//------------------------------//
// Floor Three - Gula 
// Story: The Long Dark 
// by NeverEatTheLemonsAlone 
//------------------------------//

Only after several minutes had passed did she realize that she was still falling.

Opening her eyes, she saw that she had not splattered to the cold, wet stones at the base of the cliff. Instead, she was falling through an endless black void. The only reason she knew that she was falling was from her innate pegasus magic, still functioning, even now. There was no wind, nor drag, nor any other indication of falling. She was simply dropping through the world.

And so it went. She fell, waiting for something to occur, and was disappointed as the falling continued. It stayed thus for a long, long time, until the blackness around her ceased being dark and became speckled with stars as a layer of thick gray clouds exploded into reality beneath her. Her mind began to panic and she reflexively flapped her wings, earning nothing but a groan of pain. She closed her eyes as she punched through the cloud layer and into cold rain. It was nothing like before, though; it was not windblown and stinging, burning her skin. No, while frigid, it was a gentle drizzle. The ground below drew into view and as she plummeted, she realized what it was a split second before she impacted, plunging deep into viscous brown mud.

"Ugh," she muttered, "what is this?"

She found it difficult to move, her lower body entirely subsumed by the sticky morass. It smelled of some vile, unnamed horror, and before too long, she wished fervently for some way to plug her nose. The mud was absolutely freezing; though calm and still, her entire body was wracked with spasmodic shivers. She slowly slogged her way along, moving if only to generate some semblance of warmth.

"Glughhh..."

A startled eep came from her mouth as the mud beside her sloughed to the side, revealing a pony. His eyes were dull and his gut distended, filled with, she was sure, nothing good. He gazed mournfully up at her. "So somepony new comes to Gluttony..." His face was split with a sincere, yet still mildly disturbing, smile. "I won't say I'm happy for you, but at least it'll be good to have some new company."

She cocked her head to the side as he slowly raises himself up. "Follow me. I'll show you where not to go."

He led her along, slogging through the freezing, vile mud. It wasn't the mud, the pegasus was quick to realize; no, the rain itself carried the disgusting stench. As she followed the stallion, the ground slowly sloped downwards until a great hole loomed in the ground before them. "I wouldn't advise going down there," he commented. "That's where the greedy go. Even if it's awful up here, at least it's relatively work-free." At his words, her stomach tied itself in a knot with foreboding.

Seeming to not notice, he led her away from the pit, further towards a great three-headed shadow looming in the sky. "Girl, stay far away from that thing. It's Cerberus, the most gluttonous of us all. If you go near it, it'll eat you like you were no more than a toy." The shadow shifted slightly and a booming growl reverberated around the air. He winced and led her as fast as possible away from the shadow.

"So," she asked him as they slogged, "what's your name?"

He chuckled mirthlessly. "You are the first pony to ask me that in a very long time. Names aren't usually considered important in Gluttony. If you must know, though, I believe I was called Ciacco, a very long time ago."

She pondered for a moment, rolling the odd word around with her tongue. "What kind of a name is Ciacco?"

He waved off the question. "Oh, I come from Itaily. From the colours, I assume you're from mainland Equestria. Pay no attention."

There was a squelching sound in the mud behind them and Ciacco froze, turning his head very slightly. "Don't move," he whispered as quietly as possible. 

A great worm emerged from the shifting mud, a strange shriek coming from its massive mouth. It swung its ponderous head side to side for a few moments before diving into the mud once more. All was silent except the pattering of the rain again. Ciacco let out a sigh of relief. "Those things will always terrify me, no matter how long I'm here. Anyway, that's about all I can help you with. You should go now." With that, he sighed and sank beneath the mud once more. "It was nice to walk again..." he mumbled as his was finally subsumed.

Shaken, the pegasus looked around for a moment, bewildered. In the distance, she caught a stallion making his way towards her and gasped. "Teller!" she called.

It was indeed Teller. As he drew closer, he smiled faintly at her. "You're looking better than the last time I saw you. How are you doing?"

She shrugged. "At least I had someone to talk to. His name was Ciacco. He seemed like a decent enough guy, I guess." The stallion chuckled.

"Oh, you met Ciacco? Lucky you. Not many see him nowadays. As for me, I last saw him quite a long time ago."

The pegasus' ears perked up. "Wait, you've been here before?" Her eyes narrowed. "Come to think of it, you knew how to leave that wretched storm. Who are you, really?"

He chuckled. "All I want is to help you. If you can keep going, you might actually make it out of here. You wouldn't be the first, though very close to it." As he turned to leave, the pegasus called after him.

"I bet Story Teller isn't even your real name!"

He laughed. "Sorry, but that's a secret. Maybe later, hmm?" With that, he sunk into the mud in a similar fashion to Ciacco, vanishing into the stinking goo.

Her ears folded back and he thought about what he said. "Keep going, hmm?" she murmured to herself. Making her way to the center, she stared down into the pit. What had Ciacco said? The greedy went down into that pit?

Well, she thought suddenly, I might as well. It's not like staying here will be any help.

Then, taking a deep breath, she tipped over the edge and fell.