//------------------------------// // The Greatest Magic // Story: You Can't Spell Slaughter Without Laughter // by Tatsurou //------------------------------// As the ferry went deeper into the Realm of Hades, the light of Helios soon became visible, illuminating the entire Underworld. Pinkie hopped up to the guard rail for a closer look, but paused as she once more heard that haunting melody. She knew now that it wasn't actually her sister Calliope that she hadn't met. Kratos' behavior whenever the song played proved that it was being used to ensorcell him. As the ferry approached the shore, Pinkie spotted a strange, shadowy figure on the dock. It was small, not much bigger than herself, and roughly humanoid in shape. It floated just over the steps. The music seemed to be coming from it. "Calliope!" Kratos shouted as he spotted the figure, leaping to the dock in pursuit. Pinkie's temper hit a fast boil. She knew that wasn't the sister she never met. "What was that?" she demanded of Charon. He sighed. "That was a wraith," he said softly. "It appears to be using the song to cause Kratos to perceive it as his dead daughter. Not normal behavior for such beings. Someone is using it to manipulate him." Pinkie snorted angrily. "No one manipulates my Daddy like that! No! One!" With that, she angrily leapt to the dock. About to head off in pursuit, she stopped and turned back. "Thanks for the lift, Mr. Charon! Have a nice day!" She gave him a happy wave, then turned back to her angry charge. Charon couldn't help but chuckle. "I had thought there was no escape from your suffering, Ghost of Sparta. Surely the Gods would not grant such, any more than they have for me. But that one just might." With a smile, he pushed back out to the river to await his next summons. As he stared into the river, he sighed. "Where's my cute and colorful pony to lighten my hours and make me smile?" he asked plaintively, not seriously expecting an answer. Pinkie pursued Kratos through the Temple of Persephone. Despite Kratos having a large lead on her, she paused long enough to read the tale of Persephone from the scattered tomes. She wasn't sure why, but she felt like that information was important. She fully expected to encounter some monsters of the Underworld as she went, but all she came across were the corpses of those Kratos had slain. "If Daddy's had to stop and fight, I'm sure to catch up to him!" she mused aloud. Continuing to follow, she came across other rooms where chunks of armor lay scattered, torn off the larger corpses. Apparently Kratos, unable to break these armor chunks(1), had settled for ripping them violently from the monsters before tearing them apart. "Huh. These could be useful." Grabbing those armor chunks, she stuffed them into her mane for later before continuing on. Following the path of kicked open doors and monster corpses - and using her special shortcuts to get past the elevator that Kratos hadn't lowered back down for her - Pinkie finally caught up to Kratos outside the Temple in an open grove. She started to call out to him, but paused as she saw him yelling at a woman. "Where is my daughter, witch?" he demanded, full of rage. "Choose your words carefully, Ghost of Sparta," the woman countered firmly. "You address the Goddess of the Underworld." Pinkie blinked. "That must be Persephone," she whispered to herself. "But wait, Athena said that Morpheus' magic put all the gods to sleep. How come Persephone isn't asleep?" Scratching her head, a possible explanation occurred to her. "Well, there's no fog in the Underworld, so that could be why...but then how come there's no sight of Hades? Shouldn't he have shown up at some point?" Her eyes widened, then narrowed. "Unless..." Pinkie fell silent, wincing as she heard Kratos crazed ranting. She knew what he was shouting wasn't true. He did care about the world of man. He'd been the one to caution her about setting the City of Marathon on fire, after all. She felt her rage - now focused on Persephone - building as she saw how easily the Goddess was manipulating her Daddy...but knew she couldn't step in now. Besides, she wanted to meet Calliope, too. "If you are to meet your daughter again," Persephone instructed, "you must become worthy of Elysium. Cast your weapons at the Forsaken Tree, and let it release the evils of your past. Only then will you be free of your sins, and be granted passage through the divine gates." The Goddess then made her own way through the gate in question. Pinkie watched as Kratos embedded the Blades of Chaos in the tree. She gasped in shock as she saw the tree absorb all the power the blades had gathered over the course of their battles, leeching the red markings and white coloring from his skin at the same time, leaving him a pinkish tan. At the end, the chains broke free of Kratos' wrists, the weapons fully absorbed by the tree. "You have done well, Ghost of Sparta," Persephone's voice echoed. "Walk through the portal, and find the one you seek." Without hesitation, Kratos walked through the portal. Pinkie hesitated a moment until she felt the Goddess's attention leave the grove, then went up to the tree. "Excuse me," she said, knocking on its trunk, "but I'm pretty sure my Daddy's going to need those back, please." The tree stood silent for a moment, and then the blades floated out. They hovered there, crossed in the center of a pulsing red sphere, the chains wrapped around the sphere. "Thank you!" Pinkie said happily, taking the sphere. She paused as her hoof touched it. When the power had gone into the tree, it had looked dirty somehow. But now...it felt clean(2). Shrugging that off, she stuffed it into her mane before jumping through the portal. As she entered, Pinkie saw Kratos holding a young girl, not much older than Pinkie herself, who shared some features with Kratos. This was obviously Calliope. "Daddy!" Pinkie called happily, running up to them. "Father?" the young girl asked in confusion. Kratos looked pained as he turned his gaze to Pinkie, guilty even. However, seeing her smile as she ran forward eased that pain. "Pinkie Pie, this is my daughter Calliope. I've told you about her." As Pinkie rested her forelegs on Kratos' arms, he turned back to Calliope. "Calliope, this is Pinkie Pie, your sister. We took care of each other after I...lost you." Calliope smiled happily, seeming content with that explanation. "Sister," she said warmly, extending her arms to Pinkie. Apparently, life in Greece made almost anything seem normal, and she found nothing at all strange in being told that a bright pink talking pony was now her sister. Pinkie, for her part, hugged Calliope enthusiastically. Persephone's voice broke into their emotional moment. "I have watched over you pathetic mortals-" "Hey!" Pinkie angrily interrupted. "Don't you dare interrupt our happy family reunion! We still need to find Mom after all!" Kratos winced. He plainly remembered that his last parting from his wife had been...unpleasant, with angry words exchanged. Her last words that day - the last time he saw her before he swore fealty to Ares - passed through his mind. "For the glory of Sparta? Or the glory of yourself?!" "Mother isn't here in Elysium," Calliope told Pinkie, not noticing Kratos' sigh of relief. "Aww..." Pinkie pouted. "Excuse me!" Persephone demanded, stepping forward. "But I was trying-" "I said shush!" Pinkie interrupted again. "No interrupting family time!" Kratos and Calliope could only stare as Pinkie left the Goddess of the Underworld completely flustered. "How dare you!" Persephone proclaimed. "Do you know to whom you so speak?" "Yuppers!" Pinkie proclaimed proudly. "I'm talking to the Goddess of the Underworld...the only god still awake with Morpheus active, which means you were somewhere safe from the fog when it spread, meaning you knew it was going to spread, meaning you're the one who freed Atlas to kidnap Helios and plunge the world into night, all as part of some sort of revenge plot against Zeus and Olympus for making you stay married to Hades because of eating the pomegranate seeds!" Persephone, Kratos, and Calliope all gasped, Persephone at being seen through so easily by a mortal, Kratos and Calliope for the conniving of a Goddess. "You're also the one who used a wraith and Calliope's flute music to ensorcell Daddy so you could manipulate him into giving up his powers to be with her again so he wouldn't be able to stop you or Atlas!" Kratos eyes widened, then narrowed in rage. Calliope's fists clenched. "Then you know you cannot stop-" "But you were expecting Charon to hold us up for a while," Pinkie interrupted again, "which means Atlas isn't in position to attack Olympus yet, meaning we still have time for our family bonding moment before dealing with you. So shut up until then!" With that, she turned back to Kratos and Calliope. Persephone's face colored in fury. "You dare turn your back on-GAH!" The Goddess clutched at her eye as the rock that had split her eyebrow fell. "Leave us alone, bad lady!" Calliope shouted. "Nice shot, sis!" Pinkie praised proudly. Kratos merely stared. He had always remembered Calliope as his sweet, gentle daughter, gifted in music. Now, he had known that, as a Spartan, she would also receive warrior training when she reached the right age, but he hadn't expected her to be talented with the arts of war as well. He felt pride swelling inside of him. Persephone exploded in rage, black feathered wings exploding from her back. "You dare assault the Queen of the Dead?" she shouted. "You shall pay dearly for-" "I said!" Pinkie growled, charging forward and slamming head first into Persephone's gut, making the Goddess double over. "Stop!" she cried, delivering a right hook to the divine chin. "Interrupting!" she enunciated, going into a reverse spin while balanced on her head, hitting Persephone's other cheek once with each hoof on each syllable. "Our!" Pinkie continued, bringing her forehooves down on Persephone's feet with all her strength, rewarded with the sound of snapping bones. "Special!" With this shout, Pinkie spun and delivered a double hindhoof buck to both of Persephone's eyes. "Family!" Pinkie enunciated this shout with a punch that shattered Persephone's kneecap. "Moment!" The next blow landed on Persephone's pudenal nerves, causing her to double up in nauseating pain. "You!" Pinkie shouted loud, delivering a powerful shoryuken to Persephone's chin that sent her flying into the air. Pinkie then blurred out of sight. "Stupid!" Pinkie shouted from above Persephone, delivering a downward kick that sent them both shooting back towards the ground, Pinkie's forehooves gripping the black wings. "Bitch!!!" Pinkie shouted firmly just before they hit the ground, enunciating her expletive by pushing down into the small of Persephone's back just as they hit the ground, combining the force of her kick and the impact with the ground to add leverage to her grip, tearing Persephone's wings from her back as she kicked off in a back flip. Persephone screamed in agony. "Now go sit in the corner silently until we're done with our reunion, and then we'll deal with you!" Pinkie ordered, pointing to a corner of the field. Whimpering in pain, Persephone started to crawl away. "Corner! Quiet! Now!" Pinkie barked out her order. The whimpering ceased. Smiling, Pinkie stuck the wings to her back. "Surprise! I'm a Pegasus now!" Humming happily, she bounced back towards Kratos and Calliope, grinning. She paused, however, when she saw them both staring at her. "What?" she asked in confusion. They both continued to stare. "What'd I do?" she asked in confusion. "Was it something I said?" She then gasped in shock and realization. "Oh no! I said a bad word in front of sissy!" She threw herself at Kratos knees, looking up at him beseechingly. "I'm so sorry! Please don't be mad, Daddy?" she begged. As Kratos shook his head ruefully, Calliope burst into a fit of giggles. (1) For those of you who have played the game, you'll know some of the monsters in this section are protected by armor that can only be damaged by the Gauntlet of Zeus, which you acquire in the depths of Tartarus. In this story, however, Kratos didn't fight Charon, and wasn't flung to the depths. So he had to utilize other methods. (2) To quote Nostalgia Critic... "Ask me what it means! Ask me what it means!" Unless, you know, you figure it out on your own.