything she'd been searching for. It is said in multiple religious beliefs that, were any creature to commit suicide, they will be transported into a place of agony and torture.This place is called Hell. the symbol is seen in figure three, and is called a pentagram.
Twilight’s spirit re-ignited with an extreme boost of adrenaline and enthusiasm. She dug through shelf after shelf, mentally noting that she needed to re-shelve these things so she could find them more quickly, until she found what she was looking for: Summoning Portals to Other Dimensions. She flipped through the pages in the black book until she located the spell she needed: Portal to Hell.
“I need to make a portal... she has to be there,” Twilight muttered under her breath. She then added, “I hope,” and prepared to cast the spell.
Her horn started shining. The room was lit by a reddish-purple aura. Sparks started flying from her horn, singing the wood beneath her with a loud hiss. Slowly, she channeled the power, narrowing it into a beam that let her etch into the floor of the library. She painstakingly drew the star within the ring that her book had illustrated, then gave away a year of her life in a breath which got sucked into the swiftly forming vortex in the middle.
Within the pentagram she’d etched, a strange face materialized in the center. It looked something like a... a goat. She definitely hadn’t drawn that. Then a massive wave of power washed over the library, shattering every window and blowing her backward, causing her to crash into one of the bookshelves like a ragdoll.
She had finally done it. She made the portal to Hell. Fluttershy was there, she just knew it.
It was dark crimson and black, lined with the pentagram in the center. It crackled with an energy somewhat familiar to her, that type which she had seen Princess Celestia use to incite darkness and that she’d used herself to defeat King Sombra’s door. It was a dangerous magic, one that she would never trust unless she had no alternative.
She tentatively reached her hoof toward the rift, her fear overpowered by her desire to see her friend again. She touched the shimmering surface, then it pulled her in all at once. She let out a surprised yelp, then found herself sprawled out on what appeared to be a clifftop.
(hr)
Fluttershy and Abdukar walked through the tunnel for what seemed like days since the dragon had chased them in. Both were too afraid to go back and see if it had left yet.
Fluttershy finally broke the eerie silence. “W-was that the Overlord?” she asked, still shaking from the terrifying sight, although it was long over.
“Yes. He takes things off the cliff and brings them under the smoke.”
Unwilling to find out her friend’s ideas on why the creature performed regular abductions, she quickly decided to change the conversation topic. “Um... how old are you?”
“I’ve lost count. Probably several dozen millennia.” As he saw Fluttershy trying to count on her hooves, he clarified, “Over ten thousand years. With all the hellhounds trying to kill me, I tend to lose count. I don’t even remember when my birthday is.”
At the mention of a birthday, Fluttershy was jarringly reminded of Pinkie Pie, who would have shrieked and done something crazy, like throw a million birthday parties at once. Her head drooped low, as did her ears. She stopped walking and just sat down. “Can we stop?” she asked in a broken voice.
“Of course.” Abdukar lied on the hard bedrock ground below and curled in a tight ball around Fluttershy. (i)This is my only friend here; I need to keep her safe,(/i) Abdukar thought to himself as he took a last look around for anything that could harm the fragile little pony he was protecting. Satisfied that they were safe for the moment, he laid his head down next to hers, emitting a low, rumbling purr.
Suddenly, the giant cat’s head shot back up, his ears flicking several times as his gaze seemed to fall on something far away.
Fluttershy, immediately noticing something was wrong, asked, "Did you see something?"
Abdukar shook his head. "I felt something. A new pony has joined us."
Fluttershy gasped. "A pony? Do you know who?"
Another shake of Abdukar's head. "No, but this one came here willingly."
"Willingly? Who would come here willingly?"
"I do not know. I get the feeling we will find out soon."