It shouldn't have been a big deal. Celestia was kidnapped or knocked out or just generally made to seem powerless by whatever idiot with ill intent decided to show up on a nearly weekly basis. As the mighty and immortal Sun Princess, she could escape at any time, but she was happy to play these little games. The daring rescues and bloodless battles gave her ponies such a sense of confidence and purpose!
But this one didn't go as planned. One small, stupid mistake got her thrown to the twisted reaches of the world-prison, Tartarus. Now alone, unarmed, and barely more than mortal, Celestia wakes in a living landscape where everything has every reason to hate her.
And, far worse, she has accidentally picked up a passenger.
Sidenote: This a repost (I tried to go through official channels, I promise!) of a story I wrote long, long ago on an account I foolishly deleted. Back in those days, Tartarus hadn't shown up in an actual episode yet. It's not exactly an alternate universe situation, but it has nothing to do with the canon portrayal of the place.
Super amazing cover art by Cold In Gardez.
I heartily re-endorse this story. It is one of my all-time faves on this site.
Holy crapola, it's back. There's only one thing for me to do: point everyone to my old review explaining why they should read this story.
It's back! Amazing!
Back and on top of my re-read list and the extra will make it even beter.
Welp! Time to re-read this one. It's damn good!
Huzzah! Very excited to see this return!
Welcome back!
IT LIVES AGAIN
It's so rare that I get to upvote a first-time story from a brand-new author.
(Shaddap. Let me enjoy the dream.)
Interesting summary, and endorsed by PaulAsaran and Estee?
Ok, now I really need to read this
first time reading this! great adventure story. i can tell a lot of love was put into this
This chapter seems to have an error from copying. Right when Luna kills 2 of the bewilderbeasts it starts again from earlier in the chapter.
When death suddenly becomes an issue
Oh wow this story. I didn’t know it was deleted. I thought I didn’t bookmark it or my memory sucked and I couldn’t recall the title but I remembered the cover. A picture really is worth a thousand words.
That said, I honestly don’t remember much of the story, it’s been so many years. I know Twilight goes to hell and has to friendship her way out but everything else including the details is just a blur. Maybe a second time around will leave a stronger impression.
Fascinating, a most elegant solution to that most implausible of mythic beings.
I'm loving how this is turning out. After hearing so many laud this story as one of the old greats of the site, I can see why.
A few typos to point out, but nothing major enough to detract from the story.
Should be 'was' I believe.
Seems like a missing word here. Maybe 'each' or 'either' depending on what you were going for.
Should be 'a colony' or 'form colonies' depending on intent.
Should be 'this' or 'that'.
Ayy, welcome back! Does this mean we'll be getting that fabled sequel?
You write a glorious Luna you know, one of the best I've seen.
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I, uh...really? Dang. That is legitimately inspiring to hear. But also...
Why am I unable to see these!? I re-read the whole Goddess-Damned story before re-posting and *grumble grumble grumble.*
Anyway, glad you liked it! And thanks for your help! All typos totally fixed forever.
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Dag nabit. Thanks for letting me know. Fixed! Hopefully! I was out and about tonight...
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Luna ended up being my favorite character to write, so it's super-awesome that people liked her, monster though she may be.
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I, as someone who disdains overuse of the word literally, literally lack the capacity to express how amazing this review is. Take it away, Big Mac.
So, uh, sorry for having taken the story down. I didn't think anybody would even notice. Y'all are amazing.
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*A long time ago, in a FIMFiction far more active than today*
*Present Day*
Gosh, death sure is inconvenient, isn't it? You gotta expend all of that energy just to not die. Whew. Must be nice to be an all-powerful immortal god.
Must suck to be a Twilight.
Wait. This up and poofed at some point?! Why hadn't I noticed? It's so heckin' goooood!
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"I sense a great lack of disturbance in the herd, as though millions of ponies who had been crying out in terror suddenly realised that the terror had passed. I feel that something wonderful has happened."
-pony Obi-Wan, or somethin'. I dunno'
P.S. Thanks for bringing this back, Joe, even if you don't do anything else with it. Your story is seriously very, very good.
Oof. Maybe playing the pretend game for so long wasn`t a good idea.
Well, that's gotta be a killer-spider, right?
Yeah, not bad.
Damn, Celestia new has the quest "To deliver yourself and a companion alive without death"
Now that I'd like to see. Best of luck to you, Twi!
Um... Normal ponies, maybe? I know I'm not into leggy, rainhow-maned ponies.
Must be nice being an all-knowing demigod. Shame it complicated relationships.
Goodbye, innocence!
It's a star spider! We've seen these in the overworld before.
And without her even making an appearance, we already get to know a little more about Luna, and it's hilarious. Definitely a Luna thing to do.
Oh shit. Now they're being stalked by a tree.
Okay, so avoid sheds, graveyards, abandoned houses in the woods, and friendly strangers with exaggerated friendliness.
Are you sure this is a safe space? I mean, it's not unheard of to die in the Firelink Shrine.
Oof.
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Noticed a few on the previous chapter as well, but would have to re-read from scratch to find them all again. I'll be sure to let you know if I find any more once I pick up the rest of the chapters
I vaguely remember reading this.
Congratulations, your story is now about shoehorned romance rather than about perilous adventure it was before.
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Heh. Yeah, I may have fallen victim to Shipper's disease for a bit. So it goes.
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Hah!
Your words spun my mind in fun directions. Thank you!
Never read the original, but I gorged this beast in one day and that's probably the most praise I can give a long story. Great work!
This definitely, completely, needs the alternate universe tag. Celestia isn't that strong. There is a lot about Celestia that is off the mark...
I haven't left a comment in gods knows how long, but I can hardly denigrate myself for breaking that silence, such as it was, for a fascinating tale as novel to me as this was. Frankly put, this story is one of the most enrapturing and impactful stories (certainly the most, as far as this site goes) I have ever had the pleasure of reading. Perhaps one day I might leave a proper review, holding more content than some banal platitudes, but as it stands, know that you have rekindled in me a love long forgotten for ancient mythos, the nature of divinity, and more I have yet to grasp the words for. Thank you, truly, for republishing this story; I'll certainly be looking forward to reading more of your work in the future.
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It's mentioned in the description.
finally... i was scouring the net for the past year and a half for this story
This is an amazing story, it was good enough for me to binge read every chapter.
The moment Cottos showed up, it reminded me of this boss from Alundra:
Oh man, I was just looking for this story last month, didn't find it, and had a bit of a panic attack.
I don't have time to pick up a new story right now because I'm the middle of writing a mess of final papers for my classes, but I will be saving this for a re-read once the semester lets out.
Well, just spent the last 8 hours reading through this. That was super awesome.
If you do decide to write more, you've got a new fan.
Maggot cheese is also apperantly kinda dangerous if I remember.right.
Love this fic happy to see it back however just a quick problem it says at the her peers here
Otherwise glad the fics back :)
Another great chapter. I was wondering when Twilight would have her first real eye-opening to how brutal Tartarus is. Unfortunately, it seems she wasn't quite ready to see how brutal her beloved mentor can be. Shock is one heck of a drug, but I didn't expect it to make her flee blindly away from her only friend in this place. Hopefully Celestia can catch up before something else finds her.
Time for more error fixes:
Should be (hounds') I think?
Hi Tartarus
Twilight probably should have tossed that silver snake (I don't suppose you're a Legends of the Hidden Temple fan?) into the water. Of course, she still hasn't let go of her kind, merciful nature, so actually harming an opponent is probably beyond her. Hopefully this decision won't literally come back and bite her later.
Some more issues I noticed:
Between this and the last chapter, a lot of 'to's are missing, it seems.
This is more of a style issue, so feel free to disregard, but I feel like these should be italicized to show that they are her thoughts rather than part of the narration.
Another style issue. If I'm bordering on nit-picking, just whack my fingers with a ruler and I'll stop harping on things like this. I think 'and then headed straight to the water' doesn't work on its own for the sentence it's with. Maybe attaching it to the previous sentence (For example 'Twilight searched the area quickly— there wasn't much to see, other than rock walls and dust —and then headed straight to the water.) would work?
So far I can see why PaulAsaran recommended this so highly. Your prose, character writing, and worldbuilding are all excellent. You've also struck that golden area of tonal balance between comedy and horror. My one critique so far is that the action scenes are a bit difficult to follow. A bit more description of where everyone is relative to eachother and the space would probably fix it.