A Celestial Comedy

by 6scape6goat6

Canto 4: Tartarus, Lust

Canto 4: Tartarus, Lust

We continued to walk, and as soon as the screams of terror faded into nothingness the darkness was blown away by a mighty gale. I covered my eyes, expecting to be blinded by the returning light, but when Discord tapped my shoulder I lowered my arm.

There was not much more light than was back in the Circle of Fear. In the twilight I could see that we were on a bluff overlooking a windswept wasteland riddled with dust and wrinkled with dried out riverbeds. Black specks circled overhead and more were scattered and blown across the ground.

The wind slapped against my face, and in the wind I thought I heard moaning and wailing. "What the..." I started to ask.

"The cries of the lustful." Discord answered my unfinished question.

"So, this is the Second Circle: Lust?" I asked, looking at him.

"Indeed. Those bronies and Web surfers who seek to gratify their baser desires through perverted means such as pornography and the like. Most of them end up here."

I turned back to the wasteland, and I wondered what the punishment was for those who wound up here.

Discord started to walk down the bluff, and a gust of wind from behind shoved me after him. The bluff was rather high up, so it took a while to get to the bottom. Reaching the foot of the bluff, we started across the wasteland.

Seeing all the dried up rivers, I wondered if I was thirsty only to realize I wasn't.

"Hey, Discord?"

"Hmm?"

"Why aren't I thirsty?"

"You're technically dead, so you're 'liberated' from such needs as food or water, unless such needs remain with you as per your punishment."

"Aha."

Suddenly, another gale blow at us, nearly knocking me off my feet. Carried with this gale was a mournful cry, which intensified as some of the black specks came at us. As they came closer, they grew larger till I could see their true forms ... as human souls.

About five of them, three males and two females, flew over our heads and into the bluff. As I involuntarily winced, they were dragged against the bluff by the wind up the bluff and back into the cavernous sky.

"Was that what I thought it was?"

"If by 'it' you meant five perverted souls blown about by the winds of their lust, never to find wholesome peace, then yes, it was what you thought it was."

"Aha."

We continued to walk till we reached the eye of the cyclonic winds, which encircled a forever-high tower, out of which came sounds of sensual ecstasy. The souls of those blown about by their lust would be dangled just out of reach of the tower, then blasted away before being reeled in and then blown away in a vicious cycle.

"If I didn't know better, I'd call that cruel." I commented.

Discord didn't say anything, but instead looked up at the souls for a while. I joined him, and then decided to call out to them to learn of their sins.

"HELLO!" I hollered, "WHAT HAVE YOU ALL DONE TO HAVE EARNED THIS DAMNATION!?!"

The winds shifted, and the souls lined up and were paraded over me as they began to cry out:

"We are those who let ourselves be consumed--"

"--By our baser desires--"

"--We thought it harmless enough as long as we didn't go further--"

"--After all, it didn't hurt anyone as long as no one else knew, right?"

"But we were wrong--"

"--Oh so wrong--"

"--The images, the sounds--"

"They invaded our everyday thoughts and actions--"

"--We were compelled by our desires but now--"

"--WE ARE CONSUMED BY IT!!!"

"Some of us simply watched or listened or read--"

"--But still others went further than that--"

"--We created our own fantasies through a disgusting window of opportunity--"

"--Clop fiction!"

I grimaced. I had heard about that kind of stuff, but had never wanted to read it ... except out of a morbid and twisted sense of curiosity.

"Come to usss, mortal..."

"Yesss, come into our tower, weary traveler..."

"Come, weary traveler, and we ssshall give you ressst..."

"Ressst and pleasssure..."

"What is that?" I asked.

"The siren's call." Discord replied. "They call out from this tower to those who are tempted to give into the baser desires of the flesh. They are nothing more than demons, akin to the Changelings as their feed off of their victims, but these ones feed off not off of love, but lust, despair, agony, passion, baser emotions."

"BEWARE, TRAVELER!!!" the souls cried out. "They mean not to give you pleasure, but to send you to join us."

"We are slaves here, and they are our mistresses! We cannot disobey!"

"We must feed them!"

"Woe is us in our torment!"

"Free us, merciful Celestia, from our bonds!"

"We didn't know--ARGH!!!"

They were cut off as pink and red energy erupted from their chests and flowed into the tower through the windows. The sounds of ecstasy increased to an irresistible level. I felt myself getting hot from the noise.

Discord, seeing what they were doing to me, ran up to the tower and gave the wall a bang or two. "HEY, CAN IT YOU HAGS!!! HE'S NOT HERE FOR YOU TO PLAY WITH!!!"

The sounds lessened and I felt reason return to my senses. "Wha?"

"That was close." He simply said. "We'd better get out of here."

"R-Right."

We walked around the tower and towards the far horizon, the sounds of the souls' wailing fading behind us into the background.

Author's Note:

Hey guys! Thnx for reading, please leave a comment or two about what you liked or didn't.

Also, I'm looking for a piece of artwork as the cover of this fiction, and I'd appreciate exchanging favors with anypony in that regard.