The Plain of Hades was usually a nice place. It was out of the way no matter where you were in Equestria, but once there, it offered prime picnicking real estate, so long as somepony didn't mind staring at the enormous obsidian protrusion that marked the gates of Tartarus.
Today, Twilight thought as she dodged bile-colored lightning bolts from the churning hellstorm above, is decidedly unusual.
The other alicorns were too far away to help. Her friends couldn't safely enter the area amid the arcane radiation. Discord was disorganizing his sock drawer. It was just her and the crazed unicorn standing in the middle of a pentagram of acid-green flames, howling out an incantation that swirled the clouds over Tartarus. Judging by the volume of her personal Nightmare's whispers in her mind, Twilight estimated that she had a few minutes before the storm delivered a bolt that would shatter the black glass mountain and let all of its inmates free.
"Please!" she cried, the Royal Canterlot Voice drowning out even the literally shrieking winds that whipped against her body, "why are you doing this?"
The warlock glared up, dark magic seeping out of her eyes and horn as she paused her incantation. The wind stilled enough for her to shout, "Are you familiar with onomamancy, Princess?"
"You mean the name-as-fate hypothesis?" Despite herself, Twilight couldn't help but slip into a lecturing rhythm. "I've never put much stock in it. I mean, ponies with names similar to mine do tend to be powerful unicorns, but that seems largely coincidental."
The other mare sneered. "You may not believe, Princess, but I do. My name sealed my fate long ago. Look around you. What else could I make of my life with a name like Sclera?"
Twilight just blinked and flapped for a few seconds. Finally, she said, "Uh, become an optometrist?"
"What?"
"'Sclera' is the technical term for the whites of your eyes."
Sclera's own eyes darted about. "I-isn't it the name of the stygian queen of the fourth circle of Tartarus?"
"I'm not sure if Tartarus has circles. I am sure about the eye thing, though. Going out from the center, it goes pupil, iris, sclera."
"But... but..." Sclera slumped to the ground, her gaze vacant.
Twilight landed and voiced a hunch. "Do you by chance have siblings who are a teacher and a florist?"
"What have I done with my life?"
Defined it through a misunderstanding that you could've resolved with a dictionary, thought a small part of Twilight's mind. She ignored it and sent out a soothing wave of magic that extinguished the blazing sigil as she approached. Kneeling, she put a hoof under Sclera's chin and brought up the unicorn's eyes to meet her own. "Nothing we can't fix together."
"But the sacrifices—"
"Almost nothing we can't fix together."
"And that, my faithful student," said Twilight, "was my fastest villain reformation thus far."
... So, how much magical power does Sclera have? ... Does she have a Cutie Mark? ... How did she even come to the idea that Sclera is "the name of the stygian queen of the fourth circle of Tartarus?" ?
Although why would he need socks in the first place?
Do I detect a little Carabisian influence here? And how do the Nightmare whispers allow her to tell when Tartarus will break open?
Honestly, I like Sclera as a name. It's a cool name to have.
The only thing that would have been better is replacing Twilight with the CMC, who have cutie marks in dealing with cutie mark crisis.
Sweetie Belle Dictionary and all.
Heh. Wow, that was a fast villain reformation.
8004964
So he can disorganise them? Sock drawers are natural sources of chaos, after all...
8004870
I'm going to guess that she read a book by one Dr. Ocsid purporting to explain Tartarus.
So what was the name of the queen of Tartarus? I can't find it anywhere.
Man, Poor Communication Kills.
If your Tartarus is structured like the entire realm of Hades, rather than just like the torture-realm of classical Tartarus, the Elysian Fields would make for quite the picnic spot. Particularly if it were a spot to meet up with the dearly departed, as well.
Also, the bit with Discord disorganizing his sock drawer was genius.
8005316
Well, Persephone is the Queen of the Underworld, which contains Tartarus. At least in Greek mythology.
8004870
Equestrian demonology is about ten percent fact, forty percent wild supposition, and fifty percent illustrations that wouldn't look out of place on a heavy metal album cover.
As for Sclera, she's pretty potent. Not quite (Sky-Light) (Light-Verb) levels, but a definite eight out of ten.
8004964
I did do a little pirating of the Carabean, yes. Also, the fel energies of the storm act as an amplifier for the dark little voice in Twilight's soul. The Nightmare was probably the bit that made that snarky comment about dictionaries.
8004978
Indeed. The coolness of the word was the entire reason I wrote the minific.
8005148
Yeah, but when your cutie mark's a bloodshot eye with a thin slit pupil, your options are kind of limited. Though Sclera did go on to get her degree and specialize in batpony eye care.
8005795
See They Live on in These Parts for more on the Plain of Hades. For the record, the grassy expanse itself is properly known as the Asphodel Meadow. The Mourning Fields have mysteriously vanished, though some sources claim they followed Cadence to the Crystal Empire.
Hmm. There's a story there...
8005991
Wait... How did she get her Cutie Mark? ... And then somehow massively misinterpret its meaning...
Nice to see she got better, though...
... Hmm... What if we should be comparing (Sky-Light) (Light-Verb) power levels to Starlight Glimmer instead of Twilight? As Starlight is the stronger one??
... Starswirl tho... ... And Sunburst... Sidereal / Astral vs. Solar vs. Luna names... Hmmm....
8005991
...
That is a glorious pun. I tip my nonexistant hat to you, sir!
We are amused! >:V
8004964
He doesn't so much need them as he just sort of happens. Once in a while, a hole will appear in his dimension, leading to a random creature's laundry, and a single sock will pop out, being forever lost to the original owner. Every once in a while, he likes to go through, checking to see if any of them are perfect matches, then do something if they are to make sure they aren't.
8005991
I now want to read the sad saga of Skylight Lightverb. The incredibly powerful generic unicorn villain.
I have to say, I adore the bit about disorganizing a sock drawer. A small part of the story but it's just too good.
8005991
9471021
How about a story where a couple figures out the phenomenon and names all their unicorn children different versions of (Sky-Light) (Light-Verb).
"Our 4 youngest Morning Flash, Midnight Illuminate, Noon Flux, and the new baby Afternoon Lighting-up"
Aww, poor thing just thought she had to be evil because she thought she had an evil name.