A Cold Night's Sleep

by CamoBadger

Chapter 4: Golden Apple

Chapter 4: Golden Apple

When Lug Nut walked into the bar, his coat was pressed to his skin by a layer of water left from him rolling in the snow. His white and grey hair was clean of the dirt which had covered it minutes before, and the mud which had been caked onto his hooves was gone, leaving them clean, but causing him to leave a small trail of wet prints on the wooden floor of the pub.

Burying Sweep had not been a clean task, and had left a large amount of dirt on Lug Nut’s legs and chest, as well as some blood on his back from carrying the deceased pony. Luckily, Snowhoof was always coated in snow, so he didn’t have to look far to find a way to wash himself before returning to town. It had been a little painful at points, but the stallion had grown used to the pain throughout his life.

The air in the bar was kept nice and warm by a large central fireplace, allowing the buck’s coat and rust colored mane to dry quickly as he searched for the one he was meeting. It didn’t take too long, only a few seconds after walking through the door he saw the pale blue hoof waving to him from the back corner of the room.

The bar was a rather small stone building near the outside of town, the last business along the main street from the town’s gate. It was adorned with the usual array of random knick knacks and advertisements for different beers and liquors, as well as several posters from the local stores. The wooden floors appeared to be very strong, carved from wood which was found in the forests surrounding the town and protected by a high quality lacquer; a necessary touch in a place where wet hooves would be walking every day due to the snow covered streets.

Waitresses walked between the tables lining the walls, each wearing a small bag matching their cutiemarks around their necks as they took orders and delivered assorted drinks to the patrons. Most were earth ponies, carrying the trays deftly in their muzzles, but there was one unicorn casually levitating the drinks in an orange aura over her head.

Music flowed into the space from speakers which were spaced out around the room, currently playing a soft electric song by a musician from Ponyville, a tune which was familiar to Lug Nut. He made his way back to where Ice Crystal was sitting, careful not to bump into anyone as they enjoyed their drinks and the company of friends. When he got to the table, he found that the unicorn was speaking with a short earth pony waitress who had a shining silver bow in her green mane, and a martini for a cutiemark. He quickly noticed that her mane was no longer the mess it had been earlier in the day, but had been pulled into a pair of pigtails which hung down on each side of her head.

“Lug Nut! You’re just in time,” Ice chirped with a smile, waving a hoof toward the waitress. “Tini just got here to take our order.”

Lug Nut resisted the urge to point out the coincidence that such a small pony would be named ‘Tini’, and instead sat down across from Ice, turning to the waitress with a smile. “Nice to meet you Tini, what do you have for vodkas?” he asked casually.

“Well, we’ve got some Grey Pegasus, Cloud One, and I think one more bottle of Stallionoff,” Tini told him with a smile, waving her hoof in front of her with each brand she named off.

“Hmm,” Lug Nut groaned in thought, rubbing his chin with one hoof as he tried to decide. “I think I’ll try some of that Cloud One.”

“Great choice,” the waitress chimed as she turned to Ice. “And what about you dear?”

“I’ll have my usual,” the unicorn said with a smile.

“Excellent, I’ll get that right out to you two.”

Once the mare had gotten out of earshot, Lug Nut leaned close to Ice and quietly asked, “Her name is Tini?” He hoped that it wasn’t out of line for him to ask that, but he couldn’t get the thought out of his head until he asked someone.

Ice giggled softly in response, shaking her head slowly. “No, that’s just what ponies around her call her. Her name is Appletini.”

Lug Nut deadpanned as he internally kicked himself for not thinking that originally. She was a pony working in a bar, with a cutiemark of a martini, of course it would be something like that. The stallion shook the thought off and leaned back from Ice, looking around briefly before shrugging out of his cloak. “This is a nice place; do you come here a lot?”

“I come almost every Friday with some friends,” Ice told him with a smile. “I really like it, everypony is so friendly.”

Lug Nut nodded in agreement, having realized that unlike many bars he hadn’t heard a fight or shouting yet. It was actually pretty quiet, with everyone raising their voices just enough to hear each other over the music, which had switched to one of Lug Nut’s favorites from Led Griffin.

“I didn’t know you’re a pegasus,” Ice said suddenly from the other side of the table. She had her head cocked slightly to one side, her horn flickering with a blue light that the buck hadn’t noticed before.

Lug looked at her with a dry look on his face. “Is that a problem?” he asked sternly.

“What? No,” Ice said frantically, realizing that she had upset the stallion. “I just didn’t notice before...you were always in that cloak and…sorry.” The mare turned her head away from him, staring at the tip of her tail which curled around her side.

Once again, Lug Nut internally kicked himself for overreacting. She had just been curious, like when she’d asked about what he did with the stuff from junkyards, there was no reason for him to react like that, and he knew it. “No, Ice, it’s fine. Just didn’t expect the question is all.” He put on his best cheesy smile, doing his best to show that he was being sincere.

The unicorn looked back up to him and giggled slightly at his ridiculous smile, her usual joy seeming to return.

“Okay, here’s your drinks!” Tini sang happily as she placed a small tray on the table in front of the two. She lifted each drink and placed them in front of the pony who ordered them with a smile, a clear glass of vodka for Lug, and a bright green drink in a tall, Y-shaped glass for Ice. “Want yours on your tab Crys?”

“Put them both on there please,” Ice said with a smile.

“Gotcha,” the waitress chirped, lifting the tray from the table and giving a quick wave to Lug Nut before walking back to the bar.

“What do you got there?” Lug Nut asked the unicorn, staring at her drink with a raised eyebrow. He assumed it was probably a martini by the shape of the glass, but he’d never seen a green martini before, or a martini the size of his hoof before either.

“A TiniAppleTini,” Ice said with a huge smile, her horn flashing faster as she stared into the green drink.

Lug dropped his head into his hooves with a loud CLOP, groaning slightly. “Of course it is.”

< < < > > >

Tartarus was nothing as Luna had expected, nothing that anypony would expect if they had been told of its existence at all. She had been lead to believe it would be a large structure of some kind with several cells to hold the prisoners, perhaps with extra magical bindings or spell-reinforced doors to keep the creatures imprisoned there from breaking out. She expected a dungeon, not this.

What lay out before her after entering the black gate was a chasm so deep she couldn’t see the bottom. On the side which she entered from, the canyon was lined by the mountain range which had hidden the nature of Tartarus from horizon to horizon. At the top of this range was the red barrier which she’d seen as she approached, but unlike what she had thought before, it had not been a simple wall extending from the top of the ridgeline, but rather wrapped over the top of the chasm, touching down on the other side to form a giant bubble. From deep inside the earthen scar echoed unnatural calls of whatever horrors lurked in the shadows beneath, some of anger, others of pain, and occasionally even one of death. This was less a prison and more of a warzone as far as Luna could tell within a few moments, a sentiment which was only strengthened by the massive number of Tartarus Guards patrolling each side of the chasm.

Their coats had long lost whatever color they may have been born with, permanently stained by the soot and heat rising from deep within the stone they guarded with every breath. As was expected, the massive three headed hound, Cerberus, prowled along the near side of the chasm, always staying within sight of the gate should any of the monsters beneath attempt to break through. As disturbing as the thought was, Luna couldn’t shake the feeling that should any of the evil below attempt to rise, only that mutt would stand any chance of stopping it; that any guard unfortunate enough to be in the way would only have time to raise the alarm before being lost to Equestria forever.

It took only moments after the gate sealing behind her for the Princess to be greeted by a short guard clad in the traditional black armor of Tartarus. The colt’s eyes may have once been a blue or green, but the bloodshot sclera’s pulled the attention of any pony away from that detail quickly. He blinked constantly, as if trying to wash an obstruction away from his eyes eternally, but never turned his gaze away from Luna’s own. Strangely enough, his flank was marred by a cutiemark of the very chasm he spent his life watching, a note that sent a shiver through the Princess’ spine. The thought of anypony being destined to guard this horrible place was almost unimaginable to her.

“Welcome ta’ Tartarus, Highness,” the colt stated with a small bow. “Name’s Black Crescent, are ya’ hear for the tour?” Crescent smirked slightly at what was apparently a joke of some kind among the guards. When the Princess simply continued to stare at him, the colt’s smile disappeared. “If yer lookin’ for info on our little escape, you’ll want ta’ see Warden Praeses.” Crescent waved a hoof toward a tower on the far side of the chasm, directly across from the gate where Luna had entered.

“Thank you,” The Princess stated hesitantly, still slightly shaken by the sight of the true Tartarus.

The stout guard dismissively trotted away from the princess, returning to his post at the center of a bridge which spanned the canyon, and the only way across for miles. Luna didn’t want to know how these guards stayed sane with what they had to go through here. These guards never got to go home, she could tell they had all been here for years, or even decades for some; and yet they all remained vigilant. None of them even appeared sleepy or exhausted, each completely dedicated to being at peak condition at all times, no matter how taxing their day may have been. How anything could escape without raising some form of alarm seemed impossible, and yet none of these guards had noticed that something had escaped only a day before.

The walk across the bridge was just another piece of evidence for how massive Tartarus was; it took Luna a few minutes to cross, even moving at a brisk speed. Her guards from Canterlot flanked her on both sides, keeping themselves closer than usual in such a horrible place; likely more for their own comfort than to provide it to the Princess.

The tower was not particularly large, only rising high enough to see a mile or so across the line to where another tower rose on either side. As with everything else around Tartarus, the structure had been turned entirely black, whether it was by design or soot was unclear however. Regardless, the two guards standing atop the tower could have passed for statues did they not constantly turn their heads to keep watch over their comrades below.

At the base of the tower was a single stairway rising to the second level where Luna left her two guards to keep watch while she approached the Warden, Praeses. She had assumed that she would have remembered such a name if they were given the position of being in charge of Tartarus, but no matter how hard she tried the Princess just couldn’t recall the name. Perhaps he had been appointed before she had returned from her exile and still managed to keep his position over the decades.

The Princess of the Moon took a deep breath before enveloping the door to the tower in a blue glow, pushing it open and stepping in to learn what she needed. However, the alicorn froze after only taking two steps into the room, her eyes frozen on the body of the pony standing behind his desk, the only piece of furniture in the room.

Praeses’ legs held him almost a head taller than Luna, and his aged face was scarred and beaten, missing hair in several places and instead replaced by grotesque scars. As with the other guards stationed on Tartarus, his original coat color had been long since lost to the soot and heat of the chasm, leaving him a patchy black and grey color from his hooves to the tip of his wings. Upon his flank was the only recognizable patch of his original coat, a red shield around a black spiral, a bold statement that he was likely the one keeping up the barrier over the canyon outside.

As with the shorter guard outside, Crescent, it was apparent that Praeses had not only spent a long time guarding this hellish place, but had been born to do so, doomed to guard all of ponykind from certain destruction. However, the difference between the Warden and his younger guard was that unlike Crescent, Praeses did not have the relief of retirement rushing toward him to provide relief from this life.

The alicorn offered no warm welcome to Luna, only looking her up and down for a few moments before turning his attention back to the reports which rose in stacks from his desk. “You seem a tad young to be a Princess.”

< < < > > >

“And then Lemon Drop threw the pie out the window,” Ice exclaimed, reenacting her friend’s actions clumsily, nearly knocking the empty martini glass off of the table.

Lug Nut’s response was the next in a long line of laughing moments that night, the only times she had seen him do so since meeting him that morning; a deep laugh which would have been accompanied by a spray of vodka had he been drinking at the time.

The table in between the pair was covered in about ten glasses, nine of them once filled with Lug Nut’s drinks, and the single massive martini glass which had been empty for about an hour sitting in front of Ice. Neither was sure what time it was, but they didn’t care either. It had been a bit awkward for the two at first, and the first thirty minutes or so after getting their drinks was filled by silent drinking interrupted by a random question about Snowhoof. Once the two had gotten a bit of alcohol in their systems however, the conversation picked up in no time as the two began to grow more comfortable.

It had started with a discussion about their favorite bands or composers, and it had quickly become apparent that the two had a very different taste in music. Lug Nut had always been into some of the heavier bands and more old stuff. Ice on the other hoof was more interested in what Lug called ‘new’ music, and liked more smooth rhythms and softer voices. This conversation soon led to the two of them racing over to the jukebox, which wasn’t a fair race considering Lug hadn’t seen it since he entered and Ice had the layout of the bar memorized, and changing the lineup of music to fit their tastes and force them onto each other.

Lug Nut’s larger size and strength had given him the advantage of being able to block Ice from reaching the jukebox, but also lead him to discover that she had no problems clumsily climbing over him or under him to reach the controls. What may have appeared to be a fight to some turned into a playful wrestling match which ended in a random assortment of music being played for the rest of the night.

Once they returned to the table, each began telling funny stories about ponies they knew or had met, causing a large amount of laughter to echo from the back corner of the bar. After Ice finished her final story about Lemon Drop, the two quieted down greatly, looking around briefly to see that most of the other ponies had already left for the night. Appletini passed by their table to pick up the glasses which were scattered across the wooden surface, smiling brightly to each as she told them the bar would be closing soon. The pair nodded in understanding, but still stayed in their seats, not entirely able to pick up on the earth pony’s hint.

Once her giggling died down Ice turned back to Lug Nut, cocking her head slightly to one side. “You know, I’m surprised you haven’t said anything about my eyes,” she said softly, her voice slightly slurred but not as much as it had been earlier in the night.

Lug cocked one eyebrow at the mare, not even sure why she had brought that up. “Why would I, I mean besides telling you they’re pretty?” Despite the amount of vodka the pegasus had drank throughout the night, his voice remained mostly normal, the only difference from his normal tone being that he sounded more unwound and happy than when Ice had first met him.

For some reason the compliment caused the unicorn to blush slightly, most likely a result of the alcohol. “Well, most ponies tend to bring it up,” she told him with a shrug and a smile, her cheeks still pink.

“I don’t see a reason to,” the pegasus said with a chuckle that may have been louder than necessary.

With a smile, Ice bounced her chair noisily around the table to Lug’s side, leaning into him slightly.

Lug Nut’s eyes shot wide open at the closeness of the unicorn, but quickly began to relax to the touch. He didn’t lean back into her, but accepted the gesture, his smile widening slightly at being close to another pony for the first time in years. He wasn’t exactly sure if it was because of the alcohol or something else, but against his nature the pegasus didn’t mind the closeness of another.

He nodded slightly to himself that it was the alcohol, but that didn’t make him enjoy it any less.

< < < > > >

Blackened tunnels and sprawling webs of green slime surrounded her as usual; the home which she loved more than any other. All around her came the sounds of scuttling insects large and small, but all considered members of her family; the pets of her and her children. The Queen rested upon her throne, a raised section of ornate stone which towered over even her impressive height as she sat, a solemn look upon her dark face. The green of her eyes had lost its once bright glow, the result of seeing herself as a failure to her subjects, her children.

It had been so long since that faithful day, when her plans had been foiled by a paranoid mare, the one who just couldn’t let her guard down even at what would normally be called a happy occasion. Perhaps if the Queen had been more cautious, and never made the mistake of banishing young Twilight Sparkle to the caverns, her scheme would have come to fruition, but in that moment of weakness she had ruined everything. She had been careless, and the foolish wish to impress her power upon a shattered soul had overcome the needs of her children.

There wasn’t a day that went by that Chrysalis didn’t think back on that day and wish she could change what she’d done, to have the self-control she needed in such an urgent time for the Changelings. But those were only wishes, and despite what foals and even the more naïve of adults chose to believe, wishes cannot come true. She was stuck with what she had done, and everything that came after.

The Queen no longer held the admiration of her subjects as she once had, but now felt contempt and hatred in their stares. The loss of what would have been their greatest food source nearly assured her losing the throne, had it not been for the fear her subjects had of her power. That was all she had left to keep them in line; fear of a fate worse than death at her whim.

Of course there were those who still remained loyal, and who realized that even the strongest among them is capable of making mistakes, but those loyalists were in the minority. Their voice in her defense was a mere whisper among the collective cries against the Queen, one who they deemed unfit to rule; an embarrassment to her mother’s legacy.

But those words had died off in recent years, as Chrysalis ventured from her throne room far less frequently than she once had. The once proud Changeling Queen had become a recluse, almost never feeling the want or the need to show her face throughout the Hive as she had once made a point of doing each day. Now she was only seen by her personal guard, the Praetorian, and on occasion by a changeling who overcame their fear to ask for her assistance in a personal matter. Those visits were few and far between however, and it was not uncommon for the Queen to go months without seeing the face of another, only keeping company with the spiders and roaches which infested her hall.

Slowly, the dim light of the sun began to fade from the tunnels of the Hive, no longer reflecting through the gems which provided the underground home of the changelings with the light of day. Chrysalis let out a labored sigh, relieved that another day of her self-imposed imprisonment had reached its close. Without a sound, the Queen rose to her spindly legs and dragged herself around the throne to a narrow tunnel which led to her personal chamber. The guards did not follow, keeping their statuesque positions along the walls of the throne room. Even Chrysalis didn’t know if, or when, they changed shifts, as she had never seen a single one of them move in years. For all she knew, they could have died long ago, leaving behind the still forms of their gleaming black armor to defend the Queen they had spent their entire lives serving.

Chrysalis’ personal chamber held no unique features to set it apart from the rest of the Hive, made of the same stone and webbing walls, and adorned with two of the light-bringing gems opposite of the tunnel leading into it. At the center of the circular room lay a thick mattress of the green webbing which Chrysalis had made herself. There were no majestic portraits of her image, no brilliant silver jewelry on a fancy armoire, nothing at all to show that this chamber was any different from those used by the other changelings, and Chrysalis liked it that way. She had failed, and in her mind deserved no embellishment to set her apart from the common worker among her children.

She curled herself into a ball at the center of her mattress, exhaling deeply as her tattered grey mane fell limply over her slender face. Many ponies complain that their day runs through their mind when they attempt to sleep, in search of any mistakes they may have made in conversation or actions they should not have taken. Chrysalis did not have that problem anymore, as her day is spent looking back on the mistake she made, and nothing else. When she finally lay down to bed, she could not think on it anymore, and her mind fell blank.

Before she could drift into sleep, a soft voice caused her ears to perk up. She didn’t understand the words, but it was definitely from within her chamber. The Queen lifted her head slightly and her mane wrapped with a green glow before lifting from her face, allowing her to look around the room. She could see nobody standing before her, or anywhere around for that matter, and she began to wonder if she had imagined it.

“Chrysalis,” the voice repeated, a soft hiss which would have made her hairs stand on end if she had any.

She looked to the ceiling, and reeled slightly at the sight of a pair of glowing yellow eyes staring down at her. Her horn began to glow a bright green as she tried to illuminate the source of the eyes, hoping to see it was just one of her children playing a prank on her. But she did not see a changeling in the green light; instead she revealed a coiling serpent resting at the top of her room, staring down at her with a poisonous smile. Around the eyes a bright fan of yellow tendrils reached out across the ceiling like a web of moss overtaking a stone, causing the snake to appear much larger than it likely was.

“Who…w-what?” the Queen stammered as she lay frozen at the sight of the serpent.

“Look at you,” the serpent hissed with pity. “Once such a strong being, and now…you can barely bring yourself to wake in the morning.” Its voice was distinctly male, though the tone was hardly deep, and sounded more distant as if it was echoing from outside the room.

The green light of Chrysalis’ horn faded as she began to rise to her feet, a stern look beginning to form on her face as she glared into the yellow eyes above her. “How did you get in here?”

“No need to act Highness, the tough queen routine will not work on me.” As he spoke, the snake dropped to the floor in front of her, making not a sound as it landed on the stone floors of her chamber. “Your eyes give away your weakness, your sorrow.”

“How dare you-” the Queen’s mouth continued to move, but no words left her body, casting the room into an eerie silence as the serpent stared unfazed into her eyes. A sense of dread began to creep up Chrysalis’ spine as she tried to speak, aggravated and afraid of the silence which suddenly overcame her.

“But behind that sorrow is a caring soul, not exactly what I would expect from one who harbors such hatred for those who ruined her,” the serpent hissed as it circled around her, its body elongating with each movement.

Chrysalis gave up on trying to respond, keeping her lips pressed together firmly as she was slowly surrounded by the gleaming black body. Even though the light of the day had faded entirely from the Hive, the pale yellow light of the tendrils continued to light her chamber, allowing the Queen to see the slender form of the snake as it tormented her.

“You care so deeply for your subjects, no matter how distant and resentful they become…almost love,” the snake scoffed at the last words, completing a second loop around the Queen’s form. “And yet you no longer check on them, to ensure they are even alive.” A sense of callousness filled the serpent’s voice, as if he gained some enjoyment from how distant Chrysalis had become. “You don’t even realize they’re starving without a consistent food source.”

As if on cue, the room around the two began to unfold, the stones falling back from around her only to be held inches from the ground by the web of green. Within moments Chrysalis found herself within a giant net, staring out onto the outskirts of the Hive. All around her thinning changelings stumbled about, fighting viciously with one another for something as simple as a prime spot to sleep, or die. Many cracked bodies lay about, small streams of green blood flowing from their bodies to form pools around their sleeping brothers and sisters.

The Queen couldn’t move, couldn’t speak, she could hardly even think. It was impossible for this to be happening; not just being suddenly transported to the outskirts of her home, but the entire scene unfolding before her. She would have been told if her children were dying, they would have asked her for help, for her to help them in this time of need.

“No, they wouldn’t come to you, fool,” the snake snapped. “Why would they ask for your help when you’ve already failed them once?”

Chrysalis’ head drooped in agreement as tears began to form in her eyes. She didn’t know how the serpent knew what she was thinking, or how he knew about her apparently starving subjects, but she had no doubt that it must be right, after all, he had just shown her everything. But what can I do? She thought to herself, hoping the last mind-reading trick the snake had done wasn’t a fluke.

The net around her tightened, pulling the stones back into place, leaving the queen once again in her personal chamber for a brief moment before the walls began to spin. The rock and webbing above her began to pull apart, spiraling outward to reveal a dark and starless sky above, and allowing a bitter cold wind to swirl into the room. As Chrysalis looked to the sky, a fleck of white blew in through the gaping hole above, sending a sudden sting of cold through her body. A second came soon after, followed by a third and a forth, until soon the cold wind carried with it a flurry of snow.

The muscular body of the snake coiled around her body, caressing the Queen tightly as the head of the beast came around in front of her, those yellow eyes staring straight into her own.

“Try again, My Queen.”